Method and system for handling operator calls in a communication network

• US 20020090074A1
• Filed: 01/05/2001
• Published: 07/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Fenton, Keith Eric, Sbisa, Daniel Charles
• Granted Patent: US 6,760,426 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/221.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/60 Semi-automatic systems, i.e. in which the numerical selection of the outgoing line is under the control of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A method and system for handling a call in a communications network that requires operator assistance. The system comprises a service control point, an operator server and a context server. The operator server dynamically selects an optimal operator center from a plurality of available operator centers for the call based on context information. The operator server then provides information on the selected operator center to the service control point, which generates call handling information for the call that causes the communications network to route the call to the selected one of the operator centers. The context server manages the context information for the call.

Claims

1. A method for handling a call in a communications network that require operator assistance using a Service Control Point (“

SCP”

), the method comprising;

receiving a first query message in the SCP from the communications network, wherein the first query message includes a request for first call handling information for the call;

processing the first query message in the SCP to establish context information for the call, provide the context information to a context server, and generate a second query message for an operator server, wherein the second query message includes a request for an optimal operator center;

receiving the second query message in the operator server;

processing the second query message in the operator server to retrieve the context information for the call from the context server, select an optimal operator center for the call from a plurality of available operator centers based on the context information, and generate a first response message for the SCP that indicates the selected operator center;

receiving the first response message in the SCP and processing the first response message to generate a second response message for the communications network that includes the first call handling information; and

transmitting the second response message to the communications network, wherein the first call handling information causes the communications network to route the call to the selected operator center.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in the operator server, processing the second query message to generate a context information message for the selected operator center that includes the context information for the call and providing the context information message to the selected operator center.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the second query message in the operator server to retrieve the context information for the call comprises:

generating and transmitting a first context request message to the context server; and

receiving a first context response message from the context server that includes the context information for the call.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

receiving the call in the selected operator center;

processing the call in the selected operator center to generate and provide a second context request message for the context server that includes a request for the context information for the call; and

receiving a second context response message that includes the context information for the call.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

processing the call in the selected operator center to provide a service to the call; and

in response to providing the service, generate and transmit a transfer message to the communications network, wherein the transfer message causes the telecommunication'"'"'s network to extend the call over a new connection to a call destination.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein extending the call over the new connection comprises:

connecting the call to the call destination using an out-dial number included in the transfer message.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein extending the call over the new connection comprises:

generating and transmitting a third query message to the SCP that includes a request for second call handling information for the call; and

receiving the third query message in the SCP and processing the third query message to generate a third response message for the communications network that includes the second call handling information, wherein the second call handling information includes instructions to extend the call over the communication network to the call destination.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in the operator server, processing the second query message to select an optimal group of operator centers from the plurality of available operator centers based on the context information; and

generating the first response message for the SCP that indicates the selected group of operator centers.

9. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

in response to generating the second response message for the communications network in the SCP, generating second context information in the SCP for the call and providing the second context information to the context server.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating a billing record for the call in the SCP and providing the billing record to a billing server.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

in the operator center, generating and transmitting a billing information message to the context server in response to providing the service to the call.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving the billing information message in the context server; and

processing the billing information message in the context server to generate and provide a billing request message to the SCP.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving the billing request message in the SCP; and

processing the billing request message in the SCP to generate a second billing record for the billing server.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein the first call handling information identifies a connection to the selected operator center.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the second call handling information identifies a switch that is connected to the call destination.

16. The method of claim 4 wherein the first context request message and the second context request message includes a template ID that specifies a requested subset of the context information.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes a switch ID that identifies an originating switch in the communications network for the call.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes an SCP ID.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes a called number.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes a calling number.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes a nature of called number and a nature of calling number.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes a query sequence number.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information includes DNIS digits.

24. The method of claim 9 wherein the second context information includes information from the operator server.

25. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

in response to providing the transfer message to the communications network, generating third context information for the call and providing the third context information to the context server.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes an account code.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes a credit card number.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes a calling card number.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes a social security number.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes caller-entered digits.

31. The method of claim 25 wherein the context information includes the out-dial number.

32. The method of claim 25 wherein the third context information includes a call-leg sequence.

43. The system of claim 12 wherein the SCP is configured to receive the billing request message and process the billing request message to generate a second billing record for the billing server.

53. The system of claim 1 wherein the context information includes DNIS digits.

33. A system for handling a call in a communications network, the system comprising:

a context server configured to receive context information for a call, store the context information, and provide the context information for a call;

a Service Control Point (“

SCP”

) configured to receive and process a first query message from the communications network to establish context information for the call, provide the context information to the context server, generate a second query message, process a first response message to generate a second response message for the communications network that includes first call handling information, wherein the first query message includes a request for the first call handling information and wherein the second query message includes a request for an optimal operator center;

an operator server configured to receive the second query message and process the second query message to retrieve the context information for the call from the context server, select an optimal operator center for the call from a plurality of available operator centers based on the context information, and generate the first response message for the SCP, wherein the first response message indicates the selected operator center.

34. The system of claim 33 further comprising:

wherein the operator server is configured to process the second query message to generate a context information message for the selected operator center that includes the context information for the call and provide the context information message to the selected operator center.

35. The system of claim 33 wherein the operator server is configured to provide a first context request message to the context server and process a first context response message from the context server that includes the context information for the call and the context server is configured to receive and process the first context request message to generate the first context response message.

36. The system of claim 35 further comprising:

a plurality of operator centers, wherein a selected one of the plurality of operator centers is configured to receive the call, process the call to provide a second context request message to the context server that includes a request for the context information for the call and receive a second context response message that includes the context information for the call, wherein the context server is configured to receive and process the second context request message to generate the second context response message.

37. The system of claim 36 the selected one of the operator centers is configured to process the call to provide a service to the call and in response to providing the service, provide a transfer message to the communications network, wherein the transfer message causes the telecommunication'"'"'s network to extend the call over a new connection to a call destination.

38. The system of claim 33 wherein the operator server is configured to process the second query message to select an optimal group of operator centers from the plurality of available operator centers based on the context information and provide and wherein the first response message indicates the selected group of operator centers to the SCP.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the SCP is configured to provide second context information for the call to the context server in response to generating the second response message for the communications network.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the SCP is configured to provide a billing record for the call to a billing server.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the operator center is configured to provide a billing information message to the context server in response to providing the service to the call.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the context server is configured to receive the billing information message and process the billing information message to generate and provide a billing request message to the SCP.

44. The system of claim 34 wherein the first call handling information identifies a connection to the selected operator center.

46. The system of claim 36 wherein the first context request message and the second context request message includes a template ID that specifies a requested subset of the context information.

47. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes a switch ID that identifies an originating switch in the communications network for the call.

48. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes an SCP ID.

49. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes a called number.

50. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes a calling number.

51. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes a nature of called number and a nature of calling number.

52. The system of claim 33 wherein the context information includes a query sequence number.

54. The system of claim 38 wherein the operator center is further configured to provide third context information for the call to the context server in response to transmitting the transfer message to the communications network.

55. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes an account code.

56. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes a credit card number.

57. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes a calling card number.

58. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes a social security number.

59. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes caller-entered digits.

60. The system of claim 54 wherein the context information includes the out-dial number.

61. The system of claim 54 wherein the third context information includes a call-leg sequence.