Bidding for telecommunications traffic over route segments
First Claim
1. A method for controlling a telecommunication network in which a moderating computer collects economic incentive data from each Carrier of a plurality of telecommunication Carriers, processes the economic incentive data and distributes processed data to a plurality of telecommunications switches, defining a plurality of route segments, each switch at a switching point on a telecommunications network, thereby enabling each of the plurality of switches to select a Carrier of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers for a call attempt presented to the switch, based on an economic choice, wherein the method comprises:
- a. receiving in the moderating computer, economic incentive data specifying the economic incentive each Carrier will place on a call from a first switch on a telecommunications network of a plurality of telecommunications networks over a route segment to a second switch on a telecommunications network of a plurality of telecommunications networks, processing the economic incentive data to determine which of the economic incentive data correspond to the first switch and optionally to produce derivative data, and storing the economic incentive data and derivative data in a data base of the moderating computer as first switch data;
b. transmitting at least a portion of the first switch data to the first switch; and
c. transmitting at least a portion of the first switch data to at least a portion of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Telecommunications switches route calls in accordance with economic incentives (e.g., least cost routing) resulting from a bidding process between participating telecommunications carriers (Carriers) by operation of a central processor, a computer referred to as a bidding moderator (Moderator). Each of the Carriers bidding for traffic informs the Moderator of the rate it is willing to charge (or other economic incentive it is willing to offer) for service at some particular time between two specific switching points defining a route segment in one or more telecommunications networks, for example, from an intermediate switching point on one telecommunications network to a terminating local exchange switch on another network. This "bid" rate may be lower than that Carrier'"'"'s established rate for any of several reasons (e.g., the Carrier has excess capacity on that route segment at that time). The Carrier may change its bids as often as it likes as traffic patterns change. The Moderator collects this bid information from all the Carriers, processes the bid information and transmits carrier selection information to subscribing switches. Bid information is also transmitted to participating Carriers'"'"' network management centers. From the list of all Carriers providing bid information to the Moderator, each subscribing switch can select those Carriers to which it wants traffic routed and can change that selection at any time.
100 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for controlling a telecommunication network in which a moderating computer collects economic incentive data from each Carrier of a plurality of telecommunication Carriers, processes the economic incentive data and distributes processed data to a plurality of telecommunications switches, defining a plurality of route segments, each switch at a switching point on a telecommunications network, thereby enabling each of the plurality of switches to select a Carrier of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers for a call attempt presented to the switch, based on an economic choice, wherein the method comprises:
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a. receiving in the moderating computer, economic incentive data specifying the economic incentive each Carrier will place on a call from a first switch on a telecommunications network of a plurality of telecommunications networks over a route segment to a second switch on a telecommunications network of a plurality of telecommunications networks, processing the economic incentive data to determine which of the economic incentive data correspond to the first switch and optionally to produce derivative data, and storing the economic incentive data and derivative data in a data base of the moderating computer as first switch data; b. transmitting at least a portion of the first switch data to the first switch; and c. transmitting at least a portion of the first switch data to at least a portion of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for routing a telecommunication call attempt presented to a telecommunication switch on a telecommunications network of a plurality of telecommunications networks, to a first telecommunication Carrier of a plurality of telecommunication Carriers for carriage over a route segment in accordance with economic incentives arrived at through a bidding process involving a central processor, referred to as a bidding Moderator, comprising the steps of:
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a. collecting Carrier network data for each of the Carriers, each Carrier entering the data corresponding to the telecommunication facilities constituting route segments of its network into its traffic management computer'"'"'s traffic management database; b. each traffic management computer receiving management instructions from that Carrier'"'"'s network administrator, formulating economic incentives for at least a portion of the Carrier'"'"'s telecommunication facilities based on the management instructions and the carrier network data, and transmitting the economic incentives to the bidding Moderator; c. in the bidding Moderator, receiving the economic incentives, entering the economic incentives from each Carrier in the bidding Moderator'"'"'s database, and sorting the economic incentives to identify all economic incentives associated with each telecommunication route segment specified by a first switch and a second switch and generating carrier selection data; d. transmitting at least a portion of the economic incentives received by the bidding Moderator to at least a portion of the plurality of Carriers, entering the economic incentives in each traffic management database, and adjusting each Carrier'"'"'s economic incentives in consideration of the economic incentives form at least one other Carrier; e. sorting the route segments to determine which route segments are associated with the telecommunication switch, transmitting at least a portion of the carrier selection data and economic incentive data associated with such route segments to the switch, and entering the carrier selection data into the switch'"'"'s database; and f. routing the call attempt to the first telecommunication Carrier in accordance with the carrier selection data. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A telecommunication traffic bidding Moderator for enabling a first telecommunication switch of a plurality of telecommunication switches to select a Carrier of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers for call attempts intended for completion over a route segment, in accordance with economic incentives generated by the Carriers, comprising:
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a. a computer with a processor and a memory; b. means for receiving economic incentive data from a first telecommunication Carrier and storing the economic incentive data identified with the first telecommunication Carrier in the memory; c. means for transmitting at least a portion of the economic incentive data received from a plurality of telecommunication Carriers to at least a portion of the plurality of telecommunication Carriers; d. means for sorting the economic incentive data received from the plurality of telecommunication Carriers to determine a first subset of such data corresponding to the first telecommunication switch and generating carrier selection data; and e. means for transmitting at least a portion of the carrier selection data and economic incentive data to the first telecommunication switch. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification