Method and apparatus for exchanging administrative information between local area networks
First Claim
1. In a telecommunications network including a switching system having a plurality of switch modules, at least one of the switch modules hosting a trunk group consisting of a plurality of trunk members, said trunk members being connected to the switch modules at predetermined physical locations and a cellular communications system including a plurality of cell sites connected to said switching system by selected ones of the trunk members, said cell site including voice channels for communicating with customer stations, a method for routing calls comprising the steps of:
- storing data in said switching system including master information identifying the physical location of all of said trunk members hosted by said switching system;
storing data in said cellular communications system including a mapping of the voice channels to the physical location of the selected ones of the trunk members;
assigning a particular voice channel to serve a call;
providing routing information to said switching system from said mapping identifying a likely location of the selected ones of the trunk member mapped to said particular voice channel;
determining if the routing information is usable by the switching system to route the call;
if the routing information is usable, routing the call using said information;
if the routing information is not usable, determining the actual physical location of the selected ones of the trunk member using the master information;
routing the call using the correct routing information; and
correcting the routing information in said cellular communications system by updating said mapping.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The system of the invention has particular application to a wide area network (WAN) where call routing information often changes in one local area network (LAN) (e.g. a switching system) while other LANs (e.g. cellular communication systems) are unaware of the changes. Because of the heavy flow of traffic in such networks, the minimization of administrative traffic data is desirable. The invention solves the need for constant updating and auditing of the LANs in the WAN. One LAN is considered the master LAN for a given parameter and contains an accurate directory of administrative data for that parameter. Each of the other LANs operate on the assumption that the administrative or directory information it contains is correct. If this assumption is wrong for a particular parameter and a LAN contains incorrect information, in response to a communication to or from the LAN, the system: 1) recognizes that the information relating to the parameter is incorrect; 2) determines the correct information and completes the communication based upon the correct information; and 3) updates the LAN with the correct information from the master LAN such that the next time the same communication is attempted the LAN has the correct information. In this manner, the LANs are updated on a need to know basis only after an actual communication is attempted thereby eliminating the constant transmission of administrative information between the LANs that exists in the prior art systems.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. In a telecommunications network including a switching system having a plurality of switch modules, at least one of the switch modules hosting a trunk group consisting of a plurality of trunk members, said trunk members being connected to the switch modules at predetermined physical locations and a cellular communications system including a plurality of cell sites connected to said switching system by selected ones of the trunk members, said cell site including voice channels for communicating with customer stations, a method for routing calls comprising the steps of:
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storing data in said switching system including master information identifying the physical location of all of said trunk members hosted by said switching system; storing data in said cellular communications system including a mapping of the voice channels to the physical location of the selected ones of the trunk members; assigning a particular voice channel to serve a call; providing routing information to said switching system from said mapping identifying a likely location of the selected ones of the trunk member mapped to said particular voice channel; determining if the routing information is usable by the switching system to route the call; if the routing information is usable, routing the call using said information; if the routing information is not usable, determining the actual physical location of the selected ones of the trunk member using the master information; routing the call using the correct routing information; and correcting the routing information in said cellular communications system by updating said mapping. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification