Telecommunication disaster plan

• US 5,222,128 A
• Filed: 07/26/1990
• Issued: 06/22/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T, Inc.
• Inventors: Daly, Garry R., West, Earle H., Hagerman, William E., Polepalle, Sankara R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MATAR, AHMAD
• Application Number:
  US07/558,286
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• Field of Search: 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/213, 379/220, 379/221, 379/279, 379/33
• US Class Current: 379/221.04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/12 Marking faulty circuits "busy"; Enabling equipment to disengage itself from faulty circuits ; Using redundant circuits; Response of a circuit, apparatus or system to an error
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0079 involving restoration of networks, e.g. disaster recovery, self-healing networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

In case of a disaster at one of a plurality of customer'"'"'s locations, it is desirable to provide for a massive rerouting of telephone calls to that customer. A SafetyNet Service Reconfiguration (SSR) tool enables a network service provider to provide a recovery service for the event where a customer'"'"'s business location becomes "non-functional". By using the SSR tool, the telephone network service provider can preplan how to reroute a customer'"'"'s incoming calls to alternate business locations, or to the employees'"'"' homes. The preplanning includes storing the local central office recent change (RC) messages necessary to implement an SSR plan, in RC text files and in executable data files. The RC text files can be easily maintained, and new RC executable files generated, as the customer'"'"'s recovery needs change. To invoke an SSR plan, the network service provider starts execution of the designated RC executable file, via a single SSR tool command. When the SSR plan is invoked, the data from the RC executable file is activated, thereby rerouting the traffic.

Claims

1. A telephone switching system comprising:

a routing database for selectively storing first or second numbers for first or second destinations, respectively, said first numbers being normally stored in said database for routing incoming calls to the first destinations identified thereby;

processor means, operative under the control of a first program and comprising file means for storing data files and responsive to messages receivable from a control console by said processor means, for producing and storing in said file means a message file of recent change messages comprising said second numbers for said second destinations;

said processor means, operative under the control of a second program, for storing an executable file of data, said executable file produced from said message file for rerouting calls to second destinations identified thereby when said first destinations are designated nonfunctional; and

said processor means, operative under the control of a third program, for bulk substituting said second numbers for said second destinations for said first numbers for said first destinations in said routing database in response to receiving an indication that said first destinations are becoming nonfunctional, by executing said executable file;

wherein said processor means under the control of said first program is responsive to a request to execute programs at a priority level, and to display a menu at said control console, and responsive to a selection of an item on said menu, for executing a UNIX process for prompting for input data, for checking said input data and for binding input data for a disaster plan into a message file.

2. The switching system of claim 1 wherein said processor means is further operative under the control of said first program for creating a group text file entry for an invocation of emergency call forwarding for a specified group of lines responsive to a command from said control console;

and

wherein said processor means is further operative under the control of said second program, responsive to said group text file entry, for producing an executable file entry for invoking emergency call forwarding for said specified group.