Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7257208?dq=6,606,102
Timestamp: 2015-03-03 10:12:29
Document Index: 175633569

Matched Legal Cases: ['arty 110', 'arty 160', 'arty 165', 'arty 160', 'arty 165', 'arty 110', 'arty 160', 'arty 110', 'arty 160']

Patent US7257208 - Method and system for providing billing capability for a service node in an ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsEmbodiments of the present invention relate to billing for services in an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) environment. A first call is received at a service node from a service switching point located in the AIN. A second call is established through the service switching point to a called party. The...http://www.google.com/patents/US7257208?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7257208 - Method and system for providing billing capability for a service node in an advanced intelligent network environmentAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7257208 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/215,714Publication dateAug 14, 2007Filing dateAug 30, 2005Priority dateDec 28, 2001Fee statusLapsedAlso published asCA2415000A1, CA2415000C, US6980632, US7929674, US20050286693Publication number11215714, 215714, US 7257208 B2, US 7257208B2, US-B2-7257208, US7257208 B2, US7257208B2InventorsDevinne H. Brown, Hwey Chang, Romel R. Khan, Michael Koptiw, Antoinette Rule, Tejanand SarjuOriginal AssigneeAt&T Corp.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (3), Classifications (16), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and system for providing billing capability for a service node in an advanced intelligent network environment
US 7257208 B2Abstract
merging the processed call and said billing module into another node in the network, said another node located on a call path between said calling party and said called party.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said another node comprises a service switching point.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling information comprises a trigger to initiate a call transfer feature, and processing the call based on the signaling information comprises:
establishing a third call with a target party responsive to the call transfer trigger;
un-bridging the first call from the second call; and
bridging the first call with the third call, wherein the billing module includes service values related to billing information for the call transfer feature.
invoking a call merge procedure to merge the bridged first and third calls along with the billing module into the network.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the service values include a telephone number for the target party.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein the service values include a time stamp that indicates the time when the first and second calls were un-bridged.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the time stamp further indicates when the first and third calls were bridged.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling information comprises a trigger to initiate a call conferencing feature and processing the call based on the signaling information comprises:
establishing a second call and a third call through a service switching point; and
bridging the first, second and third calls with each other, wherein the billing module includes service values related to billing information for the call conferencing feature.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the service values include telephone numbers for the second and third calls.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein the service values include a tune stamp that indicates when the first, second and third calls were merged.
This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 10/029,343 filed Dec. 28, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,980,632.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communications system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communications system 100 includes elements of an AIN offering enhanced service features. A terminal device 110 belonging to a calling party/customer communicates with an originating service switching point (O-SSP) 120 connected to a transit network 130. The terminating service switching points (T-SSPs) 140, 145 are also connected to the transit network 130. The O-SSP 120 and the T-SSPs 140, 145 may be of the same type or may be of a different type and are collectively referred to herein as �SSPs.� Connected to the T-SSPs are additional terminal devices, for example, the terminal devices 160 and 165. Terminal devices 160 and 165 belong to other customers. A service control point (SCP) 170 and a service node (SN) 175 are both connected to the O-SSP 120. It is recognized that the SSPs, SCPs, SNs, etc. may be located outside and/or inside the transit network 130. The communications system 100 may include additional components that are not shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity.
The O-SSP 120 and the T-SSPs 140, 145 are switching centers that receive and deliver customer calls. Additionally, the SSP for example, the O-SSP 120�may further communicate with a SCP for example, the SCP 170�to request customer-specific instructions indicating how a call should be completed. The SSPs 120, 140, 145 typically utilize stored program control instructions to perform functions associated with toll calls and/or local calls.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the calling party/customer 110 places a call destined for a called party/customer 160. The customer call is received at an O-SSP such as the O-SSP 120. The O-SSP 120 creates a billing record, for example, an original �Automatic Message Accounting� (AMA) record (O-AMA record) containing billing information for the call to be processed by that SSP. The billing record contains information related to the identity of the customer, call duration, type of call, call charges and/or other information that is needed to bill for the call. Upon receipt of a valid AIN trigger is encountered, the O-SSP 120 launches a query to the SCP 170. A valid AIN trigger may be an in-band trigger, such as an off-hook delay, or a specific digit string that is dialed by the calling party 110, such as one that begins with �8YY� (e.g., �800�, �888�, etc.). The SCP 170 receives the requested query from the O-SSP 120 and, based on the information provided by the O-SSP 120 (e.g., a customer message), the SCP 170 retrieves customer account information. It is recognized that the trigger may be an in-band trigger and/or an out-of-band trigger.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the SCP 170 may recognize that a service node (SN) is needed to process the call based on the customer account information. Under such conditions, the SCP 170 retrieves and forwards to the O-SSP 120 a message including the identity of the SN that can process the call. In one example, the SCP 170 may send an AIN Analyze_Route operation that may include the called party identification (CalledPartyID) parameter containing the address of the SN, such as the address of SN 175 to the O-SSP 120.
As shown in step 211, the SN 175 processes the call in accordance with the call feature type desired and creates a billing module for the processed call. The billing module may include service values that include billing�related information for the processed call. After the SN 175 processes the call, the call may be merged back into the O-SSP 120, as shown in step 213. As shown in step 215, the SN 175 also sends the created billing module to the O-SSP when the call is merged into the O-SSP.
As indicated above, such billing information may be contained in one or more modules that the SN creates. For example, the AMA modules generated by the SN 175 may include a �Service-Feature-Value1 Module� to indicate the feature type for the call. For example, Service-Feature-Value1 Module may indicate that the processed call is a transfer connect type call (i.e., call transfer). In alternate embodiments, the �Service-Feature-Value1 Module� may indicate that this is a conference call, call forward type call, or other feature type call. In embodiments of the present invention, the Service-Feature-Value1 Module may be forwarded to the O-SSP after the SN 175 has processed the call.
The SN 175 may also create additional modules such as a �Service-Feature-Value2 Module� and a �CdP-Disconnect Module� (CdP as used herein designates the called party). The Service-Feature-Value2 Module indicates when, for example, the call transfer or other feature occurs and the CdP-Disconnect Module may contain the date and/or time stamp of when the called party disconnected the call.
In response to the trigger entered by the called party 160, the SN 175 establishes a third call through the O-SSP 120 with a third or target party 165, as shown in step 305. The third call may be established on a third leg B3 using known ISDN call set-up procedures. After the third call is established, the SN 175 transfers the call from the called party 160 to the target party 165. The SN 175 transfers the call by un-bridging the first call (i.e., leg B1) from the second call (i.e., B2) and bridges the first call (i.e., B1) with the third call (i.e., B3) during steps 307-309. The SN 175 may create a CdP-Disconnect Module including a date and/or time stamp (CdP-disconnect-date-time) indicating when the call between the calling party 110 to the called party 160 is disconnected or un-bridged at the service node. In embodiments of the present invention, the SN 175 may further create a Service-Feature-Value2 Module including a date and/or time stamp indicating when the call transfer occurs. In other words, the date and/or time stamp included in the Service-Feature-Value2 Module may indicate when the call between the calling party and the target party is bridged at the service node, as shown in step 311.
The intermediary billing system 180 calculates the CdP-elapsed-date-time by subtracting the O-Connect-date-time from the CdP-disconnect-date-time the time (e.g., CdP-elapsed-date-time=CdP-disconnect-date-time−O-Connect-date-time). For example, if the O-AMA record has a O-Connect-date time of 7:00 AM and a CdP-disconnect-date-time of 7:15 AM, then the CdP-elapsed-date-time would be 15 minutes for the duration of the call. Accordingly, the intermediary billing system 180 and/or the end billing system 190 could bill either the calling party and/or the called party for the call between the calling party 110 and the called party 160.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS4870679Dec 23, 1988Sep 26, 1989American Telephone And Telegraph CompanyRepertory telephone dialer with remote billing capabilityUS5517560 *Aug 8, 1995May 14, 1996At&T Corp.Call billing and measurement methods for redirected callsUS6212264 *Dec 21, 1999Apr 3, 2001Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd.Call charge transferring method in PBX system* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification379/114.28, 379/202.01, 379/127.03International ClassificationH04Q3/00, H04L12/14, H04M15/00Cooperative ClassificationH04Q2213/13176, H04M2215/016, H04M15/90, H04Q3/0029, H04Q2213/1313, H04M15/00, H04Q2213/13345European ClassificationH04M15/90, H04Q3/00D3, H04M15/00Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 4, 2011FPExpired due to failure to pay maintenance feeEffective date: 20110814Aug 14, 2011LAPSLapse for failure to pay maintenance feesMar 21, 2011REMIMaintenance fee reminder mailedRotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services