OPTIMIZATION OF CONSOLIDATING ENTITIES

• US 20110116494A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDT Corporation
• Original Assignee: IDT Corporation
• Inventors: Gutman, Moshe, Relis, Jerome
• Granted Patent: US 8,964,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A system and method for homogeneously merging locations in a telecommunications network including: calculating at least one first characteristic of at least one carrier at a first location and a second location; determining at least one penalty for excluding the at least one carrier based in part on the at least one first characteristic; comparing the at least one penalty determined to at least one preselected value; and, if the at least one penalty is less than the at least one preselected value, merging the at least one first location and the at least one second location, thereby forming at least one first merged location.

Claims

1. A method for merging locations, the method comprising:

calculating at least one first characteristic of at least one carrier at;

at least one first location and at least one second location;

determining at least one penalty for excluding the at least one carrier based at least in part on the at least one first characteristic;

comparing the at least one penalty to at least one preselected value; and

merging the at least one first location and the at least one second location if the at least one penalty is less than the at least one preselected value, thereby forming at least one first merged location.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one carrier includes a plurality of carriers.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising assigning at least one demand to the at least one carrier based at least in part on the at least one characteristic.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising determining an amount of the at least one demand that would be assigned to at least one second carrier of the plurality of carriers if the at least one first carrier were excluded.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one of a capacity, a rate, a demand, a call quality, or a business criteria.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining is based at least in part on a number of minutes associated with the at least one carrier.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one penalty includes a plurality of penalties.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining if the at least one carrier is not available at the at least one second location.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

calculating at least one second characteristic of the at least one carrier at;

at least one third location and at least one fourth location;

comparing the at least one second characteristic to a second predetermined value; and

merging the at least one third location with the at least one fourth location if the at least one second characteristic is less than the second predetermined value, thereby forming at least one second merged location.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising merging the at least one first merged location with the at least one second merged location.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second predetermined value is equal to the first predetermined value.

12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising creating a bias favoring the at least one first merged location if the at least one first merged location had been previously created.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising creating a bias favoring the at least one second merged location if the at least one second merged location had been previously created.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first location and the at least one second location are within a LATA.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first location and the at least one second location are homogenous locations.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising repeating the calculating, the determining, the comparing, and the merging until a number of locations is less than a predetermined threshold.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined threshold is based at least in part on a capacity of at least one switch.

18. A system for merging locations, the system comprising:

means for calculating at least one first characteristic of at least one carrier at;

at least one first location and at least one second location;

first means for determining at least one penalty for excluding the at least one carrier;

means for comparing the at least one penalty to at least one preselected value; and

means for merging the at least one first location and the at least one second location if the at least one penalty is less than the at least one preselected value, thereby creating at least one first merged location.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one carrier includes a plurality of carriers.

20. The system according to claim 19, further comprising means for assigning at least one demand to the at least one carrier based at least in part on the at least one characteristic.

21. The system according to claim 20, further comprising second means for determining an amount of the at least one demand that would be assigned to at least one second carrier of the plurality of carriers if the at least one first carrier were excluded.

22. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one of a capacity, a rate, a demand, a call quality, or a business criteria.

23. The system according to claim 18, wherein the first means for determining makes a determination based at least in part on a number of minutes associated with the at least one carrier.

24. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one penalty includes a plurality of penalties.

25. The system according to claim 18, further comprising third means for determining if the at least one carrier is not available at the at least one second location.

26. The system according to claim 18, further comprising means for creating a bias favoring the at least one first merged location if the at least one first merged location had been previously created.

27. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one first location and the at least one second location are within a LATA.

28. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one first location and the at least one second location are homogenous locations.