Abstract:
Telecommunication switches (e.g., PBX&#39;s or local exchange carrier&#39;s switches) route calls in accordance with economic incentives (e.g., least cost routing) resulting from a bidding process between participating interexchange telecommunication carriers (Carriers) by operation of a central processor, a computer referred to as a bidding moderator (Moderator). Each of the Carriers informs the Moderator of the rate it is willing to charge (or other economic incentive it is willing to offer) for service between two specific points in the telecommunication network at some particular time. The Moderator collects this bid information from all the Carriers, sorts it among originating points and transmits it to an adjunct processor at each subscribing switch location and to all participating Carriers&#39; network management centers. From the list of all Carriers providing bid information to the Moderator, each Subscriber can select those Carriers to which it wants traffic routed and can change that selection at any time. After each new bid is submitted by a Carrier and is processed by the Moderator, it is distributed to both the relevant Subscribers and all other Carriers. All Carriers have the opportunity to submit at any time a lower or higher bid for any point-to-point routes on which they wish, respectively, to stimulate or discourage additional traffic. The Moderator could offer a different class of service to end users who are calling parties by broadcasting each carrier&#39;s bid to an interface unit at each user location.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention is in the field of telecommunication network control. 
     2. Description of the Background Art 
     Many locally managed telecommunication systems, such as PBXs, employ &#34;least cost routing&#34; software to reduce telecommunication costs. The system&#39;s manager arranges with more than one interexchange carrier to carry the system&#39;s traffic from the local exchange to which it is connected to other exchanges. The manager keeps track of each carrier&#39;s charges and populates the routing table in the &#34;least cost routing&#34; software. The charges may be the regularly tariffed charges of the subscriber&#39;s primary carrier or contracted charges offered by an alternate carrier for a bulk discount or for discounting traffic during a specific time period during the day. The &#34;least cost routing&#34; software will examine each call attempt and automatically decide which carrier is the best economic choice for that call. If the call attempt fails, the software usually defaults the call attempt to the subscriber&#39;s primary carrier. 
     Recently a great deal of competition has developed between telecommunication carriers. This has been stimulated by both regulatory and technological changes. As telecommunication becomes more of a commodity it would be of great benefit to consumers to stimulate this competition and facilitate the consumer&#39;s ability to make economic choices between telecommunication carriers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Provision of telecommunication services is presently dominated by fixed contractual relationships between users and service providers. However, because of technological and regulatory changes, telecommunication service is becoming more of a commodity, with competition between service providers for the users&#39; traffic. The herein disclosed invention stimulates this competition and facilitates the consumer&#39;s ability to make economic choices between telecommunication carriers. In this method and system, telecommunication switches (e.g., PBX&#39;s or local exchange carriers&#39; Centrex-enabled switches) route calls in accordance with economic incentives (e.g., least cost routing) resulting from a bidding process between participating interexchange telecommunication carriers (Carriers), administered by a bidding service provider through operation of a central processor, a computer referred to as a bidding moderator (Moderator). 
     In this arrangement, each of the Carriers transmits to the Moderator the rate it is willing to charge (or other economic incentive it is willing to offer) for service between two specific points, from an originating point NPA-NXX to a terminating point NPA-NXX, at some particular time. This &#34;bid&#34; rate may be lower than that Carrier&#39;s established rate for any of several reasons (e.g., the Carrier has excess capacity on that route at that time). The carrier may, for example, also decide for capacity or competitive reasons to place the same bid on all traffic originating at a specified NPA-NXX independent of destination or on all traffic independent of originating point and destination. The Carrier may change its bids as often as it likes during the day as traffic patterns change. The Moderator collects this bid information from all the Carriers, sorts it among originating points, and transmits it to an adjunct processor at each appropriate subscribing switch location and to all participating Carriers&#39; network management centers. Each subscribing switch (Subscriber) gets the rate information submitted by all Carriers to the Moderator for all &#34;point-to-point routes&#34; originating in the Subscriber&#39;s NPA-NXX. The Moderator provides each Carrier with all bid information from all Carriers for all point-to-point routes possible (from any NPA-NXX to any other NPA-NXX, or otherwise-defined telecommunications network destination, in the world). 
     From the list of all Carriers providing bid information to the Moderator, each Subscriber can select those Carriers to which it wants traffic routed and can change that selection at any time. The Subscriber downloads the bid information of those selected Carriers into the routing tables of the &#34;least cost routing&#34; software in its switch. After each new bid is submitted by a Carrier and is processed by the Moderator, it will be distributed to both the relevant Subscribers and all other Carriers. All Carriers will have the opportunity thereafter to submit a lower or higher bid for any point-to-point routes on which they wish, respectively, to stimulate or discourage additional traffic. 
     Similarly, the Moderator could offer a different class of service directly to end users who are calling parties. As part of such a service, Carriers will provide an economic incentive for all such end users in a given NPA-NXX (or group of NPA-NXXs) to originate calls terminating anywhere (e.g., by means of a low rate or stated discount). In that case the Moderator would broadcast (by wired data link or wireless transmission) each carrier&#39;s bid to an interface unit at each end user location. The information may be displayed for evaluation by the end user or processed within the interface unit, with direction from the end user, and all outgoing calls routed to the selected carrier. If the carrier information is displayed for the end user, the user can choose a carrier for a call attempt and key in the selected carrier&#39;s carrier identification code before the desired destination address (e.g., telephone number). If the information is processed automatically within an interface unit in the line between the user&#39;s terminal equipment and the local exchange, the interface unit can automatically insert the appropriate carrier identifier before outgoing telephone numbers. 
     Through this bidding process, carriers can compete for traffic on selected routes or compete for traffic originating from selected points in the telecommunication network. They can also manage their network traffic by adjusting their bids from time to time, depending on network traffic information or other network information. And users can easily make economic choices. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary system of the invention showing dedicated communication lines from each Carrier to the Moderator, from the Moderator to each of the subscribing switches, and a common data link from the Moderator to each of the Carriers. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an exemplary system of the invention showing the Carriers using a shared data link to provide information to the Moderator. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an exemplary system of the invention showing switched access from the Moderator to each of the subscribing switches and to each Carrier. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an exemplary system of the invention showing use of a shared data facility, such as a local area network, for communication from the Moderator to each of the subscribing switches and to each Carrier. 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an exemplary process of the invention showing transmission of bid information from the Moderator to the subscribing switches. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of an exemplary process of the invention showing transmission of information from the Moderator directly to end users. 
     FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an exemplary end user portion of a system of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system for carrying out the herein disclosed bidding process for telecommunication services, in which a Moderator i administers collection and dissemination of bidding information. The Moderator 1 includes a computer with a processor and memory, together with input and output devices to communicate with the Carriers&#39; network management computers 2, which are the source of the bidding information, and the switches 3, which are the ultimate users of the information. 
     The Carriers are, primarily, interexchange carriers that carry telecommunication traffic between local exchange switches. By means of the FIG. 1 system, the Carriers bid for traffic from subscribing switches 3, associated with a local exchange switch, to other local exchange switches. The Carriers transmit their bids from their network management computers 2 over data links 7, which may be either analog (using modems) or digital. However, the information is usually transmitted in digital form for input into the Moderator 1. Each Carrier has a network administrator who enters network management instructions into each network management computer 2 through input port 6 by means, for example, of a keyboard or a data link from a remote site or local computer. 
     The Moderator 1 receives the bids, processes them in its processor, and enters them into a database in its memory by means of the data buses and registers internal to a computer. The processed bids, applicable to each subscribing switch 3, are transmitted to such switch 3, by way of a computer 4 adjunct to the switch 3 over a data link 8. The data link 8 is illustrated as a dedicated transmission facility between the Moderator 1 and each switch 3. However, any other transmission technology offering a selective way to transmit data from the Moderator 1 to the switch may be used. (A &#34;transmission facility&#34; is a telecommunication path or channel. It may be, for example, a wired link, a radio channel in a wireless system, or a time slot in a digitally multiplexed optical transmission system). The data inputs and outputs of the Moderator 1, the network management computers 2, the adjunct computers 4, and the switches 3 are implemented by such devices as interfaces, registers and modems that are well known in the art. 
     An adjunct computer is known in the art to be a computer, closely associated with a switch, that provides the switch&#39;s operating software additional data or operating logic to provide the switch with additional operational capability. In the herein disclosed architecture the adjunct computer 4 enters the bids received from the Moderator 1 into a database in its memory and receives, through input port 5, decision rules from the switch administrator. Software in the computer&#39;s processor accesses the data in memory and applies the decision rules to the bid data, producing the rate data required to populate the routing tables of the least cost routing software in the switch 3. The adjunct computer 4 communicates with the switch 3 over a digital data link or data bus 11. If the switch 3 has enough processing capacity, the function of the adjunct computer 4 may be incorporated in the switch&#39;s processor and memory. In this case the switch must also provide input ports to receive transmission line 8 and input 5 for the switch administrator. Each switch 3 receives call attempts over incoming lines 12. Each call attempt includes routing data identifying the call&#39;s destination. The switch&#39;s least cost routing software then selects the carrier to which the call attempt shall be routed over outgoing line 13. 
     An alternative to use of a PBX, a private switch, is subscription to Centrex service, in which the end users&#39; switch is a software-defined portion of the local central office switch. With data links between the adjunct computer 4 and the local central office switch, the end users&#39; switch administrator can administer the end user portion of the bidding process in much the same way as if a PBX were being administered. In addition, instead of using a PBX or subscribing to a Centrex service, a residential or small business customer could subscribe to a &#34;least cost routing&#34; feature offered by the local exchange carrier as part of its enhanced calling services (currently including call waiting, call forwarding, 3-way calling, speed dialing, etc.). As with Centrex service the end users&#39; switch enabling these enhanced calling features is a software-defined portion of the local central office switch. 
     The Moderator 1 also transmits all received bids to the network management computers 2 of all Carriers over the data link 9, 10. The exemplary architecture of FIG. 1 shows a combination of a single output data link 9 and individual Carrier input link 10 for this Moderator-to-Carriers bid data, indicating that the Moderator 1 sends the same data to all Carriers. There are many alternate transmission technologies available to broadcast this bid data to all Carriers, including dedicated bidirectional links between the Moderator 1 and each Carrier, combining the function of lines 7, 9, and 10. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative network architecture in which the individual Carrier-to-Moderator data links 14 share a common data input line 15 into the Moderator 1. This can be done, for example, by means of fiber optics using the SONET transmission protocol and ATM technology. This would require an ATM switching module at each junction 16 between the individual carrier links 10, 14 and the common Moderator input-output lines 9, 15. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture incorporating switched access from the Moderator 1 to the switches 3. In this architecture a single Moderator output link 17 transmits each subscribing switch&#39;s bid data to a switch 18, which may be a dedicated switch or part of the public switched network. The bid information appropriate to each subscribing switch 3 is switched to each individual switch data link 8. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates use of shared facilities between the Moderator 1 and each of the switches 3 and the Carriers&#39; network management computers 2. This could be accomplished, for example, by many known local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), and wide area network (WAN) technologies. 
     The economic choices presented to telecommunication service users under this invention depend on bids submitted by carriers for telecommunication traffic over the routes they serve. Each route is defined by the local exchange switch serving its originating point and the local exchange switch serving its terminating point. Each local exchange switch is identified in the North American Numbering Plan by a unique NPA-NXX code, where the NPA is a three digit numbering plan area identifier (e.g., area code 201 identifies Northern New Jersey) and NXX is a three digit code identifying a particular local exchange switch within the numbering plan area. The interexchange carriers that utilize this bidding process are identified by a carrier access code. This code may be, for example, a &#34;1&#34; signifying the end user&#39;s primary carrier, a 5 digit code &#34;10XXX&#34; for a carrier other than the end user&#39;s primary Carrier, or some other code designated for that purpose. Once a Carrier is selected for a call attempt, the appropriate carrier access code is inserted before the call attempt&#39;s routing data, (NPA)NXX-XXXX, the last four digits identifying the particular line served by the called party&#39;s NPA-NXX switch. The subscribing switch may also have dedicated direct links to one or more carrier points of presence. If such a carrier is selected, the subscribing switch would route the call attempt directly to that link. While the currently predominant numbering scheme for network switching end points is the North American Numbering Plan, other numbering schemes identifying route originating points and terminating points are possible and may be used as telecommunication technology evolves. 
     The competing carriers bid for traffic by transmitting to the Moderator the economic incentive each carrier will offer for traffic over each route it serves (or, at least, each route it wishes to compete for using the bidding process). The economic incentive presently contemplated as being most usual is the rate (amount of money charged per unit of time). However, many other kinds of economic incentive may be offered, such as a credit toward other services (e.g., frequent flyer points) or a credit toward an additional rebate that may be offered if a user&#39;s traffic for a given month rises above a threshold. The economic incentive could be a combination of rate and another incentive. But the economic incentive should be selected from a limited set authorized by the provider of the bidding mechanism, because the incentive must be capable of being evaluated by the software in each subscribing switch&#39;s adjunct computer. A Carrier may wish to submit more than one bid for routes that originate at points at which it offers more than one class of service (e.g., switched service to some subscribers, dedicated access to others, or both classes of service to some). 
     Each bid must be associated with a time period within which the bid will be effective. The rules of the bidding process can be structured in many ways. The following are examples of possible bidding rules. 
     a) The day is divided into blocks of time by the bidding service provider and bids are submitted for each block of time. All bids for a given block of time must be submitted prior to a cut-off time that precedes that block of time by a protection interval. Any bid received after the cut-off time is considered to be effective for the next block of time, unless a new bid is subsequently received from the same Carrier for that route. The protection interval is needed to permit processing of the information by the Moderator and transmission of bids to the adjunct computers prior to the bid&#39;s start time. For example, if thirty minute blocks of time are auctioned, a five minute protection interval may be appropriate. 
     b) Carriers are permitted to submit bids for any time interval by specifying a start time and a termination time or a start time and a good-until-cancel instruction. However, no bid can be effective before a protection time interval specified by the bidding service provider. The bidding service provider can provide confirmation of received bids back to the carrier if the data link from the Moderator to the Carriers is provided with a selective messaging capability. 
     c) Carriers may be permitted to enter default bids for any route or block of time for which they transmit no other bid. 
     d) As a fail-safe mechanism, to avoid use of old bids that have not been changed due to communication failure, the Moderator may impose a rule setting a time limit (a fail-safe protection time) to the applicability of any bid. At the expiration of the time limit, the expired bid could default to a preset default bid or to no bid. Such a rule could also be built into the adjunct computer software to protect against a failure in the Moderator-to-adjunct computer data link. 
     The principal data feedback from the Moderator to the Carriers is the broadcast of all bidding data from the Moderator to each of the Carriers. This permits the Carriers to adjust their own bids for any particular route in view of other carriers&#39; bids for that route. In a block of time bidding scheme this broadcast transmission may take place, in different service offerings, either before or after the bid cutoff time for a given block of time. If broadcast before the cutoff time, the Carriers have an opportunity, up to the cutoff time, to adjust their bids for that block of time. If the service is arranged for broadcast back to the Carriers after the cutoff time, the Carriers can adjust their bids for the next or subsequent blocks of time. If the bids are broadcast back to the Carriers after the cutoff time but before the bid&#39;s effective time, the Carriers would be able to manage their networks to take account of that time interval&#39;s bid structure. The bids can be adjusted to be higher or lower, dependent on whether the Carrier, in view of the state of its network traffic, wishes to further encourage or discourage additional traffic. The Carrier may wish to reduce its bid, for example, to encourage additional traffic on an underutilized telecommunication facility, or increase its bid to discourage traffic over a facility approaching a congested state. Depending on the transmission and computer technologies used, broadcast back to the Carriers could also be accomplished by posting all bids on a bulletin board system, making them available for retrieval by all Carriers. 
     An evolutionary development in local exchange switch architecture is the combination of a &#34;dumb&#34; switch and a &#34;smart&#34; peripheral computer. In this arrangement the switch accomplishes the actual connection between incoming and outgoing telecommunication facilities and the switch operating software performs the management functions specifically supporting the switching function. The peripheral computer contains the service-related software. This arrangement permits the telecommunication service provider to modify its service offerings without the need to ask the switch manufacturer to change the switch&#39;s operating software. Through use of a intelligent peripheral computer, one service that could be offered to all subscribers, including small businesses and individuals, is least cost routing. As in PBX least cost routing, the routing of a call attempt is dependent on population of a routing table. This table is a memory file containing the cost (or other economic incentive) of call carriage over each route accessed by the switch. In accordance with the herein disclosed process, this routing table could be populated by an adjunct computer, based on economic incentive data from a bidding Moderator and decision rules entered by a switch administrator. Or, with appropriate software, the adjunct computer function could be incorporated in the peripheral computer. With this combination of software implementations, a telecommunication service provider could offer least cost routing service, at economically advantageous rates based on a bidding process, to all of its subscribers. The network architecture involved is as illustrated in FIG. 1, where the switch 3 represents the combination of the dumb switch and the intelligent peripheral computer and the input and output lines 12, 13 represent all of the telecommunication facilities accessed by the switch 3. 
     The bid information being transmitted between the Moderator, the Carriers, and subscribing switches is sensitive business information and may need, under various circumstances, to be encrypted. Depending on how the service is arranged, there may be a need to protect the privacy of bids from interception by other participating Carriers or from interception by non-participating carriers. Some of the most sensitive information would be bid information sent from the Carriers to the Moderator and bid confirmation messages from the Moderator to the Carriers. Some less sensitive information would be the bids broadcast back to all participating Carriers after the cutoff time for a given block of time. There are several encryption schemes known in the art for such use, including the RSA and PGP schemes. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates the bidding process of this invention. The process is carried out by the participating interexchange Carriers, acting through their network management computers, the bidding service provider, acting through the Moderator computer, and the subscribing switches, acting through their adjunct computers. The carriers&#39; primary purpose is to maximize revenue from the carriage of telecommunication traffic over their networks. The subscribing switches are usually managed to obtain telecommunication service most economically. 
     In operation of the bidding process, the Moderator receives bids 20 from each Carrier specifying the economic incentive the Carrier is willing to offer for each route it serves. This information is stored in the computer&#39;s memory. At a time appropriate to the particular service arrangement in operation, the Moderator transmits 21 all bids received from all Carriers to each of the Carriers. The Moderator also processes the data in a sorting operation to determine which bids are for routes that have an originating point associated with each subscribing switch and transmits 23 the appropriate bids to each such switch. 
     Each subscribing switch is operated by a switch administrator that formulates 29 the decision rules to be applied by the switch&#39;s adjunct computer. A decision rule may be, for example, a simple instruction to switch a call attempt to the Carrier that has submitted the lowest cost bid. The rules may include an instruction to route all calls in a particular time period (e.g., from midnight to 6:00 A.M.) to a particular Carrier to satisfy the requirements of a contract between the switch&#39;s owner and that Carrier, or because that Carrier has contracted to carry all traffic during that time period for a flat monthly fee. The switch administrator may also instruct the computer to value a non-rate economic incentive in a particular way. The bids and decision rules are received by the adjunct computer and stored in a data base in its memory. The adjunct computer applies 31 the decision rules to the economic incentive data received as bids and generates the Carrier selection data needed to populate the switch&#39;s routing table. The routing table is the file that is accessed by the switch&#39;s least cost routing software to decide which Carrier will receive a call attempt. The software will also provide for treatment of failed call attempts (e.g., retry, try the next lowest cost carrier, or default to the primary carrier). When a call attempt is presented to the switch, a routing decision is made and the call routed 33 to a carrier for transmission to the call&#39;s destination. In order to route a call, the subscribing switch&#39;s operating software connects the input register carrying the call attempt to the output register connected to the local carrier&#39;s local exchange switch or to the selected interexchange carrier&#39;s point of presence. 
     The transmission of bid information between the Carriers and the Moderator is a feed back process. Each Carrier transmits 28 its economic incentive bids to the Moderator and the Moderator transmits 21 all received bids to each Carrier. The Carrier starts its bid formulation by collecting 24 network data, such as the capacity and traffic loading of each network facility, and transmitting 25 this network data to the Carrier&#39;s network management computer. The network data can be entered by keying it in or over a data link from the Carrier&#39;s network operations systems. The Carrier&#39;s network administrator enters (e.g., by keying them in or by data link) network management instructions, such as the fact that a particular facility is being taken out of service for maintenance or has a trouble that reduces its transmission capacity. The network management instructions could also be based on network performance characteristics, such as response time, or competitive business factors, such as the intent to compete more intensively for traffic to a specific region of the country or over routes that compete directly with another specified Carrier. 
     Software within each Carrier&#39;s network management computer then accesses the network data, the network management instructions, and the bid data received from the Moderator, from the computers memory and determines 27 the economic incentive the Carrier will bid for traffic over each route. These data are accessed by means of the data buses and registers commonly internal to a computer. These bids are stored in the computer memory and transmitted 28 to Moderator. Since the network management computer has access to the bids of all other Carriers, during each bidding cycle each Carrier has the opportunity to adjust its bids in view of the bids of all other Carriers for traffic over each route. This adjustment may be accomplished automatically by the software in response to the network management instructions, or may be accomplished by direct input from the network administrator viewing displayed bidding data. The result of such adjustment consideration may be a decision to leave the bid as originally calculated, as being appropriate to accomplish the network administrator&#39;s objective. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a process by which Carriers submit bids directly to end users for traffic originating in a specified NPA-NXX (or a group of NPA-NXXs, including a group comprising all NPA-NXXs in the North American Numbering Plan) and terminating anywhere. Here the Moderator receives bids 34 as before. However, the bids are independent of terminating point. The Moderator processes the data to sort it by originating point to determine 35 which bids apply to which end users, each end user having an interface unit to receive and store the data. The Moderator then transmits 36 the bid data for a particular NPA-NXX (or group of NPA-NXXs) to the interface units of all subscribing end users in such NPA-NXX originating point areas (i.e., all subscribing end users served by the local exchange switch for each such NPA-NXX), as interface unit information. The information may be displayed for evaluation by the end user or processed, within the interface unit, with direction from the end user, and all outgoing calls routed to the selected carrier. If the carrier information is displayed for the end user, the end user can choose a carrier for a call attempt and key in the selected carrier&#39;s carrier identification code before the desired telephone number. If the information is processed automatically within an interface unit, in the line or wireless connection between the end user&#39;s terminal equipment and the local exchange switch or an interexchange carrier&#39;s point of presence, the interface unit can automatically insert the appropriate carrier identifier before the outgoing telephone numbers. The interface unit could be a stand-alone piece of equipment, an attachment incorporated into the end user&#39;s terminal equipment or a software-defined portion of the-end user&#39;s terminal equipment. 
     At the end user, the degree of automation of the process depends on the particular telecommunication terminal equipment being used. If the terminal equipment is a simple telephone, the telecommunicator function 37 specified in FIG. 6 may consist of the end user reading the bids from a display screen in the interface unit, making the routing decision, and routing 38 the call attempt by keying in the selected carrier access code. If the terminal equipment is more complex, such as a personal computer or other microprocessor-containing equipment, the decision can be software implemented. The carrier access code could be inserted by the terminal equipment or by the interface unit, if the interface unit is in the end user&#39;s telecommunication access line or wireless connection to the telecommunication network. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates the interface unit&#39;s position within the bidding architecture of FIG. 6. The interface unit 39 receives bid data from the Moderator 40 over a telecommunication facility that may be a wire link 44 or a wireless link 45. The interface unit has either a wired input port or contains a wireless receiver (e.g., radio or optical). The interface unit 39 is in the telecommunication path between the telecommunicator and the external telecommunication network, such as the local exchange switch 42 that routes the call to the selected interexchange carrier 43 in response to the carrier access code. The interface unit may have a separate end user input port 46 for use by the end user to key in the selected carrier access code each time a call is placed. The end user may also be able to key in a carrier selection and the interface unit may contain a tone generator or digital signal generator necessary to automatically insert the carrier access identification code for each call attempt. The interface unit 39 may also have a screen to display the bid information to the end user.