Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection – Interexchange signalling
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-06
2004-05-18
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
Interexchange signalling
C379S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06738472
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to telephony communication in general, and to methods and systems for establishing and controlling telephone calls, in particular.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Reference is now made to
FIG. 1
, which is a schematic illustration of a system for placing a call between a pre-paid mobile subscriber, and a land subscriber, which is known in the art. The system is includes a mobile switching center (MSC)
4
, a central office (CO)
10
and a pre-paid system (PPS)
14
. Pre-paid system
14
is also know as adjunct switch or service node. Mobile switching center (MSC)
4
is a gateway for a plurality of mobile subscribers (such as mobile subscriber
2
) to a wide area telephony network. Central office (CO)
10
is a gateway for a plurality of land subscribers (such as land subscriber
8
) to that wide area telephony network. Pre-paid system (PPS)
14
is operative to authorize and control telephony calls from mobile subscriber
2
to another subscriber such as a land subscriber
8
or other mobile subscribers. Mobile switching center (MSC)
4
is coupled to central office (CO)
10
and to pre-paid system (PPS)
14
via respective signaling links
36
and
34
. It is noted that signaling links
34
and
36
are typically routed between the various network nodes by signal transfer point (STP) units (not shown), which serve as routers.
In the terminology of conventional telephony, a voice link between network nodes such as links
16
,
22
and
28
, represents a time slot in a multiplexed voice trunk. Each of the time slots is identified by a circuit identification code (CIC).
When mobile subscriber
2
initiates a telephone call to land subscriber
8
, he first establishes a link
6
to MSC
4
. It is noted that the type of link between a terminal and a respective network node, is typically different than a link between two network nodes.
MSC
4
initiates a call to PPS
14
via signaling link
34
and further directs the call thereto, via voice link
16
, between ports
18
and
20
. PPS
14
authorizes that call according to the account status of the mobile subscriber
2
and initiates a call back to MSC
4
via signaling link
34
and further directs that call thereto via voice link
22
, between ports
24
and
26
. MSC initiates a call to central office (CO)
10
via signaling link
36
and further directs the call received at port
26
to central office (CO)
10
, via link
28
, between ports
30
and
32
. Central office (CO)
10
further directs the call to land subscriber
8
via a link
12
.
PPS
14
constantly monitors the call established between mobile subscriber
2
and land subscriber
8
, as it passes there through. It is noted that establishing such a telephone call requires allocating three ports in the MSC
4
, two ports in the PPS
14
and one port in the CO
10
. Each voice connection port
18
,
26
and
30
employs a different circuit identification code and hence, MSC
4
has to assign three CICs for establishing that telephone call.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that for the purpose of establishing a pre-paid call, MSC
4
has to initiate two calls, one from port
18
and another from port
30
. The initiation and management of these calls, significantly load the processors of MSC
4
. In addition, the capacity of MSC
4
is limited to a predetermined number of calls, which can be managed and switched thereby. Hence, every such pre-paid call, requires switch resources which could have been used for two regular calls. This significantly increases the cost of such a pre-paid call in terms of switching resource allocation.
Reference is now made to
FIG. 2
, which is a schematic illustration of a system for placing a call between a pre-paid mobile subscriber, and a land subscriber, which is known in the art. MSC
44
, CO
50
, and PPS
54
are analogous to MSC
4
(FIG.
1
), CO
10
, and PPS
14
, respectively. MSC
44
is coupled to CO
50
and to PPS
54
via respective signaling links
40
and
56
.
When mobile subscriber
42
initiates a telephone call to land subscriber
48
, he first establishes a link
46
to MSC
44
. MSC
44
initiates a call to PPS
54
via signaling link
56
. PPS
54
authorizes that call according to the account status of the mobile subscriber
42
and initiates a return call, back to MSC
44
via signaling link
56
. In that return call, PPS
54
directs MSC
44
, to connect ports
60
and
62
via a voice link
64
. The establishing of voice link
64
is known in the art as “loop-around”.
In turn, MSC
44
initiates a call to CO
50
via signaling link
40
. MSC
44
, further directs the call, received at port
62
, to CO
50
, via voice link
58
, between ports
66
and
68
. CO
50
further directs the call to land subscriber
48
.
PPS
54
constantly monitors the call established between mobile subscriber
42
and land subscriber
48
, by communicating at a signaling level with MSC
44
. It is noted that establishing such a telephone call requires allocating three ports in MSC
44
, and a single port in CO
50
.
Each voice connection port
60
,
62
and
66
employs a different circuit identification code and hence, MSC
44
has to assign three CICs for establishing that telephone call. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that for the purpose of establishing that pre-paid call, MSC
44
has to initiate two calls, one from port
60
and another from port
66
, which significantly load the processors thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,702 to De Paul et al. entitled “Dynamic STP routing in response to triggering” is directed to a method for submitting queries to a remote database using SCCP/TCAP protocols. The method employs a common channel interoffice signaling (CCIS) network to determine a parameter respective of the called party (e.g., if the called party is busy), prior to construction of a telephone connection. When an originating end office receives a request to connect a caller to a called party, the originating end office sends a message to the terminating end office, via the CCIS network. The terminating end office determines if the called party is busy. If the called party is busy, then the terminating end office informs the originating end office by sending a message via the CCIS network, and the originating end office provides a busy signal to the caller. If the called party is not busy, then the terminating end office informs the originating end office, and a telephone connection is constructed between the caller and the called party.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,562, to Christie et al. entitled “Systems and methods for providing enhanced services for telecommunication call” is directed to a method for providing enhanced services for calls over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) system. Such services include voice messaging, facsimile messaging, mail boxes, voice recognition, conference bridging, calling card, menu routing, prepay card, tone detection and call forwarding. The system includes a service platform system, which interacts with a plurality of communication terminals. The service platform system includes a signaling processor, a service platform and an interworking unit.
The signaling processor receives signaling messages in ATM format from a source terminal, processes them and determines which services the call requires and which operations have to be performed. The signaling processor then sends a signal to the service platform, designating the application to use in order to process the call. The interworking unit receives signals from the source terminal and from the signaling processor, and converts the ATM cells, which it has received from the source terminal, to a form, which is compatible with the service platform. The service platform processes the signal received from interworking unit according to the selected application, and sends the processing results to the signaling processor, and the processed call to the interworking unit. The interworking unit sends the processed call either to the source terminal or to another service
Foley & Lardner
Matar Ahmad
Nguyen Quynh H.
Sigvalue Technologies LTD
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