Method and apparatus for self-learning of call routing information

• US 20040042469A1
• Filed: 09/04/2002
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sullivan, Richard J., Clark, Christine Yu-sha Chou, Johnson, Leticia Garcia, Ganesan, Sekar
• Granted Patent: US 8,305,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/36 Backward learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for learning call routing information in a communication system. A switching architecture is presented. The switch may be implemented in a centralized architecture or a distributed architecture. In addition, the switch may be implemented in a variety of networks such as a circuit-switched network or a packet-switched network. The switch includes a policy server and a self-learning application server. The policy server includes routing information for routing calls across the switch. The routes for incoming and outgoing calls are analyzed as they pass through the switch. The self-learning application server uses artificial intelligence techniques and caching algorithms to learn new more-efficient routing paths or initial routing paths based on the incoming and outgoing calls. The self-learning application server then updates the policy server with the new learned routes.

Claims

1. A switch comprising:

an ingress port receiving an incoming call;

a first server storing routing information;

a switching fabric coupled to the ingress port and coupled to the first server, the switching fabric generating a switched call by switching the incoming call in response to the routing information;

an egress port coupled to the switching fabric, the egress port communicating an outgoing call in response to the switched call; and

a second server coupled to the first server, the second server generating learned information in response to the routing information stored in the first server and in response to the switched call.

2. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the switch is implemented with a centralized architecture.

3. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the switch is implemented with a distributed architecture.

4. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the learned information is learned by using simple caching.

5. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the learned information is learned by using complex caching.

6. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the learned information is learned by using artificial intelligence.

7. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first server is a policy server.

8. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second server is a self-learning application server.

9. A switch as set forth in claim 1, wherein the egress port is coupled to a one-way trunk group.

10. A switch comprising:

an ingress port means for receiving an incoming call;

a first server means for storing routing information;

a switching fabric means coupled to the ingress port means and coupled to the first server means, the switching fabric means for generating a switched call by switching the incoming call in response to the routing information;

an egress port means coupled to the switching fabric means, the egress port means for communicating an outgoing call in response to the switched call; and

a second server means coupled to the first server means, the second server means for generating learned information in response to the routing information stored in the first server and in response to the switched call.

11. A method of operating a switch comprising the steps of:

receiving an incoming call;

storing routing information;

generating a switched call by switching the incoming call in response to the routing information;

communicating an outgoing call in response to the switched call; and

generating learned information in response to the routing information and in response to the switched call.

12. A switch comprising:

a switching fabric switching calls; and

a server coupled to the switching fabric, the server learning routes in response to the switching fabric switching the calls.

13. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switch is implemented with a centralized architecture.

14. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switch is implemented with a distributed architecture.

15. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the server learns the routes by using simple caching.

16. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the server learns the routes by using complex caching.

17. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the server learns the routes using artificial intelligence routines.

18. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the server is a self-learning application server.

19. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switching fabric is coupled to a one-way trunk group and switches calls out of the one-way trunk group.

20. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switching fabric is a packet-switching network.

21. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switching fabric is a circuit-switching network.

22. A switch as set forth in claim 12, wherein the switch is a softswitch.

23. A switch comprising:

a switching fabric means for switching calls; and

a server means coupled to the switching fabric means, the server means for learning routes in response to the switching fabric means switching the calls.

24. A method of operating a switch comprising the steps of:

switching calls; and

learning routes in response to switching the calls.

25. A method of operating a system comprising the steps of:

receiving call detail records;

querying for ported numbers in response to the call detail records;

learning routes in response to the call detail records and in response to the ported numbers; and

provisioning learned routes in response to learning the routes.

26. A method of operating a system comprising the steps of:

receiving a call query;

querying for ported numbers in response to the call query;

learning routes in response to querying for the ported numbers; and

provisioning learned routes in response to learning the routes.

28. A method of operating a policy server as set forth in claim 26, wherein the step of learning routes is accomplished using caching.

29. A method of operating a policy server as set forth in claim 26, wherein the step of learning routes is accomplished using artificial intelligence techniques.

27. A method of operating a policy server, the policy server including routing information, the method comprising the steps of:

learning routes; and

updating the routing information in response to learning the routes.

30. A method of learning routes comprising the steps of:

analyzing a call detail record; and

learning routes in response to analyzing the call detail record.

31. A system comprising:

a gateway receiving an incoming call;

a network file server coupled to the gateway and storing call detail record information in response to the incoming call received by the gateway;

a local number portability server storing local number portability information;

a self-learning application server coupled to the network file server and coupled to the local number portability server, the self-learning application generating learned information by querying the local number portability server in response to the call detail record information stored in the network file server; and

a policy server coupled to the self-learning application server, the policy server storing routing information in response to the learned information generated by the self-learning application.

32. A method of operating a server comprising the steps of:

receiving call detail record information;

generating query information in response to the call detail record information;

receiving local number portability information in response to generating the query information;

generating learned information by running artificial intelligence routines in response to the local number portability information; and

generating route information in response to the learned information.

33. A method of managing a call comprising the steps of:

analyzing a call detail record associated with a route, the call detail record including an originating line identity code;

identifying the originating line identity code; and

not learning the route in response to identifying the originating line identity code.

33-1. A method of managing a call comprising the steps of:

receiving a call;

checking to determine if the call is ported;

identifying a location routing number in response to checking to determine if the call is ported; and

learning the location routing number.

34. A method of managing a call comprising the steps of:

analyzing a first route;

identifying a first frequency of number changes in response to checking the first route;

analyzing a second route;

identifying a second frequency of number changes in response to checking the second route; and

determining whether to learn in response to the first frequency of number changes and in response to the second frequency of number changes.

35. A method of learning a route comprising the steps of:

generating a route list, the route list including a plurality of invalid routes;

generating a valid route by switching a call in response to the plurality of invalid routes; and

learning the valid route.