Method, system and computer program product for providing a no-ring telephone call service

• US 20050111646A1
• Filed: 11/21/2003
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Hong, Bishop, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/207.20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53316 Messaging centre selected by message originator
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1318 Ringing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13377 Recorded announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

A method provides a no-ring telephone call service. The method includes receiving notification that a telephone call from a calling party device requesting to use the no-ring telephone call service has arrived at a switch. The notification includes a called party telephone number. The method also includes determining if the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number in a region wide messaging database. When the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number, instructions to route the telephone call to the voice mail platform telephone number are communicated to the switch. When the called party telephone number does not correspond to a voice mail platform telephone number, instructions to play a pre-recorded no voice mailbox message are communicated to the switch.

Claims

1. A method for providing a no-ring telephone call service, the method comprising:

receiving notification that a telephone call from a calling party device requesting to use the no-ring telephone call service has arrived at a switch, the notification including a called party telephone number; and

determining if the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number in a region wide messaging database, wherein;

when the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number, instructions to route the telephone call to the voice mail platform telephone number are communicated to the switch; and

when the called party telephone number does not correspond to a voice mail platform telephone number, instructions to play a pre-recorded message are communicated to the switch.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions to route the telephone call include the voice mail platform telephone number and the called party telephone number.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the region wide messaging database includes voice mail platform telephone number attributes and called party telephone number attributes.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the notification is received at an application server.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the notification is received at a service control point.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

verifying that the calling party device is authorized to use the no-ring telephone call service; and

if the verifying results in a determination that the calling party device is not authorized to use the no-ring telephone call service then sending instructions to the switch to play a pre-recorded not authorized message to the calling party device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is initiated by a calling party entering a no-ring telephone call service code into the calling party device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the calling party device is a public switched telephone network enabled telephone and the switch is a service provider central office service switching point.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the calling party device is an Internet protocol/session initiation protocol enabled telephone and the switch is a softswitch in communication with the Internet.

10. A system for providing a no-ring telephone call service, the system comprising:

a service control point;

a switch in communication with the service control point, the switch including a no-ring telephone call service trigger provisioned on a calling party line at the switch for triggering a query to the service control point whenever a telephone call including a no-ring telephone call service request is made by a calling party device;

a region wide messaging database in communication with the service control point; and

a no-ring telephone call application accessed by the service control point for responding to the query by determining whether a called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number in the region wide messaging database, wherein;

when the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number, the no-ring telephone call application sends instructions to the switch to route the telephone call to the voice mail platform telephone number; and

when the called party telephone number does not correspond to a voice mail platform telephone number, the no-ring telephone call application sends instructions to the switch to play a pre-recorded message.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the switch is a softswitch.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the switch is a service switching point.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the switch is a service provider central office service switching point.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the calling party device is a public switched telephone network enabled telephone.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the calling party device is an Internet protocol/session initiation protocol enabled telephone.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the called party device is a public switched telephone network enabled telephone.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the called party device is an Internet protocol/session initiation protocol enabled telephone.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the service control point is an advanced intelligent network service control point.

19. The system of claim 10 wherein the no-ring telephone call application is remote from the service control point.

20. The system of claim 10 wherein the no-ring telephone call application is part of an application server that is in communication with the service control point.

21. The system of claim 10 wherein the telephone call is routed via a packet switching network.

22. A system for providing a no-ring telephone call service, the system comprising:

an application server;

a switch in communication with the application server, the switch including a no-ring telephone call service trigger provisioned on a calling party line at the switch for triggering a query to the application server whenever a telephone call including a no-ring telephone call service request is made by a calling party device;

a region wide messaging database in communication with the application server; and

a no-ring telephone call application accessed by the application server for responding to the query by determining whether a called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number in the region wide messaging database, wherein;

when the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number, the no-ring telephone call application sends instructions to the switch to route the telephone call to the voice mail platform telephone number; and

when the called party telephone number does not correspond to a voice mail platform telephone number, the no-ring telephone call application sends instructions to the switch to play a pre-recorded message.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the pre-recorded message is stored on a media player in communication with the switch.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the telephone call is routed via a packet switching network.

25. A computer program product for providing a no-ring telephone call service, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions for executing the no-ring telephone call service, the no-ring telephone call service comprising a method of;

receiving notification that a telephone call from a calling party device requesting to use the no-ring telephone call service has arrived at a switch, the notification including a called party telephone number; and

determining if the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number in a region wide messaging database, wherein;

when the called party telephone number corresponds to a voice mail platform telephone number, the telephone call is routed to the voice mail platform telephone number; and

when the called party telephone number does not correspond to a voice mail platform telephone number, a pre-recorded message is delivered to the calling party device.