Abstract:
A system and method for provisioning cable telephone service in a cable communication system that is at least partially integrated with a telephone network. The cable communication system includes a head end Remote Digital Terminal (RDT) respectively communicating with a broadband network, a telephone switch and a customer premises Integrated Service Unit (ISU), and also includes an Order Management Center (OMC) associated with the RDT, the switch, or both. To implement telephone service to customer premises equipment adapted for communication with the ISU, the RDT is notified of a new service request by way of a service request message sent from the ISU to the RDT, and the switch is notified of the new service request by way of provisioning information sent from the OMC to the switch via an Element Management System (EMS) associated with the switch. Advantageously, the RDT and the switch are adapted exchange information needed to coordinate the provisioning of telephone service to the customer premises equipment. In a first embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are not owned by the same service provider, the service option information sent to the switch is initially provided to the OMC via an in-service telephone. In a second embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are co-owned, the service option information is initially provided to the OMC via a temporary telephone connection established between the customer premises equipment and the OMC.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to cable telephone service. More particularly, the invention concerns the provisioning of cable telephone service to new telephone service subscribers. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Coaxial cable communication systems have historically been implemented separately from telephone networks. Cable subscribers desiring telephone service thus had to obtain such service from a telephone service provider. The provisioning and installation of each type of service has been completely independent of the other and, like the physical networks themselves, there has been no common point where this activity has come together. 
     More recently, cable service providers have begun offering telephone service delivered via the subscriber premises cable drop, i.e., the cable communication system and the telephone network have become partially integrated. When telephone service is provided in this way, a number of manual steps must be taken to provision a subscriber for service. These steps typically include the subscriber making separate telephone calls to telephone and cable service providers to request service, a possible cable service provider truck roll to the subscriber premises to install the customer premises telephone equipment, a possible cable service provider truck roll to a cable head end location to provision the head end, and a series of coordinating communications between an Order Management Center (OMC) owned by the cable service provider and an OMC owned by the telephone service provider. 
     In the fierce competition between providers of high-speed multimedia services offering both voice and data communication support, those that can offer quality service with a high degree of convenience will have a decided advantage. With their ubiquitous high-speed coaxial cable networks, cable companies seem well positioned to meet this challenge. However, wide spread acceptance of multimedia cable services will require the ability to offer low cost telephone service without complicated or lengthy service setup procedures. What is required is an improved cable telephone service provisioning system and method wherein functions previously performed by cable network and telephone network service personnel are automated, and cable telephone service provisioning is rapid and easy to implement from the customer perspective. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The foregoing problems are solved and an advance in the art is obtained by a novel system and method for provisioning cable telephone service in a cable communication system that integrates at least partially with a telephone network. The cable communication system includes a head end Remote Digital Terminal (RDT) respectively communicating with a broadband network, a telephone switch and a customer premises Integrated Service Unit (ISU). The cable communication system also includes an OMC associated with the RDT, the switch, or both. To implement telephone service to customer premises equipment adapted for communication with the ISU, the RDT is notified of a new service request by way of a service request message sent from the ISU to the RDT. The switch is notified of the new service request by way of information sent from the OMC to the switch via an Element Management System (EMS) associated with the switch. Advantageously, the RDT and the switch are adapted to exchange information needed to coordinate the provisioning of telephone service on behalf to the customer premises equipment without manual provisioning steps having to be performed. In a first embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are not owned by the same service provider, the service option information sent to the switch is initially provided to the OMC via an in-service telephone. In a second embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are co-owned, the service option information is initially provided to the OMC via a temporary telephone connection established between the customer premises equipment and the OMC. 
     In the first preferred embodiment of the invention, a request for telephone service to the customer premises equipment is received at the OMC. The telephone service request includes service option information and an Electronic Serial Number (ESN) associated with the customer premises equipment. The service option information and the ESN are sent from the OMC to an EMS associated with the switch. The EMS sends the service option information, the ESN and a Directory Number (DN) to the switch, which stores this information in a switch database. The switch also determines a Call Reference Value (CRV) and associates it with the service option information, the ESN and the DN in the switch database. A request is then sent from the switch to the RDT to create an Analog Line Termination (ALT) object in an RDT database. The ESN is also sent from the switch to the RDT for storage in the RDT database in association with the ALT. 
     At the RDT, a New Request for Service (NRS) message is received from the ISU via a Network Interface Unit (NIU) located at the customer premises. The NRS contains the subscriber premises equipment ESN. A comparison is then made at the RDT between ESN received in the NRS message with the ESN stored in the RDT database. If the ESN&#39;s match, the RDT sends a Change-In-Status (CIS) message to the switch requesting that the CRV be set to In-Service (IS) status. 
     In the second preferred embodiment of the invention, the RDT receives an NRS message sent from the ISU via the NIU located at the customer premises. The NRS contains the customer premises equipment ESN. The ESN is associated with a CRV at the RDT. The RDT then sends a message to the switch advising of the ESN and the CRV. The switch assigns restricted telephone service to the CRV using a selected Line Class Code (LCC) with connectivity to the OMC. A message is also sent from the switch to the RDT requesting the RDT to create an ALT object for the CRV in an RDT database. 
     In response to the subscriber premises equipment going off hook, a connection is set up from the customer premises equipment to the OMC. Through this connection, the OMC receives service option information relative to the customer premises equipment and requests an EMS associated with the switch (and the OMC) to setup service for the customer premises equipment. The EMS determines a DN to assign to the customer premises equipment and forwards the service option information and the DN to the switch. The service option information and the DN are store in a switch database. The CRV is then activated to full In-Service (IS) status. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a prior art cable communication system and a conventional telephone network with no interoperation therebetween; 
     FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a prior art cable communication system interoperating with a prior art telephone network that is partially integrated with the cable system; 
     FIG. 3 is functional block diagram showing a first embodiment of the invention for use in a partially-integrated cable communication system and telephone network in which an OMC and a telephone switch are separately owned; 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B represent a flow diagram showing method steps performed in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention for use in a fully-integrated cable communication system and telephone network in which an OMC and a telephone switch are co-owned; and 
     FIGS. 6A and 6B represent a flow diagram showing method steps performed in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In order to more fully appreciate the present invention shown in FIGS. 3-6 of the drawing, a review of the prior art cable telephone service provisioning methods described by way of background above will now be presented with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The functional block diagram of FIG. 1 depicts the current configuration for most cable and telephone subscribers in which a telephone network  2  (enclosed by the dotted line  3 ) is implemented completely separately from a cable communication system  4 . As is well known, the telephone network  2  includes a business center  6  operated by a telephone service provider and containing an OMC  8  and an EMS  10 . The EMS  10  is connected to a Central Office  12  containing a switch  14 , such as a Class 5 ESS® switch from Lucent Technologies, Inc. The switch  14  itself connects to a Remote Digital Terminal (RDT)  16  via a conventional TR-303 (Technical Reference-303) interface  17 . As is known, a TR-303 interface integrates a Digital Loop Carrier System (DLC) into a Local Digital Switch (LDS) at the DS1 digital transmission rate. The RDT  16  terminates multiple tip/ring pairs  18 , one of which connects to a telephone line drop  20  located at a customer premises  22 . A conventional telephone  24  is connected to the line drop  20 . 
     The cable communication system  4  includes a business center  30  operated by a cable service provider and containing an OMC  32  and an EMS  34 . The EMS  34  is connected to a cable head end  36 . The business center  30  also includes a video center  38  connected to the head end  36 . The video center is further connected to a satellite dish  40  that receives a down link video feed from an Earth-orbiting satellite  41 . The cable head end  36  connects to the customer premises  22  and to other customer premises, two of which are shown by reference numeral  42 . The coaxial cable drop at the customer premises  22  includes a conventional NIU  44 . The NIU is shown, by way of example, as being connected to a television set  46 . 
     The separate telephone network  2  and cable communication system  4  of FIG. 1 require a call to each service provider to initiate service. Specifically, to initiate telephone service from the telephone network service provider, a customer must call the telephone business center  6  using an in-service telephone  50  and speak to someone in the telephone service provider OMC  8 . After the service option information is received from the customer at the OMC  8 , the information is provided to the telephone service provider EMS  10 , as shown by the arrow  52 . The EMS  10  then instructs the switch  14  to provision service to the customer premises  22  in conventional fashion. If necessary, a truck roll is made to the customer premises  22  to install required equipment. 
     To initiate cable service from the cable service provider, a customer must call the cable business center  30  using an in-service telephone  54  and speak to someone in the cable service provider OMC  32 . After the service option information is received from the customer at the OMC  32 , the information is provided to the cable service provider EMS  34 , as shown by arrow  56 . If necessary, a truck roll is made to the customer premises  22  to install required equipment. 
     In FIG. 1, therefore, the provisioning and installation of cable service and telephone service are completely independent of each other and there is no common point where this activity or the two physical networks come together. 
     Turning now to FIG. 2, the elements of the telephone network  2  and the cable communication system  4  are the same as in FIG. 1 except that the cable head end is integrated with the RDT to provide an integrated head end and TR-303 compliant RDT  60  (hereinafter referred to as “RDT”). The telephone network  2  is thus partially integrated into the cable communication system  4 . As shown by the dotted line  78 , only the business center  6  and the switch  14  are owned by the telephone service provider. 
     The RDT  60  connects via a TR-303 interface  61  to the switch  14 . It also connects via a broadband distribution terminal  62  to an NIU  64  located at a subscriber premises  66 . Other customer premises, as shown by reference numeral  68 , may also be connected to the distribution terminal  62 . Note that the coaxial cable connections between the RDT  60  and the NIU  64  are able to carry data and voice traffic, and thus enable cable telephone service to be provided to the customer premises  66 . Within the customer premises  66  is an ISU  70  that acts as a network hub within the premises. Connected to the ISU  70  is a digital telephone  72 , and by way of further example, a television set  74  and a computer  76 . 
     In order to provision cable telephone service to the customer premises  66 , a number of manual steps are required. First, as shown at “A” in FIG. 2, a potential cable telephone subscriber must first call the cable service provider OMC  32  using the in-service telephone  54 . The cable service provider determines whether service is possible by checking its own assignment resources and by making a request to the telephone service provider OMC  8  to check its assignment resources. The OMC  32  obtains service option information from the subscriber and forwards this information to the OMC  8 . The foregoing steps are shown at “B” in FIG.  2 . As shown at “C” in FIG. 2, the OMC  32  then schedules the installation of necessary equipment at the subscriber premises  66  and also schedules provisioning of the RDT  60  (if necessary). 
     As shown at “D” in FIG. 2, a truck roll is made to the subscriber premises  66  so that a cable service provider installer can install a cable drop, the NIU  64  and the ISU  70  (unless this equipment is already in place). The customer may then plug the cable telephone  72  into the ISU  70 . As shown at “E” in FIG. 2, a truck roll may also need to be made to the RDT  60  to associate the ESN of the ISU  70  to a CRV provided by the telephone service provider. Prior to, during, or after the installation steps “D” and “E” of FIG. 2, the telephone service provider OMC  8  requests the EMS  10  to provision the switch  14  for telephone service to the customer premises  66  based on the service option information provided by the subscriber. This is shown at “F” in FIG.  2 . The EMS  10  sends the service option information and a DN (Dialed Number) to the switch  14  with instructions to associate this information with the CRV. This is shown at “G” in FIG.  2 . Provisioning is completed at “H” in FIG.  2  and verified by the cable service provider installer, who then notifies the OMC  32  that the installation order has been completed. Notification of installation completion is provided to the telephone service provider OMC  8  by the EMS  10 . The OMC  32  and the OMC  8  then activate their billing systems. 
     Turning now to FIG. 3, a first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in which the elements of the telephone network  2  and the cable communication system  4  are the same as in FIG. 2 except as noted below. Again, the telephone network  2  and the cable communication system  4  are partially integrated, i.e., the cable head end is integrated into the TR303-compliant Remote Digital Terminal (RDT)  60 . In addition, the RDT  60  and the switch  14  are programmed to exchange service provisioning information via the existing TR303 Embedded Operations Channel (EOC). In accordance with the invention, the EOC message set is expanded to provide this new capability. 
     The method steps performed in accordance with the FIG. 3 embodiment to provision telephone service to a customer premises equipment  72  will now be described with additional reference to the flow diagram of FIG.  4 . In a first step  80 , a potential cable telephone subscriber contacts the cable service provider OMC  32  using the in-service telephone  54 , and subscribes to telephone service (and possibly cable service as well). In step  82 , the OMC  32  contacts the telephone service provider OMC  8  and places a telephone service order. An optional step  83  may also be performed to dispatch a cable service provider installer to the customer premises  66  to install any required equipment. The service order given to the OMC  8  includes service option information and an encrypted version of the ESN of the ISU  70 , which is initially provided by the subscriber. In step  84 , the telephone service provider EMS  10  associates a DN with the service option information (as call features) and the encrypted ESN provided by the OMC  32 . In step  86 , the EMS  10  sends the service option information, the encrypted ESN and the DN to the switch  14 . In step  88 , the service option information, the encrypted ESN, and the DN are associated with a CRV in a database  90  associated with the switch  14 . In step  92 , the switch  14  requests the RDT  60 , via the TR303 interface  61 , to create an ALT object in a database  94  associated with the RDT. The encrypted ESN is also passed to the RDT  60 , where it is stored for future use. At this point, however, the line is not yet placed into a full “In Service” state. 
     In step  96 , the subscriber (or the cable service provider installer) connects the ISU  70  to the cable appearance at the customer premises  66 , i.e., to the NTU  64 . The ISU then conventionally establishes communication with the NIU  64 . In step  98 , the NIU obtains the ISU&#39;s ESN and forwards it in encrypted form in an NRS message to the RDT  60 . In step  100 , the RDT  60  compares the encrypted ESN received from the NIU  64  against the encrypted ESN received from the switch  14  at the time that the CRV was provisioned. If the ESNs match in step  100 , (i.e., verification passes) the RDT  60  notifies the switch  14  via a new Change-In-Status EOC message to set the line status to “In Service” (IS) in step  102 . From this point forward the RDT  60  will accept OFF-HOOK messages from the NIU  64 . If the ESNs do not match in step  100 , an error is returned. 
     Following provisioning, the subscriber (or installer) connects the telephone  72  to the ISU  70  and the telephone goes off-hook in step  104 . In step  106 , the NIU  64  detects and passes the OFF-HOOK indication to the RDT  60 . In step  108 , the RDT recognizes the OFF-HOOK signal and sends a “SETUP” request for the corresponding CRV to the switch  14 . In step  110 , the switch  14  verifies that the requesting CRV is permitted to originate and if so sends a “CONNECT” message to the RDT  60 . In step  112 , the RDT  60  replies with a “CONNECT ACKNOWLEDGE” message and connects the CRV to a time-slot assigned by the switch. The switch  14  then provides dial tone to the subscriber in step  114 . In step  116 , the subscriber (or installer) dials an Automatic Number Announcement Circuit (ANAC) provided at the time of the service request to determine the DN assigned to the line. 
     Turning now to FIG. 5, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The elements of the cable communication system  4  are the same as in FIG. 3, but the telephone network  2  of FIG. 3 is effectively merged into the cable communication system  4 . Thus, the cable service provider business center  30  now includes a unified OMC  120  and an EMS  122 . There is no separate telephone network business center  6 . The switch  14  (and possibly the entire Central Office  12 ) is also controlled by the cable service provider. In addition, the RDT  60  and the switch  14  are programmed to exchange service provisioning information via the existing TR303 Embedded Operations Channel (EOC). As in the case of the first embodiment of the invention, the EOC message set is expanded to provide this new capability. 
     The method steps performed in accordance with the FIG. 5 embodiment to provision telephone service to the customer premises equipment  72  will now be described with additional reference to the flow diagram of FIG.  6 . 
     In a first step  130 , a potential cable telephone service subscriber purchases the ISU  70  from a retailer (or from the cable service provider). In optional step  131 , a truck roll is made to the customer premises  66  to install the NIU  64  and run a cable drop thereto (unless this equipment is already in place). In step  132 , the customer connects the ISU  70  to the cable appearance at the customer premises  66 , i.e., to the NIU  64 . In step  134 , the ISU  70  establishes communication with the NIU  64 . In step  136 , the NIU enables the ISU to forward its encrypted ESN in an NRS message to the RDT  60 . In step  138 , the RDT  60  associates the ESN in the incoming NRS message with a CRV and in step  140  notifies the switch  14  via the EOC carried by the TR-303 interface  61 . In step  142 , the switch  14  recognizes the request and assigns restricted service to the requesting CRV by means of a default Line Class Code (LCC) with a “hotline” connection to the service provider OMC  120 . After successful provisioning of its own database  90  in step  144 , the switch  14  sends a request to the RDT  60  in step  146  to create an ALT object for the CRV. 
     In step  148 , the subscriber connects the telephone  72  to the ISU  70 , goes off-hook, and is switched directly to the OMC  120 . In step  150 , the subscriber places an order for telephone service (and possibly cable service as well), specifying the desired service options. In step  152 , the OMC  120  submits a service order containing service option information for the requested telephone service (and possibly cable service as well) to the EMS  122  and activates the billing process. In step  154 , the EMS assigns a DN to the subscriber and in step  156  sends the subscriber&#39;s telephone service option information and line characteristics (e.g., the DN) to the switch  14 . In step  158 , the switch  14  updates the subscriber&#39;s line status from “restricted level” to full service and adds any features purchased by the subscriber. The subscriber is now fully subscribed for cable telephone service. 
     Accordingly, a novel system and method for provisioning cable telephone service are disclosed. While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be apparent that many variations and alternative embodiments could be implemented in accordance with the invention. For example, note that Steps  148  through  152  of FIGS. 5 and 6 could be automated by connecting the subscriber&#39;s initial service setup call to a computerized system (not shown) at the OMC  120 . This system could query the subscriber to select the desired service option features one of two ways: (1) via the telephone Touch Tone™ keypad, or (2) via menus sent to the television set  74 . The subscriber would be provided a new telephone number (permanent or temporary) along with a confirmation number. The data collected would then be used to provision the video center  38  and the switch database  90 . Service could thus be available within a matter of minutes. It is understood, therefore, that the invention is not to be in any way limited except in accordance with the spirit of the appended claims and their equivalents.