Telephonic communications – Special services – Locating using diverse technology
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-09
2001-06-05
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Locating using diverse technology
C379S230000, C370S352000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243451
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to the field of telephony communications, and more particularly to a system and method for flexibly managing telephony services on a telephony network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Telecommunication companies frequently sell access to physical network telephony communication infrastructure and to telephony services related to the efficient use of such infrastructure. In offering services, the telecommunication companies have increasingly allowed individuals outside their corporate boundaries with options for customizing, restricting, and provisioning the services. An increasing number of companies are entering the telephony service bureau market to sell services by leasing “space” on network infrastructures from network operators. This service market treats physical telephony networks as a commodity which the service bureaus lease from network providers. Service bureaus acquire service technology to solve business telephony needs and then resell access to the technology solution to other telecommunication providers.
One example of a service typically sold by a service bureau is a toll free “800” number such as, for instance, the toll free number frequently used by mail order businesses that sell consumer goods. A consumer can order goods from a mail order company by dialing one toll free number. The consumer's call is routed to a central processor, such as a service control point. The central processor associates the 800 number dialed by the consumer with the physical location of the mail order company on the network and provides a number for that location to a switch, which routes the consumer's call to that physical location.
Presently, a service subscriber like the mail order company described above, must rely on a service operator to set up and provide the toll free service. The service operator must coordinate with the network operator to provision the service to the central processors on the network. However, creating and provisioning a service on a network can involve complicated software programming and development. Small changes to the service can require extensive programming to enable service logic features and rules on the central processor. This programming is generally accomplished in object oriented C++ software language, and can take six to nine months from the beginning of development until deployment is accomplished on a given network.
Another difficulty related to the creation and provisioning of a service is the service's interaction with the telephony database of the network operator. A single service may have to extract and use data fields from as many as fifteen to twenty separate tables of the telephony database. Network operators have accumulated these databases over time without necessarily intending to make these databases available to third parties such as service operators and service subscribers. Accordingly, these databases may be arranged in non-user friendly formats which require extensive training to understand and use.
For instance, in a typical database, one table can contain a customer's name, telephone number and billing information in separate entry fields in which each field is identified by a unique acronym label. A separate table can contain telephone numbers with each telephone number having associated data identifying particular options associated with the telephone number, such as call waiting or call forwarding, again with each field identified by a unique acronym label. A data entry operator would have to know how to access and understand each table and each acronym in a database to provide assistance to a service subscriber seeking, for instance, to have a call waiting service enabled for his telephone number. Further, the data entry operator would have complete access to the database, including access to sensitive data, such as credit information, even though the data entry operator has no need for access to this sensitive information to enable the service.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, a need has arisen for a flexible service management system to create customize, restrict and provision telephony services onto a telephony network with minimal software programming and with maximized direct interaction by service operators, service providers, or service subscribers.
A further need has arisen for a service management access point that can provide direct access to selected telephony database fields for service customization by a service operator, service provider, or service subscriber, without requiring alterations to the service by the network operator.
A further need has arisen for a system and method to generate graphical user interfaces with logic to support interactions with a telephony database for supporting customization and provisioning of a telephony service on a telephony network.
A further need has arisen for a system and method for controlling access to a telephony database to allow user-friendly interaction to portions of the telephony database having sensitive data while restricting access to the sensitive data itself.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for flexibly managing services on a telephony network is provided that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed means of providing services on a telephony network. A service management system interfaces with a telephony network to support a telephony service defined in an associated service definition package. The service management system accepts telephony data for supporting the telephony service. The service management system then validates the telephony data for consistency with the service and the telephony database, including validation of the data's consistency with service exclusions and interactions, and the data's consistency on a field level and a record level, such as the data's referential integrity. The service management system next stores the telephony data, thus acting as a master database for the telephony network. The telephony data can include different versions of services and the status of data for a service, such as active, sending, pending or saved status. The service management system then downloads the telephony data to, for instance, provision the service or activate the service on network elements such as the service control point.
Also in accordance with the present invention, a service management access point is provided that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed means of interacting with a telephony network to manipulate a telephony service. The service management access point allows a physical interface with a network by a service operator, service provider or service subscriber that permits customizing, restricting, and provisioning services on a telephony network. A data entry device interfaces with a telephony database through graphical user interfaces generated with a screen interpreter located on the service management access point. The screen interpreter interacts with a service screen definition located in the service definition package on the service management system to create service view screens that map telephony data from a table-based schema to a user-friendly service view. A data entry user can customize a service by building a service profile having predetermined service features, or by building a service script with service features from the service definition package or the service profile. The user can input service specific subscription data to enable service features. The service management access point can filter telephony data to restrict viewing, or to restrict changes to viewed data. The user can provision a customized service, including a new service or changes to an existing service, through the service management access point's interaction with the service management system.
Also in accordance with the present invention, an interface is provi
Bilbo Matthew J.
Harrison Mark A.
Shah Tasvir
Alcatel USA Sourcing L.P.
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Foster Roland G.
Tsang Fan
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