Caller identification billing

A method for attributing costs for a telephone call in an SS7 network. Information associated with the telephone call is captured and retained when the telephone call is provided to a call recipient by a second carrier that is a UNE-P lessee of a first carrier. The captured information is stored when including a CNAM query. The CNAM query is associated with the second carrier and reflected in an updated record containing the total volume of CNAM queries handled by the first carrier for the second carrier.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The invention is directed to the communication field, particularly to the assembly of billing information associated with the provision of the identity of a telephone caller. One of the telephone services available is caller identification or caller ID whereby a recipient of a telephone call may learn the identity of the caller prior to taking the telephone call, thereby permitting the recipient having a telephone with a display to avoid conversations with unwanted callers.

The identity of the caller is associated with the telephone call during establishment of the connection between the caller and the call recipient. Currently, Signaling System #7, or SS7, is the control protocol used to coordinate the handling of a telephone call. Upon entry of the called number, an available trunk line between the calling and called telephone is reserved for the voice communications and a separate route between the calling and called telephones is established for the interchange of control information. Control information may include confirmation of receiver uptake and receiver hangup and direction for delivery of a calling ring or a busy signal. The control information passes between service switching points (SSPs) via one or more signal transfer points (STPs) in the form of packets. One SSP is connected to the calling telephone and the other SSP to the called or receiving telephone. Service control points (SCPs) connected to the STPs provide access to data bases that may include telephone numbers correlated with customer names.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, providers of telecommunication services are divided into several groups. Local exchange carriers (LECs) are independent telephone service providers that offer local telephone service to telephone customers in a specific geographic area. A LEC is usually a local telephone company. Incumbent local exchange companies (ILECs) existed prior to the Act and had co-existed with LECs owned by the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) entered local areas after the Act and compete with ILECs.

One purpose of the Act was expansion of the numbers of service providers available to telephone customers by encouragement of formation of additional CLECs. To this end, the Act requires ILECs to provide to CLECs at wholesale rates access to unbundled network element platforms (UNE-Ps), such as local loops, switch ports, and dedicated common transport facilities owned by the ILECs, thereby allowing ILEC telephone customers to switch or port their service to a CLEC.

Even though ported telephone customers receive service through a CLEC and are billed by the CLEC, the original ILEC sometimes continues to provide certain services associated with a telephone call. One example is caller ID service where a customer with a suitable telephone may learn the identity of a caller prior to accepting a telephone call. Although caller ID may refer to identification of a caller telephone number, caller ID here refers to identification of a caller name.

The ILEC, and not the CLEC, may have access to data bases associating the caller telephone number with the caller's name. For the ILEC to be compensated for caller ID data base searches, calls associated with caller ID requests by ported ILEC telephone customers need to be identified and billed to the correct CLEC. As an individual ILEC may have UNE-P relationships with several CLECs and be associated with a large number of calls, proper billing is a formidable task.

In view of the above difficulties, there is a need for a method and system of associating caller ID queries with the parties responsible for their payment.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The needs of the invention set forth above as well as further and other needs and advantages of the present invention are achieved by the embodiments of the invention described herein below.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for selectively storing information associated with a telephone call includes capturing information associated with the telephone call, retaining the captured information when the telephone call is provided to a call recipient by a second carrier that is a UNE-P lessee of a first carrier, and storing the retained captured information when the retained captured information includes a CNAM (calling name) query.

In some embodiments of the invention, the method may further include placing the captured information within a CDR (call detail record) and a TDR (transaction detail record). In another embodiment, the CDR may include ISUP (ISDN User Part protocol) data, and, in a further embodiment, the method may further include correlating the CDR with external reference data. In an additional embodiment, the TDR may include TCAP (Transactions Capabilities Applications Part) data and the TCAP data may indicate that the telephone call involves the CNAM query. In certain embodiments, the method may further include correlating the ISUP data and the TCAP data on the basis of presence of the CNAM query.

In an additional embodiment, the method may further include associating the CNAM query with a customer belonging to the second carrier. In a further embodiment, a total call volume record may be incremented to include the CNAM query.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system for selectively storing information associated with a telephone call includes a processor capable of extracting and filtering information from communications regarding the telephone call and a data management component capable of correlating the extracted and filtered information with a carrier. In a certain embodiment of the invention, the communications may be between a first carrier STP and, at least one of, a first carrier SCP, a second carrier STP, and a first carrier SSP. In a further embodiment, the system may include a summary module containing the total volume of telephone calls ascribable to said carrier.

According to an additional aspect of the invention, a system for selectively storing information associated with a telephone call includes means for capturing information associated with the telephone call, means for retaining the captured information when the telephone call is provided to a call recipient by a second carrier, said second carrier being a UNE-P lessee of a first carrier, and means for storing the retained captured information, when the retained captured information includes a CNAM query.

In some embodiments of the invention, the system may include means for placing the captured information within a CDR and a TDR. In another embodiment, the CDR may include ISUP data, and, in a further embodiment, the system may include means for correlating the CDR with external reference data. In an additional embodiment, the TDR may include TCAP data and the TCAP data may indicate that the telephone call involves the CNAM query. In certain embodiments, the system may further include means for correlating the ISUP data and the TCAP data on the basis of presence of the CNAM query.

In an additional embodiment, the system may further include means for associating the CNAM query with the second carrier. In a certain other embodiment, the system may also include means for incrementing a total call volume record for the second carrier to include the CNAM query.

According to a certain aspect of the invention, a processor-readable computer program product encoded on one or more programmable storage devices and executable by one or more processors to perform method steps for selectively storing information associated with a telephone call includes instructions for capturing the information associated with the telephone call, for retaining the captured information when the telephone call is provided to a call recipient by a second carrier, which is a UNE-P lessee of a first carrier, and for storing the retained captured information, when the retained captured information includes a CNAM query.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and detailed description and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide for the proper billing of caller identifications to the carrier of which a call recipient is a telephone customer. Although the call recipient may have originally been a telephone customer of an ILEC, the call recipient may have subsequently elected to port his or her service, that is switch his or her service provider, from the ILEC to a CLEC. In such an arrangement, the ILEC handles the telephone call and provides the identity of the caller. In return, the CLEC may pay a flat rate to the ILEC for use of the UNE-P equipment belonging to the ILEC under a leasing arrangement and a per call charge for each caller identification query.

FIG. 1illustrates schematically the prior art SS7 network100for processing of a telephone call from a caller to a call recipient. The caller telephone102is connected to a signal switching point (SSP)104of its local carrier101. The caller carrier SSP104is connected to a caller carrier signal transfer point (STP)106. During the establishment of the telephone call, control signals pass between the STP106of the carrier handling connections from the caller and STP126of the carrier handling connections to the call recipient. In this case, a CLEC has leased UNE-P connections111, which form a portion of ILEC-owned system121and correspond to a portion127of the ILEC SSP124, for example, a line card, and to an ILEC voice link129, in order to communicate with the telephone122of the call recipient or called telephone or receiving telephone. The call recipient is a telephone customer of the CLEC, and the CLEC is an UNE-P lessee of the ILEC. Control signals reach the ILEC SSP124after first passing through the ILEC STP126over connections owned and controlled by the ILEC. In certain embodiments, the caller telephone102may be connected to the ILEC SSP124or to another SSP within the ILEC system121.

A request for caller identification made by the call recipient may require consultation of a data base matching caller identity with caller telephone number. Often, the CLEC, using UNE-P facilities111leased from the ILEC, lacks such a data base and the ability to process caller identification requests on its own. However, the ILEC, of which the call recipient was originally a telephone customer, often has access to such data at an ILEC signal control point (SCP)128. A query at the ILEC SCP128results in the caller identification being sent to the ILEC STP126, and, subsequently to the call recipient telephone122via ILEC link130, ILEC SSP124and ILEC voice link129. If the call recipient is a telephone customer of the CLEC and has engaged the CLEC to provide caller identification service, the ILEC is to be compensated for matching the caller telephone number with the telephone caller name. This charge is in addition to the charge to the CLEC for lease of the UNE-P equipment forming part of the ILEC system121.

To receive caller identification, the call recipient requires a particular prior art telephone200, as shown inFIG. 2. In addition to features such as a handset202and entry keys204, the telephone200requires an alphanumeric display206for presentation of the caller name208. In certain embodiments, the display206may also be provided by a separate display attached to the telephone200.

Prior to, during, and after connection between the caller telephone102and the call recipient telephone122, control signals pass between the caller carrier system101and the call recipient carrier system, ILEC system121, providing details regarding the call origin, call destination, and other connection information, as shown in Table 1. For example, associated with the call origin is the calling number. These messages for managing telephone communications regarding connections may be sent as ISDN User Part protocols (ISUP).

Non-connection related information associated with the telephone call is exchanged between SSPs and STPs as Transaction Capabilities Applications Part (TCAP) messages, as shown in Table 3. Examples include messages associated with determining the routing number associated with a dialed 800 number and with checking the personal identification number of a calling card. Another task is associating a caller identity with a call source as provided by consultation with a system control point (SCP).

FIG. 3illustrates an embodiment of the present invention in the context of the SS7 network100where the ILEC system121has been augmented by a probe capture processor123, such as Agilent AcceSS7 System, and a data management component (DMC)125allowing for capture, retention, correlation, and storage of information related to telephone calls completed or serviced by the ILEC system121on behalf of a UNE-P lessee CLEC. Signals to the ILEC STP126, from the ILEC SCP128, from the ILEC SSP124, and from the interconnecting caller carrier STP106, or from a subset of these, are monitored by the probe capture processor123. The probe capture processor123extracts information from signals received by the ILEC STP126and stores the extracted information.

The specifics of the telephone call are maintained in several records associated with the telephone call. A call detail record (CDR) contains messages comprising parameters and time-stamps associated with the telephone call, which provide detail regarding the call origin, destination, and other connection details. A transaction detail record (TDR) contains information related to the telephone call, as for example, a recording of provision of caller identification in fulfillment of a standing request of the call recipient.

Connection messages as contained in Table 1 may be stored in a call detail record (CDR), supplemented by time stamp information as contained in Table 2. Non-connection information as illustrated in Table 3, including TCAP messages, may be stored in a transaction detail record (TDR). The probe capture processor123provides the extracted information in a filtered form to the DMC, where the information is correlated, enriched, and placed in a separate database, for example, in an Oracle™ database.

In an aspect of the present invention that will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art, both probe capture processor123and DMC125comprise a processor-readable computer program product encoded on one or more programmable storage devices. The computer program product is executable by one or more processors including, for example, probe capture processor123and DMC125to perform method steps that permit determinations of appropriate volume totals of caller ID queries. Each such processor is preferably configured in a computer having one or more of the following drives: a hard disk drive for reading from and writing to a hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk such as a CD ROM. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, test results and other data for the processors.

Such processors are preferably part of a system including data communications medium (wired or wireless) between the probe capture processor123or the DMC125and a main memory, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device for storing information and instructions to be executed by the probe capture processor123or the DMC125. The main memory also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by the probe capture processor123or the DMC125. A storage device, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, may also be provided for storing and updating records such as, for example, CDRs, TDRs, CLEC list, correlated caller ID request information, and total caller ID request volume information summary report by carrier.

A method400according to an embodiment of the present invention to identify reimbursable telephone calls and to total the number of reimbursable telephone calls ascribable to various carriers is summarized inFIG. 4. During the telephone call to a call recipient telephone, ISUP data, including the telephone number of the call recipient telephone, is captured in the CDR for the telephone call (step402) and TCAP data related to a caller identity request (CNAM) is captured in the TDR for the telephone call (step404). Data is retained if the telephone number of the call recipient telephone receiving the telephone call matches external reference data identifying the call recipient telephone as one originally assigned to a first carrier and currently serviced by a second carrier, where the first carrier may be an ILEC and the second carrier may be a CLEC, that is, a UNE-P lessee of equipment owned by the first carrier (steps406and408) and where the external reference data includes the telephone number of the call recipient telephone and the carrier to which the call recipient telephone is assigned. The ISUP data and the TCAP data for each telephone call handled for the second carrier by the first carrier are correlated (step410) to identify those telephone calls further involving a request for caller identity, that is, associated with a CNAM request logged in the TCAP data. Data for other telephone calls is removed (step412).

For calls involving caller ID requests, the ISUP data containing the telephone number called502and the TCAP data containing the name registered to the telephone number called504are entered as a record500(step414,FIG. 5) and the name of the second carrier to be billed added506(step416). The total volume of caller ID requests to the first carrier, which may be the ILEC, on behalf of telephone customers of the second carrier, which may be the CLEC, which is the UNE-P lessee, is incremented to reflect the present request (step418). A summary report600is presented (FIG. 6, step420) containing the total volumes of caller ID requests serviced by the first carrier, which may be the ILEC, on behalf of second carriers602and604, which may be CLECs assigned telephone numbers originally serviced by the first carrier or the ILEC. The summary report may have the format of a Crystal™ report to the first carrier.

Although the invention has been described with respect to various embodiments, it should be realized that this invention is also capable of a wide variety of further and other embodiments within the spirit and the scope of the appended claims.

TABLE 1MessageParameterDescriptioninitial addressINITIAL ADDRESSmessage (IAM)MESSAGEOriginatingThe SS7 node (e.g. switchingPoint Codeoffice or STP) that is sending(OPC)the messageDestinationThe SS7 node (e.g. switchingPoint Codeoffice or STP) that the(OPC)message is being sent toCalling NumberThe calling number of the usermaking the telephone callCharge NumberThe charge number of the usermaking the callCalled NumberThe number dialed by the userCarrierThe IXC selected by the userIdentification(e.g. via 1010XXX)CodeForwardAn indicator as to whetherInterworkingSS7 or non-SS7 interworkingParameterwas encountered prior to thispoint in the telephone calladdress completeADDRESS COMPLETEmessage (ACM)MESSAGEOPC/DPCAs aboveBackwardAn indicator as to whetherInterworkingSS7 or non-SS7 interworkingParameterwas encountered ahead of thispoint in the telephone callAnswer messageANSWER MESSAGE(ANM)OPC/DPCAs aboverelease messageRELEASE MESSAGE(REL)OPC/DPCAs aboveReleaseAn indication of the statusCause Codeof the telephone call (e.g.answered, busy)release completeRELEASE COMPLETEmessage (RLC)MESSAGEOPC/DPCAs aboveT100

TABLE 2initial addressThe time the trunk was seizedmessage (IAM) timestampAddress completeThe time the called telephone beganmessage (ACM) timestampringingAnswer message (ANM)The time the called telephone wastimestampansweredrelease message (REL)The time the first of either the calledtimestampor calling telephone was hung uprelease complete messageThe time the second of the called or(RLC) timestampcalling telephone was hung up

TABLE 3MessageParameterDescriptionBeginQueryType of Query performedEndResponseValue returned