Metadata-based network routing
First Claim
1. A method for routing telephone calls in a telephony network maintained by a network service provider, comprising steps of:
- (a) accepting a call from a caller at a network routing point;
(b) providing access to the network routing point to a customer of the network service provider for routing the call;
(c) cross-referencing an identifier associated with the call to a database entity in a coded and condensed (metadata-based) information system maintained by the customer;
(d) providing a routing destination to tie network for routing the call to a selected one of plural customer facilities based on the metadata-based information retrieved and(e) employing a second metadata-based information system at the selected facility to further route the call.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A customer-maintained routing system for providing routing to a network provider for incoming calls from clients to the customer comprises a processor having a data link adapted for connection to a customer access point provided by the network provider, a router adapted to execute on the processor and to provide routing to the network via the customer access point, and a metadata-based information system maintained in RAM accessible to the processor and containing condensed client characteristics. Upon receiving a request from the network including a call identifier, the router accesses the database using the identifier as a key, retrieves client characteristics from the information system, and provides a destination for the call to the network based on the retrieved client characteristics. In some embodiments the processor is linked to plural customer sites by a wide area data network. Some of the linked sites may be customer premises call centers where calls are directed, and at least one may be a central customer database facility wherein client and/or characteristics are maintained and updated, and periodic updates are provided to distributed databases at customer access points and customer call centers.
144 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for routing telephone calls in a telephony network maintained by a network service provider, comprising steps of:
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(a) accepting a call from a caller at a network routing point; (b) providing access to the network routing point to a customer of the network service provider for routing the call; (c) cross-referencing an identifier associated with the call to a database entity in a coded and condensed (metadata-based) information system maintained by the customer; (d) providing a routing destination to tie network for routing the call to a selected one of plural customer facilities based on the metadata-based information retrieved and (e) employing a second metadata-based information system at the selected facility to further route the call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A customer-maintained routing system for providing routing to a network for incoming calls from clients to customer call-centers, comprising:
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a processor having a data link adapted for connection to a customer access point provided by the network; a router adapted to execute on the processor and to provide routing to the network via the customer access point; a first coded and condensed (metadata-based) information system maintained in RAM accessible to the processor and containing condensed client characteristics; and a second metadata-based information system maintained in RAM residing in at least one of the customer call centers to which incoming calls may be routed; wherein, upon receiving a request from the network including a call identifier, the router accesses the first information system using the identifier as a key, retrieves client characteristics from the metadata-based information system, and provides a call-center destination for the call to the network based on the retrieved client characteristics, and wherein the call is further routed at the call-center using the second metadata-based information system. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. A telephony network comprising:
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a service control point (SCP) adapted to provide a customer access point for routing calls by a customer of the network; at least one trunk for delivering calls from the SCP to a customer facility; a customer-maintained routing system including a processor having a data link adapted for connection to the customer access point provided by a network provider, a router adapted to execute on the processor and to provide routing to the network via the customer access point, and a first coded and condensed (metadata-based) information system maintained in RAM accessible to the processor and containing condensed client characteristics; and a second metadata-based information system maintained in RAM residing in the customer facility to which incoming calls may be routed; wherein, upon receiving a request from the network including a call identifier, the router accesses the database using the identifier as a key, retrieves client characteristics from the information system, provides a destination for the call to the network based on the retrieved client characteristics and the call is further routed at the customer facility using the second metadata-based information system. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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- 11. A telephony network characterized by a data access point for a client of the network and a router maintained by the client and coupled to the data access point, wherein the client-maintained router is coupled to a client metadata-structured database maintained in random access memory and having characteristics of callers stored as coded, highly-compressed metadata, wherein the network provides call identification to the router and requests routing from the customer-maintained router, the customer-maintained router provides routing by accessing the metadata-structured database with the call identification as a key, and wherein a second metadata-structured database at a first destination for the call is used to further route the call.
Specification