Telephone call monitoring method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for use in monitoring call attempts processed by the network of an interexchange carrier in which the switches of said network route said call attempts in response to received instructions, the method characterized by the steps of:
- collecting, at a call data processor of said interexchange carrier, information relating to call attempts placed to at least one destination entity, said collecting being performed for each respective one of said call attempts prior to any routing of it by any of said switches; and
periodically supplying to said destination entity information relating to call attempts placed to said at least one destination entity as it is collected without waiting for the termination of said call attempts, said supplying being independent of said call attempts for which said information is collected in said collecting step and said supplied information including at least a portion of said information collected in said collecting step.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To provide a complete picture of the calling pattern of calls placed to a destination entity which permits the destination entity'"'"'s routing plan to be adequately administered, a) information is collected about all call attempts to particular, specified dialed numbers even before they are switch routed, including even calls terminated before a network control point (NCP) returns instructions as to where to route the call and, if applicable, after they are rerouted and b) the collected information is periodically delivering as it becomes available, for use by the destination entity, without requiring the calls being monitored to have been terminated. Thus, for example, information is collected about calls being held by the NCP in a queue even before the calls are NCP routed. The collected information also includes information for calls that were never routed, because they were terminated before routing, independent of whether they were placed in a queue. If applicable, additional information is collected about the rerouting of those calls that are rerouted. Additionally, information is collected concerning the performance of a network control point, including information on queue performance and routing location selection performance.
47 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for use in monitoring call attempts processed by the network of an interexchange carrier in which the switches of said network route said call attempts in response to received instructions, the method characterized by the steps of:
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collecting, at a call data processor of said interexchange carrier, information relating to call attempts placed to at least one destination entity, said collecting being performed for each respective one of said call attempts prior to any routing of it by any of said switches; and periodically supplying to said destination entity information relating to call attempts placed to said at least one destination entity as it is collected without waiting for the termination of said call attempts, said supplying being independent of said call attempts for which said information is collected in said collecting step and said supplied information including at least a portion of said information collected in said collecting step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for use in monitoring calls placed over a network of an interexchange carrier to destination entities, at least one of said destination entities having more than one location at which it can receive calls, the method being of the type in which information is collected about said calls and portions of said information relating to calls destined for particular destination entities are made available to those destination entities in a specified format, the improvement characterized by:
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collecting information for those calls terminated before the performance of any network control point routing by said network of said interexchange carrier; and receiving from each respective one of said destination entities a specification of the format for making its portion of said information available. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for use in monitoring telephone calls placed to a destination entity via a network, the method comprising the steps of:
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collecting information particularly relating to the queuing of a call in an network control point (NCP) of said network, said call having been (i) placed to said destination entity and (ii) having been held in a queue in said NCP prior to having any routing performed for said call; and supplying to said destination entity at least a portion of said information collected about said queued call.
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16. A method for use in monitoring telephone calls placed to destination entity via a network of an interexchange carrier, the method comprising the steps of:
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collecting information relating to a call placed to said destination entity, said call having been held in a queue in an network control point of said network, said collecting being prior to having any routing performed for said call; and supplying to said destination entity at least a portion of said information collected about said queued call.
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17. A method for use by a call data processor to monitor telephone calls placed by callers to destination entities over a telephone network, said telephone network having an associated network control point, said network control point communicating with switches of said telephone network via the exchange of signaling messages of a predefined message set over a signaling network, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving information from said network control point about the treatment given to telephone calls placed over said telephone network to said destination entities, said information being undeterminable solely from any signaling messages suppliable to or from said network control point, or any combination thereof, without the use of data available only in said network control point; and supplying to said destination entities at least a portion of said information received from said network control point. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for use in supplying information about the treatment afforded calls placed over a network, said network employing at least one network control point for use is routing said calls, the method including a step of collecting information by a call data processor about said calls, the improvement characterized by:
in said collecting step information relating to the call treatment analysis of said network control point is collected. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for use in monitoring call attempts processed by the network of an interexchange carrier in which the switches of said network route said call attempts in response to received instructions, the method characterized by the steps of:
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collecting, at a call data processor of said interexchange carrier, information relating to call attempts placed to at least one destination entity prior to any routing of said call attempts by any of said switches; and periodically supplying to said destination entity, information relating to call attempts placed to said at least one destination entity as it is collected without waiting for the termination of said call attempts, said supplied information including at least a portion of said information collected in said collecting step and being formatted to convey in a single summary representation information about a plurality of said call attempts.
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Specification