Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection – With interexchange network routing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-29
2001-09-11
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
With interexchange network routing
C379S207030, C379S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289095
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This application relates to telecommunications systems, and more particularly to systems for maintaining information regarding telecommunications service subscribers and particular services available to such subscribers. Still more particularly, the application relates to methods and apparatus for the orderly updating of databases containing information relating to subscribers or to telecommunications services when a large number of records must be similarly updated, such as when an area-code or NPA “split” occurs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In most of the United States, Canada, and several Caribbean nations, telephone directory numbers are generally constructed according to the “North American Numbering Plan” and consist of a three-digit “Numbering Plan Area” code (often referred to as “NPA” or simply “area code”), a three-digit central office code, and a four-digit subscriber line number. The latter seven digits comprise what is generally considered to be a “local telephone number”, and with some exceptions, this local telephone number is what a subscriber located is within a particular area code must dial in order to reach another subscriber within the same area code.
NPA codes were originally assigned in 1947 to states, metropolitan areas, or other geographical regions. The boundaries of NPA regions were typically aligned with existing political or natural boundaries. Over time, a small number of NPA codes have been assigned to particular services without regard to geographic significance. Within an NPA, central office codes are unique. As a result of restrictions on digits in certain positions, and several codes reserved for special services, there are 792 central office codes potentially available for use in each NPA, and therefore there are 7,920,000 unique telephone directory numbers theoretically available for use in each NPA.
In recent years, a dramatic increase in the subscription to and use of telecommunications services has created an explosion in demand for telephone directory numbers. New paging and mobile telephone services are relatively inexpensive compared to historical rates and have been widely adopted by users. Improved modems, printer technologies, and telecommunications networks have fostered significant increases in the use of facsimile machines. The unprecedented growth of the Internet has created demand for additional telephone lines, or equivalent capacity, from Internet Service Providers and from Internet users. All of these services require unique telephone directory numbers. Moreover, in the United States, recent changes to telecommunications laws have allowed competitive local exchange carriers (“CLECs”) to request directory numbers for assignment to their subscribers. Directory numbers are often assigned to a CLEC in blocks of 10,000 numbers, even if the carrier's actual need for directory numbers is a tiny fraction of the block.
As a result of these factors, the available telephone numbers within many of the originally assigned NPA regions have been exhausted. Telecommunications service providers and others have been forced to “split” or subdivide an NPA, or to provide some other type of relief, in order to maintain the availability of telephone numbers for new subscribers, new services, and new carriers. Even after initial relief, demand for additional telephone numbers continues, and therefore further splits or other relief are often soon required. For example, the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area, which had a single area code as late as 1989, has five area codes as of the filing of this application, and plans are underway to add a sixth. The State of Florida, which had three area codes as late as 1988, has eleven area codes as of the filing of this application.
When an NPA split occurs, typically some portion of the geographical territory in one or more existing NPAs is defined to be in a new NPA, an available unused NPA code is assigned to that territory, and whatever territory was not selected for the new NPA retains the code or codes of the existing NPA or NPAs. Typically, but not necessarily, a single existing NPA is split into two NPAs, and the territory of the new NPA is selected such that about half of the central office codes in the existing NPA geographical region are located within the boundaries of the new NPA. Multi-way splits and NPA boundary realignments are also possible. Certain other types of relief are available, such as an NPA overlay, in which one or more area codes are added to overlay the territory of one or more existing NPAs (or a subset thereof).
One characteristic of any plan for relieving telephone directory number exhaustion involving an NPA split or other NPA boundary realignment (which events will hereafter be collectively referred to as an “NPA split”) is that a substantial fraction of the subscribers (and therefore a sizable absolute number thereof) originally located within the existing NPA will, as a result of the relief, be located in a different NPA and thus will have a different area code. (NPA overlays usually do not share this characteristic because the overlay area code usually is assigned only to “new” subscriptions, and therefore the addition of the overlay area code does not directly require the area codes of existing subscriptions within the overlay area to change).
In order to assure an orderly transition to the new area code, NPA splits are typically executed in several phases to allow affected subscribers, and those with whom they communicate, to update their records of telephone numbers, to perform any required modifications to customer-owned networks, and to otherwise adapt to the new area code. In a first phase, the new NPA is announced to the public, and a permissive dialing period (PDP) beginning some months in the future, and ending some additional months thereafter, is declared. Before the PDP begins, telecommunications carriers make necessary modifications to their networks to accommodate the new area code.
In a second phase—during the PDP—calls to subscribers in the new NPA may be placed using either the old area code or the new area code. For example, when the 312 area code was split in 1989, a new NPA, 708 was designated, which was assigned to a portion of the territory originally in the 312 area code. During the PDP, calls to that territory could be dialed using either area code 312 or 708.
In a third phase—after the PDP ends—the NPA split is complete. Central office codes which previously were in use in the existing NPA, but were allocated to the new NPA, are now effectively unused in the existing NPA, and thus telephone directory numbers using those central office codes are now available for assignment in the existing NPA. Similarly, central office codes which previously were in use in the existing NPA, and were not allocated to the new NPA, are unused in the new NPA, and are now available for assignment. Such assignment would not be possible during the PDP, because calls using either of the old or new area codes would terminate at the same number. Moreover, once the PDP ends, calls to the new NPA must be placed using the new area code. Calls which are attempted using the old area code to a telephone number which has been “moved” to the new NPA are routed to the old NPA, and typically will reference a telephone number which has not yet been assigned in the old NPA.
A change to the area code of a subscriber requires corresponding changes to records of the telecommunications service provider regarding that subscriber and the subscribed services. Changing such records in the context of an NPA split poses significant technical problems for several reasons: records regarding a large number of subscriptions (possibly in excess of four million) must be updated in a coordinated fashion; for each subscription, many records relating to various functions and services, and residing in different locations, may need to be updated, also in a coordinated fashion; and availability requirements in telecommunications networks are extremely rigorous, so that services
Buttitta Anthony
Samba Augustine Sylvester
Hong Harry S.
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Ormos Neil R.
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