System and method for facilitating call routing

• US 20040032937A1
• Filed: 08/13/2002
• Published: 02/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Properties, L.P.
• Inventors: Halpern, Jackie A., Berelian, Elias, Brady, Paul J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,027,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/115.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/07 Split billing, i.e. both A-party and B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0152 General billing plans, rate plans, e.g. charge rates, numbering plans, rate centers, customer accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2026 Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/64 Split billing, sharing the cost of calls, e.g. between calling and called parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A telecommunications system utilizes a central database to determine characteristics for international calls, to facilitate call routing for international calls, or both. The central database includes termination information for telephone numbers in multiple nations outside the North American Numbering Plan. In one aspect, an interexchange switch receives a termination number for an international call from a local exchange carrier and uses information from the central database to help complete the call. In another aspect, the central database receives a telephone number from a remote user such as interexchange carrier (IXC) and, in response, transmits termination information to the remote user to identify whether the telephone number uses wireless termination. The remote user may then charge a customer for wireless termination, if appropriate, possibly even before the remote user receives an invoice that reflects wireless termination charges from a foreign wireless carrier.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating call routing for an international call, the method comprising:

receiving information at an interexchange carrier (IXC) about a foreign carrier that provides termination for phone numbers outside a North American Numbering Plan (NANP);

generating multiple custom termination codes for the foreign carrier;

transmitting the multiple custom termination codes from the IXC to a remote centralized database, such that the remote centralized database records the multiple custom termination codes, and such that the remote centralized database associates the multiple custom termination codes with an identifier for the foreign carrier and an identifier for the IXC;

receiving initialization information for an international call at a switch of the IXC, wherein the initialization information includes a termination telephone number outside the NANP;

in response to receiving the initialization information, automatically recognizing one or more call attributes for the international call;

in response to receiving the initialization information, automatically using a signaling system 7 (SS7) common channel interoffice signaling (CCIS) technique to transmit a request from the interexchange switch to the remote centralized database, wherein the request includes the termination telephone number;

receiving a reply to the request at the interexchange switch, wherein, if the termination telephone number corresponds to the foreign carrier, the reply includes the multiple custom termination codes previously transmitted to the remote centralized database by the IXC; and

in response to receiving the reply, automatically selecting a custom termination code among the multiple custom termination codes for use in completing the international call, based on the one or more recognized call attributes.

2. A method for facilitating call routing for an international call, the method comprising:

receiving, at an interexchange carrier, a termination telephone number from a local exchange carrier (LEC);

in response to receiving the termination telephone number, retrieving carrier information from a remote centralized database of custom termination codes, wherein the carrier information relates to a foreign carrier that provides termination for the termination telephone number;

determining whether the foreign carrier provides wireless termination, based on the carrier information from the remote centralized database of custom termination codes;

completing an international call to the termination telephone number via the foreign carrier; and

charging a customer for wireless termination, based on the carrier information from the remote centralized database.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the customer comprises an end user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving an invoice that includes an access fee for wireless termination by the foreign carrier; and

the operation of charging the customer for wireless termination comprises sending a bill with a surcharge for wireless termination to the customer before receiving the invoice that includes the access fee for wireless termination.

5. A system for facilitating call routing for an international call, the system comprising:

an interexchange switch; and

processing resources in the interexchange switch that perform operations comprising;

receiving a termination telephone number from a local exchange carrier (LEC);

in response to receiving the termination telephone number, retrieving carrier information from a remote centralized database of custom termination codes, wherein the carrier information relates to a foreign carrier that provides termination for the termination telephone number;

determining whether the foreign carrier provides wireless termination, based on the carrier information from the remote centralized database of custom termination codes;

completing an international call to the termination telephone number via the foreign carrier; and

charging a customer for wireless termination, based on the carrier information from the remote centralized database.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the operation of charging the customer for wireless termination is performed before receiving a bill from a trunk provider with an access fee for wireless termination for the destination number.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising the remote centralized database of custom termination codes.

8. A method for facilitating call routing for an international call, the method comprising:

receiving initialization information for an international call, wherein the initialization information includes a termination telephone number for the international call;

in response to receiving the initialization information, automatically retrieving one or more custom termination codes for the termination telephone number from a remote database, based on the termination number and an identifier for an interexchange carrier; and

in response to retrieving the one or more custom termination codes for the termination telephone number, automatically using at least one of the one or more custom termination codes to complete the international call.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation of automatically using at least one of the one or more custom termination codes to complete the international call comprises:

automatically using the at least one custom termination code from the remote database to determine routing instructions for the international call; and

automatically routing the international call, based on the routing instructions.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation of receiving the initialization information for the international call comprises receiving the initialization information at an interexchange switch.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation of receiving initialization information for the international call comprises receiving the initialization information from a local exchange carrier.

12. A system for facilitating call routing for an international call, the system comprising:

an interexchange switch; and

processing resources in the interexchange switch that perform operations comprising;

receiving initialization information for an international call, wherein the initialization information includes a termination telephone number for the international call;

in response to receiving the initialization information, automatically retrieving one or more custom termination codes for the termination telephone number from a remote database, based on the termination number and an identifier for an interexchange carrier; and

in response to retrieving the one or more custom termination codes for the termination telephone number, automatically using at least one of the one or more custom termination codes to complete the international call.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operation of automatically using at least one of the one or more custom termination codes to complete the international call comprises:

automatically using the at least one custom termination code from the remote database to determine routing instructions for the international call; and

automatically routing the international call, based on the routing instructions.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the operation of receiving initialization information for the international call comprises receiving the initialization information from a local exchange carrier.

15. A method for facilitating call routing for an international call, the method comprising:

receiving initialization information for an international call at a switch, wherein the initialization information includes a termination telephone number;

in response to receiving the initialization information, automatically obtaining one or more termination characteristics associated with the termination telephone number from a remote centralized database, wherein the remote centralized database contains termination characteristics for telephone numbers outside a North American Numbering Plan (NANP); and

in response to obtaining the one or more termination characteristics from the remote centralized database, automatically using at least one of the one or more termination characteristics from the remote centralized database to complete the international call to the termination telephone number.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

at least one of the one or more termination characteristics identifies the foreign carrier; and

the operation of automatically using at least one of the termination characteristics from the remote centralized database to complete the international call comprises selecting a direct routing path to the identified foreign carrier for the international call.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving information at an interexchange carrier (IXC) about a foreign carrier that provides termination for phone numbers outside the NANP;

generating multiple custom termination codes for the foreign carrier; and

transmitting the multiple custom termination codes from the IXC to the remote centralized database, such that the remote centralized database records the multiple custom termination codes as termination characteristics, and such that the remote centralized database associates the multiple custom termination codes with an identifier for the foreign carrier and an identifier for the IXC.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the method further comprises recognizing one or more call attributes for the international call; and

the operation of automatically using at least one of the termination characteristics from the remote centralized database to complete the international call comprises automatically selecting a termination characteristic among the one or more termination characteristics for use in completing the international call, based on the one or more recognized call attributes.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the one or more call attributes comprise time of the international call; and

the operation of automatically selecting the termination characteristic for use in completing the international call comprises selecting the termination characteristic, based on the time of the international call.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the one or more termination characteristics comprise identifiers for two or more communications channels; and

the operation of automatically selecting the termination characteristic for use in completing the international call comprises selecting one of the communications channels, based on communication channel availability.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein:

at least one of the one or more termination characteristics identifies the foreign carrier;

the method further comprises consulting a predefined list of carriers to determine whether the identified foreign carrier is an acceptable carrier; and

the operation of automatically selecting the termination characteristic for use in completing the international call comprises utilizing the identified foreign carrier to complete the international call only if the identified foreign carrier is an acceptable carrier.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the operation of automatically using at least one of the termination characteristics from the remote centralized database to complete the international call comprises:

determining whether the international call requires wireless termination, based on at least one of the termination characteristics obtained from the remote centralized database; and

if the international call does not require a wireless carrier, using a least-cost algorithm to select a wireline carrier for routing the international call.