At present, with the increasing popularization of society informationization and network, the demands of group subscribers on communication services become comprehensive and diversified. In addition to fixed communication and mobile communication, group subscribers also need a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, a group contact list service, a voice mailbox service, a business conference service, a call center service and the like. In this case, group subscribers need to purchase a set of equipment to achieve the functions above, leading to a high investment and a high maintenance cost. Therefore, it is generally hoped by group subscribers that telecom operators can provide an integrated solution to meet their information needs. In order to meet the aforementioned demands of group subscribers, telecom operators provide a corporation switchboard system as a solution, which integrates an integrated VPN, a group contact list, a voice mailbox, a business conference system, a call center system and the like using existing network devices. The corporation switchboard system is a voice portal for the communication between the inside and the outside of the corporation, which takes a uniform switchboard number as a carrier and uses contact list management as well as call forwarding as a core, and synchronously adds flexible functions including automatic voice navigation, message mailbox and short message service broadcast.
In prior art, a corporation switchboard system mainly includes four services which are corporation switchboard, integrated VPN, conference call and information service.
The integrated VPN, the core functions of which are dialing internal short numbers and flexible charging, aims to construct a logic private network with fixed networks of telecom operators distributed in different areas, such as Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and soft switch, as well as subscribers of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), subscribers of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and subscribers of Next Generation Network (NGN). The subscribers in the same network can contact with each other with short numbers or real numbers, and the members in the dedicated network can enjoy the benefits of a flexible charging strategy for intranet calls and extranet calls.
The conference call is a service of realizing multi-party communication with telephones, by which conference participants from different places can access a conference system at an appointed time by initiating a call or receiving a system call so as to participate in a conference call.
The information service aims to provide a uniform information platform for a corporation, so as to enable employees or clients of the corporation to acquire real-time online information of the corporation through manual service or corporation portals and the like.
With the development of telecom technologies, existing corporation switchboard systems are typically realized in an intelligent network mode or an intelligent platform mode.
The intelligent network mode, which realizes a virtual switchboard service, that is, a corporation switchboard service, using an intelligent network technology, mainly adopts a design idea used in an intelligent network technology of separating a call from a service control to separate call proceeding of a terminal from a virtual switchboard service control. And in terms of a service trigger mode, a virtual switchboard service is triggered by inquiring of a Service Control Point (SCP).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a virtual switchboard system realized using an intelligent network technology in a related technology. As shown in FIG. 1, a Service Switching Point (SSP) can detect a request for a virtual switchboard service, communicate with an SCP, make a response to the request of the SCP, and allow the effect of service logic in the SCP on call processing. The SCP is a service control point which is a core part for virtual switchboard service processing and mainly takes charge of the control on virtual switchboard service logic. The SCP is connected with the SSP and an IP via a No. 7 signaling network or an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) core network. A communication rule between the SCP and the SSP or the IP can adopt various control signaling, such as intelligent network application part/Customized Application for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) part/mobile application part/session initiation protocol and the like. The IP provides a virtual switchboard service with functions such as playing, number receiving, recording and the like.
The adoption of the intelligent network mode is advantaged in little session rerouting, particularly in a mobile network, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) for services in each area can act as a virtual switchboard SSP to trigger a service, there exist only signaling links between the MSC and a switchboard SCP. As a session carrier is not rerouted to a uniform switchboard platform, a switchboard system constructed in the intelligent network mode has an efficient service processing capability and is capable of increasing system capacity.
However, the intelligent network mode also has the following obvious disadvantages: SSPs are distributed everywhere in a switching network, but SSPs are constructed in different periods with different processing capabilities, it cannot be guaranteed that each SSP within the switching network can execute a service control instruction of an SCP correctly. For example, a conference call function, an extension co-vibration and sequential vibration function, an extension session holding and forwarding function, an extension queuing function and the like all require SSPs to complete specific call processing under the control of an SCP, whereas in a practical network evolution process, with the evolution of control signaling, not all SSPs can support said specific call processing, thus, the functions of a switchboard service are significantly limited.
As to the intelligent platform mode, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a virtual switchboard system realized using an intelligent platform technology in a related technology. As shown in FIG. 2, in the intelligent platform mode, all the calls and signaling related to a corporation switchboard are required to be forwarded to a corporation switchboard intelligent platform which provides uniform call control and media resource control functions. This implementation mode can realize the deployment of a corporation switchboard system conveniently and reliably and provide service functions regardless of the capability of existing network switching devices, and synchronously, by widening the broadband of the intelligent platform, provide more various service capabilities, including Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-To-Speech (TTS), call hold and control, extension queuing, remote manual corporation switchboard and the like.
As all calls are required to be connected to a corporation switchboard system, the intelligent platform mode is more likely to lead to session rerouting. Therefore, a virtual switchboard system realized in the intelligent platform mode is limited by system capacity and thus hinders large-scale application of services.
It can be seen from the description above that a system with high capacity, which can be provided in the intelligent network mode, is a capability-limited system which cannot provide various services for being limited by the capability of existing network devices; while in the intelligent platform mode, a system is a capacity-limited system because, although it is free from limitation due to the capability of existing network devices but is subjected to severe session rerouting which hinders large-scale application of services. No technical solution has been proposed yet for addressing the aforementioned problems existing in service switchboard systems realized respectively in the intelligent network mode and the intelligent platform mode.