1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a call device, a call control system, a call management system, and a call control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have heretofore been available in the art cellular phone terminals which output a melody (hereinafter referred to as “ringer melody”) that is preset by the user of a cellular phone terminal as a recipient's terminal during a period of time after the cellular phone terminal has received an incoming call until the user starts to talk to the calling party. There have also been available in the art cellular phone terminals which output a melody (hereinafter referred to as “ring back melody”) that is preset by the user of a cellular phone terminal for a recipient's terminal during a period of time after a cellular phone terminal has sent an outgoing call until the parties start talking to each other.
The user of a cellular phone terminal presets a preferred melody as a ringer melody or a ring back melody. Therefore, the user, who owns a cellular phone terminal which outputs a ringer melody or a ring back melody, can enjoy the music until the parties start talking to each other through the cellular phone terminal.
There has been proposed a call device, which is capable of superimposing a music signal on a speech signal representative of speech for the user to enjoy the music while talking to the other party.
For example, Document 1 (Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-101206) discloses a telephone communication service management device for superimposing speech advertisement information such as music information on speech information and outputting the combined information. The telephone communication service management device presets the speech advertisement information.
Document 2 (Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-344571) reveals a call device for superimposing a music signal on a speech signal and outputting the superimposed signal. The user of a cellular phone terminal presets the music signal.
Ringer melodies or ring back melodies give a certain level of enjoyment to the users of cellular phone terminals.
However, it is desirable for ringer melodies or ring back melodies to give further enjoyment to the users of cellular phone terminals.
At present, a cellular phone terminal outputs a ringer melody or a ring back melody for a short period of time from the arrival of an incoming call to the start of the connection. Therefore, the user of a cellular phone terminal can enjoy the music that is preset by the user of a cellular phone terminal as a recipient's terminal, for a short period of time from the arrival of an incoming call to the start of the connection.
According to Document 1, the music and the speech which are outputted together, are provided by the telephone communication service management device, without any reference to the called party. Therefore, the telephone communication service management device may possibly output music together with speech, which the called party is not fond of.
The telephone communication service management device disclosed in Document 1 is also disadvantageous in that if a ringer melody or a ring back melody is preset, then the music, which is output after the arrival of an incoming call until the parties start to talk to each other, is different from the music, which is output while the parties are talking to each other. Therefore, the user of a cellular phone terminal can enjoy the music (a ringer melody or a ring back melody) that is preset by the user of a cellular phone terminal for a recipient's terminal, only during a short period of time after the arrival of an incoming call until the connection is established.
With the call device disclosed in Document 2, if a ringer melody or a ring back melody is preset, then the music, which is output from the arrival of an incoming call until the parties start to talk to each other, may possibly be different from the music, which is output while the parties are talking to each other. Consequently, the user of a cellular phone terminal can enjoy a ringer melody or a ring back melody, only during a short period of time after the arrival of an incoming call until the connection is established.
Another problem is that the called party who has preset a ring back melody is unable to confirm the amount of the ring back melody to which the calling party has already listened. Therefore, the called party cannot judge whether the calling party has fully enjoyed the ring back melody or not.