Method and system for automated telecommunications service script consolidation and downloading

• US 5,541,986 A
• Filed: 07/27/1993
• Issued: 07/30/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures II LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bell Communications Research, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Hou, David T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/097,509
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 379/354, 379/355, 379/67, 379/88, 379/201, 379/94, 379/309, 379/207, 395/600, 364/200
• US Class Current: 379/201.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13057 Object-oriented software
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/54516 Initialization, software or data downloading G06F9/445 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/54583 Software development, e.g. procedural, object oriented, software generation, software testing

Abstract

A method and system for automatically consolidating service scripts for downloading to Analog Display Services Interface compatible screen telephones. The method and system comprises specifying a general template for a set of service features, specifying line specific attributes for a feature, and then combining the two into a service module. Both the template and service modules are specified in terms script instructions grouped in blocks defined as call states, event handlers, soft keys, or macros. A customer'"'"'s service is composed of multiple service modules which, when selected, would be consolidated by a network server computer into a singular service script. The method of consolidation requires first creating software objects from the blocks in the template. Then the blocks from the service modules are incorporated into each object created by the template or if an object can'"'"'t be found, a new object is created. Finally, the process of incoporation includes the insertion of the instructions from the modules into the appropriate objects according to a rank order of the intructions as determined by a ranking process in the software. The consolidated service script is then compiled for downloading and transmitted to a local processor in the compatible screen telephone.

Claims

1. A method for consolidating a plurality of service modules into a single service script for downloading into telecommunications customer premises equipment, said method comprising the steps of:

defining a service template having blocks of script instructions upon which all service modules will be based;

specifying a plurality of service modules each having their own blocks of instructions for a plurality of particular features associated with a particular customer; and

consolidating said template and said plurality of service modules into a single service script for said particular customer, said consolidating, executed by a data processor, comprising organizing said blocks of instructions from said template into software objects, incorporating said blocks of instructions from said plurality of service modules into said software objects by inserting said instructions in corresponding software objects in order according to a ranking value associated with each instruction.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further including the step of compiling said single service script into executable code for downloading from a server to said telecommunications customer premises equipment.

3. A system for automatically consolidating a plurality of service modules into a single service script comprising:

a first database containing a plurality of service modules each having blocks of instructions;

a second database of customer profiles; and

service script creation means for retrieving from said second database a customer profile and selecting and retrieving from said first database, service modules according to said retrieved customer profile, said service script creation means comprising

means for creating software objects from blocks of instructions within a defined service template; and

means for incorporating said blocks of instructions from said service modules into corresponding software objects according to a ranking value.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising:

a script compiler for compiling said single service script into executable code capable of being downloaded to an analog display services interface compatible screen telephone.

5. In a telecommunications system having display telephone sets and having a database of service modules having blocks of instructions, and a database of user profiles and having a server for downloading service scripts to the display telephone sets, a method for automatically consolidating service modules into a single service script executed by said server, comprising the steps of:

retrieving a user profile from said database of user profiles associated with one of said display telephone sets;

reading the user profile to determine the service features selected by the user and retrieving from said service module database the service modules corresponding to the services features selected by the user;

using one of said retrieved service modules as a template;

defining each block of instructions in said template as an object;

selecting a next service module;

parsing blocks of instructions from said next service module;

comparing each of said blocks of instructions to said objects and inserting each instruction from said blocks into a corresponding one of said objects;

creating a new object if one doesn'"'"'t exist;

ordering the instructions within each object according to a ranking value; and

repeating said selecting, parsing, comparing, creating and ordering steps for each service module.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 further including the steps of:

compiling said single service script into code executable by said one of said display telephone sets;

downloading said executable code from said server to said display telephone set.

7. The method in claim 5 wherein said creating a new object step includes the steps of:

creating objects from blocks of instructions that define call states and soft keys; and

creating event handler objects within said objects created from said call states.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said service module used as said template is for Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).