Method and system to bypass ENUM to reach a callee via a PSTN or a PLMN

• US 20080130856A1
• Filed: 07/06/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Soo, Armstrong, Huang, Alex, Ku, Bernard Siu-Man
• Granted Patent: US 7,630,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0057 Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network

Abstract

At least one telephone network element receives an attempt by a caller to place a telephone call to a telephone number of a callee. The telephone number is registered in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) database to receive incoming telephone calls via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network. The at least one telephone network element determines a preference to carry the telephone call via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public land mobile network (PLMN) instead of the VoIP network. Based on the preference, the telephone call is forwarded to a gateway to carry the telephone call to the callee via the PSTN or the PLMN instead of the VoIP network.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code to cause a telecommunication system to perform acts of:

receiving an attempt of a caller to place a telephone call to a telephone number of a callee, the telephone number being registered in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) database to receive incoming telephone calls via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network;

determining a preference to carry the telephone call via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public land mobile network (PLMN) instead of the VoIP network; and

based on the preference, inhibiting an ENUM query of the ENUM database for the telephone call.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the act of determining the preference comprises performing a lookup of an ENUM bypass flag associated with the callee.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored by a registration server.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the registration server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS).

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored in a profile of the callee.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the preference is a preference of the caller.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the act of inhibiting the ENUM query of the ENUM database inhibits an otherwise mandatory query of the ENUM database.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the computer program code further causes the telecommunication system to:

based on the preference, forward the telephone call to a gateway to carry the telephone call to the callee via the PSTN or the PLMN instead of the VoIP network.

9. A method comprising:

receiving an attempt of a caller to place a telephone call to a telephone number of a callee, the telephone number being registered in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) database to receive incoming telephone calls via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network;

determining a preference to carry the telephone call via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public land mobile network (PLMN) instead of the VoIP network; and

based on the preference, forwarding the telephone call to a gateway to carry the telephone call to the callee via the PSTN or the PLMN instead of the VoIP network.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the act of determining the preference comprises performing a lookup of an ENUM bypass flag associated with the callee.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored by a registration server.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the registration server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS).

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored in a profile of the callee.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the preference is a preference of the caller.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

based on the preference, inhibiting an ENUM query of the ENUM database for the telephone call.

16. A system comprising:

at least one telephone network element to;

receive an attempt of a caller to place a telephone call to a telephone number of a callee, the telephone number being registered in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) database to receive incoming telephone calls via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network;

determine a preference to carry the telephone call via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public land mobile network (PLMN) instead of the VoIP network;

based on the preference, inhibit an ENUM query of the ENUM database for the telephone call; and

based on the preference, forward the telephone call to a gateway to carry the telephone call to the callee via the PSTN or the PLMN instead of the VoIP network.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the at least one telephone network is to determine the preference by performing a lookup of an ENUM bypass flag associated with the callee.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored by a registration server.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the registration server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS).

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the ENUM bypass flag is stored in a profile of the callee.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the preference is a preference of the caller.