Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection – With interexchange network routing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-05
2004-03-30
Tieu, Benny (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
With interexchange network routing
C379S142010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06714639
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications. More specifically, the present invention relates to the field of providing telephone services to telephone subscribers in the context of local number portability.
2. Background of the Invention
Historically, the telephone service infrastructure has been based on the concept that groups of telephone numbers are assigned to a particular switch. These assignments provided predictability in determining where a telephone number was homed, and where information relating to that telephone number could be obtained. Under this system, if a telephone subscriber changed his or her telephone service, requiring a telephone number in an area served by another switch, that telephone subscriber would be issued a new telephone number, which would be homed on the switch servicing the subscriber's new area. Such changes could occur for a number of reasons including, for example, the telephone subscriber moving from one telephone company to another telephone company. As can be imagined, changing a telephone subscriber's telephone number caused the telephone subscriber significant inconvenience including, for example, the burden of informing others of the telephone number change.
To avoid this inconvenience, local number portability (LNP) was instituted. LNP is described in Telcordia standard GR-1299-CORE:
Switch
-
Service Control Point
(
SCP
)/
Adjunct Interface Generic Requirements,
Issue 3, July 1996, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Briefly, with LNP, a telephone subscriber can keep his or her telephone number despite making changes in telephone service that require his or her telephone number to be homed on a different switch. Moving a telephone number from one switch to another is referred to as porting the telephone number. By allowing telephone numbers to port, however, LNP destroys the original assignment of telephone numbers to particular switches. Consequently, LNP removes the predictability of telephone number-switch assignments that facilitates routing of telephone numbers, and identifying where information about the telephone numbers is located.
To overcome this problem, LNP standard 1299 provides Global Title Translation (GTT) routing. In LNP routing, an LNP routing record is created for each ported telephone number. An LNP routing record includes the telephone number's call routing and any service routings associated with the telephone number.
FIG. 1
illustrates an exemplary LNP routing record
101
. LNP routing record
101
contains a telephone number
102
and a local routing number (LRN)
104
corresponding to telephone number
102
. LRN
104
is the network address of the switch on which telephone number
102
is homed.
The LNP routing record also contains GTT routings corresponding to certain additional services associated with the telephone number. Such services include Customized Local Area Signaling Services (CLASS), caller ID name identification (CNAM), Inter-Switch Voice Messaging (ISVM) and Line Information Database (LIDB). Each service routing record contains a destination point code (DPC) and a subsystem number (SSN). The DPC is an address of a server on the telephone signaling network that provides the particular service. The subsystem number identifies the particular application executed by the server to implement the service being provided. Exemplary service routings are illustrated as service routings
1
-
4
in FIG.
1
. Using the DPC and SSN, a service request can be issued over the telephone network to provide the service.
When a telephone number is ported, each telephone company having an interest in the porting is advised of the change.
FIG. 2
is a schematic illustration of a conventional system
201
for updating LNP databases to reflect a particular telephone number porting. A first telephone company
202
notifies number portability administration center (NPAC)
204
that a telephone number, TN, is porting to it by sending NPAC
204
a notification message
203
advising NPAC
204
of TN's porting. Service message
203
provides NPAC
204
with a telephone number record
208
. Telephone number record
208
is an LNP routing record for telephone number TN. Telephone number record
208
also contains four form fields called capability codes.
When NPAC
204
receives LNP routing record
208
, it broadcasts LNP routing record
208
to all telephone companies in the region, for example, telephone companies
206
a
and
206
b.
Telephone companies
206
a
and
206
b
use the information contained in LNP routing record
208
to update their respective LNP databases.
For example, with respect to a telephone company
206
b,
NPAC
204
broadcasts service message
203
through LNP gateway
209
to a service management system (SMS)
210
. SMS
210
obtains telephone record
208
from service message
203
, and stores it in an SMS database
216
. From the information contained in the LNP routing record
208
, a network element record
218
is created. Network element record
218
is a record containing routing information for the telephone number including a local routing number and service routing (destination point code and subsystem number). In this example, SMS
210
then accesses database
216
to transmit network record element
218
to service control points (SCPs)
212
a
and
212
b.
SCPs
212
a
and
212
b
store network element record
218
in their respective LNP databases
214
a
and
214
b.
Services, for example calling name identification (CNAM) service, associated with particular telephone numbers can also be affected by LNP.
FIG. 3
illustrates a schematic diagram of a system
301
for providing CNAM service conventionally in the LNP environment. Referring to
FIG. 3
, when a calling party
302
calls a called party
304
, switch
306
, on which calling party
302
's telephone number is homed, communicates with switch
308
, on which called party
304
's telephone number is homed, across SS
7
network
310
to establish the telephone call. Switch
308
is owned by telephone company
330
. Telephone company
330
provides CNAM processing for telephone numbers homed on switch
308
. Switch
308
determines that called party
304
subscribes to the caller name identification (CNAM) service. The CNAM service is described in Telcordia standard
Lata Switching System is Generic Requirements, “Class Features: Calling Name Delivery Requirements,
” FSD01-02-1070, TR-NTW-001188, Issue 1, December, 1991, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. There are four types of CNAM service depending on where calling party
302
's telephone number is homed and industry agreements.
A first case of CNAM service is for telephone numbers of subscribers of a telephone company that manages its own CNAM databases, for example, telephone company
330
. For these subscribers, telephone company
330
's CNAM databases
316
a-d
contain the telephone number and directory name corresponding to each telephone number for its subscribers.
A second case of CNAM service is for telephone numbers of subscribers whose telephone numbers are homed on a switch owned by another telephone company that does not maintain its own CNAM databases, for example telephone company
332
. Generally, telephone company
332
enters into an agreement for telephone company
330
to provide CNAM service for its subscribers. In this case, telephone company
330
's CNAM databases contain the telephone numbers and corresponding directory names for telephone company
332
's subscribers. For the second type of CNAM service, telephone company
332
issues the CNAM query, as described above with respect to the first case of telephone numbers to telephone company
330
's CNAM service.
A third case of CNAM service is for the telephone numbers of subscribers whose telephone numbers are homed on the switch of another telephone company that maintains its own CNAM database, for example telephone co
Bedingfield J. Carl
Gilmartin Neil
Grier George H.
Heiker Charles L.
Scott David A.
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Shaw Pittman LLP
Tieu Benny
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