LOCAL ROUTING MANAGEMENT IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

• US 20090080630A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jordan, Dan, Gualtieri, Greg, Terpstra, Richard, Davis, Matthew K., Saha, Susmita G., Nair, Murli S., Griffin, Janis
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.20
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13138 Least cost routing, LCR
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13349 Network management
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13353 Routing table, map memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

An embodiment of a method includes determining a customer service plan identifier from information associated with a received call, determining a route plan associated with the identified customer service plan, and routing the call on a trunk group identified in the determined route plan. The method may further include determining a jurisdiction of the call based on a dialed number identified in the call, determining a local routing number (LRN) associated with the call, and using a portion of the LRN to determine the trunk group. An embodiment of a system includes a switch operable to select a route for routing a call received on an ingress trunk associated with a customer that subscribes to a service plan, wherein the switch is further operable to select the route based on the service plan subscribed to by the customer associated with the ingress trunk.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a customer service plan identifier from information associated with a received call;

determining a route plan associated with the identified customer service plan; and

routing the call on a trunk group identified in the determined route plan.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a jurisdiction of the call based on a dialed number identified in the call;

determining a local routing number (LRN) associated with the call; and

using a portion of the LRN to determine the trunk group.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a jurisdiction comprises determining whether the call is local or long distance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the customer service plan identifier comprises determining an ingress trunk group pseudo-carrier code (PCC).

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the portion of the dialed number comprises an NPA-NXX of the dialed number, and wherein determining whether the call is local or long distance comprises looking up the portion of the dialed number in a local calling area table that associates NPA-NXX'"'"'s of dialed numbers with NPA-NXX'"'"'s of calling party numbers, wherein NPA identifies a Number Planning Area, and NXX identifies a central office within the Number Planning Area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the call is a unidirectional local call.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the route plan comprises determining a partition associated with the identified customer service plan.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising selecting a partition from a plurality of partitions, wherein the partitions are each associated with a customer service plan.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of partitions include an on-net partition and an off-net partition.

10. A system comprising:

a switch operable to select a route for routing a call received on an ingress trunk associated with a customer that subscribes to a service plan, wherein the switch is further operable to select the route based on the service plan subscribed to by the customer associated with the ingress trunk.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a core routing engine (CRE) storing a plurality of route plans.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein route plans are stored in partitions of the CRE.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein each of one or more of the partitions are each associated with a service plan.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a local calling area (LCA) data store storing combinations of portions of calling numbers and portions of called number designating calls that are entitled to local routing.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the portions of the calling numbers and the portions of the called numbers are either 6 digit portions or 7 digit portions.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the LCA data store is provisioned with data from an HTLT data store.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the switch accesses the LCA data store to determine whether calls are entitled to local routing.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the switch is configured to identify a partition for determining a route plan for routing the call based on the service plan subscribed to by the customer.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the switch is configured to determine the customer based on an ingress trunk that the call is received on.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the ingress trunk is associated with a pseudo carrier code identifying the service plan.