Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF)

Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is used for telecommunication signaling over analog telephone lines in the voice-frequency band between telephone handsets and other communicationsdevices and the switching center. When we consider dialing numbers in the telephone now days commonlyuses DTMF. Using DTMF (dual tone multi frequency) when we press a key on our phone, it generates two tones of specific frequencies. Then the signal is encoded as a pair of sinusoidal (sine wave) tones from the table below which are mixed with each other. The mixed frequency is traveled to the exchange.

DTMF

Advantages of DTMF compare to Rotary Dialing The main advantage is easy to access the phone when we are taking a call. But using rotary dialing hard to make a call. When we are taking a call, in rotary dialing we have to rotate the numbers. Rotary dial pulses cannot pass through a central exchange. It is time consuming. Normally it takes an average of about 1.5 seconds per digit, or 15 seconds for dialing a 10-digit number. But DTMF tones can pass through a central exchange. It is recognized by the register at the central exchange. A DTMF tone must be present for a minimum of 40 ms. Between two consecutive digits, a pause of 60 ms is required. Total timeneeded for transmission of one digit is about 100 ms. Compare to rotary dialing it takes very much low of time .It is more efficient than rotary dialing.

IVR Systems
IVR systems are an example ofcomputer-telephone integration (CTI). The most common way for a phone to communicate with a computer is through the tones generated by each key on the telephone keypad. These are known as dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals. Each number key on a telephone emits two simultaneous tones: one low-frequency and one highfrequency. The number one, for example, produces both a 697-Hz and a 1209-Hz tone that's universally interpreted by the public switched telephone network as a "1." A computer needs special hardware called a telephony board or telephony card to understand the DTMF signals produced by a phone. A simple IVR system only requires a computer hooked up to a phone line through a telephony board and some inexpensive IVR software. The IVR software allows you to pre-record greetings and menu options that a caller can select using his telephone keypad. More advanced IVR systems include speech-recognition software that allows a caller to communicate with a computer using simple voice commands. Speech recognition software has become sophisticated enough to understand names and long strings of numbers -- perhaps a credit card or flight number. On the other end of the phone call, an organization can employ text-to-speech (TTS) software to fully automate its outgoing messages. Instead of recording all of the possible responses to a customer query, the computer can generate customized text-like account balances or flight times and read it back to the customer using an automated voice. Many of today's most advanced IVR systems are based on a special programming language called voice extensible markup language (vxml). Here are the basic components of a VXML-based IVR system: Telephone network -- Incoming and outgoing phone calls are routed through the regular Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or over a VoIP network. TCP/IP network -- A standard Internet network, like the ones that provide Internet and intranet connectivity in an office. VXML telephony server -- This special server sits between the phone network and the Internet network. It serves as an interpreter, or gateway, so that callers can interface with the IVR software and access information on databases. The server also contains the software that controls functions like text-to-speech, voice recognition and DTMF recognition. Web/application server -- This is where the IVR software applications live. There might be several different applications on the same server: one for customer service, one for outgoing sales calls, one for voice-to-text transcription. All of these application are written in VXML. The Web/application server is connected to the VXML telephony server over the TCP/IP network. Databases -- Databases contain real-time information that can be accessed by the IVR applications. If you call your credit card company and want to know your current balance, the IVR application retrieves the current balance total from a database. Same for flight arrival times, movie times, et cetera. One or more databases can be linked to the Web/application server over the TCP/IP network.