Obtaining information about a called telecommunications party

• US 6,192,115 B1
• Filed: 03/09/1999
• Issued: 02/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsai, Liane Toy, Tsai, Christopher Lee, Toy, Arthur Randall
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford
• Application Number:
  US09/265,027
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.23, 379/93.17, 379/142, 379/415, 379/219, 379/130, 379/114, 379/144, 379/127, 379/201, 379/220, 379/221, 379/229, 379/230, 379/121, 379/120, 379/140, 379/222, 379/207, 379/354, 455/407, 455/456, 455/457, 455/436
• US Class Current: 379/130
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/07 Split billing, i.e. both A-party and B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/28 with meter at substation or with calculation of charges at terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8038 Roaming or handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2026 Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/34 Roaming
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/64 Split billing, sharing the cost of calls, e.g. between calling and called parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7442 Roaming
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/82 Advice-of-Charge [AOC], i.e. notify subscriber of charges/cumulative charge; meter at the substation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Apparatus and a method for providing a caller with information about a called party. In one preferred embodiment, the information includes information concerning the charges to be incurred in making a call to the called party. Advantageously, in an environment wherein number portability allows a call which previously was a local call, to become a toll call because the called party has made a geographic move, without changing the called party'"'"'s telephone number. For wireless service, in those cases in which the caller pays at least a part of the charges, and the charges for a call to a roamer are different if the roamer is locally found than if the roamer is remotely located, this service allows a caller to decide on whether to complete a call, and if the decision is made to complete a call, on what length call to aim for.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called wireline directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called telephone station identified by said called directory number;

wherein said data comprises location information of said called party, said location information generated by a wireline telecommunications network serving said called directory number;

wherein said data further comprises information concerning a call from said calling party to said called party wherein said called party can request suppression of said location information but not of said information concerning charges for a call from said calling party to said called party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of requesting suppression of said location information comprises the step of requesting a class of service wherein said location information is always suppressed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of requesting suppression of said location information comprises the step of requesting suppression of said location information by the called party dialing a special code.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the called party requests suppression of said location information for a selected group of calling parties.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said called party requests suppression of said location information for all but a selected group of calling parties.

6. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to receipt of an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called telephone station identified by said called directory number;

wherein said called directory number is for alerting a plurality of telecommunications stations, each having a different telephone number and said data is reported for said plurality of stations.

7. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called telephone station identified by said called directory number;

wherein said called directory number is for alerting a plurality of telecommunications stations, and said data is reported for a first of said plurality of telecommunication stations to answer said call.

8. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called wireline directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called party identified by said called directory number;

wherein the step of sending a query comprises the step of said calling party controlling whether or not to send said query;

wherein the step of controlling comprises the step of said calling party supplying a request for a class of service specifying types of calls for which said query should be made;

wherein the step of controlling comprises the step of;

said calling party supplying a list of a group of telephone numbers for which said query should be made or should not be made.

9. In a telecommunications network, apparatus comprising:

a telecommunication switching system comprising;

apparatus for obtaining information about a telecommunications user comprising;

means, responsive to receipt of a called directory number from a calling party, for sending a query to a database;

means, responsive to receipt of a response to said query, for reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

means, responsive to an indication from said calling party, for completing a call to a called party identified by said called directory number;

said network further comprising;

data network means for interconnecting said telecommunications switching system with said database means; and

database means for storing said data for said called directory number;

said database means for responsive to receipt of said query for generating said response comprising said data for said called directory number; and

transmitting said response over said data network means to said telecommunications switching system;

wherein said data about a called directory number comprises data for a plurality of telephone stations having different telephone numbers alerted when said called directory number is received.

10. In a telecommunications network, apparatus comprising:

a telecommunication switching system comprising;

apparatus for obtaining information about a telecommunications user comprising;

means, responsive to receipt of a called directory number from a calling party, for sending a query to a database;

means, responsive to receipt of a response to said query, for reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

means, responsive to an indication from said calling party, for completing a call to a called party identified by said called directory number;

said network further comprising;

data network means for interconnecting said telecommunications switching system with said database means; and

database means for storing said data for said called directory number;

said database means for responsive to receipt of said query for generating said response comprising said data for said called directory number; and

transmitting said response over said data network means to said telecommunications switching system;

wherein data for a first of said plurality of telephone stations to answer a call is reported.

11. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database of said network, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to receipt of an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called telephone station identified by said called directory number;

wherein the reporting step comprises accessing data for said called directory number in said database;

transmitting a message comprising said selected portions of said data from said database to a switch serving said calling party; and

reporting said selected portions of said data to said calling party;

wherein said step of accessing said data for said called directory number in said database can be selectively suppressed for pre-selected callers under the control of a called party.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of selectively suppressing comprises the step of the called party dialing a special code.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of selectively suppressing comprises the step of providing said data to a selected group of calling parties.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of selectively suppressing comprises the step of providing said data to all but a selected group of calling parties.

15. In a telecommunications network, a method for obtaining information about a telecommunications user, comprising the steps of:

responsive to receipt of a called wireline directory number from a calling party, sending a query to a database, said database for storing data for the called directory number;

responsive to receipt of said query, reporting selected portions of said data for said called directory number to said calling party; and

responsive to an indication from said calling party, completing a call to a called party identified by said called directory number;

wherein the step of sending a query comprises the step of said calling party controlling whether or not to send said query;

wherein the step of controlling comprises the step of said calling party supplying a request for a class of service specifying types of calls for which said query should be made;

wherein the step of controlling comprises the step of;

said called party supplying a list of a group of telephone numbers for which said query should be responded to or should not be responded to.