Apparatus for providing data to switching elements in a communications system

• US 20030198330A1
• Filed: 05/16/2003
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WorldCom, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Porter, Kelvin
• Granted Patent: US 6,807,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2254 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

A method and apparatus in a switching element for maintaining data used in operation of a communications system. Examples of such operations include serving sessions and routing calls. A local data structure is maintained within the switching element wherein the local data structure contains data used by the switching element in its operation in the communications system. Responsive to a requirement for needed data that is unavailable or out-of-date from the local data structure, a request is generated for the needed data from a server through a communications link from the switching element to the server.

Claims

1. A communications system comprising:

a network;

a plurality of communications links;

a server computer connected to the network; and

a plurality of switching elements connected to the network, wherein each switching element within the plurality of switching elements forms a node within the plurality of communications links, wherein a switching element within the plurality of switching elements has a plurality of modes of operation including;

a first mode of operation in which the switching element receives a call for routing;

a second mode of operation, responsive to receiving the call, in which the switching element determines whether data is needed to route the call;

a third mode of operation, responsive to determining that data is needed to route the call, in which the switching element searches a local data structure for the data;

a fourth mode of operation, responsive to an absence of the data needed to route the call being located in the local data structure, in which the switching element requests the data needed to route the call from the server computer; and

a fifth mode of operation, responsive to the switching element receiving the data needed to route the call, in which the switching element stores the data needed to route the call in the local data structure.

2. The communications system of claim 1, wherein each switching element includes a sixth mode of operation, responsive to receiving the data needed to route the call, in which the data is used to route the call.

3. The communications system of claim 1, wherein the server computer includes a centralized table.

4. The communications system of claim 3, wherein the server computer has a plurality of modes of operation including:

a first mode of operation in which the server computer waits for requests from the plurality of switching elements;

a second mode of operation, responsive to a request for data from a second switching element from within the plurality of switching elements, in which the server computer retrieves data corresponding to the request from the centralized table; and

a third mode of operation, responsive to retrieval of the data, in which the server computer returns the requested data to the switching element.

7. The switching element of claim 4, wherein the communications link is made through an intranet to the server.

5. A switching element comprising:

receiving means for receiving a call, wherein the call is a received call;

routing means for routing a received call to a destination;

maintaining means for maintaining a local data structure within the switching element; and

generating means, responsive to a requirement for needed data that is unavailable from the local data structure, for generating a request for the needed data from a server through a communications link to the server.

6. The switching element of claim 5, wherein the communications link is made through an internet to the server.

8. The switching element of claim 5, wherein the information in the data structure is associated with a time stamp and further comprising:

determining means, responsive to a determination that the needed data is available in the local data structure, for determining whether the time stamp is valid; and

requesting means, responsive to a determination that the time stamp is invalid, for requesting another version of the needed data from the server.

9. The switching element of claim 8, wherein the determining means comprises:

comparing means for comparing the time stamp to a data and time value; and

determining means for determining whether the time stamp is older than the date and time value by a preselected amount.

10. The switching element of claim 5, wherein a return of the needed data in response to the request is absent and further comprising scheduling means for scheduling a later request for the needed data.

11. The switching element of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving means for receiving update data; and

updating means for updating the local data structure using the update data.