Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1996-11-04
2001-03-20
Kuntz, Curtis A. (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S114030, C379S115030, C379S126000, C379S207030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205210
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephony systems in general, and to methods of collecting data within such systems for purposes of accounting and billing subscribers and users of the telephony and the like systems. More particularly still, it relates to methods of collecting and communicating data respecting redirected telephone calls. More particularly still, it relates to such data in the case of calls originated from an end (switching) office (EO) to a telephone number that had been ported from one EO to another EO. Number portability (NP)and local number portability (LNP) are an inevitable fact of telephony in the present environment of competition between service providers.
2. Related Art
Toll call rating today is based primarily on time and distance. The AMA (automatic message accounting) record includes the call duration (time) and both the calling and called NPA-NXXs (meaning the digits of numbering plan areas plus the three digits of the office code) from which the V/H (Vertical and Horizontal) coordinates of the calling and called rate centres are determined. From the V/H coordinates, the distance and distance band are calculated. From the distance band the call rate is determined.
When new NXXs are introduced on switches or rate centres are modified, all carriers are advised in advance so that necessary trunking translations and billing process adjustments can be made. Currently the LERG (local exchange routing guide) NPA-NXX designations are geographically fixed and each has a set of V/H coordinates for billing purposes. The frequency of such NPA-NXX additions/changes is at present relatively low.
The geographically significant LERG designated NPA-NXX codes are general used as the basis for distance calculations and toll call rating by downstream operations systems. In situations where calls are redirected, either the redirecting party pays or special arrangements are made for billing. There is no vehicle to return the redirected destination information back through the network for billing purposes. In ‘calling party pays’ situations, end-user AMA information, such as the called destination, is typically captured near the head-end of the call. However, some calls may be subsequently redirected to a different (toll) destination (as in the case of LNP with location portability).
If the originating switch redirects the call to a destination other than that dialed, then it can include the new destination routing number in the AMA record for toll calls and the call can be accurately billed. However, if the call is redirected at an intermediate switching point, the prime (upstream) AMA switches (typically the originating switch, access tandem or first IXC tandem) may not have complete destination information for accurate call rating. The absence of complete call rating information in the AMA records for redirected calls will complicate downstream processing. Without this information, the process would have to correlate switch AMA information from more than one source or process partial AMA information against other databases to rate redirected calls. In the case of “real time” billing systems, a technique will be required to retrieve appropriate redirection information quickly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been realized, that the only time all the information for accounting and toll rating is most conveniently available is at the time of call set-up. The present method has, therefore, been devised to capture the call set-up information and make it available for centralized automatic message accounting (CAMA) or local automatic message accounting (LAMA), where the local exchange carrier (LEC) or the inter-exchange carrier (IXC) keeps the primary record of calls. To achieve the objective, new switch call processing logic and common channel signalling are used. The call processing logic captures the call set-up data, and the common channel signalling returns it (including new destination information) to the upstream AMA recording points for inclusion in the record of the call. This allows current downstream billing processes to be used in call rating. In addition, “real time” billing applications, when implemented, will be able to take advantage of this capability to provide accurate billing information in real time.
This current accounting and billing practice is unaffected, where for regular “calling party pays” end-user billing of toll calls, the AMA recording is done by the originating LSP (local service provider), if it is intraLATA (local access and transport area) toll or casual dialled inerLATA toll. For presubscribed toll, the main AMA record is generated by the IXC POP (point of presence) tandem. For casual dialled interLATA toll, the IXC does detailed AMA at the originating POP tandem for division of revenue purposes. A single switch can serve more than one rate centre and the called exchange name is currently entered in the bill for all calls.
In summary, the present method addresses the billing needs of service providers when calls are redirected to other than the LERG designated destination represented by a dialled ported DN (directory number). This may arise for any ‘calling party pays’ service when a call is redirected, and for LNP when location portability is extended across the rate centre boundaries. In particular, the method is directed to solving the billing issues related to interLATA LNP and intraLATA PIC (Preferred IntraLATA Carrier) LNP.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for improved automatic message accounting in telephone systems and the like, comprising the steps of:
(a) storing actual call routing set-up at time of a call being answered by a called subscriber station; and
(b) packaging data conveying said actual call routing set-up in a data field of a message for up-stream transmission through actual call routes.
In a further aspect of the present method, it comprises the additional steps of:
(i) analysing a received initial address message (IAM) to recover a generic address parameter (GAP) or a location routing number (LRN);
(ii) establishing connection to a called party corresponding to said GAP or LRN;
(iii) composing an answer message (ANM) incorporating said GAP or LRN; and
(iv) conveying said ANM upstream to a preceding switch node through which said IAM was received.
In yet anther aspect of the present method, it comprises the additional steps of:
(i) analysing a received answer message (ANM) to recover a generic address parameter (GAP) or a location routing number (LRN);
(ii) updating a local automatic message accounting (AMA) record in accordance with said GAP or LRN;
(iii) composing a transmitted ANM incorporating said GAP or LRN; and
(iv) conveying said transmitted ANM up stream to a preceding switch node connected to a switch node through which said received ANM was received.
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UK Patent Office, Search Report under Section 17, Jan. 15, 1998, 1 page, United Kingdom.
UK Patent Office, Combined Search and Examination Report under Section 17 & 18 (3), Jan. 16, 1998, 1 page, United Kingdom.
Melnyk Allan
Rainey Gordon L.
Foley & Lardner
Kuntz Curtis A.
Nortel Networks Limited
Tieu Binh K.
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