Telephonic communications – Special services – Service trigger
Reexamination Certificate
1996-12-23
2001-09-11
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Service trigger
C379S093170, C379S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289090
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the delivery of information to the caller in the public switched network environment following an AIN trigger processing. The present invention provides a method and a system for coordinating and delivering the information between the public switched network and customer premises equipment (CPE).
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
In prior art, focus has been on the delivery of information to the called party to allow the called party to determine the caller and the nature of the call. For example, public switched telephone networks currently provide the delivery of both name and number to subscribers who have subscribed to this service. The caller can receive the name and/or number information from the public switched network and display the information using appropriate terminal equipment. There is, however, no possibility with currently existing PSTN equipment and protocols to forward back to the calling party messages that provide information relating to the call such as name of called party, billing rate or any other suitable information. Stated otherwise, the delivery of information with present day systems is unidirectional, always toward the called party and never toward the calling party. This presents a disadvantage the present invention aims to alleviate.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method and system permitting delivery of information, preferably display information to the calling party in an AIN environment.
As embodied and broadly described herewith, the present invention provides a method for delivering selected information to a caller connected to an AIN type network that includes:
a central office switch having service switching point capability to which a terminal equipment of the caller is connected;
a service control point capable of exchanging data with said service switching point;
said method comprising the steps of:
monitoring at said central office switch a condition of said terminal equipment to detect a request for delivering data to said terminal equipment through AIN interaction;
formulating at said central office switch a query request in accordance with said request for delivering data;
forwarding said query request to said service control point;
processing said query request at said service control point and generating a response message;
forwarding said message to said central office switch;
delivering to said terminal equipment data in dependence of a contents of said message.
In a preferred embodiment the above defined method is implemented in an AIN environment, an infrastructure proposed by Bellcore which is being put in place and used by public switched network service providers to deploy new services quickly and effectively. The AIN infrastructure simplifies the design and implementation of new telecommunication services by defining a set of network elements, messages and call models. This allows for many services to be constructed using these standard building blocks and deployed quickly and effectively to subscribers. The AIN architecture is outlined by Berman et al in the ICC '91 Proceedings, Volume 2 at pages 21.1.1 to 21.1.5, June 1991. The contents of this publication are incorporated herein by reference. The existing AIN, however, does not provide for the display of information to the caller during call establishment or during caller interaction controlled by the service logic executed on the service control point (SCP).
Another component employed in a preferred embodiment of the invention is the signaling system network number 7 (SS#7) network that has been widely deployed as a massaging network between network elements. Within the public switched network this has enabled applications like the delivery of calling name and number. The network uses the signaling system network number 7 (SS#7) to transmit the calling number from the originator to the terminating office. Software which resides at the terminating office receives the information and prepares the information to be transmitted to the terminating customer premise equipment (CPE). The CPE would receive this information and display the number and/or name on the CPE. The AIN signaling messages used to convey information between the service switching point (SSP) and signaling control point (SCP) are also exchanged through the SS#7 network
To support many of these new services, a new generation of CPE has been developed to provide better interaction between the network and the CPE. This CPE has the added capability to receive information from the network and display it to the caller. One widely used application is again the delivery of calling name and number. Examples of these new CPE are screen-based sets such as those conforming to Bellcore document GR-30-CORE, “LSS-Voiceband Data Transmission Interface”, Section 6.6, Issue 1, Dec 1994, and CPE supporting the ISDN access protocol as described in GR-2824-CORE Generic Requirements for Integrated Customer Advanced Networking (ICAN) Calling Number Identification (ICAN CNIS). This document is incorporated herein by reference. The methods described in this invention use the aforementioned methods and others for delivery of information to the CPE.
In accordance to the principles of the present invention, information is delivered to the caller, enabling beneficial applications. Three examples illustrate the benefits accruing from the present invention:
The first is the delivery to the caller of called party name and/or number during the establishment of a call. This new capability allows the caller to determine the name of the person that was called. Another benefit is to allow the caller to verify that the intended number and destination was in fact the number that was dialed, allowing a reduction in misdialled calls. Another benefit is to allow others to see and determine with who the caller is in conversation, for example, in a hands-free conference situation.
The second sample application is the delivery of rate information during call establishment. The application of this method would allow callers to get a display of the rate that would be in effect during the particular call for the number dialed. The caller could accept the rate and continue with the call, or reject the rate and abort the call. The method described contains the ability for the user to confirm acceptance or reject the call. The benefit to users is to have the knowledge of the rate being used for the call prior to making the call.
Both of these prior examples demonstrate the use of these methods during call establishment. Another possibility under the present inventive concept is to deliver information to the caller when no call establishment is in progress. An example would be the updating of the personal profile of a caller. The user would interact with the network to update his personal information, for example forwarding number, feature subscription, personal identification numbers (PINs), etc.
Most preferably, the information that is delivered to the caller is designed to be visually perceptible. In other words, the information is directed to a display screen and may be in the form of a message providing the name or telephone number of the called party, billing rate information, a menu structure allowing to establish a dialog or interaction with the caller, among many other possibilities. In a specific embodiment, the display information may consists solely or in part of executable software instructions that deliver a specific functionality to the terminal equipment of the customer. Application-executable software encompasses Java applets, Javascript, ADSI scripts, etc., among many other possibilities. Java applets, for example, may be used to create sophisticated graphics on the display screen, such as moving logos or games.
The present invention encompasses two specific embodiments, among several other possible realizations. The first embodiment relates to data delivery to the caller during call establishment, in oth
Belzile Pierre
Meubus Charles
Tessler Michael
Foley & Lardner
Foster Roland G.
Nortel Networks Limited
Tsang Fan
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