Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Indication or notification of message
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-22
2004-04-20
Matar, Ahmad F. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Indication or notification of message
C379S088110, C379S088250, C379S088220, C379S220010, C455S413000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06724863
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of switched telephony, and more particularly, to a method and system for integrating wireless telephones into a wireline messaging environment.
2. Background of the Invention
With the proliferation of wireless communication networks, many telephone customers now use a combination of wireline and wireless telephones to meet their communication needs. Indeed, it is not uncommon for a single user to have more than one telephone line at home, more than one telephone line at work, and at least one wireless telephone. Telephone customers have come to depend on the flexibility of this combination to communicate irrespective of location.
However, having multiple wireline and wireless telephone numbers presents problems retrieving telephone messages. Usually, a caller who calls a user who subscribes to multiple telephone lines dials one of the user's telephone numbers. If the user is away from the particular device that is called and does not answer the call, the caller typically leaves a message on a voicemail system. In the past, such voicemail systems have been isolated on the network of the particular telephone line that is called. Thus, to retrieve all messages, a user had to check the voicemail system of each network separately.
Recognizing the trouble of constantly checking multiple voicemail systems, messaging service providers (MSPs) developed voicemail systems that integrate incoming messages across different networks. Thus, for example, a user could direct all messages for her wireline and wireless telephone lines to a single voicemail box. Consequently, the user would need only to check a single voicemail box to retrieve all messages.
According to these standard voicemail systems, a voicemail platform is in communication with a central office switch. The central office switch is in communication with the wireline and wireless networks. Unanswered calls to a subscriber's wireline and wireless telephone numbers are routed to the voicemail platform through the central office. Thus, regardless of the particular telephone number the caller dials, all voicemail messages end up in the same voicemail platform.
Despite providing centralized voicemail boxes, these integrated voicemail services present difficulties in notifying a user of the receipt of a message. Specifically, because all unanswered calls are forwarded through the central office to the voicemail platform, the voicemail platform is responsible for activating message waiting indicators on all of the associated telephones (e.g., a stutter dial tone, an illuminated light, or a displayed icon). Thus, for example, if a user away from his work office receives an unanswered call to his wireline office telephone, and the call is forwarded to the voicemail platform, which records a message, then, ideally, the user would want to receive a message waiting indicator on his wireless telephone to report to him that he has received a new voicemail message. This notification would avoid the burden of constantly checking the voicemail for messages received through a remote telephone. Similarly, if the user is in his office and receives a message through an unanswered call to his wireless telephone, which is turned off or out of range, the user would want to receive an indication of the message on his office wireline telephone.
To provide message waiting indicators on all of a user's associated telephones, wireline network providers developed methods for supporting messaging from the voicemail platform to a “foreign network.” As used herein, “foreign network” refers to a network that is not local to the network including the central office switch that serves the message provider. This local central office switch is sometimes referred to herein as the host switch.
FIG. 1
illustrates a typical method and system for providing messaging from a voicemail platform to a foreign network. Messaging service provider
100
contains a telephone list
102
indicating telephone numbers that a subscriber to the messaging service has associated with her voicemail box. An unanswered call to any of the listed telephone numbers is routed to messaging service provider
100
for the recording of a message and the indicating of the recorded message. In this example, the subscriber has associated with the messaging service a wireline telephone number, 404-332-212X, and two wireless telephone numbers, 404-792-123X and 404-792-100X.
Telephone list
102
also contains an activation flag indicating whether the subscriber has subscribed to the message waiting indicator (MWI) feature for the particular telephone number (device). In some instances, for example, on a seldom-used mobile telephone, a subscriber might not care to have nor want to pay for an MWI displayed on the telephone. In this example, the subscriber has opted for the MWI feature on two telephone lines, 404-332-212X and 404-792-123X.
Once messaging service provider
100
receives an unanswered call to one of the three telephone numbers and records a message, messaging service provider
100
sends an MWI message for each of the activated telephone numbers on list
102
. For the wireline telephone number, messaging service provider
100
transmits an MWI message to a host switch
104
using Inter-switch Simplified Message Desk Interface (ISMDI). Host switch
104
is a central office switch. ISMDI is a signaling interface used by a messaging service provider to support incoming call and message waiting integration between all supported switches in a Local Access and Transport Area (LATA). Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) defines signaling between a messaging system and a central office switch, which defines the original intended destination of a forwarded call.
After receiving an MWI message for the wireline telephone number 404-332-212X, host switch
104
determines if it “owns” (i.e., is associated with) the NPA/NXX (NPA—Numbering Plan Area/NXX—a specific central office) corresponding to the telephone number, and further, if it owns the particular number (last four digits). In this example, host switch
104
does own 404-332-212X. Therefore, host switch
104
activates an MWI on the subscriber's wireline telephone
106
, which could be a stutter dial tone, for example.
For the wireless telephone number 404-792-123X, messaging service provider
100
forwards to host switch
104
an ISMDI MWI message that references the wireless telephone number. Host switch
104
determines that it does not own 404-792, and in response, forwards to a signal transfer point
108
an MWI message using a non-call-associated Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling protocol, such as Transaction Capability Application Part (TCAP).
Wireline network signal transfer point
108
contains a table
110
that cross-references NPA/NXXs with network point codes. Point codes identify every node in the SS7 network in the format NNN CCC XXX, where NNN is a network identifier, CCC is a cluster identifier, and XXX is the node identifier. In this example, table
110
shows that 404-792 corresponds to point code 001.002.052. With this routing information, wireline network signal transfer point
108
transmits a TCAP MWI message to wireless network signal transfer point
112
, which services the wireless network
114
corresponding to point code 001.002.052. In this example, wireless network
114
is the foreign network.
Within wireless network
114
, protocol gateway
116
translates the TCAP MWI message to a signaling protocol compatible with the wireless network, for example, Interim Standard
41
(IS
41
). After the translation, protocol gateway
116
transmits an MWI message through mobile switching center
118
and antenna
120
to the subscriber's wireless telephone
122
. In response to the MWI message, wireless telephone
122
indicates that a message has been recorded in messaging service provider
100
by, for example, displaying an icon on its screen.
According to the conventional method shown in
FIG. 1
, routing is based
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Le Karen
Matar Ahmad F.
Shaw Pittman LLP
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