Route information message for delivery of prepaid flexible alerting call

• US 20070041533A1
• Filed: 08/09/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Rudolph, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,773,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/16 according to connection obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/62 based on trigger specification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8022 Determining tariff or charge band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8351 before establishing a communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/854 Available credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/90 using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/016 Billing using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0164 Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7421 Determine tariff or charge band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/8108 before establishing a communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/8166 Available credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42255 with the subscriber having a personal network-independent number

Abstract

A plurality of route information messages that correspond to a plurality of telecommunication devices are sent to a prepaid service control point for delivery of a prepaid flexible alerting call.

Claims

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

sending, to a prepaid service control point, a plurality of route information messages that correspond to a plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of a prepaid flexible alerting call.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

determining, at the prepaid service control point, one or more ratings that correspond to one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices through employment of the plurality of route information messages.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

receiving, from the prepaid service control point, a plurality of confirmation messages that are based on the one or more ratings and correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

initializing one or more call legs for one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call based on the plurality of confirmation messages.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

receiving, from a home location register, a plurality of call leg route parameters and a plurality of call leg identifiers that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices, wherein the plurality of route information messages comprise the plurality of call leg route parameters and the plurality of call leg identifiers.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

receiving an answer message that corresponds to a first telecommunication device of the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices and a first call leg of the one or more call legs;

sending to the prepaid service control point a call leg identifier, of the plurality of call leg identifiers, that corresponds to the first call leg for billing of the prepaid flexible alerting call;

connecting the first call leg to an incoming call leg for the prepaid flexible alerting call; and

releasing unused call legs of the one or more call legs.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

sending a call control directive message to cause a release of the one or more call legs for the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining, at the prepaid service control point, the one or more ratings that correspond to the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices through employment of the plurality of route information messages comprises the step of:

determining a single rating for a call leg after selection of the call leg for connection to the prepaid flexible alerting call.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending, to the prepaid service control point, the plurality of route information messages that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call comprises the step of:

sending, to the prepaid service control point, a plurality of AnalyzedInformation messages that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call, wherein each of the plurality of AnalyzedInformation messages comprises a routing information parameter.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a mobile switching center that receives a prepaid flexible alerting call;

wherein the mobile switching center is configured to send to a prepaid service control point a plurality of route information messages that correspond to a plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the mobile switching center is configured to receive from the prepaid service control point a plurality of confirmation messages that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices;

wherein the mobile switching center is configured to initialize one or more call legs for one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call for the prepaid describer based on the plurality of confirmation messages that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 in combination with the prepaid service control point, wherein the prepaid service control point is configured to determine one or more ratings that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices through employment of the plurality of route information messages;

wherein the prepaid service control point is configured to send the plurality of confirmation messages to the mobile switching center based on the one or more ratings.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the mobile switching center is configured to receive, from a home location register, a plurality of call leg route parameters and a plurality of call leg identifiers that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices;

wherein the plurality of route information messages comprise the plurality of call leg route parameters and the plurality of call leg identifiers.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the mobile switching center is configured to receive an answer message that corresponds to a first telecommunication device of the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices and a first call leg of the one or more call legs;

wherein the mobile switching center is configured to send to the prepaid service control point a call leg identifier, of the plurality of call leg identifiers, that corresponds to the first call leg for billing of the prepaid flexible alerting call;

wherein the mobile switching center is configured to connect the first call leg to an incoming call leg for the prepaid flexible alerting call;

wherein the mobile switching center is configured to release unused call legs of the one or more call legs.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the prepaid service control point is configured to send a call control directive message to the mobile switching center to cause a release of the one or more call legs for the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the prepaid service control point is configured to determine a single rating for one call leg of the one or more call legs after selection of the call leg for connection to the prepaid flexible alerting call.

17. An article, comprising:

one or more computer-readable signal-bearing media; and

means in the one or more media for sending, to a prepaid service control point, a plurality of route information messages that correspond to a plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of a prepaid flexible alerting call.

18. The article of claim 17, further comprising:

means in the one or more media for determining, at the prepaid service control point, one or more ratings that correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices through employment of the plurality of route information messages.

19. The article of claim 18, further comprising:

means in the one or more media for receiving, from the prepaid service control point, a plurality of confirmation messages that are based on the one or more ratings and correspond to the plurality of telecommunication devices; and

means in the one or more media for initializing one or more call legs for one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call based on the plurality of confirmation messages.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the means in the one or more media for initializing the one or more call legs for the one or more of the plurality of telecommunication devices for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call based on the plurality of confirmation messages comprises:

means in the one or more media for waiting for a predetermined time period before initializing one or more of the one or more call legs for delivery of the prepaid flexible alerting call to promote a notification for the prepaid flexible alerting call at the plurality of telecommunication devices at a substantially same time.