Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-30
2001-03-27
Vo, Nguyen T. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06208864
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to telecommunications services and, more particularly, to incorporating a cellular-fixed call completion and forwarding service into the conventional public switched telephone network in combination with the conventional cellular network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most individuals now, or in the near future will, have at least two telephone numbers through which they make or receive calls on a regular basis. One of these telephone numbers is usually associated with a fixed network while the other is usually associated with a cellular network. The connectivity from the local access provider is to the traditional fixed telephone network (oftentimes referred to as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)) while the connectivity from the cellular service provider is to the cellular network (CN). Increasingly, local access providers are also cellular service providers and vice versa. As a result, it is anticipated than many telecommunication users will have the same service provider for their fixed and cellular service. For discussion purposes below, let N
f
and N
c
respectively denote the telephone number for a particular user to the fixed and cellular network.
The calls made from N
f
are usually of lower cost than those made or received from N
c
because the call is routed over the fixed network and therefore does not make use of the limited wireless bandwidth. However, once a call has been initiated on the fixed network, the user has very little mobility; a cordless phone may allow the user to move 50-100 meters from the base of the phone without significant deterioration in the voice quality. However, a user can move in a wide geographical area if a user could forward an on-going call originated over the fixed network to the cellular network. A point of departure from the prior art in accordance with the present invention is a new call forwarding service called the Forwarding On-going Call Service (FOCS) to allow users to complete and then forward on-going calls between his/her fixed and cellular telephone numbers at the request of the user.
The FOCS service benefits both the user and the service provider. The user benefits because he/she can use the lower cost calls through the fixed network whenever possible without sacrificing mobility. The service provider also benefits because as users switch over to fixed network from cellular whenever possible, the limited capacity of the cellular network can support other users. More customers will also be attracted to this lower cost service with full support for mobility.
Heuristic Example 1
Suppose that a user receives a call at home on N
f
just as she is about to leave for work. At present, the user has only one of the following two options. Either complete the call before starting the commute to work or terminate the conversation and restart it using the cellular phone. Terminating the conversation and restarting it using the cellular phone requires all parties in the call to hangup and reestablish the necessary connections. This is clearly troublesome.
However, if the user can forward the call over to her cellular telephone without disrupting the conversation, then the call can be continued while the user is in commute. Thus, the user benefits because she gets mobility while using the lower cost of the fixed network for as long as possible.
Heuristic Example 2
Suppose that a user makes a call using his cellular telephone while away from home and comes back home while the call is in progress. There will be no degradation in the voice quality and the user can continue using the more expensive cellular network while at home. However, if the user can forward the call to his fixed telephone, the cost of the rest of call will be lower. The service provider will also benefit because as users switch over to the fixed network, the limited capacity of the cellular network can be used to support other users.
The prior art does not allow forwarding of on-going calls from a fixed network to a cellular network and vice versa. Some service providers offer forwarding of calls from the fixed to the cellular network prior to the establishment of a call, such as by conventional call-forwarding. Similarly, some fixed network service providers offer forwarding of on-going calls from one fixed telephone number to another number, typically at the request/intervention of the called party.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These shortcomings and other limitations and deficiencies of the prior art are obviated, in accordance with the present invention, by a methodology and concomitant circuitry effected by introducing a Fixed-Cellular Mobility Agent (FCMA) into the cellular network, the FCMA having at least the functionality of a PSTN central office for interconnecting incoming/outgoing calls to the MSC as outgoing/incoming calls to the CN or the PSTN and which, in addition, monitors each call connection to carry out call forwarding between the CN and the PSTN.
In accordance with a broad call completion aspect of the present invention, a method for establishing a call path from a calling party to a called party at the called party's fixed telephone number utilizing the functionality of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Cellular Network (CN) both locally provided by the same service provider, the PSTN including a central office (CO) serving the called party, the CN including a mobile switching center (MSC) serving the called party, includes: (a) storing a routing table in the serving CO to special-handle an incoming call to the called party; (b) when the calling party initiates the incoming call to the called party, directing the incoming call to the MSC as a special-handled call as determined from the routing table; (c) initiating a special-handled outgoing call from the MSC to the called party through the serving CO using the fixed telephone number; (d) processing the outgoing call as a special-handled call by the serving CO; and (e) when the called party answers the outgoing call, switching the MSC to interconnect the incoming call with the outgoing call to thereby establish the call path.
In accordance with a broad call forwarding aspect of the present invention, a method to further transfer an established call path, the established call path including a first call connection between the calling party and the MSC and a second connection between the called party and the MSC, includes: (a) monitoring the second call connection to detect a request for a call transfer from the called party; (b) initiating by the MSC an outgoing call to a cellular telephone number N
c
assigned to the called party upon the call transfer request; (c) whenever the outgoing call to a cellular telephone assigned the N
c
is answered, establishing a third call connection between the MSC and the cellular telephone; and (d) bridging the first call connection and the third call connection and terminating the second call connection.
Broadly, in accordance with system aspects of the present invention, concomitant circuitry effects the aforementioned methodologies.
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patent: 5920815 (199
Agrawal Prathima
Ramanathan Parameswaran
Bhattacharya Sam
Cockings Orville R.
Giordano Joseph
Telcordia Technologies Inc.
Vo Nguyen T.
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