SINGLE NUMBER SERVICES FOR FIXED MOBILE TELEPHONY DEVICES

• US 20090131045A1
• Filed: 09/10/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Inventors: Morris, Joseph, FEUER, David E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,058 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/426.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42306 Number translation services, e.g. premium-rate, freephone or vanity number services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A special-purpose Service Control Point includes a customized application that provides Fixed Mobile Convergence services and interoperates with a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network to achieve a single-number fixed mobile convergence overlay network. By determining if a dual-mode cellular/WiFi handset is reachable via a WiFi network, the Service Control Point may redirect incoming and outgoing calls off of the cellular network and onto the WiFi network, thereby reducing cost and providing greater coverage.

Claims

1. A system for off-loading telephony connections for a multi-mode phone from a cellular network to a computer data network, the system comprising:

a receiver receiving a request for an outgoing call from the multi-mode phone;

a controller for determining if the multi-mode phone is reachable via the computer data network; and

a bridge being addressed by a first Mobile Station Roaming Number from a pool of available Mobile Station Roaming Numbers for bridging a call between the multi-mode phone and a destination of the request for the outgoing call, wherein the multi-mode phone communicates via the computer data network and the destination of the request for the outgoing call communicates via a public switched telephone network, wherein the first Mobile Station Roaming Number is received from a Service Control Point during call setup.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multi-mode phone is a dual-mode phone where a first mode is a cellular mode and a second mode is a computer data network mode.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the computer data network mode is a WiFi mode.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multi-mode phone is a tri-mode phone where a first mode is a cellular mode and second and third modes are two different computer data network modes.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second mode is a WiFi mode.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the request for an outgoing call is received from the cellular network.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bridge comprises an outbound connection initiator for initiating a call to the multi-mode phone using a voice protocol over the computer data network.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Service Control Point derives an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone, queries a database to find a toll locale of the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request, and returns a Mobile Station Routing Number that is a local number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the multi-mode phone is assigned a second Mobile Station Roaming Number from the pool of available Mobile Station Roaming Numbers.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Service Control Point derives an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone, queries a database to find a toll-free number for reaching the bridge from the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request, and returns the toll free number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Service Control Point derives an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone, queries a database to find a least cost number for reaching the bridge from the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request, and returns the least cost number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.

12. A method for off-loading telephony connections for a multi-mode phone from a cellular network to a computer data network, the method comprising:

receiving a request for an outgoing call from the multi-mode phone;

determining if the multi-mode phone is reachable via the computer data network; and

bridging a call between the multi-mode phone and a destination of the request for the outgoing call using a bridge being addressed by a first Mobile Station Roaming Number from a pool of available Mobile Station Roaming Numbers, wherein the multi-mode phone communicates via the computer data network and the destination of the request for the outgoing call communicates via a public switched telephone network and wherein the first Mobile Station Roaming Number is received from a Service Control Point during call setup

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the multi-mode phone is a dual-mode phone where a first mode is a cellular mode and a second mode is a computer data network mode.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the computer data network mode is a WiFi mode.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the multi-mode phone is a tri-mode phone where a first mode is a cellular mode and second and third modes are two different computer data network modes.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second mode is a WiFi mode.

17. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the request for an outgoing call is received from the cellular network.

18. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of bridging comprises initiating a call to the multi-mode phone from a bridge using a voice protocol over the computer data network.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the step of initiating comprises:

deriving an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone;

querying a database to find a toll locale of the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request, and

returning a Mobile Station Routing Number that is a local number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.

20. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the multi-mode phone is assigned a second Mobile Station Roaming Number from the pool of available Mobile Station Roaming Numbers.

21. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of initiating comprises:

deriving an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone;

querying a database to find a toll-free number for reaching the bridge from the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request; and

returning the toll free number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.

22. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of initiating comprises:

deriving an originating phone number of the Mobile Switch Center that originates a call setup request on behalf of the multi-mode phone;

querying a database to find a least cost number for reaching the bridge from the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request; and

returning the least cost number to the Mobile Switch Center that originates the call setup request.