Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Special service
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-16
2001-10-09
Dolinar, Andrew M. (Department: 3747)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Special service
C455S461000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301474
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to the use of a local or private wireline telephone and data network as an element of an intelligent network and, more particularly, to a system and a method for automatic call redirection or data application interaction between wireless and wireline telephone and data application networks.
ACRONYMS The following acronyms, which are provided here for reference, are used in the specification.
AIN (Advanced Intelligent Network): The architecture of the wireline switched network that allows enhanced and customized services to be provided by the carriers
HLR (Rome Location Register): The application that acts as the central repository of the profile of each mobile and maintains the current location and status of the mobile unit.
IP (Intelligent Peripheral): A generic term for any of a number of devices that provide services but are not involved in the routing of a call. They may use information available from SCP based applications, and they may send messages to these or update profile files in the mobile's data record. However, switching elements are not expected to launch inquiries to IP's in order to determine the correct routing of the calls.
LAN (Local Area Network): A communication system that interconnects a number of computer processing units when those units are some distance away from one another, but within the same contiguous property to allow private communications facilities to be installed. For the purposes of this document, LAN shall also include the facility to allow multiple computer processors to communicate with each other when some or all of those processors are within the same enclosure and connected by a common backplane.
MIN (Mobile Identity Number): The telephone number of the mobile device. It is the primary identifier of the data profile contained in the HLR.
MSC (Mobile Switching Center): Defined in the Bellcore definition of intelligent networks as the network element that is responsible for the actual circuit switched connection of the voice channels. In the general sense, the MSC makes very few routing decisions, obtaining all those from the SCP applications. In practice, there are many basic routing decisions that are made by the MSC and the practice reduces the network load and processing load to the SCP.
PBX (Private Branch Exchange): A telephone switching system located on the end user's premises that allows local intercommunication with all local telephone sets and with the public network.
PCS (Personal Communications Service): This term is used widely in the industry to mean a number of things. For the purposes of this document, it will refer to the latest set of cellular frequencies made available in North America in the 1.9 GHZ range. Therefore a PCS network is one where the 1.9 GHZ set of frequencies are being used. The document does not differentiate between PCS and cellular as a service and any difference between the two is not material to this invention.
SCP (Service Control Point): Defined in the Bellcore definition of intelligent networks, this network element is defined to be the device where services are controlled. In practice, the SCP will run applications that provide the services. The BLR is a service application that executes on the SCP. SCP applications are involved in the routing of a call.
STP (Signaling Transfer Point): A Bellcore defined network element that is responsible for the correct routing of network signaling messages.
TELCO (Telephone Company): The common carrier providing the wired service including the connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
VLR (Visitor Location Register): An application that executes on the MSC which contains a temporary copy of the mobile telephones profile obtained from the HLR. It is stored locally to improve performance.
WIN (Wireless Intelligent Network): The architecture of the switched wireless network that allows enhanced and customized services to be provided by the carriers. The network automatically tracks the location of the mobile telephone. It includes all networks commonly referred to as cellular or PCS.
BACKGROUND
The Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) architecture defines a model for the current cellular wireless and PC S networks. The concept of intelligent telephony networks was first implemented in wireline networks. Under the model of Advanced Intelligent Network (AN), wireline networks provide centralized control of telephone services to subscribers through diversely located central office switching systems. In an AIN system, central offices send and receive data messages from a SCP via a STP.
AIN-like networks provide personalized services to individual subscribers. It is important to note that any services provided to individuals while they are roaming or away from a home location require the subscriber to manually notify the network of his present location. The AIN model does not provide for mobility management that is based in the network.
Prior art AIN systems are exclusively land line communications systems, which provide telephone communication services via wired telephone lines. The signaling protocol used for AIN allows only for control of telephone network switching elements in response to processes or software functions that are based on the calling number, called number and other relatively fixed items, such as time of day, congestion control and end user control. Wireline communications, even those provided by the AIN, are necessarily limited by the fixed nature of installed lines. These systems make no provision for communications with any mobile link, except as taught by Emery et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,469,496 and 5,506,887.
While AIN provides the intelligent processing related to the wireline networks, WIN is the intelligent processing for wireless networks. In many ways they are similar and have used similar technologies, however, the model for WIN provides for the additional element of mobility. In the AIN architecture, both the originating and terminating telephones are assumed to be fixed, while in the WIN architecture the location of mobile subscribers must be tracked by the networks. The HLR is the data register that tracks the location of the mobile. The HLR contains profiles for each subscriber.
The wireless telecommunications industry has developed roaming standards which allow automatic handoffs from one cell to another during an established call, and to allow customers to roam from one system or network to another while having incoming calls follow the customer to the visited system. The protocol that accomplishes this functionality is set out in the EIA/TIA standard IS-41. The IS-41 protocol is an out-of-band signaling protocol, which may be transported by either X.25 or SS7 links.
The air interface link between the mobile cellular user and the appropriate base station uses particular radio frequencies that have been mandated by appropriate regulatory bodies. Dedicated trunk lines serve as the link between the base station and the MSC, and the interface between MSCs within the same system (same cellular carrier) is generally provided by dedicated land lines. Data links connect the mobile switching center to a VLR and HLR which can be located at the mobile switching center or at a remote point. The HLR may serve more than one MSC, but the VLR is typically dedicated to a particular MSC. The HLR is the location register that contains information about the user, such as directory number, profile information, feature list, current location, serial number, services authorized and validation period. The VLR is the location register on which an MSC temporarily stores information regarding a visiting subscriber or user. The difference between the VLR and the HLR is simply that the HLR is the permanent storage place for the subscriber record while the VLR is a temporary storage place used during a configurable time. The use of the VLR reduces the amount of network signaling needed to process the call handling. The subscriber record on the VLR is erased when the mobile is no longer
Gossman William E.
Hartmaier Peter J.
Dolinar Andrew M.
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Openwave Technologies Inc.
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