Notification Management Device, Notification Management Method, Program

Abstract

To provide a notification management device capable of reducing a load to be imposed on confirmation processing.SOLUTION: Allocated carrier information in which telephone numbers and carrier identification information for identifying common carriers are associated is acquired. When carrier identification information corresponding to a telephone number to be confirmed is obtained from the allocated carrier information, it is determine whether it is possible to perform notification to a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed being set as an address, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from the processing device of a common carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information with a telephone number to be confirmed being set as a destination, and it is determined whether it is possible to preform notification to the user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed being set as an address, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted with the telephone number to be confirmed from the processing device of a common carrier different from the common carrier indicated by the carrier identification information which is associated in the allocated carrier information with a telephone number determined to be impossible to be notified.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a notification management device, a notification management method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] With the development of computer and communication network technologies such as the Internet, technologies for notifying information using a messaging service have been developed. The messaging service is a mechanism for transmitting and receiving messages and the like using functions such as, for example, RCS (Rich Communication Services), SMS (Short Message Service), and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). RCS is a standard for realizing an instant messenger for terminal devices such as mobile phones and smartphones at the terminal level, and uses a telephone number as identification information of a communication destination user. Also, in RCS, the upper limit of the number of characters that can be transmitted is set larger than that of conventional SMS and MMS.

[0003] When transmitting a message using RCS, application software corresponding to RCS (hereinafter, referred to as an RCS application) needs to be installed on the terminal device. However, RCS applications are not necessarily installed on all terminal devices. Therefore, in order to check whether it is installed, a confirmation process is performed by transmitting a confirmation signal from a system of a telecommunications carrier (hereinafter, referred to as a carrier) to the terminal device. When an RCS application is installed on the terminal device, and a confirmation signal is transmitted from the carrier corresponding to the telephone number of the terminal device to the terminal device and a response signal can be obtained from the terminal device, it is understood that the RCS application is installed on the terminal device.

[0004] Here, in a terminal device such as a mobile phone or a smartphone, there are multiple carriers. Therefore, in order to confirm whether an RCS application is installed in the terminal device, it is necessary for the terminal device to send a confirmation signal from the communication system of the carrier with which it has a contract.

[0005] However, in recent years, mobile number portability (hereinafter referred to as MNP (Mobile Number Portability)) has been used, and there are cases where the carrier is changed without changing the mobile phone number. When the carrier is changed due to MNP, it is difficult for a third party other than the current carrier to grasp which the current carrier is. Therefore, when a third party sends a message to the user's terminal device using RCS, it may be necessary to have the above-mentioned confirmation signal sent from each carrier to the terminal device, and while identifying the carrier corresponding to the phone number of the terminal device, confirm whether an RCS application is installed in the destination terminal device. As a system for confirming whether a phone number transfer is taking place, for example, there is the system of Patent Document 1. In this system, a call is made to the phone number of the mobile phone to be investigated and a connection request is made, and when the reply information for the request is a redirection disconnect message, a technique for determining the carrier of the change destination changed by MNP based on the reply information is disclosed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] However, depending on the number of terminal devices to be confirmed and the type of carrier, the load of the confirmation process increases. For example, when there are N (N is a natural number of 2 or more) types of carriers and there are M lines of telephone numbers to be checked, if the confirmation process is performed for each of the M lines from each carrier, a total of N×M times of confirmation processes will be performed. Then, the greater the number of lines to be confirmed, the greater the load on the confirmation process. Also, the greater the number of lines of the telephone numbers to be confirmed, the greater the load of requesting the confirmation process to the carrier system.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a notification management device, a notification management method, and a program capable of reducing the load on the confirmation process.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0009] In order to solve the above-described problems, one aspect of the present invention includes an allocated carrier acquisition unit that acquires allocated carrier information in which a telephone number and carrier identification information for identifying a communication carrier are associated with each other, and when carrier identification information corresponding to a telephone number to be confirmed is obtained from the allocated carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, a first determination unit that determines whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, and for a telephone number determined by the first determination unit to be not notifiable, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the allocated carrier information with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, a second determination unit that determines whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination.

[0010] In addition, one aspect of the present invention is that an assigned carrier acquisition unit acquires assigned carrier information in which a telephone number is associated with carrier identification information for identifying a communication carrier, and when a first determination unit determines that carrier identification information corresponding to a telephone number to be confirmed can be obtained from the assigned carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, it is determined whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, and for a telephone number determined by the second determination unit not to be notifiable by the first determination unit, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the assigned carrier information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, this is a notification management method for determining whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination.

[0011] In addition, one aspect of the present invention is to acquire assigned carrier information in which a telephone number is associated with carrier identification information for identifying a communication carrier, and when carrier identification information corresponding to a telephone number to be confirmed can be obtained from the assigned carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, it is determined whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, and for a telephone number determined not to be notifiable in the determination result, based on a response to a confirmation request transmitted from a processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the assigned carrier information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, it is a program for causing a computer to determine whether or not it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination.

Effects of the Invention

[0012] As described above, according to this invention, the load associated with the confirmation process can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 8

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the notification system 1 according to the embodiment. The notification system 1 includes, for example, a notification management device 10, a company server 20, a plurality of user terminals 30 (user terminals 30-1, 30-2,..., 30-N), a DB server 40, and a plurality of carrier communication systems 50 (carrier communication system 50a, carrier communication system 50b, carrier communication system 50c). When there are a plurality of carriers, the carrier communication systems 50 are provided for each carrier. Here, taking the case where there are three carriers as an example, the case where the carrier communication systems 50 are the three carrier communication systems 50a of carrier A, 50b of carrier B, and 50c of carrier C will be described. However, the number of carriers may be two or four or more. The notification management device 10, the enterprise server 20, the user terminal 30, the DB server 40, and the carrier communication system 50 are communicably connected by the communication network NW. In this example, the notification system 1 shows an example where it includes one notification management device 10, but the notification system 1 may be configured to include a plurality of notification management devices 10. Also, the notification system 1 may be configured to include a plurality of enterprise servers 20 and a plurality of DB servers 40.

[0016] The notification system 1 can notify the user terminal 30 of a message in response to a request from the enterprise server 20 by using the carrier communication system 50. The message includes the content to be notified to the user terminal 30. The content to be notified includes, for example, data such as text, still images and moving images including figures and photos such as illustrations, and sounds. When transmitting the message, the enterprise server 20 can transmit the message to the user terminal 30 from the notification management device 10 via the carrier communication system 50 by sending a notification request to the notification management device 10.

[0017] The notification management device 10 receives a notification request from the enterprise server 20. The notification request here is a signal requesting to notify the customer's user terminal 30. The notification request includes, for example, information about the requester (enterprise) that requests the notification, information about the notification destination (user) that is the destination of the notification, and information indicating the content to be notified. The configuration of the notification management device 10 will be described in detail later.

[0018] The enterprise server 20 is a server device that uses the notification system 1 to send various notifications to the user terminal 30 of the customer (user). The enterprise server 20 is used, for example, by various enterprises such as banks and insurance companies. The enterprise server 20 and the notification management device 10 may be separate devices or may be one device. The enterprise server 20 has a communication function of communicating with the notification management device 10 via the communication network NW and transmitting a notification request to the notification management device 10. The enterprise server 20 also has a control function of controlling each part within the enterprise server 20.

[0019] The content of the message notified from the enterprise server 20 to the user terminal 30 may be arbitrary. The message may be, for example, a message notifying that the insurance subscribed by the user has expired, a message notifying the billing amount of a product or service, or a message notifying a questionnaire for investigating customer satisfaction.

[0020] The user terminal 30 is one of a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC (Personal Computer), a mobile phone, a game console, a touch pad, an e-book reader, or a wearable terminal, etc., and a device to which a mobile phone number is assigned is used. Also, when an application program for performing a messaging service (such as RCS, SMS, and MMS) is installed in the user terminal 30, the user terminal 30 can perform message exchanges by executing this application program. The user terminal 30 may have a Web (web) browsing function. In this case, the user terminal 30 can refer to an external site via the communication network NW.

[0021] The user terminal 30 communicates with other devices via the communication network NW. The user terminal 30 has a communication function of receiving notifications using the messaging service from the notification management device 10 via a carrier communication system 50 or the like, a display panel for displaying the content of the notifications received from the notification management device 10, and a sound output function (such as a speaker). Further, the user terminal 30 comprehensively controls the user terminal 30. For example, it has a function of causing the display panel to display the content of the notifications from the notification management device 10, and a control function of outputting a sound by the sound output function or displaying on the display panel (for example, displaying a banner image or the like) so that the user recognizes that there is a notification. The control function can be realized, for example, by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program.

[0022] Here, the communication network NW includes the facilities of each communication carrier (carrier) as an Internet provider. As the carrier's facilities, for example, there is a carrier communication system 50. The carrier communication system 50 is a server device operated by a telecommunications carrier (communication carrier or carrier), receives a message from the notification management device 10, and distributes it to the destination user terminal 30. The carrier communication system 50 may include a carrier's switch.

[0023] The DB server 40 is a server device that stores information (allocation carrier information 420 described later) referred to when the notification management device 10 issues a notification. Figure 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the DB server 40. The DB server 40 includes, for example, a communication unit 41, a storage unit 42, and a control unit 43. The communication unit 41 communicates with the notification management device 10, external devices, etc. via the communication network NW. The storage unit 42 stores the allocation carrier information 420.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the allocated carrier information 420. The allocated carrier information 420 is information in which a telephone number of a mobile phone and carrier identification information for identifying a carrier are associated with each other. The carrier identification information in this allocated carrier information 420 is used as carrier identification information for identifying an allocated carrier (allocated carrier) as to which carrier communication system 50 of which carrier transmits a confirmation signal in a first process (a stage of transmitting a confirmation signal by the first confirmation request unit 132) when performing a confirmation process by transmitting a confirmation signal from the carrier communication system 50 to the user terminal 30. The allocated carrier may be determined in advance for each telephone number to be confirmed by arbitrarily setting a carrier. Here, the allocated carrier may be determined based on the initially designated carrier. The initially designated carrier is a carrier with which a contract is first made when attempting to make a mobile phone function as a communication device. More specifically, the initially designated carrier is a carrier designated by a public institution (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) for each telephone number as the carrier with which the mobile phone of that telephone number first makes a contract. The relationship between the telephone number and the designated carrier is publicly available, for example, on a page showing the telecommunications number designation status on the homepage of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ([searched on May 7, 2021], Internet <URL: http: / / www.soumu.go.jp / main_sosiki / joho_tsusin / top / tel_number / number_shitei.html>). In the table published on this page (hereinafter referred to as the telecommunications number designation status data), the first six digits of the telephone number are associated with the carrier corresponding to that telephone number. That is, by referring to the first six digits of the telephone number, the initially designated carrier of that telephone number can be grasped. The allocated carrier information 420 may be generated based on this telecommunications number designation status data.

[0025] The telephone number stored as the allocated carrier information 420 may be all digits of the telephone number or a part of the telephone number. When using a part of the telephone number, for example, it may be a part of the telephone number such as any number of digits (e.g., 6 digits, etc.) from the beginning of the telephone number. In FIG. 3, the case of using the first 6 digits as the telephone number is shown as an example. When the allocated carrier in the allocated carrier information 420 is based on the telecommunications number designation status data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the initial designated carrier corresponding to the telephone number in this table is stored. In the example of FIG. 3, for a telephone number whose first 6 digits from the beginning are "090XXX", the allocated carrier is Carrier A, for a telephone number whose first 6 digits from the beginning are "090YYX", the allocated carrier is Carrier B, and for a telephone number whose first 6 digits from the beginning are "090XZZ", the allocated carrier is Carrier C. Thus, the allocated carrier information may be associated with different telecommunications carriers depending on the telephone number. Also, here, the case where the carriers used as the allocated carriers are three (three carriers), namely Carrier A, Carrier B, and Carrier C, is described, but the number of carriers may be two or four or more.

[0026] Returning to FIG. 2, the control unit 43 comprehensively controls the DB server 40. The control unit 43 periodically accesses the homepage of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to determine whether the telecommunications number designation status data has been updated. When the telecommunications number designation status data has been updated, the control unit 43 downloads the data. The control unit 43 stores the downloaded data in the storage unit 42 as the allocated carrier information 420.

[0027] The download of the allocated carrier information 420 by the control unit 43 may be performed manually or automatically. In the manual case, the DB server 40 performs a download in response to an operation input from an input device provided in the DB server 40. The input device may be a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, or the like. The operation input here is, for example, the operation content of accessing a predetermined homepage by an operator or the like, or downloading data on that homepage. The input device outputs the acquired operation content to the control unit 43. The control unit 43 executes a process of accessing a predetermined homepage or downloading data on that homepage based on the operation content input from the input device, and stores it in the storage unit 42 as the assigned carrier information 420. In the automatic case, the control unit 43 accesses a predetermined homepage by executing a script stored in advance, determines whether the data on that homepage has been updated, downloads the data if it has been updated, and stores it in the storage unit 42 as the assigned carrier information 420.

[0028] Also, in this embodiment, the case where the control unit 43 of the DB server 40 downloads the telecommunications number designation status data from the homepage of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has been described as an example, but it is not limited to this. The DB server 40 may obtain data downloaded by another server device (or PC) from the other server device (or PC) and register (store) the acquired data in the storage unit 42.

[0029] When the carrier communication system 50 receives a message transmission request from the enterprise server 20 or the notification management device 10, it transmits the message with the telephone number set as the destination of the message as the destination. When the transmitted message can be normally received by the user terminal 30, the carrier communication system 50 transmits a result indicating that the message has been successfully transmitted to the telephone number set as the destination to the enterprise server 20 or the notification management device 10 that is the transmission request source. On the other hand, when the user terminal 30 cannot receive the message normally, the carrier communication system 50 transmits a result indicating that the message could not be successfully transmitted to the telephone number set as the destination to the enterprise server 20 or the notification management device 10 that is the transmission request source. The functions of the carrier communication system 50 may vary depending on the carrier in operation. For example, after transmitting a message to the telephone number set as the destination, the carrier communication system 50 pools (accumulates) it for a certain period, and if there is no response indicating that a message has been received from the user terminal 30 of the destination during that period, it may transmit a result indicating that the message has not been successfully received by the terminal device to the enterprise server 20 or the notification management device 10 that is the transmission request source. In this case, it may take a certain amount of time until the result of whether the message has been successfully transmitted reaches the enterprise server 20 or the notification management device 10. When the destination user terminal 30 has a contract with the carrier of the carrier communication system 50 itself, the carrier communication system 50 can deliver the message to the destination terminal device. When the destination user terminal 30 has a contract with a carrier different from the carrier of the carrier communication system 50 itself, the message cannot be normally received by the destination terminal device. In this embodiment, when performing the confirmation process, a case will be described where the notification management device 10 makes a transmission request to the carrier communication system 50 in response to a request from the enterprise server 20, and the transmission result is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 to the notification management device 10.

[0030] The communication network NW is a communication network including, for example, some or all of the Internet, WAN (Wide Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network), provider devices, radio base stations, dedicated lines, and the like.

[0031] The notification in the present embodiment is a process of transmitting or receiving a message to / from the user terminal 30 using a messaging service. The messaging service is a mechanism for transmitting and receiving messages using functions such as RCS, SMS, and MMS, for example. The notification is performed using, for example, the chat function of the messaging service. This notification is performed by the carrier communication system 50. When the carrier communication system 50 receives a notification request from a notification source, it uses the telephone number set as the destination and transmits the notification content. When performing the notification, if the carrier communication system 50 is the carrier communication system 50 of the current carrier of the telephone number set as the destination, it is possible to cause the user terminal 30 with the telephone number set as the destination to receive a message. On the other hand, if the carrier communication system 50 is a carrier communication system 50 of a carrier different from the current carrier of the telephone number set as the destination, it is not possible to cause the user terminal 30 with the telephone number set as the destination to receive a message. For example, when the user has not changed the carrier for the telephone number of the user terminal 30, the carrier communication system 50 of the initial designated carrier can cause the user terminal 30 to receive a message. When the user has changed the carrier for the telephone number of the user terminal 30 (when MNP is being performed), the carrier communication system 50 of the latest carrier after the change can cause the user terminal 30 to receive a message.

[0032] FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the notification management apparatus 10. The notification management apparatus 10 includes, for example, a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13. The communication unit 11 communicates with the enterprise server 20, the user terminal 30, the DB server 40, and the carrier communication system 50 via the communication network NW. The storage unit 12 stores programs executed for the functional units of the control unit 13 to perform their functions, and various data used when the programs are executed. For example, notification information 120 is stored in the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 uses, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, a RAM (Random Access Memory), or the like.

[0033] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the notification information 120. The notification information 120 is information used to perform a notification in response to a notification request notified from the enterprise server 20. The notification information 120 is created, for example, for each notification request. The notification information 120 includes, for example, items such as a message ID, a source, a destination, and a notification content.

[0034] The message ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the message to be notified. The source is information regarding the source. For example, an ID, a name, and an account are shown for the source. The ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the enterprise or the like of the source. The account is an account of a messaging service used for a notification from the enterprise or the like corresponding to the ID. The destination is information regarding the destination, and for example, a user ID and a phone number are shown. The user ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the user of the destination. The phone number is the phone number of the user terminal 30 of the user corresponding to the user ID. The notification content is information regarding the content to be notified to the user, and includes items such as the notification date and time, notification title, and notification text. The notification date and time is the date and time when the message requested from the requester is scheduled to be notified. The notification title is the title of the message to be notified. The notification text shows the text message to be notified. The notification content may include not only the notification text but also data such as images and sounds to be notified.

[0035] In the example of this figure, the company name of the requester of the message ID "M0001" is "Company X", and the account of the messaging service of Company X is "xxxxx". The user ID of the notification destination is "U0001", and the phone number of the user is "090XXX…".

[0036] Returning to FIG. 4, the control unit 13 includes an assigned carrier acquisition unit 130, a first determination unit 131, a first confirmation request unit 132, a second determination unit 133, and a second confirmation request unit 134. The assigned carrier acquisition unit 130 acquires assigned carrier information in which a phone number and carrier identification information for identifying a telecommunications carrier are associated. When acquiring the assigned carrier information, for example, the assigned carrier acquisition unit 130 acquires the assigned carrier information 420 from the storage unit 42 of the DB server 40. Also, when acquiring the assigned carrier information, the assigned carrier acquisition unit 130 may acquire the telecommunications number designation status data from the homepage of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, or may acquire the assigned carrier information stored in another storage device or server. Further, when the assigned carrier information is stored in the storage unit 12 of the notification management device 10, it may be acquired from the storage unit 12.

[0037] When the carrier identification information corresponding to the phone number to be confirmed is obtained from the assigned carrier information, the first determination unit 131 determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination based on the response to the confirmation signal transmitted with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination from the processing device of the telecommunications carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information. Here, the processing device of the telecommunications carrier is, for example, the carrier communication system 50. When the first determination unit 131 obtains a result (response) indicating that the notification has ended normally from the processing device of the communication carrier, it determines that the communication carrier can notify the destination user terminal. When the first determination unit 131 obtains a result (response) indicating that the notification has not ended normally from the processing device of the communication carrier, it determines that the communication carrier cannot notify the destination user terminal.

[0038] Here, the telephone number to be confirmed is, for example, the telephone number set as the notification destination included in the notification information for which a message transmission request has been made from the enterprise server 20. That is, in response to receiving a message transmission request from the enterprise server 20, before transmitting this message itself, the first confirmation request unit 132 causes the processing device of the communication carrier to transmit a confirmation signal to the telephone number set as the notification destination of the message, and makes a determination based on the response. By transmitting a message transmission request to the notification management device 10 together with the notification information, the enterprise server 20 can have the confirmation process performed by the notification management device 10 even if the enterprise server 20 itself does not know which carrier corresponds to the telephone number of the user terminal 30, and then have the message transmitted to the user terminal 30. Also, when the enterprise server 20 cannot transmit a message to the user terminal 30 from any of the carrier communication systems 50, it can receive a result indicating that it cannot transmit from the notification management device 10. Thereby, the person in charge of message transmission in the enterprise server 20 can consider whether to transmit the message using another route instead of using RCS for message transmission (for example, whether to transmit a message using SMS, etc.).

[0039] When the first confirmation request unit 132 performs the determination process by the first determination unit 131 for each of a plurality of telephone numbers to be confirmed, it refers to the assigned carrier information for each telephone number to be confirmed to identify the carrier identification information, and sends a confirmation request as to whether it is possible to notify each processing device of the communication carrier corresponding to the identified carrier identification information, so as to cause the processing devices of each communication carrier to perform the confirmation process in parallel. Since the first confirmation request unit 132 causes the carrier communication systems 50 of the respective communication carriers to perform the confirmation process in parallel, when the first determination unit 131 makes a determination, it is possible to cause the processing devices of the respective communication carriers to perform the confirmation process as to whether notification is possible in parallel. As a result, the confirmation process can be advanced without waiting for the result of the confirmation process in the carrier communication system 50 of another carrier, and it is possible to prevent the time required for the confirmation process from being prolonged.

[0040] The confirmation request transmitted by the first confirmation request unit 132 may be a signal for requesting the carrier communication system 50 to transmit a confirmation signal to the user terminal 30. The confirmation request may be, for example, a confirmation signal. More specifically, the first confirmation request unit 132 generates a confirmation signal to be notified to the user terminal 30 based on a transmission request from the enterprise server 20, and causes the confirmation process to be performed by transmitting the confirmation signal to the processing device of the communication carrier. When causing the processing device of the communication carrier to perform the confirmation process, the first confirmation request unit 132 may use a message without the content of the message described (for example, without putting text data or the like) as the confirmation signal.

[0041] Based on the response to the confirmation signal sent with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination from a processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the assigned carrier information for the telephone number determined by the first determination unit 131 not to be notifiable, the second determination unit 133 determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination. The second determination unit 133 receives a result (response) representing the result of the confirmation process from the processing device of the communications carrier, and based on this result, determines whether notification is possible. When the second determination unit 133 obtains a result (response) indicating that the notification has ended normally from the processing device of the communications carrier, it determines that notification is possible to the destination user terminal from that communications carrier. When the second determination unit 133 obtains a result (response) indicating that the notification has not ended normally from the processing device of the communications carrier, it determines that notification cannot be made to the destination user terminal from that communications carrier.

[0042] When the second confirmation request unit 134 performs the determination process by the second determination unit 133, for a plurality of telephone numbers determined by the first determination unit 131 as not being notifiable, it respectively identifies communications carriers different from the communications carrier associated in the assigned carrier information, and by sending a confirmation request as to whether notification is possible to the processing devices of the respectively identified communications carriers, causes the processing devices of the respective communications carriers to perform the confirmation process in parallel. Since the second confirmation request unit 134 causes the confirmation process to be performed in parallel on the carrier communication systems 50 of the respective communications carriers, when the second determination unit 133 makes a determination, it is possible to cause the processing devices of the respective communications carriers to perform the confirmation process as to whether notification is possible in parallel. Thereby, the confirmation process can be advanced without waiting for the result of the confirmation process in the carrier communication system 50 of another carrier, and it is possible to prevent the time taken for the confirmation process from being prolonged.

[0043] The second confirmation request unit 134 generates a confirmation signal for a telephone number determined by the first determination unit 131 as not being notifiable, and causes the confirmation process to be performed by sending the confirmation signal to the processing device of the communications carrier. When the second confirmation request unit 134 causes the communications device of the communications carrier to perform the confirmation process, it may use, as the confirmation signal, a message in which the content of the message is not described (for example, without putting text data or the like).

[0044] FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the notification management device 10. The communication unit 11 of the notification management device 10 receives notification information and a message transmission request from the enterprise server 20 (step S101). When receiving the notification information and the message transmission request from the enterprise server 20, the assigned carrier acquisition unit 130 acquires the assigned carrier information 420 from the DB server 40 (step S102). The first confirmation request unit 132 extracts the phone number set as the notification destination included in the notification information transmitted from the enterprise server 20, uses the extracted phone number as the phone number to be confirmed, and specifies the assigned carrier corresponding to this phone number to be confirmed with reference to the assigned carrier information (step S103). For example, the first confirmation request unit 132 determines whether the phone number to be confirmed is registered as the assigned carrier information 420, and if it is registered, specifies the carrier associated with the phone number registered as the assigned carrier information 420 to identify the assigned carrier. Here, when the phone number registered as the assigned carrier information 420 is part of the phone number to be confirmed (for example, the first 6 digits from the beginning), among the phone number to be confirmed, the number that matches is identified by referring to the digits to be determined (for example, the number of the first 6 digits from the beginning), and the assigned carrier is identified by specifying the carrier corresponding to the identified number. Here, the transmission request received from the enterprise server 20 may be a request to transmit notification information to one user terminal 30, or may be a request to transmit notification information to a plurality of user terminals 30 respectively. In the case of a transmission request for a plurality of user terminals 30, the first confirmation request unit 132 specifies the assigned carrier for each phone number set as the notification destination.

[0045] When the assigned carrier is specified, the first confirmation request unit 132 makes a request to transmit a confirmation signal to the carrier communication system 50 of the specified assigned carrier, using the phone number used to specify the assigned carrier as the destination (step S104). For the confirmation signal transmitted here, a message that does not include text data or the like in the message body can be used. The first confirmation request unit 132 sends a confirmation signal to the carrier communication system 50 of the assigned carrier corresponding to each of the telephone numbers to be confirmed. If there are multiple telephone numbers to be confirmed and each telephone number has a contract with a different carrier, multiple types of assigned carriers, such as carrier A, carrier B, and carrier C, may be obtained. In such a case, the first confirmation request unit 132 requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A to send a confirmation signal with the telephone number whose assigned carrier is carrier A as the notification destination. Similarly, the first confirmation request unit 132 requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier B to send a confirmation signal with the telephone number whose assigned carrier is carrier B as the notification destination, and requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier C to send a confirmation signal with the telephone number whose assigned carrier is carrier C as the notification destination.

[0046] Based on the transmission request received from the notification management device 10, the carrier communication system 50 sends a confirmation signal with the telephone number set as the destination, and determines whether a response signal is obtained from the user terminal 30 of the transmission destination. The carrier communication system 50 sends the transmission result of whether a response signal is obtained for each of the telephone numbers of the notification destination to the notification management device 10. Depending on the specifications of the carrier communication system 50, the result of the confirmation process performed up to a certain period may be retained for a certain period, and when there is a confirmation request from the notification management device 10, the confirmation result may be sent to the notification management device 10 based on the retained data. Here, the transmission results are sent from the carrier communication systems 50 of carrier A, carrier B, and carrier C to the notification management device 10.

[0047] The first determination unit 131 of the notification management device 10 receives the transmission result from the carrier communication system 50 (step S105). Here, the transmission results are received from the carrier communication systems 50 of the three carriers respectively. Based on this transmission result, the first determination unit 131 determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S106). When there are multiple phone numbers to be confirmed, the first determination unit 131 performs the determination process for each phone number. Based on the determination result of the first determination unit 131, when it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S106 - YES), the control unit 13 transmits a message with the phone number determined to be possible as the destination (step S107). Then, the control unit 13 ends the process for the phone number for which the message has been transmitted. If there is a phone number for which the message has not been transmitted, the process is performed from step S108 for that phone number. When it is not possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S106 - NO), the control unit 13 does not transmit a message with that phone number as the destination.

[0048] For the multiple phone numbers determined by the first determination unit 131 to be not notifiable, the second confirmation request unit 134 respectively identifies communication carriers different from the communication carrier associated in the assigned carrier information, and sends a request to transmit a confirmation signal to the carrier communication system 50 of each identified communication carrier with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S108). In response to this transmission request, a confirmation signal is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of each carrier for which the transmission request has been made, and the result is transmitted to the notification management device 10. Based on the transmission results obtained from each carrier communication system 50, the second determination unit 133 determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S109). When there are multiple phone numbers to be confirmed, the second determination unit 133 performs the determination process for each phone number.

[0049] When it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination based on the determination result of the second determination unit 133 (step S109 - YES), the control unit 13 transmits a message with the determined phone number as the destination (step S110). Then, the control unit 13 finishes the processing for the phone number for which the message has been transmitted. When it is not possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination (step S109 - NO), the control unit 13 does not transmit a message with that phone number as the destination. Then, the control unit 13 performs processing corresponding to the fact that the message could not be notified for the phone number for which the message could not be notified to the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination in step S109 (step S111). For example, if it is predetermined to transmit a message using SMS for the phone number for which the message could not be notified, the control unit 13 transmits a message using SMS for the phone number for which the message could not be notified. Alternatively, the control unit 13 may transmit information notifying the phone number for which the message could not be notified to the enterprise server 20, or may output an instruction to print and deliver the message to a printed medium. In this flowchart, the case where there are three carriers has been described. However, even when there are four or more carriers, for the phone number to be confirmed, in the first process, a confirmation process is performed for one carrier using the assigned carrier information 420, and for the phone number for which the notification could not be made, a confirmation process may be performed in the second process for the remaining carriers. Also, when there are four or more carriers, in the first process, a confirmation process is performed for one carrier using the assigned carrier information 420, a part of the remaining carriers is subjected to a confirmation process by the second process, and for the phone number for which the notification could not be made in the first process and the second process, as the third process, a confirmation process may be performed for the carriers for which the confirmation process has not been performed. That is, when the number of carriers is large, the number of stages of the confirmation process may be increased according to the number of carriers.

[0050] Next, an explanation will be given regarding the reduction of the load for performing the confirmation process by the above-described configuration. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the relationship between the order of the confirmation process and the number of telephone numbers to be confirmed. When the enterprise server 20 receives the notification information and the message transmission request, the assigned carrier acquisition unit 130 acquires the assigned carrier information 420. Here, a case where the number of lines of the telephone number for which the transmission request has been made as the transmission target of the message is 300 will be described as an example. The first confirmation request unit 132 specifies the assigned carrier corresponding to the telephone number to be confirmed with reference to the assigned carrier information, and distributes according to the assigned carrier for each telephone number (reference numeral 200). Here, when there are three types of assigned carriers, carrier A, carrier B, and carrier C, and in the assigned carrier information 420, these three carriers are evenly assigned to 300 lines of telephone numbers, when the carriers are distributed based on the assigned carrier information 420, 100 lines (reference numeral 211) are assigned to carrier A, 100 lines (reference numeral 221) are assigned to carrier B, and 100 lines (reference numeral 231) are assigned to carrier C.

[0051] The first confirmation request unit 132 requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A to transmit a confirmation signal for each of the 100 lines assigned to carrier A with each telephone number as the notification destination. Then, when receiving the result of the notification from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A, the first determination unit 131 performs a determination process based on the received result. Here, as an example, it is assumed that among the 100 lines to be confirmed in carrier A, 20 lines are determined to be notifiable in carrier A (reference numeral 212), and 80 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 213). The 20 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to the user terminals 30 in which the carrier currently having a contract for the telephone number is carrier A and the RCS application is installed in the user terminal 30. For the 20 lines determined to be notifiable in carrier A, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A (reference numeral 214) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30. The 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in Carrier A correspond to user terminals 30 for which the currently contracted carrier for the telephone number is not Carrier A or for which the RCS application is not installed on the user terminal 30.

[0052] Also, similarly, for the 100 lines allocated to Carrier B, the first confirmation request unit 132 transmits a confirmation signal from the carrier communication system 50 of Carrier B and receives the notification result. The first determination unit 131 performs determination processing based on the received result. Here, similar to Carrier A, out of the 100 lines to be confirmed in Carrier B, 20 lines are determined to be notifiable in Carrier B (reference numeral 222), and 80 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 223). The 20 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to user terminals 30 for which the currently contracted carrier for the telephone number is Carrier B and for which the RCS application is installed on the user terminal 30. For these 20 lines, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of Carrier B (reference numeral 224) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30.

[0053] Also, similarly, for the 100 lines allocated to Carrier C, the first confirmation request unit 132 transmits a confirmation signal from the carrier communication system 50 of Carrier C and receives the notification result. The first determination unit 131 performs determination processing based on the received result. Here, similar to Carrier A, out of the 100 lines to be confirmed in Carrier C, 20 lines are determined to be notifiable in Carrier C (reference numeral 232), and 80 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 233). The 20 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to user terminals 30 for which the currently contracted carrier for the telephone number is Carrier C and for which the RCS application is installed on the user terminal 30. For these 20 lines, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of Carrier C (reference numeral 234) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30.

[0054] By performing the first process up to the carrier allocation and the determination of notifiability so far, it can be confirmed that out of 300 lines, 60 lines (a total of 60 lines including 20 lines of carrier A, 20 lines of carrier B, and 20 lines of carrier C) are notifiable. Therefore, in the following second process, a confirmation process is performed for the remaining 240 lines.

[0055] When the second process is started, the second confirmation request unit 134 causes the carrier communication systems 50 of carrier B and carrier C to transmit a confirmation signal for 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier A. Similarly, the second confirmation request unit 134 causes the carrier communication systems 50 of carrier A and carrier C to transmit a confirmation signal for 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier B, and causes the carrier communication systems 50 of carrier A and carrier B to transmit a confirmation signal for 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier C. In this case, in carrier A, a confirmation process is performed for a total of 160 lines, which is the sum of 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier B and 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier C (reference numeral 240). Similarly, in carrier B, a confirmation process is performed for a total of 160 lines, which is the sum of 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier A and 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier C (reference numeral 250). Also, in carrier C, a confirmation process is performed for a total of 160 lines, which is the sum of 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier A and 80 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier B (reference numeral 260).

[0056] The second confirmation request unit 134 requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A to transmit a confirmation signal for 160 lines allocated to carrier A, with each telephone number as the notification destination. Similarly, the second confirmation request unit 134 requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier B to transmit a confirmation signal for 160 lines allocated to carrier B, with each telephone number as the notification destination, and requests the carrier communication system 50 of carrier C to transmit a confirmation signal for 160 lines allocated to carrier C, with each telephone number as the notification destination.

[0057] When the second determination unit 133 receives the notification result from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A, it performs a determination process based on the received result (reference numeral 241). Here, as an example, out of the 160 lines to be confirmed in carrier A, 10 lines are determined to be notifiable in carrier A (reference numeral 242), and it is assumed that 150 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 243). The 10 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to user terminals 30 in which the carrier currently contracted for the telephone number has been changed from carrier B or carrier C to carrier A by MNP, and the RCS application is installed in the user terminal 30. For the 10 lines determined to be notifiable in carrier A, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A (reference numeral 244) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30.

[0058] Also, when the second determination unit 133 receives the notification result from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier B, it performs a determination process based on the received result (reference numeral 251). Here, as an example, out of the 160 lines to be confirmed in carrier B, 10 lines are determined to be notifiable in carrier B (reference numeral 252), and it is assumed that 150 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 253). The 10 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to user terminals 30 in which the carrier currently contracted for the telephone number has been changed from carrier A or carrier C to carrier B by MNP, and the RCS application is installed in the user terminal 30. For the 10 lines determined to be notifiable in carrier B, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier B (reference numeral 254) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30.

[0059] Further, the second determination unit 133 receives the result of the notification from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier C, and performs a determination process based on the received result (reference numeral 261). Here, as an example, out of the 160 lines to be confirmed in carrier C, 10 lines are determined to be notifiable in carrier C (reference numeral 262), and 150 lines are determined to be non-notifiable (reference numeral 263). The 10 lines determined to be notifiable correspond to user terminals 30 in which the carrier currently contracting for the telephone number has been changed from carrier A or carrier B to carrier C by MNP, and the RCS application is installed in the user terminal 30. For the 10 lines determined to be notifiable in carrier C, a message is transmitted from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier C (reference numeral 264) and is normally received by the destination user terminal 30.

[0060] Here, for the 150 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier A, the 150 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier B, and the 150 lines determined to be non-notifiable in carrier C, it is considered that they correspond to any of the following. (1) When the carrier currently contracting for the telephone number is not any of carrier A, carrier B, and carrier C (2) When the RCS application is not installed in the user terminal 30 (3) When, in the second process, confirmation processing is performed for two carriers for one telephone number, and it is determined to be notifiable in one carrier and non-notifiable in the other carrier For such telephone numbers, since messages cannot be notified using RCS, for example, processes such as notifying messages using SMS (reference numeral 270) are performed. The number of lines of telephone numbers for which messages are notified using SMS is 210 lines, excluding the 60 lines determined to be notifiable in the first process and the 30 lines determined to be notifiable in the second process out of 300 lines.

[0061] Here, focusing on carrier A, since the confirmation process is performed for 100 lines in the first process and for 160 lines in the second process, the confirmation process is performed for a total of 260 lines. Similarly, for carrier B, the confirmation process is performed for 100 lines in the first process and for 160 lines in the second process, so the confirmation process is performed for a total of 260 lines. For carrier C as well, the confirmation process is performed for 100 lines in the first process and for 160 lines in the second process, so the confirmation process is performed for a total of 260 lines. Here, conventionally, if there are 300 lines of telephone numbers to be confirmed, the confirmation process is performed for 300 lines for carrier A, 300 lines for carrier B, and 300 lines for carrier C, respectively. Then, according to the above-described embodiment, for carrier A, the confirmation process can be reduced from that for 300 lines to that for 260 lines. Similarly, for carrier B, the confirmation process can be reduced from 300 lines to 260 lines, and for carrier C as well, the confirmation process can be reduced from 300 lines to 260 lines. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when performing the confirmation process, the load on the carrier communication system 50 can be reduced. Also, the confirmation process can be performed efficiently.

[0062] Also, conventionally, the notification management device 10 needs to request the transmission of confirmation signals for a total of 900 lines, i.e., 300 lines for carrier A, 300 lines for carrier B, and 300 lines for carrier C. However, according to the above-described embodiment, it is only necessary to request the transmission of confirmation signals for a total of 780 lines, i.e., 300 lines in the first process (a total of 300 lines including 100 lines for carrier A, 100 lines for carrier B, and 100 lines for carrier C) and 480 lines in the second process (a total of 480 lines including 160 lines for carrier A, 160 lines for carrier B, and 160 lines for carrier C). Therefore, the load on the notification management device 10 for requesting the transmission of confirmation signals can also be reduced.

[0063] In the example of FIG. 7, the case where the allocation carrier information 420 for equally distributing 300 telephone lines to three carriers is used has been described. However, it may not be equal, and any one of the carriers may be set to be more.

[0064] Also, according to the above-described embodiment, in the first process, since the confirmation process is performed in parallel for each of the carrier communication systems 50 of the plurality of allocated carriers obtained by the allocation carrier information 420, waste can be reduced and the confirmation process can be efficiently performed.

[0065] Also, in the above-described embodiment, in the first process, the confirmation process is performed only for one carrier for one telephone number, and for the telephone number that becomes non-notifiable in the confirmation process, the second process is performed. It is also possible not to shift to the second process until the confirmation process for all carriers is completed in this first process, and for the telephone number for which the first process has ended, the second process may be executed without waiting for the completion of the confirmation process for other carriers. Thereby, the confirmation process can be efficiently performed.

[0066] Also, in the above-described embodiment, in the second process, the confirmation process for each carrier can be efficiently performed by performing the confirmation process for each carrier in parallel without waiting for the confirmation process for other carriers to end. In this case, it is possible to suppress the extension of the time until both the first process and the second process are completed. Also, the confirmation process for each carrier may not be performed in parallel for each carrier, but in the second process, the confirmation process is performed for a certain carrier, and after the confirmation process for that carrier is completed, the confirmation process for the remaining carriers is performed in order. In this case, when the second confirmation request unit 134 performs the determination process by the second determination unit 133, for each carrier, in a predetermined order, a confirmation request as to whether it is possible to notify the processing device of the communication carrier is transmitted. The predetermined order may be an arbitrarily determined order, an order in which the number of lines requiring confirmation processing is large, or an order in which the number is small.

[0067] When the second confirmation request unit 134 transmits a confirmation request to carriers after the second one in the predetermined order, among the telephone numbers determined in the first determination unit 131 not to be notifiable in the processing device of a communication carrier different from the said communication carrier, a confirmation request is transmitted for the telephone numbers not determined to be notifiable until one before the predetermined order of the second process.

[0068] FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a case where confirmation processing is performed for each carrier in a predetermined order in the second process. In FIG. 8, the same parts as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, since the first process is the same as that in FIG. 7, the description thereof is omitted.

[0069] When the second determination unit 133 receives the notification result from the carrier communication system 50 of carrier A, it performs a determination process based on the received result (reference numeral 241). Here, as an example, the number of lines to be confirmed in the second process of carrier A is 160 lines. These 160 lines include the following lines (1) and (2). (1) 80 lines determined not to be notifiable in the first process in carrier B (2) 80 lines determined not to be notifiable in the first process in carrier C

[0070] Here, it is assumed that 10 lines out of the 160 lines to be confirmed are determined to be notifiable in carrier A (reference numeral 242), and the remaining 150 lines are determined to be notifiable (reference numeral 245). The 10 lines determined to be notifiable include the following (3) and (4). (3) 5 lines out of the 80 lines determined not to be notifiable in the first process in carrier B (4) Among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process in carrier C, 5 lines The 150 non - notifiable lines include the following (5) and (6). (5) Among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process in carrier B, 75 lines (6) Among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process in carrier C, 75 lines

[0071] Next, the second confirmation request unit 134 targets carrier B, which is the second in the predetermined order, for the second process, and sends a confirmation request to carrier B. Here, the number of lines to be confirmed in the second process of carrier B is 155 lines. These 155 lines include the following lines (7) and (8). (7) 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of carrier A (8) Among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of carrier C, 75 lines that were made non - notifiable in the second process of carrier A

[0072] Here, although the number of lines to be confirmed in the second process of carrier B shown in FIG. 7 is 160 lines, in this embodiment, it can be reduced to 155 lines. This is because the 5 lines that were made notifiable in the second process of carrier A can be excluded from the confirmation targets. Thereby, the load of the confirmation process in the second process of carrier B can be reduced.

[0073] Next, assuming that among the 155 lines to be confirmed, 10 lines are determined to be notifiable in carrier B (reference numeral 252), and the remaining 145 lines are determined to be non - notifiable (reference numeral 256). The 10 notifiable lines include the following (9) and (10). (9) 5 lines among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of carrier A (10) 5 lines among the 75 lines that were made non - notifiable in the second process of carrier A among the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of carrier C

[0074] The 145 lines for which notification is not allowed include the following (11) and (12). (11) 75 out of the 80 lines for which notification is not allowed in the first process in Carrier A (12) 70 out of the 75 lines for which notification is not allowed in the first process in Carrier C and also not allowed in the second process in Carrier A

[0075] Next, the second confirmation request unit 134 targets Carrier C, which is the third in the predetermined order, for the second process, and transmits a confirmation request to Carrier C. Here, the number of lines to be confirmed in the second process of Carrier C is 150 lines. These 150 lines include the following lines (13) and (14). (13) 75 out of the 80 lines for which notification is not allowed in the first process in Carrier B and also not allowed in the second process in Carrier A (14) 75 out of the 80 lines for which notification is not allowed in the first process in Carrier A and also not allowed in the second process in Carrier B

[0076] Here, the number of lines to be confirmed in the second process in Carrier C shown in FIG. 7 is 160 lines, but in this embodiment, it can be reduced to 150 lines. This is because 5 lines that are notifiable in the second process of Carrier A and 5 lines that are notifiable in the second process of Carrier B can be excluded from the confirmation targets. Thereby, the load of the confirmation process in the second process of Carrier C can be reduced.

[0077] Next, assume that out of the 150 lines to be confirmed, 10 lines are determined to be notifiable in Carrier C (reference numeral 262), and the remaining 140 lines are determined to be non - notifiable (reference numeral 266). The 10 lines for which notification is allowed include the following (15) and (16). (15) 5 out of the 75 lines for which notification is not allowed in the first process in Carrier A and also not allowed in the second process in Carrier B Of the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of Carrier B, 5 lines out of the 75 lines that were made non - notifiable in the second process of Carrier A

[0078] The 140 lines that were made non - notifiable include the following (17) and (18). (17) 70 lines out of the 75 lines that were made non - notifiable in the second process of Carrier B out of the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of Carrier A (18) 70 lines out of the 75 lines that were made non - notifiable in the second process of Carrier A out of the 80 lines that were made non - notifiable in the first process of Carrier B

[0079] For the phone numbers that were made non - notifiable in the second process for any carrier, since message notification using RCS cannot be performed, for example, processing such as notifying a message using SMS (reference numeral 270) is performed. The number of lines for which messages are notified using SMS is the same 210 lines in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 and the embodiment shown in FIG. 7. However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the load on the carriers that perform the confirmation process second and later in the second process can be reduced.

[0080] In the embodiments described above, a confirmation process may be performed each time a message transmission request is received from the enterprise server 20. When transmitting a message to the same phone number as last time, the result of the previous confirmation process may be used as it is. However, when a new RCS app is installed on the user terminal 30, when the RCS app is deleted from the user terminal 30, when the carrier of the user terminal 30 is changed due to MNP, etc., are considered. In such cases, the result may not be the same as that of the previous confirmation process. Therefore, the confirmation process may be performed again according to the timing of message transmission. For example, when messages are transmitted at predetermined intervals, the confirmation process may be performed each time a message is transmitted. Even when the confirmation process is performed each time a message is transmitted, according to the above-described embodiments, the confirmation process can be performed while reducing the burden on the carrier side.

[0081] All or part of the notification management device 10 in the above-described embodiment may be implemented by a computer. In that case, a program for realizing this function may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on this recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed to realize it. Here, the "computer system" is assumed to include hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. Further, the "computer-readable recording medium" refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, etc., and a storage device such as a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Furthermore, the "computer-readable recording medium" refers to something that dynamically holds a program for a short time, like a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, and may also include something that holds a program for a certain period of time, like a volatile memory inside a computer system that serves as a server or a client in that case. Also, the above program may be for realizing a part of the aforementioned functions, and may further be realizable in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system for the aforementioned functions, or may be realized using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA.

[0082] As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and designs and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention are also included.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0083] 1... Notification system, 10... Notification management device, 11, 41... Communication unit, 12, 42... Storage unit, 13, 43... Control unit, 20... Enterprise server, 30, 30-1, 30-2... User terminal, 40... DB server, 50, 50a, 50b, 50c... Carrier communication system, 120... Notification information, 130... Allocated carrier acquisition unit, 131... First determination unit, 132... First confirmation request unit, 133... Second determination unit, 134... Second confirmation request unit

Claims

1. An assigned carrier acquisition unit that acquires assigned carrier information in which carrier identification information for identifying a telephone number and a carrier is associated; When carrier identification information corresponding to a telephone number to be confirmed is obtained from the assigned carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, a first determination unit that determines whether it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination; For a telephone number determined by the first determination unit not to be notifiable, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted from a processing device of a carrier different from the carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the assigned carrier information to the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination, a second determination unit that determines whether it is possible to notify a user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination; A notification management device having the above.

2. In the assigned carrier information, different carriers are associated with the telephone number; The notification management device When performing the determination process by the first determination unit for each of a plurality of telephone numbers to be confirmed, for each of the telephone numbers to be confirmed, refers to the assigned carrier information to specify carrier identification information, and transmits a confirmation request as to whether it is possible to notify to the processing device of the carrier corresponding to each specified carrier identification information, thereby causing the processing devices of the respective carriers to perform confirmation processing in parallel, and having a first confirmation request unit; The notification management device according to Claim 1.

3. When performing the determination process by the second determination unit, for a plurality of telephone numbers determined by the first determination unit not to be notifiable, different carriers from the carriers associated in the assigned carrier information are specified respectively, and a confirmation request as to whether it is possible to notify is transmitted to the processing device of each specified carrier, thereby causing the processing devices of the respective carriers to perform confirmation processing in parallel, and having a second confirmation request unit; The notification management device according to Claim 1 or Claim 2.

4. When performing the determination process by the second determination unit, for a plurality of telephone numbers determined by the first determination unit as not notifiable, different communication carriers associated with each other in the assigned carrier information are respectively specified, and for each specified communication carrier, in a predetermined order, a confirmation request as to whether the communication carrier is notifiable is transmitted to the processing device of the communication carrier. When transmitting a confirmation request to the communication carriers after the second one in the predetermined order, there is a second confirmation request unit that transmits a confirmation request for telephone numbers that have not been determined as notifiable up to one before in the predetermined order among the telephone numbers determined by the first determination unit as not notifiable by the processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier. The notification management device according to claim 1 or claim 2.

5. An assigned carrier acquisition unit acquires assigned carrier information in which a telephone number and carrier identification information for identifying a communication carrier are associated with each other. When the first determination unit obtains carrier identification information corresponding to the telephone number to be confirmed from the assigned carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination from the processing device of the communication carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information, it determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination. The second determination unit determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination from the processing device of a communication carrier different from the communication carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated with each other in the assigned carrier information for the telephone number determined by the first determination unit as not notifiable. Notification management method.

6. Acquire assigned carrier information in which a telephone number and carrier identification information for identifying a communication carrier are associated with each other. When carrier identification information corresponding to the telephone number to be confirmed is obtained from the assigned carrier information, based on a response to a confirmation signal transmitted with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination from the processing device of the communication carrier corresponding to the obtained carrier identification information, it determines whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the telephone number to be confirmed as the destination. Based on the response to the confirmation signal sent with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination from a processing device of a telecommunications carrier different from the telecommunications carrier indicated by the carrier identification information associated in the assigned carrier information, for the phone number determined not to be notifiable in the determination result, determine whether it is possible to notify the user terminal with the phone number to be confirmed as the destination. A program that causes a computer to execute this.

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