Telephonic communications – Special services – Call diversion
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-28
2004-02-17
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Call diversion
C379S221110, C379S221080
Reexamination Certificate
active
06694004
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and services provided in an advanced intelligent network (“AIN”) environment and more specifically to telecommunication systems for simultaneously ringing multiple subscriber lines when a single call is placed to a subscriber's primary line.
2. Background of the Invention
Multiple communications systems have become ubiquitous in today's society. It is not uncommon for individuals, referred to herein as “subscribers,” to have more than one telephone system including both wireline telephones and wireless telephones. Subscribers' wireline telephones may or may not be co-located in the same building and the wireless telephones are, by design, highly mobile. This situation has resulted in a need for subscribers to maintain and distribute multiple telephone numbers which may be used to establish communication.
When a caller tries to reach a subscriber, the caller must dial the subscriber's first telephone number and wait to see if anyone answers the call. If the call goes unanswered, the caller must try the next number and again wait for an answer. This process must be repeated until one of the calls is answered or the caller has tried all of the subscriber's numbers without success. This situation can be frustrating for a caller because multiple telephone calls may have to be tried before successfully reaching the subscriber. Similarly, subscribers can be frustrated because the end result may be a missed call. Simultaneous ring services have been offered to solve this problem for subscribers having multiple telephone numbers.
In a simultaneous ring service, when a call is made to a subscriber's wireline (“primary line”) telephone number, the service provides a ringing tone on the primary line and on designated secondary lines. Such a service connects the caller to whichever telephone line is answered first. As known in the art, such simultaneous ring services may be extended to ring many different lines, wired or wireless, at the same time or to ring a series of lines in rapid succession. For simplicity, the description of conventional simultaneous ring services and the system and service of the present invention will be generally directed to simultaneous ringing of only two telephone lines. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize how such services can be adapted to ring more than two lines simultaneously.
Although such simultaneous ring services have solved the subscribers' problems, the implementation used in conventional services has resulted in further problems for the telephone service providers (“telcos”). Conventional simultaneous ring services are implemented using a service node (“SN”) comprising the telco's customer subscription data as described in more detail below.
Conventional Simultaneous Ring Service
Caller
110
in
FIG. 1
is the person attempting to reach subscriber
112
, a customer of telco
128
. Caller
110
has telephone line
111
. As known in the art, caller
110
could also be a customer of telco
128
, or, caller
110
could be a foreign customer connecting through inter-exchange carrier (“IXC”)
114
as shown in FIG.
1
. In the schematic diagram shown in
FIG. 1
, when caller
110
places a call to subscriber
112
's primary line (i.e., wireline
113
) the call hits a termination attempt trigger (“TAT”) on service switching point (“SSP” or “switch”)
115
. In response to this trigger, SSP
115
sends a query to service control point (“SCP”)
116
via signaling network
118
. As known in the art, signaling network
118
is a packet switched network consisting of various network components, including, e.g., signaling transfer points (“STPs”), SSPs, SCPs and the like. Common Channel Signaling System Number 7 (“SS7”) is a network protocol commonly used in signaling networks in North America, although other protocols may be implemented elsewhere or in the future. For the present invention, the specific signaling network protocol implemented is not important.
As known in the art, SCP
116
uses data stored in database
119
to formulate an appropriate answer to AIN queries it receives. Database
119
typically stores a plurality of records associated with each subscriber of the various services provided by the particular SCP. In the case of a conventional simultaneous ring service, database
119
includes the telephone numbers for the subscriber's primary line and designated secondary lines, including wireless line
122
. The database further includes information regarding the type of line used for each secondary line (i.e., whether the lines are wirelines or wireless lines). In response to the query from SSP
115
, SCP
116
first checks database
119
to see if the calling party number corresponds to one of the subscriber's designated secondary lines. If a match is made, SCP
116
instructs SSP
115
to continue with normal call processing, i.e., wireline
113
rings if it is available or caller
110
is provided a busy signal if wireline
113
is busy. If a match is not made, SCP
116
directs SSP
115
to forward the call to SN
124
for further call processing. As known in the art, SN
124
could be served by the same switch as the subscriber, or could be served by a different switch. In
FIG. 1
, SN
124
is served by a different switch, SSP
125
, via PRI trunk
126
.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, in conventional simultaneous ring services SN
124
uses database
127
to store a plurality of records associated with subscriber of the service. Just as with database
119
(on SCP
116
) database
127
(on SN
124
) stores telephone numbers for the subscriber's primary and secondary lines and type information for the secondary lines. As described above, SSP
115
forwards the call the SN
124
for further call processing. SN
124
uses the subscriber's primary line telephone number, contained in the redirecting party number field of the call setup message, to identify the subscriber being called. SN
124
looks up the subscriber's secondary numbers in database
127
and initiates calls to each secondary number as well as to the primary number. SN
124
prioritizes and spaces these calls as necessary if any of the secondary lines are wireless lines. As soon as one of these calls is answered, SN
124
connects caller
110
to the answered line and ends the unanswered calls. As discussed above, this conventional simultaneous ring service provides the functionality needed from the subscriber's and the caller's point of view. However, the conventional implementation described above is not efficient for the telco providing the service.
As known in the art service nodes as very expensive systems and are generally for specific applications. If the load on a particular service node is heavy, multiple service nodes may be required to accommodate an application. Because conventional implementation requires subscription data to be stored on a service node, telco
128
must maintain multiple databases on multiple network nodes. Moreover, the information in these databases is duplicative of the information already needed to be stored in the service control point as described above. A need therefore exists for a more efficient system and method for providing simultaneous ring services for subscribers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system and method for providing simultaneous ringing on multiple subscriber telephone lines using a centralized database for storing the information related to the subscriber's lines. The database is stored on a centralized AIN node, usually a service control point, and it includes the telephone numbers for a subscriber's primary line and one or more secondary lines. When a caller places a call to the subscriber's primary line, a trigger is encountered at the switch serving the subscriber's primary line. In response to the trigger, the subscriber's switch queries the service control point for call processin
Griffiths Michael
Knoerle Joseph Michael
Nguyen Hong
Zhang Zeeman
Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Hong Harry S.
Le Karen
Shaw Pittman LLP
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