MXPA98010395A - Method and apparatus for marking effect calls - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a call delivered to a called party (12, 120) marked to identify by the called party the identity of the telecommunications carrier whose network (20) transmitted the call at least in part. Such marking is achieved by activating a warning mechanism (34, 340) after reception in the network (20) of an indication that the called party has answered the flame

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING CALLS MADE Technical Field This invention relates to a technique for providing a called party with the identity of the telecommunications carrier that transmitted the call.

BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNIQUE As a result of the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, many telecommunications carriers compete with each other to provide telecommunications services, and particularly, intra-city (long-distance) calls intra-centrally and inter-centrally. Some carriers provide an indication of their identity to the calling party during the establishment of a call. For example, AT &T typically provides a "bong" tone as well as a message indicating its identity to callers, who selected AT &T by dialing their access code (10288), as well as callers who obtain AT &T service via "a paid phone. (Callers must pre-subscribe to AT & T as their default carrier for residential and business telephone lines that currently do not receive such a message.) REF: 28835 the identity of the bearer to the calling party serves several purposes: first, the calling party can confirm that the chosen bearer will transmit the call, secondly, identifying the bearer to the calling party improves the recognition of the bearer's trademark. The mind of the calling party, an especially important aspect in a competitive market In this way, a carrier, such as AT &T can differentiate itself from other carriers. Until now, the called party typically has the information means related to the identity of the bearer that transmitted the call from the calling party, except in rare circumstances, such as a bill or call billed to a third number. Traditionally, the absence of any information for the called party with respect to the identity of the calling party proved inconsequential. However, as the current telecommunication services offerings have become more sophisticated, support both the called party and the calling party and the opportunity to obtain and / or modify characteristics of a call, the bearer recognition may to be important. In some cases, the opportunity of the called party can also serve a particular characteristic depending on, if that part has been presumed to the bearer that offers the characteristic. Unless the identity of the bearer is notified, the called party will not know if a particular service is available. In addition, from a commercial perspective, identifying the bearer to the called party increases the knowledge of the brand. Thus, there is a need for a technique to provide a called party with the identity of the bearer that transmitted the call.

Brief Description of the Invention Briefly, the present invention provides a technique for presenting a called party with the identity of a telecommunications carrier that sent a call from a calling party. The method begins after the reception of the calling party in an incoming switch within a network of the telecommunications carrier that transmits the call. The input switch can be a Local Switch of a Local Central Carrier (EC) or an Inter-urban Carrier Switch (IXC). From the ingress switch, the bearer routes the call through a network to an egress switch that delivers the call to the called party, either directly or through another switch. After the call is answered by the called party, the egress switch receives the indication that the called party answered the call. After the called party answers, the network provides the called party with a message identifying the bearer. For example, the network may provide a different message, either audible in the case of a conventional voice call, or visual and / or audible in the case of a multiple media call, after receipt of a message from Answer of the called party. Alternatively, the network may provide a message that begins during the call establishment, and terminates after answering the call by designating the identity of the network provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a telecommunications network for practicing the present invention; and FIGURE 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of a telecommunications network for practicing the present invention.

Detailed Description FIGURE 1 shows a first mode of a telecommunications network 10 according to the invention, for marking the delivered to a party called 12 of a calling party 14, to identify the carrier that transmitted the call. As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the calling party 14 receives telephone service (eg, dial tones) via a first local switch 16, such as a 5ESS telephone switch manufactured by Lucent Technologies, and maintained by a Local Inter-Local Carrier ( LEC) • In a similar way, the called party 12 receives dial tones from a second local switch 18 maintained by a LEC similar, or different, to the LEC that maintains the switch 16. In practice, either or both of the parties called and calling 12 and 14, respectively, may present conventional voice telephone sets. Alternatively, either or both of the called and / or calling parts 12 and 14 may represent ISDN terminals as is known in the art. In addition, either or both of the called and called parties 12 and 14, respectively, could represent multiple media terminals that provide multiple media service (voice, images and / or data). When the called and called parties 12 and 14, respectively, are in different Local Access Transport Areas (LATAs), a rentral carrier bearer network, such as the network maintained by AT & T, transmits the call from the calling party to the called party. (Note that the calling party 14 could choose the IXC 20 to transmit an inter-urban call to the calling party, instead of making such a call through the calling party's LEC). The IXC network 20 includes • a first interurban switch 22 serving the local * switch 16. In terms of the IXC network 20, the switch 22 serves as an entry switch since it receives the call from the calling party 14, via the local switch 16. In the AT & T network, the interurban switch 22 typically comprises a 4ESS switch manufactured by Lucent Technologies. The interurban switch 22 routes a call from the calling party, to a second interurban switch 24 (also typically a 4ESS switch) serving the local switch 18. The interurban switch 22 can route the call directly, or through one or more switches interurban intermediaries (not shown). Just as the interurban switch 22 serves as an ingress switch, the interurban switch 24 serves as an egress switch to deliver the call from the calling party 14 to the called party 12, via the local switch 18. In addition to the interurban switches 22 and 24, the IXC network 20 also includes a signaling system, such as an AT & SS7 system, for routing control information (including call set-up messages) between the switches. The signaling system includes Signal Transfer Points (STPs) 26 and 28 associated with the interurban switches 22 and 24, respectively, for routing the control information through a communication path 30. The STPs 26 and 2"8 in the IXC network 20 are linked to the STPs 30 and 32, respectively, which serve the local switches 16 and 18. In this way, the local switches 16 and 18 can communicate call set-up messages with the inter-city switches 22 and 24, respectively, to mark the delivered calls (that is, to alert the called party 12 of the identity of the IXC 20 network that transmitted the call), the IXC network includes a mechanism 34 for delivering a notice to the called party. The warning mechanism 34 may comprise a Voice Response Unit, as is well known in the art to deliver audible call dialer messages. A suitable device (not shown) can be used to deliver visual and / or audible messages. In practice, the warning mechanism 34 is located on either the interurban switch 22 (the ingress switch) or the interurban switch 24 (the egress switch) or on any intermediate switch between them. Preferably, the warning mechanism 34 resides in the egress switch (interurban switch 24 in FIGURE 1) to minimize the delay due to the latency in the delivery of a call of the called party 12. The marking of the Calls delivered in accordance with the invention occurs in the following manner. The calling party 14 initiates a call to the calling party 12 by first picking up, pointing to the switch 16 which provides the calling party with the dial tone. Subsequently, the calling party 14 dials the number of the called party 12. The local switch 16 receives the call, and routes the call to the interurban switch 22 (assuming that the dialed number is outside the service area of the local switch). In connection with the routing of the call to the interurban switch 22, the local switch 16 also communicates appropriate reception messages of the call to the interurban switch 22 via the STPs 30 and 26. The interurban switch 22, routes the received call to the interurban switch 24 while it passes to its switch appropriate call set-up messages via the STPs 26 and 30. Finally, the interurban switch 24 routes the call to the local switch 18, while it passes to the local switch appropriate call set-up messages, via the STPs 28 and 32. The local switch 18 routes the call to the called party 12, and when the called party answers, then the switch delivers a message (ANSWER) via the STP 32 to the signaling system of the network 20 indicating that the subscriber Llama answered the call. After receipt of the RESPONSE message, the network 20 then delivers a notice to the called party indicating the identity of the bearer via the warning device 34. Depending on the nature of the called party 12 (i.e., the nature of the equipment used by that "part"), the message may be audible, either voice, tone or music or a combination thereof, or a visual message (or combination of visual and audible) in the case of a multiple media call. Depending on the nature of the called party, the warning message may be intelligible to the human, such as an audible message delivered to a telephone device, or an intelligible message to a machine to be received by a multi-media station equipment that, in turn translates the message into one that is intelligible, by a human In the modality of FIGURE 1, the RESPONSE message of the STP 32 goes to the STP 28, which, in turn, signals the interurban switch 24 to operate its m warning mechanism 340. If the interurban switch 24 lacked any warning capability, then the RESPONSE message received on the network 20 could be passed to another STP associated with a switch having warning capability. The warning mechanism of that switch could deliver the identity message of the bearer to the called party 12. Note that the RESPONSE message received in the STP 32 after answering the call by the called party 12 may comprise a signal other than a signal for conventional pick-up associated with an Old Plan Telephone Service Call (POTS). Actually, the RESPONSE message may comprise a response message by * Integrated Services User Part (ISUP) associated with the ISDN service or a multiple frequency signal, such as a Dual Tone Multiple Frequency signal. The nature of the RESPONSE message is not significant. According to the invention, the network 10, after receiving the RESPONSE message, from wherever it comes, delivers a warning to the called party 12 indicating the identity of the bearer whose network 20 transmitted the call. Note that the network 10 can deliver the call dialing message after the receipt of the RESPONSE message, or alternatively, the delivery of the message can begin during the establishment of the call and then cease delivery during the interval, after answering the call. FIGURE 2 shows a second preferred embodiment of a network 100, according to the invention, for dialing a call delivered to a party called 120 from a party calling 140 to identify the identity of the bearer that transmitted the call. The network 100 comprises a simplified version of the network 10, and includes the origin (ingress) switch 160 that serves the calling party 120, and an end (egress) switch 180 serving the called party 120. The additional intermediate switches (not shown) can be found between the • ingress and egress switches 160 and 180, respectively. The network 100 also includes a signaling system comprised of at least two STP 260 and 280 associated with the switches 160 and 180, respectively. At least one of the switches, typically the switch 180, includes a warning mechanism 340. Note that the switch 160 could also include a warning mechanism 340 (shown in shaded form). Network 100 may take the form of a local exchange network, with switches 160 and 180 representing the local ingress and egress switches, respectively, which service the calling and calling parties, respectively, in the same LATA. Alternatively, network 100 may take the form of an IXC network, such as that maintained by AT &; T, with the calling and calling parties 140 and 120, respectively, representing the users directly connected to the interurban entry and exit switches 160 and 180, respectively. Like the network 10 described above, the network 100 operates to dial a call released to the called party 120 by activating a warning mechanism 340 after receipt of an ANSWER message received in the egress switch 180, indicating that the called party has answered the call. As discussed above, the actuation of the warning mechanism 340 which is associated with the egress switch 180 advantageously reduces the latency. However, the warning mechanism 340 associated with the ingress switch 160, or the announcement mechanism associated with an intermediary switch (not shown) could be triggered instead of delivering the identity message of the bearer to the called party. Like the network 10, the Network 100 could deliver the call dialing message after receipt of the ANSWER message, or alternatively, the delivery of the message may begin during the establishment of the call and subsequently cease delivery during the call. interval, after answering the call. As described in FIGURE 2, the present method of dialing a delivered call can be practiced in connection with a single switch, i.e. switch 160, when that switch serves both calling and calling parties 120 and 140, respectively (the latter shown in shaded form). Under such circumstances, the switch 160, after reception by the called party 140 of the ANSWER message, could activate the warning mechanism 340 associated with the switch to deliver to the called party the message identifying the bearer of the call. As with network 10, the call marking message delivered by network 100 may be audible and / or visual, depending on the nature of the called party. The foregoing describes a technique for marking a call delivered to a called party to identify the bearer that transmitted the call. The embodiments described above are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. Various changes and modifications may be made to it by those skilled in the art which will incorporate the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following:

Claims (6)

1. A method for presenting to a called party the identity of a telecommunications carrier that transmitted a call from a calling party to the called party, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving in a telephone entry switch the telephone call of the party call; routing the call from an ingress switch to an egress switch serving the called party; receive an indication on the egress switch when the called party has answered the call; and providing a message to the called party of the identity of the telecommunications service provider to the called party once the called party has answered the call. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the message is provided to the called party after receiving the indication that the called party has answered the call. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the routing step comprises the step of routing the call at least in part through an inter-carrier carrier network and wherein the ingress and egress switches comprise source and destination switches. of the inter-center carrier network. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the routing step comprises the step of routing the call through a local exchange network and where the ingress and egress switches comprise network origin and destination switches. from the local exchange. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the routing step comprises the step of routing the call from the calling party via a first local network bearer to an inter-central bearer and then routing the inter-carrier bearer call to the second local exchange carrier and where the entry and exit switches comprise the origin and destination switches of the inter-carrier carrier network. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of providing a message to the called party includes the step of activating a warning mechanism associated with the egress switch to deliver a message to the called party. . The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of providing a message to the called party includes the step of providing an audible message. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of providing a message to the called party includes the step of providing a visual message. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of receiving an indication when the called party has responded includes the step of receiving the pick-up signal from the called party. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of receiving an indication when the called party has responded includes the step of receiving a message from the User Part of the Integrated Services. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of receiving an indication when the called party has responded includes the step of receiving a multiple frequency signal. 1

2. An apparatus for presenting to a called party the identity of a telecommunications carrier that transmits the call from a calling party to the called party, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: a telephone entry switch to receive a call from the party who calls; an egress switch coupled to the switch (incoming to deliver the call to the called party and to receive an indication when the called party has responded; means responding to the indication that the called party has answered the call to deliver a message to the called party; the called part indicative of the telecommunications carrier that is transmitting the call 1

3. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the ingress and egress switches comprise source and destination switches in a local exchange carrier network. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the ingress and egress switches comprise source and destination switches in an Inter-Central carrier network. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that it further includes: a first local switch for routing the call from the calling party to a first ingress switch; a second local switch for delivering the call of the egress switch to the called party and for communicating the response indication of the called party that the called party has answered the call; and wherein the means for delivering the message comprises: a signaling network for passing the indication of the response to at least one of the egress and entry switches; and a warning mechanism associated with one of the egress and entry switches to deliver the message to the called party. 16. The apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that the warning mechanism is associated with the egress switch.