Method and apparatus using bit maps to access data for processing telephone calls
First Claim
1. In a telecommunications network comprising a switching system and a data base shared by a plurality of switching systems, a method of accessing specialized data for processing a call, said call comprising a telephone number for identifying a party of said call, wherein said specialized data is related to said telephone number, said method comprising the steps of:
- in said switching system, storing a first bit map having one bit per telephone number potentially served by said switching system, used for identifying whether said switching system has said specialized data for serving said call;
if said first bit map indicates that said switching system has said specialized data for said telephone number available, using said specialized data available in said switching system; and
if said first bit map indicates that said switching system does not have said specialized data available, accessing said data base to obtain said specialized data for said telephone number.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a telecommunications network, a method and apparatus for decreasing access time of information normally stored in a data base, shared by a plurality of switching systems usually remote from all or most of the systems. One or more bit maps are used to store key indicators for each telephone number for which information may be required. In one specific embodiment, a bit map indicates whether the information is stored locally in the switch, so that an access to the remote database is not required. In another embodiment, a bit map stores an indication of whether the desired information is a default attribute, or one of a plurality of common attributes of the information being sought. Advantageously, the number of data accesses required of the remote data base is sharply reduced, thus reducing the average call set up time.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. In a telecommunications network comprising a switching system and a data base shared by a plurality of switching systems, a method of accessing specialized data for processing a call, said call comprising a telephone number for identifying a party of said call, wherein said specialized data is related to said telephone number, said method comprising the steps of:
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in said switching system, storing a first bit map having one bit per telephone number potentially served by said switching system, used for identifying whether said switching system has said specialized data for serving said call; if said first bit map indicates that said switching system has said specialized data for said telephone number available, using said specialized data available in said switching system; and if said first bit map indicates that said switching system does not have said specialized data available, accessing said data base to obtain said specialized data for said telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14)
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12. In a telecommunications network, comprising a switching system and a data base shared by a plurality of switching systems, a method of accessing specialized data for processing a call, said call comprising a telephone number for identifying a party of said call, wherein said specialized data is related to said telephone number, and wherein said specialized data has a plurality of attributes common to a class of service of a large number of telephone numbers, the method comprising steps of:
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in said switching system, storing a plurality of bit maps, each bit map, having one bit per telephone number potentially served by said switching system for identifying whether a telephone number has specialized data represented by the common attribute associated with said bit map; if any one of said bit maps indicates that said telephone number has said specialized data corresponding to one of said common attributes, using the common attribute associated with said any one bit map; and otherwise accessing said data base to obtain said specialized data for said telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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15. In a telecommunications network comprising a switching system and a data base shared by a plurality of switching systems, a switching system for processing a call, said call comprising a telephone number for identifying a party of said call, wherein said specialized data is related to said telephone number, said switching system comprising:
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memory for storing a first bit map having one bit per telephone number potentially served by said switching system, used for identifying whether said switching system has said specialized data for serving said call; and processor means, operative under program control for executing the steps of; accessing said first bit map, using said telephone number; if said first bit map indicates that said switching system has said specialized data for said telephone number available using said specialized data available in said switching system; and if said first bit map indicates that said switching system does not have said specialized data available, accessing said data base to obtain said specialized data for said telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28)
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26. In a telecommunications network, comprising a switching system and a data base shared by a plurality of switching systems, a switching system for processing a call using specialized data, said call comprising a telephone number of identifying a party of said call, wherein said specialized data is related to said telephone number, and wherein said specialized data has a plurality of attributes common to a class of service of a large number of telephone numbers, said switching system comprising:
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memory for storing a plurality of bit maps, each bit map, having one bit per potential telephone number served by said switching system, for identifying whether a telephone number has specialized data represented by the common attribute associated said bit map; and processor means operative under program control for executing the steps of; accessing said plurality of bit maps, using said telephone number; if any of said bit maps indicates that said telephone number has said specialized data corresponding to one of said common attributes, using the common attribute associated with said any one bit map; and otherwise accessing said data base to obtain said specialized data for said telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification