LOCAL ROUTING MANAGEMENT IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

• US 20100254526A1
• Filed: 06/14/2010
• Published: 10/07/2010
• 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, Davis, Matthew K., Saha, Susmita G., Nair, Murli S., Griffin, Janis, Gualtieri, Greg, Terpstra, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,995,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/221.20
• 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 generating one or more route plans, each route plan being associated with a service plan, and provisioning the one or more route plans on a core routing engine accessible by a softswitch for routing calls according to the one or more route plans. The one or more route plans may include an on-net route plan and an off-net route plan. An embodiment of a system includes a local route manager (LRM) configured to generate one or more route plans associated with one or more respective service levels that customers can subscribe to. The system may further include an inventory of trunk groups containing a plurality of trunk group identifiers (IDs), wherein trunk group IDs are marked as either on-net or off-net.

Claims

1. A method for routing local telecommunications calls comprising:

provisioning a core routing engine (CRE) with routing instructions corresponding to a plurality of customers, each customer being associated with a customer identifier, wherein the routing instructions specify whether calls are to be routed using at least one off-net route;

receiving a telecommunications call;

analyzing signaling information associated with the received telecommunications call to determine a customer identifier associated with the received telecommunications call and a dialed number associated with the received telecommunications call;

using at least the dialed number to determine whether the received telecommunications call is a local call or a long distance call;

if the received telecommunications call is a local call, then

using at least the customer identifier to determine specific routing instructions for the received telecommunications call; and

determining a route for the received telecommunications call based on the specific routing instructions.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of determining a route for the received telecommunications call comprises:

using, at least in part, the dialed number to determine a plurality of routes operable to transmit the received telecommunications call to a location associated with the dialed number, wherein the plurality of routes comprises at least one on-net route and at least one off-net route;

applying the specific routing instructions to determine a subset of the plurality of routes that comprises one or more appropriate routes for transmitting the received telecommunications call to the location associated with the dialed number.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein, if the subset comprises a plurality of appropriate routes, then applying a least cost routing algorithm to the subset to determine a least cost route for transmitting the received telecommunications call to the location associated with the dialed number.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the determining act comprises:

setting the route for transmitting the received telecommunications call to the location associated with the dialed number to be the least cost route.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the plurality of routes is associated with respective LATA-OCNs, wherein a LATA-OCN designates an operating carrier number identifying a carrier associated with a given local access and transport area (LATA).

6. A system comprising:

a module configured to determine whether a received call is a local call or long distance call based at least in part on the dialed number associated with the received call;

a local routing manager (LRM) configured to process call routing information to render routing instructions;

a core routing engine (CRE) configured to receive the routing instructions from the LRM, wherein the routing instructions comprise at least one or more local route plans associated with a respective customer, the local route plans specifying whether calls are to be routed using at least an off-net route; and

a softswitch operable to receive a route from the CRE based in part on the one or more local route plans associated with the received call, wherein the softswitch is further configured to initiate routing of the received call via the received route.

7. A system as recited in claim 6, further comprising a least cost routing (LCR) module configured to receive, from the at least one of the LRM and CRE, a plurality of potential routes for routing a given received call, wherein the LCR module is further configured to select a route from the plurality of potential routes for local routing of the given received call.

8. A system as recited in claim 7, wherein the plurality of potential routes is based in part on the call routing information processed by the LRM, wherein the call routing information is specific to a customer associated with the given received call.

9. A system as recited in claim 6, further comprising a least cost routing (LCR) module configured to receive, from at least one of the LRM and CRE, a set of off-net least cost carriers in a prioritized order of preference, wherein the LCR module is further configured to determine an off-net least cost carrier from the set for local routing of a given received call.

10. A system as recited in claim 6, wherein the LRM is further configured to generate the one or more route plans by performing the acts of:

selecting a trunk group ID (TGID) from a trunk group inventory, the TGID identifying a trunk group;

associating the TGID with a plurality of local calling area numbers associated with switches connected to the trunk group; and

inserting the TGID in a local route plan useable to route calls to the local calling area.

11. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein the LRM is further configured to determine the plurality of local calling area numbers by performing the acts of:

identifying a tandem switch associated with the selected TGID;

identifying one or more switches associated with the tandem switch; and

identifying local calling area numbers associated with the one or more switches.

12. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein the LRM is further configured to identify the tandem switch, the one or more switches, and the local calling area numbers by performing a look-up in a local exchange routing guide (LERG).