Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-29
2001-12-25
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S114030, C379S114040, C379S114280, C455S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06333977
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
A communication system according to the present invention is established on the assumption that lines between an exchange unit
1200
and cell stations
200
and between the exchange unit
1200
and a concentrator
300
comprise existing subscriber lines (i.e., the exchange unit
1200
is connected to each of the cell station(s)
200
and the concentrator
300
through the subscriber lines), and the exchange unit
1200
is further connected through the cell stations
200
or the concentrator
300
to WLL (Wireless Local Loop) fixed terminals (e.g., personal stations: hereinafter referred to as “PS”) whose number is larger than the number of subscriber lines (see FIG.
1
). Therefore, the one-to-one corresponding relationship is not established between the subscriber lines and the WLL fixed PS serving as a subscriber PS, and thus correct billing cannot be performed on each WLL fixed PS in a conventional exchange unit system because the conventional exchange unit system has charged the fee for a telephone call merely on a subscriber line basis. Therefore, the present invention relates to a communication system using personal stations (PS), and particularly to a collecting technique for billing information in a communication system in which a communication route between a communication network and a concentrator or a cell station (CS) comprises an existing analog line.
2. Description of Related Art
A simple portable telephone system, known as a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System), has been practically used as a communication system using personal stations (PS). The PHS system basically comprises personal stations (PS), cell stations (CS) which are connected to the personal stations (PS) through wireless digital lines, a concentrator which is connected to plural cell stations (CS) through lines, and a network which is connected to the concentrator and the cell stations (CS) through lines.
The PHS system is established on the assumption that it uses a signal system based on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) which is a kind of digital line. Like the ISDN, the signal system generally has a B-channel for transmitting information of a telephone call such as voice or the like and a D-channel for control information, and the B-channel and the D-channel are designed independently of each other. Therefore, according to the PHS, a control signal containing information required for authentication information and billing between a network and a cell station is transmitted and/or received through the D-channel of the signal system while telephone voice is transmitted and/or received through the B-channel, whereby the control signal and the telephone voice can be transmitted or received in parallel on the time axis (e.g., simultaneously).
The infrastructure located near to the subscriber personal station (hereinafter referred to as “subscriber PS”) of a Public Switching Telecommunication Network (PSTN) needs the highest cost compared to the other portions, and also needs more time for laying. In view of this problem, in order to lay a low-cost and high-speed infrastructure, a wireless line used for portable telephone may be used as a wireless subscriber line for a part of an existing subscriber line which is near to a subscriber PS. With respect to the existing subscriber line, only one subscriber line is allocated to each subscriber. Therefore, if billing is performed on a line basis, the billing is also performed on a subscriber basis. Further, in this case, in consideration- of minimizing alteration of the facilities of an existing exchange and suppressing the cost-increase, there may be a case where an existing analog subscriber line is used between a cell station (CS) and a network or between a concentrator and a network. However, there is the following characteristic of the wireless line as a wireless concentrating effect:
(the number of subscribers belonging to a cell station)>(the number of wireless lines)
As described above, the one-to-one corresponding relationship is not established between the line and the subscriber. Therefore, when the billing is made to each subscriber at the exchange unit side, it is required for every call that discrimination information on a calling side, for example, a PS number (subscriber number) is notified to the exchange unit.
In the case of the ISDN, the notification of the PS number can be performed on a real-time basis because a signal line and a telephone path are separately provided. Therefore, the billing can be performed in an exchange unit as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei-6-217365 or a data base connected to the exchange unit. However, when a line accommodated in an exchange unit is an existing analog line as described above, a tone signal may be used to notify a subscriber number (PS number). However, in this method, a connection delay occurs at the time of calling, and there may occur a case where a line connection cannot be established due to time-out of a connection standby timer in accordance with the regulations of a network or an exchange unit to be connected.
Further, PS (personal station) authentication processing which is one characteristic processing when a wireless line connection is carried out, and is performed between a PS and an exchange unit or a network, also requires signal transmission/reception for every call on a real-time basis at the time of line connection, however, this requirement cannot be satisfied for the reason described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication system using personal stations (PS) in which correct billing to a subscriber or authentication of a subscriber PS can be performed even when an existing analog subscriber line is used between a cell station (CS) and a network or between a concentrator and a network.
According to the present invention, in order to perform correct billing to a subscriber even when an analog subscriber line is used, a communication system according to the present invention comprises an exchange unit for calculating the fee of a telephone call for every line which has been already set, a cell station which is connected through the line to the exchange unit, and plural personal stations which are connected to the cell station through wireless lines, wherein the number of the lines is smaller than the number of the personal stations, the cell station is provided with storing means for storing PS use information of a personal station which uses the line and a line-using time every time the personal station which is accommodated in the cell station telephones through the cell station and the line, the exchange unit is provided with storing means for storing a line using time and a telephone call fee as line use information every time a line connected to the exchange unit is used, a billing system connected to the exchange unit is provided with calculation means for calculating the telephone call fee for a personal station in which the line use times contained in the PS use information and the number of line use information items are coincident with each other. Accordingly, even when plural personal stations are accommodated under existing exchange units and lines such that no numerical corresponding relationship is established therebetween, correct billing of each personal station can be performed. More specifically, a communication system contains plural personal stations (PS), cell stations (CS) each for accommodating personal stations through wireless lines, a subscriber line exchange network for accommodating the cell stations through plural analog subscriber lines, and a billing system device connected to the subscriber line exchange network, wherein each of the cell stations is provided with means for generating and recording billing information for the PS which comprises PS discrimination information for specifying a personal station (PS) having a telephone call, line discrimination information for specifying an analog
Itoh Fumitaka
Kusaki Tsutomu
Mori Takeshi
Yamada Jun
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Barnie Rexford
Hitachi , Ltd.
Kuntz Curtis
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