Telephonic communications – Special services – Service trigger
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-10
2003-04-22
Tieu, Benny Q. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Service trigger
C379S229000, C379S211020, C379S142050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06553109
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the termination of telephone calls in a telephone network that provides privacy screening to its subscribers.
2. Background of the Invention
Private telephone numbers are telephone numbers that block services such as “caller ID” that would otherwise identify the caller to the party he or she is calling (the “called party”). A privacy screening service is a service that allows the subscriber to screen incoming calls. For example, a subscriber can choose to accept or reject an unknown call. In a telephone systems that offers private numbers and a privacy screening service to its subscribers, calls from a private number to a subscriber with the privacy screening service cannot be completed automatically, unless the caller grants permission to the system allowing the system to override the privacy of his or her number.
FIG. 1
is a schematic diagram showing the basic architecture of an Advanced Intelligent Network telephone system. The Advanced Intelligent Network System is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,301 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,774, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIG. 1
shows the caller's telephone
101
which is connected via voice line
102
a
to its Service Switching Point (SSP)
103
. SSP
103
is connected via voice trunk
102
b
to a second SSP (SSP
104
). SSP
104
is the SSP that services the called party's telephone
105
. In this example, the called party is a subscriber who has subscribed to the privacy screening service. (The called party will be referred to as the “subscriber” as well as the “called party” herein.)
FIG. 1
also shows a Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
106
which services a Service Control Point (SCP)
107
and a third SSP (SSP
108
)
108
which services a Service Node (SN)
109
. SCP
107
has a database
107
a
which contains subscriber information.
STP
106
is a signaling hub that routes packets of data over the common channel signaling network. Signaling System
7
(SS
7
) is the protocol that runs over the common channel signaling network. The common channel signaling network using the Signaling System
7
protocol is commonly referred to as the SS
7
network. The SS
7
network carries data and control messages to the SSPs in the telephone network. SCPs are powerful fault-tolerant computers, e.g., AT&T Star Server FT Model 3200 or AT&T Star Server FT Model 3300 computers (these computers and more recent models such as the Advantage P200 and the Advantage 4P200 are available from Lucent Technologies). SCPs are “intelligence centers” with access to applications packages, software, routines and databases that enable the network to deliver advanced services such as caller ID, privacy screening and call forwarding. SNs are physically generally similar to SCPs, but include voice and Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signal recognition circuits and voice synthesizers. The operators of the telephone network can write software routines so that their SNs can manage data, perform digit collection, respond to calls, route calls as specified by the telephone network, and perform voice recognition functions. The SN's voice circuits can be programmed to provide a voice response (e.g., to play pre-selected announcements) to callers. The SN can also be programmed to respond to input from the callers by, e.g., further routing the call.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, STP
106
controls communications between SSPs
103
,
104
and
108
and SCP
107
over the SS
7
data links. The SSPs are connected to the caller's and the subscriber's telephones and to each other via voice lines
102
a
and
102
c
and via voice trunks
102
b
and
102
d
. The SSPs can also communicate with each other over the SS
7
data links shown in FIG.
1
. The SSPs are also connected to and communicate with STP
106
and SCP
107
via SS
7
data links
110
a
,
110
b
,
110
c
and
110
d
. SN
109
is connected to SSP
108
by an Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) line
111
. Although
FIGS. 1-2
c
only show one SCP and one STP, SCP
107
and STP
106
in
FIGS. 1-2
c
generally represent two redundant SCPs and STPs, respectively, because it is preferable to have redundant SCPs and STPs in an AIN system.
FIG. 1
a
illustrates a prior art system for routing calls to subscribers to a privacy screening service. When a caller places a call to the subscriber, the call is routed by SSP
103
to SSP
104
.
FIG. 1
a
shows call
1
routed from the caller to SSP
103
and then to SSP
104
. Because the subscriber has subscribed to the privacy screening service, that call (like all calls to that subscriber's number) triggers a “termination attempt trigger” or TAT. In response to the TAT, SSP
104
issues query
2
, shown in
FIG. 1
a
. Query
2
is a message that goes up to SCP
107
asking for directions as to how the call should be terminated. The query includes the following information: the subscriber's telephone number (in the called party field), the caller's telephone number (in the calling party field), the trigger criteria type (indicating the service for which the query is intended) and a presentation indicator in the calling party ID field.
SCP
107
checks the calling party's presentation indicator in the calling party ID field, and determines whether that caller has a public number (i.e., it is not a private number) or a private number, or whether the caller is unknown. If the caller's number is known and public, SCP
107
sends back a response (response
3
in
FIG. 1
a
) instructing SSP
104
to terminate the call, and to supply the caller's telephone number (and if the subscriber has subscribed to a higher level of service, the caller's name and telephone number). In that case, SSP
104
terminates the call (call
1
′ in
FIG. 1
a
), i.e., completes the call, supplying the subscriber with the caller's number (and possibly also with the caller's name if the subscriber has subscribed to, e.g. caller ID deluxe which provides the caller's name as well as the caller's telephone number).
However, if the caller's number is private, SCP
107
cannot authorize termination of the call without permission from the caller. In that case, the SCP's response (response
3
in
FIG. 1
a
) directs the call from SSP
104
to SN
109
via SSP
108
(call
4
in
FIG. 1
a
). Under the standard AIN protocol BRI Q.931, the call carries with it three numbers: (1) the number of the original called party (in this case the subscriber); (2) the number of the re-directing party (also the subscriber in this case); and (3) the number of the calling party. SN
109
then engages in a dialog with the caller. SN
109
asks the caller for permission to override his/her privacy. The caller is asked whether he or she agrees to have his or her privacy overriden. If the caller answers yes (e.g., by pressing
1
on his or her telephone), SN
109
dials a Customized Dialing Plan (CDP) code followed by the calling party number and the called party number (call
7
in
FIG. 1
a
). The CDP code triggers an Info_Analyzed query to SCP
107
(query
5
in
FIG. 1
a
). SCP
107
then retrieves the calling party number and the called party number from the query, and responds by sending an Analyze Route message (response
6
in
FIG. 1
a
) to SSP
108
, with the subscriber's number as the called party number. SSP
108
makes an outbound call (call
7
′ in
FIG. 1
a
) to the subscriber's SSP
104
. The number of the actual calling party is substituted in the calling party field.
This call triggers a second TAT query at SSP
104
to SCP
107
(query
8
), asking for authorization to terminate the call to the subscriber. SCP
107
recognizes this call as originating from an SN, and accordingly responds (response
9
) authorizing termination of the call to the subscriber (call
1
′ in
FIG. 1
a
), and release of the calling party's number, so that the subscriber can accept or reject the call.
However, th
Holt Scott C.
Hussain Aamir M.
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Shaw Pittman LLP
Tieu Benny Q.
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