METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MULTIPLE SERVICES PER CALL

• US 20100061277A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: SAMARASINGHE, HARISH, PETERS, Roberts, BROWN, JOHN C., CHONG, KOAN S., RATCLIFFE, MARK A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/271
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4217 Managing service interactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0041 involving techniques for avoiding interaction of call service features

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enabling multiple services to be invoked in a specific precedence per call are disclosed. For example, the present method allows a subscriber to interact with a plurality of services provided by a service provider on a single call.

Claims

1. A method for providing a plurality of services on a single call in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a request for a plurality of services in a single call from a subscriber; and

providing said plurality of services to said subscriber in accordance with a precedence level associated with each one of said plurality of services in said single call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said request is received by a service broker.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said service broker determines whether a signaling history is presently associated with said request.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein if said service broker determines that said signaling history is not presently associated with said request, then said precedence level and a customer identification (ID) are determined for each of said plurality of services, where said plurality of services is ordered according to said precedence level, and where said service and said customer identification (ID) for each of said plurality of services are entered into a newly created signaling history, where one of said plurality of services is deemed to be a highest precedence service and remaining services from said plurality of services are deemed to be lower precedence services that are listed as other matches.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said service broker determines at least one application server for servicing said plurality of services.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said at least one application server disallows one or more of said plurality of services.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said at least one application server distributes said request to a service and customer logic in accordance with said signaling history.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said request is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a failure report if said providing said plurality of services to said subscriber fails.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein if there are no additional service matches, then said single call is delivered to a network routing engine (NRE) for routing.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method for providing a plurality of services on a single call in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a request for a plurality of services in a single call from a subscriber; and

providing said plurality of services to said subscriber in accordance with a precedence level associated with each one of said plurality of services in said single call.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said request is received by a service broker.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein said service broker determines whether a signaling history is presently associated with said request.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein if said service broker determines that said signaling history is not presently associated with said request, then said precedence level and a customer identification (ID) are determined for each of said plurality of services, where said plurality of services is ordered according to said precedence level, and where said service and said customer identification (ID) for each of said plurality of services are entered into a newly created signaling history, where one of said plurality of services is deemed to be a highest precedence service and remaining services from said plurality of services are deemed to be lower precedence services that are listed as other matches.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said service broker determines at least one application server for servicing said plurality of services.

18. An apparatus for providing a plurality of services on a single call in a communication network, comprising:

means for receiving a request for a plurality of services in a single call from a subscriber; and

means for providing said plurality of services to said subscriber in accordance with a precedence level associated with each one of said plurality of services in said single call.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said means for receiving comprises a service broker, wherein said service broker determines whether a signaling history is presently associated with said request.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein if said service broker determines that said signaling history is not presently associated with said request, then said precedence level and a customer identification (ID) are determined for each of said plurality of services, where said plurality of services is ordered according to said precedence level, and where said service and said customer identification (ID) for each of said plurality of services are entered into a newly created signaling history, where one of said plurality of services is deemed to be a highest precedence service and remaining services from said plurality of services are deemed to be lower precedence services that are listed as other matches.