Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-23
2002-09-17
Smith, Creighton (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
C379S201010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06453033
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to telecommunications, more particularly to automated ILEC control of the level of service delivered over lines provided for CLEC service providers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Recent legislative and regulatory changes have been made to spur a more open service provider environment in the telecommunications industry. Subscription to local telephone service, open to competition, no longer will be limited to incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) such as the regional Bell Operating companies.
One aspect of this open environment policy pertains to competing local exchange carriers (CLECs) that are facility based, e.g., those competing carriers that have their own independent switching facilities. These facilities must be integrated into the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in a seamless manner from the user's perspective. The concept of user telephone number portability is basic to this end. In general, number portability refers to the ability of end users to retain their geographic or non-geographic telephone number when they change their service provider, their location, or their service. A wide application of number portability, for example, would permit a user to keep the same telephone number at the same or different location, while terminating service from one provider in favor of a new service provider, and moving from plain old telephone service (POTS) to integrated digital services network (ISDN). The Federal Communications Commission has proposed standards for local number portability (LNP) that relates to the ability of a telephone service subscriber to select or change the selection of a carrier for providing that customer's local telephone service, while still maintaining the subscriber's telephone number at the same customer premises.
FIG. 1
is a simplified diagram exemplifying a public switched telephone network in which switching facilities of both an incumbent local exchange carrier and a competing local exchange carrier are available for direct loop connection to the subscriber. A customer having telephone or like communication equipment at station
11
may obtain local exchange telephone service from either an original ILEC served by its end office
13
, or a CLEC having an end office
15
. The CLEC end office
15
may connect through trunk circuits to each ILEC end office in the area of service or to a trunk connection with an access tandem
23
. Although not shown, the CLEC end office
15
also would connect into the common channel interoffice signaling network, at least for the exchange of call-setup related signaling messages. In the illustrated example, the subscriber at station
11
, who originally received service through the ILEC has now selected the CLEC in replacement thereof for local service. Accordingly, the station
11
is shown connected to the CLEC end office
15
, the previous subscriber loop connection to ILEC end office
13
having been disabled. Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
19
and Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP) are components of the known Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) within which at least part of the common channeling signaling network is included. Various approaches have been undertaken to provide number portability for an arrangement such as this example that are not directly relevant to the present invention.
Another aspect of the open environment policy is embodied in a requirement that an ILEC unbundle certain network elements and services and offer use of those elements and services to other carriers, CLECs who may have remotely located switches but do not have facilities for direct local connection, for resale to end users. The ILEC, for example, must make available for sale to another carrier an unbundled port on an end office switch. The other carrier can then become a competing local exchange carrier by reselling services of the switch to end users having local loops that connect to the end office switch. The statutory and regulatory changes also require that customized routing be available for both unbundled switching and for resale. Customized routing is the term used in the regulations for routing calls made in the ILEC switch to locations other than normal routing locations.
Telephone service capability, of course, has extended beyond the POTS voice and ISDN communication of decades ago. With the advent of digital communications, the variety of telecommunication services and number of specialized service providers have increased at a remarkable pace. The availability of information in the form of data from various sources has spurred large public demand for broadband data transfer that challenges the capabilities of communication delivery systems. The number of information sources publicly and interactively available via the internet to personal computers, as well as private data network sources, continues to proliferate. Full motion video programming and source material also has rapidly progressed from early television broadcasting and cable distribution networks to a wide variety of distribution arrangements, including direct broadcast satellite television. The number of full motion video sources has expanded in response to increased usage and user demand for a greater range of subject matter content.
To meet user requirements, more robust broadband networks have evolved. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,347 to Litteral et al., discloses a digital video distribution network providing subscribers with access to multiple Video On Demand service providers through the public switched telephone network. The subscriber may transmit ordering information via the public switched telephone network to the independent video information providers. Video programming may be accessed and transmitted to the subscriber directly from a video information provider (VIP) or through a video buffer located at a central office (CO) serving the subscriber. Connectivity between the central office and the subscriber for transmission of video data is provided by an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) system. ADSL, which has been standardized by ANSI as T1.413, uses existing unshielded twisted pair copper wires from the telephone company central office to the subscriber's premises. Equipment at the central office and the subscriber's premises permits transfer of more high speed digital information signals to the subscriber than in the reverse direction. The standard is directed to carrying video (broadband) to the home while returning control signals from the home at 16 Kbps.
In the Literal et al. patent, ADSL interface units at the central office multiplex digital video information with voice information to be transmitted to the subscriber and support two-way transmission between the subscriber's line and the X.25 packet data network of one or more control channels. A subscriber may use either a standard telephone instrument over the public switched telephone network or a dedicated control device over an ISDN packet network to order video programming. The request is transmitted to a designated video information provider and digital transmission connectivity is established between the video information provider and the central office serving the subscriber. Connectivity between the central office and subscriber is provided by asymmetrical digital subscriber line interface units over a local loop. The interface units frequency multiplex digital video information with voice information to the subscriber and support transmission of a reverse transmission channel from the subscriber to the central office for transmission on the ISDN packet data network back to the video information provider. The interfaces also allow baseband signaling and audio between the central office and the subscriber for conventional telephone instrument connectivity. A complimentary ADSL interface unit at the subscriber's premises separates downstream video control signals and voice telephone signals from the line and multiplexes upstream control signals and voice t
Little David M.
Sims Wendell N.
Wilson Darryl J.
Smith Creighton
Suchyta Leonard C.
Swingle Loren C.
Verizon Services Corp.
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