Cellular-telephone central call-processing system utilizing object-oriented software in adjunct personal computer for generating billing records

• US 5,966,649 A
• Filed: 09/06/1996
• Issued: 10/12/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Excel Switching Corp. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: Phoenix Wireless, Inc. (Communications Test Design Incorporated)
• Inventors: Tsao, Charles, Carter, John, Gulliford, Philip Case, Matthies, Christopher Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): Dolinar, Andrew M.
• Application Number:
  US08/706,636
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405-408, 455/419, 455/445
• US Class Current: 455/408
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/55 for hybrid networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/44 Charging/billing arrangements for connection made over different networks, e.g. wireless and PSTN, ISDN, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

An adjunct processor for a wireless telephone system utilizes object-oriented software for providing a common air-interface protocol for each cell site'"'"'s base station, so that, regardless of the specific cellular system. it may be coupled to the central, adjunct node-processor of the invention, so that multifarious-operating cellular systems may be linked by the central personal computer adjunct node-processor into one holistic system comprised of many different cellular operating systems and of many node-processors. A network of many adjunct node-processors allows hand-off between adjunct processors, to that if one adjunct processor fails or is down, another adjunct processor in the network may take over its functions. Each adjunct processor also has an alarm-management system and a billing and accounts-management system, which may take over the same systems another, down adjunct processor. Each component is comprised of an objects-oriented software and a state table, with the objects-oriented software creating a pointer for the state table. The billing function is continuous during the processing of the call, so that, if the available credit for a user has expired while a call is in progress, that call is automatically terminated.

Claims

1. A wireless telephone system comprising:

a plurality of cell-sites, each cell-site having a base-station and a number of mobile-subscribers linked to said base station;

a central adjunct node-processor linking together said plurality of cell-sites, and controlling all call-processing functions and operations between said plurality of cell-sites and the public switched telephone network;

said adjunct node-processor comprising a computer having memory means for storage of data;

said memory means comprising control means for controlling call-processing of a telephone call between a said mobile-subscriber and the public switched telephone network; and

said memory means further comprising billing means for initiating the start of the billing time-period for a call associated with a said mobile-subscriber, and terminating the billing time-period upon termination of the call;

said billing relatively-instantaneously recording and tracking the billing of each said mobile-subscriber;

said billing means comprising limit constraint means for determining the need to terminate a call while the call is in progress, and termination means operatively coupled to said constraint means for terminating the call while in progress upon the determination by said constraint means of a predefined constraint for the call in progress having been violated during said call in progress.

2. The wireless telephone system according to claim 1, wherein said limit constraint means comprises means for generating at least one of a toll-rate charge based on the dialed digits and an airtime-rate charge based on the user'"'"'s rate-plan;

said termination means for terminating said call in progress comprising a timer that is set based upon a value indicative of said available credit of the user.

3. The wireless telephone system according to claim 2, wherein said timer of said termination means terminates the call based upon said means for generating at least one of a toll-rate charge and an airtime-rate charge having debited the account of said user the amount equal to said value by which said timer had been set.

4. A method of continuously billing a call made on a wireless telephone system, said wireless telephone system comprising a plurality of cell-sites, each cell-site having a base-station and a number of mobile-subscribers linked to said base station:

a central adjunct node-processor linking together said plurality of cell-sites, and controlling all call-processing functions and operations between said plurality of cell-sites and the public switched telephone network;

said adjunct node-processor comprising a computer having memory means for storage of data;

said memory means comprising control means for controlling call-processing of a telephone call between a said mobile-subscriber and the public switched telephone network; and

said memory means further comprising billing means for initiating the start of the billing time-period for a call associated with a said mobile-subscriber, and terminating the billing time-period upon termination of the call, said method comprising;

(a) initiating said billing means of said central adjunct node-processor for start of the billing time-period for a call associated with a mobile-subscriber after the call has been connected, and terminating said billing means of said central adjunct node-processor to terminate the billing time-period upon termination of the call;

(b) relatively-instantaneously recording and tracking the billing of said mobile-subscriber of said step (a) while said call is in-progress;

(c) automatically terminating the mobile call while in-progress via said billing means of said central adjunct node-processor if the available credit of the user who has made the call has been used up.

5. The method of continuously billing a call made on a wireless telephone system according to claim 4, wherein said step (b) comprises setting a software timer based on the available credit of the user at the time the call is initiated;

said step (c) being performed when said software time has expired.