Called party availability announcement in a radio telecommunications network

• US 6,070,080 A
• Filed: 02/21/1997
• Issued: 05/30/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Madour, Lila, Houde, Michel
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GELIN, JEAN ALLAND
• Application Number:
  US08/804,252
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 455/417, 455/445, 455/459, 455/558, 455/414, 455/458, 455/433, 455/528, 455/413, 455/418, 455/67.7, 455/421, 455/461, 379/88.06, 379/219, 379/220, 379/207, 379/229, 379/230, 379/235, 379/243, 379/251, 379/252, 379/257, 379/258, 379/265, 370/328, 370/322, 370/410
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method of announcing to a calling party in an originating system in a radio telecommunications network that a called party in a serving system is not available. The method begins by sending a Routing Request (RoutReq) Invoke message from the originating system to the serving system. The RoutReq Invoke message includes a Transaction Capabilities parameter indicating that the originating system is capable of generating announcements. The serving system then determines that the called party is not available. This is followed by sending a Redirection Request (RedReq) Invoke message from the serving system to the originating system. The RedReq Invoke message includes an Announcement List parameter requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party, and may include a Preferred Language parameter. The RedReq Invoke message also includes an Allow Transfer to Number parameter if the called party subscribes to services requiring service logic support. Any trunk seized from the originating system to the serving system is then released. Finally, the originating system sends the announcement to the calling party announcing that the called party is not available. If a preferred language parameter was received, the originating system makes the announcement in the preferred language indicated.

Claims

1. In a radio telecommunications network, a method of announcing to a calling party in an originating system that a called party in a serving system is not available, said method comprising the steps of:

sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements;

determining in said serving system that said called party is not available;

sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party; and

sending the announcement from said originating system to said calling party announcing that the called party is not available.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, after the step of sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements, the step of seizing a trunk from said originating system to said serving system.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, after the step of sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party, the step of releasing said trunk.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements includes the steps of:

sending in a Routing Request Invoke message, a parameter indicating the transaction capabilities of the originating system; and

determining in the serving system, that the parameter in the Routing Request Invoke message indicates that said originating system is capable of generating announcements.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements includes sending in a Routing Request Invoke message, an indication for said serving system to consult an internal database where information regarding the announcement capability of the originating system is stored.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party includes sending, in a Redirection Request Invoke message, a parameter requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party includes the step of sending, in the Redirection Request Invoke message, a preferred language parameter from said serving system to said originating system, said preferred language parameter indicating a preferred language of said called party for said announcement.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said step of sending the announcement from said originating system to said calling party includes sending the announcement utilizing said preferred language.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of sending the announcement from said originating system to said calling party announcing that the called party is not available includes sending said announcement in a default language of said originating system.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of sending said announcement in a default language of said originating system includes sending said announcement in a preferred language of the calling party.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising, after the step of determining in said serving system that said called party is not available, the step of determining in said serving system whether the called party subscribes to services that require service logic support.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system also includes notifying said originating system whether transferring the call to another destination is allowed.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said step of notifying said originating system whether transferring the call to another destination is allowed includes the step of sending, in the Redirection Request Invoke message, a parameter allowing the originating system to access service logic for support.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising, before the step of sending the announcement from said originating system to said calling party, the steps of:

sending a third message from said originating system to service logic requesting service logic support; and

sending a destination number from said service logic to said originating system.

15. In a radio telecommunications network, a method of announcing to a calling party in an originating system that a called party in a serving system is not available, said method comprising the steps of:

sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements;

determining in said serving system that said called party is not available;

sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to the calling party that the called party is not available;

determining in said originating system whether an announcement machine is available to send said announcement;

sending said announcement from said originating system to said calling party upon determining that an announcement machine is available in the originating system; and

sending said announcement from said serving system to said calling party upon determining that an announcement machine is not available in the originating system.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising, before the step of sending said announcement from said serving system to said calling party upon determining that an announcement machine is not available in the originating system, the step of sending a third message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that an announcement machine is not available in said originating system.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said step of sending a third message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that an announcement machine is not available in said originating system includes sending in a Redirection Request Return Result message, a parameter indicating that an announcement machine is not available in said originating system.

18. In a radio telecommunications network, a method of passing a preferred language indicator from a serving system to an announcing system in an originating system, said method comprising the steps of:

sending a first message from said originating system to said serving system indicating that said originating system is capable of generating announcements;

determining in said serving system that a called party is not available;

sending a second message from said serving system to said originating system, said second message;

requesting the originating system to provide an announcement to a calling party; and

passing a preferred language indicator to said originating system, said preferred language indicator indicating a preferred language of the called party for said announcement; and

sending the announcement from said originating system utilizing said preferred language.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of passing a preferred language indicator to said originating system includes the step of sending, in a Redirection Request Invoke message, a preferred language parameter from said serving system to said originating system, said preferred language parameter indicating a preferred language of said called party for said announcement.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising, before the step of sending the announcement from said originating system utilizing said preferred language, the step of determining in said originating system whether said originating system supports the preferred language indicated.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of sending said announcement in a default language of said originating system, upon determining that the originating system does not support the preferred language indicated.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said step of sending said announcement in a default language of said originating system includes sending said announcement in a preferred language of the calling party.