Telephone interexchange carrier selection
First Claim
1. A method of selecting a carrier for a telephone call being made over an originating terminal link, comprising the steps of:
- examining signals associated with the call and received over the originating terminal link to determine whether they include signals other than call destination-identifying signals that identify a particular one of a plurality of carriers to carry the call;
examining contents of a memory associated with the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier predesignated to carry calls made over the originating terminal link, when the signals received over the terminal link are determined not to include the signals that identify a carrier to carry the call; and
connecting the call to the identified carrier when a carrier is determined to be identified by either the received signals or the memory contents.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for selecting an interexchange telephone call carrier, selecting a route to the selected carrier, and establishing a call path on the selected route to the selected carrier in a multi-carrier environment. To select a carrier, dialed digits incoming from a terminal link to a switching office are examined to determine if the call is of an interexchange type, requiring selection of a carrier. If so, the dialed digits are examined to determine if a carrier-identifying code has been dialed. If not, a data base is checked to determine if a carrier has been predesignated for this terminal link or for a group of Centrex terminal links of which this terminal link is a member. If not, and if an option of selecting a default carrier has been implemented, the data base is checked to determine if a default carrier may be used for calls originating with the calling terminal link or with the group of Centrex terminal links. If a default carrier may be used, data base is checked to determine if a default carrier has been designated. Once an appropriate carrier for the call is found, steps are taken to connect the call to that carrier. If no appropriate carrier for the call can be identified, the call is blocked and the caller is requested to dial a carrier-identifying code.
198 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method of selecting a carrier for a telephone call being made over an originating terminal link, comprising the steps of:
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examining signals associated with the call and received over the originating terminal link to determine whether they include signals other than call destination-identifying signals that identify a particular one of a plurality of carriers to carry the call; examining contents of a memory associated with the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier predesignated to carry calls made over the originating terminal link, when the signals received over the terminal link are determined not to include the signals that identify a carrier to carry the call; and connecting the call to the identified carrier when a carrier is determined to be identified by either the received signals or the memory contents. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
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2. A method of selecting a carrier for a telephone call being made over an originating terminal link, comprising the steps of:
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examining signals associated with the call and received over the originating terminal link to determine whether they include signals that identify a carrier for the call; examining contents of a memory associated with the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call, when the signals received over the terminal link are determined not to include signals that identify a carrier for the call; connecting the call to the identified carrier when a carrier for the call is determined to be identified by either the received signals or the memory contents; and requesting over the originating terminal link that a carrier for the call be identified when a carrier is determined not to be identified by the received signals and by the memory contents.
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7. A method of automatically selecting an interexchange carrier for a telephone call incoming over a terminal link to a switching office, comprising the steps of:
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examining digits associated with the call and received over the terminal link to determine whether they include digits that identify a carrier for the call; examining contents of a memory associated with the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call when the received digits are determined not to include digits that identify a carrier for the call; determining whether the identified carrier is appropriate for a call type that includes the call, when a carrier is determined to be identified; and connecting the call from the switching office to the identified carrier when the identified carrier is determined to be appropriate. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of automatically selecting an interexchange carrier at a switching office for a telephone call incoming thereto over a terminal link, comprising the steps of:
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examining digits associated with the call and received over the terminal link to determine therefrom whether the call is of a type requiring selection of a carrier for the call; examining the digits received from the terminal link to determine whether they include digits that identify a carrier for the call; examining contents of memories associated with at least some of the received digits and with a class-of-service of the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call when the received digits are determined not to include digits that identify a carrier for the call; examining contents of a memory associated with the terminal link to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call when the memories associated with at least some of the received digits and with the class-of-service are determined not to identify a carrier for the call; determining whether the identified carrier is appropriate for a call type that includes the call, when a carrier for the call is determined to be identified; connecting the call from the switching office to the identified carrier when the identified carrier is determined to be appropriate for the call type; and requesting over the terminal link that an appropriate carrier for the call be identified over the terminal link when an appropriate carrier for the call is determined not to be identified. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A switching system for selecting a carrier for a telephone call being made over an originating terminal link, comprising:
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first operational means, for storing information associated with the terminal link; second operational means, for receiving signals over the originating terminal link; third operational means, cooperative with the second means, for examining signals associated with the call and received by the second means to determine whether they include signals other than call destination-identifying signals that identify a particular one of a plurality of carriers to carry the call; fourth operational means, responsive to the third means and cooperative with the first means, for examining contents of the first means to determine whether they identify a carrier predesignated to carry calls made over the originating terminal link, when the third means determine that the received signals do not include the signals that identify a carrier to carry the call; and fifth operational means, responsive to the third and the fourth means, for connecting the call to the identified carrier when the third means or the fourth means determine that a carrier to carry the call is identified. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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21. A switching system for selecting a carrier for a telephone call being made over an originating terminal link, comprising:
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first operational means, for storing information associated with the terminal link; second operational means, for receiving signals over the originating terminal link; third operational means, cooperative with the second means, for examining signals associated with the call and received by the second means to determine whether they include signals that identify a carrier for the call; fourth operational means, responsive to the third means and cooperative with the first means, for examining contents of the first means to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call, when the third means determine that the received signals do not include signals that identify a carrier for the call; fifth operational means, responsive to the third and the fourth means, for connecting the call to the identified carrier when the third means or the fourth means determine that a carrier is identified; and sixth operational means, responsive to the third and the fourth means, for requesting over the originating terminal link that a carrier for the call be identified when the third and the fourth means determine that a carrier is not identified.
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26. A switching system for automatically selecting an interexchange carrier for a telephone call incoming over a terminal link to the switching system, comprising:
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first operational means, for storing information associated with the terminal link; second operational means, for receiving digits sent over the terminal link; third operational means, cooperative with the second means, for examining digits associated with the call and received by the second means to determine whether they include digits that identify a carrier for the call; fourth operational means, responsive to the third means and cooperative with the first means, for examining contents of the first means to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call, when the third means determine that the received digits do not include digits that identify a carrier for the call; fifth operational means, responsive to the third and the fourth means, for determining whether the identified carrier is appropriate for a call type that includes the call, when a carrier for the call is determined to be identified; and sixth operational means, responsive to the fifth means, for connecting the call from the switching system to the identified carrier, when the identified carrier is determined to be appropriate for the call type. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A switching system for automatically selecting an interexchange carrier at the switching system for a telephone call incoming thereto over a terminal link, comprising:
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first operational means, for storing information associated with at least some received digits dialed to make the call and with a class-of-service of the terminal link; second operational means, for storing information associated with the terminal link; third operational means, for receiving the digits dialed to make the call over the terminal link; fourth operational means, cooperative with the third means, for examining the digits received by the third means to determine whether the call is of a type requiring selection of a carrier; fifth operational means, responsive to the fourth means and cooperative with the third means, for examining the digits received by the third means to determine whether they include digits that identify a carrier for the call, when the fourth means determine that carrier selection is required; sixth operational means, responsive to the fifth means and cooperative with the first means, for examining contents of the first means to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call, when the fifth means determine that the received digits do not identify a carrier for the call; seventh operational means, responsive to the sixth means and cooperative with the second means, for examining contents of the second means to determine whether they identify a carrier for the call, when the sixth means determine that the contents of the first means do not identify a carrier for the call; eighth operational means, responsive to the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh means, for determining whether the identified carrier is appropriate for a call type that includes the call, when a carrier for the call is determined to be identified; ninth operational means, responsive to the eighth means, for connecting the call from the switching system to the identified carrier, when the identified carrier is determined to be appropriate for the call type; and tenth operational means, responsive to the eighth means, for requesting over the terminal link that an appropriate carrier for the call be identified over the terminal link, when an appropriate carrier is determined not to be identified. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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Specification