Agile service interaction manager for intelligent network services

• US 6,453,161 B1
• Filed: 10/23/1998
• Issued: 09/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Touati, Samy, Sugirtharaj, David, Poulin, Andre
• Primary Examiner(s): TO, DORIS HA
• Application Number:
  US09/178,458
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 455/403, 455/412, 455/414, 455/422, 455/433, 455/435, 455/461, 455/507, 455/550, 455/552, 455/426, 455/560, 379/201.01, 379/207.02, 379/242, 379/229, 379/219
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42136 Administration or customisation of services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4217 Managing service interactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0041 involving techniques for avoiding interaction of call service features

Abstract

A method and system for responding to a trigger condition detected during the handling of a call connection in an intelligent network (IN). Upon receipt of an IN trigger, a service interaction manager in a service control point queries a home location register for a subscriber involved in the call connection requesting subscriber subscription information. The service interaction manager also queries a service library associated with the service control point to determine which of an implicated set of services are currently available in the service library and what the properties of those services are. Depending upon which services are available, which services are in the subscriber'"'"'s subscription list, and the service priority information received from the home location register and the service library, including the properties data from the service library, the service interaction manager reduces the list of implicated services to an applicable set of services and generates a customized execution sequence for the applicable services. Thereafter, at least one of the applicable services is executed in accordance with the customized execution sequence.

Claims

1. A method for generating a prioritized sequence of services to be executed for a particular telecommunications subscriber station in a telecommunications node, comprising the steps of:

detecting a telecommunications event involving said subscriber station;

identifying a plurality of services implicated by said event;

identifying an available set of services by determining which of said plurality of services are currently available for execution;

arranging said available set of services into a prioritized sequence depending on which services are included in the available set of services; and

executing at least one of said available set of services in accordance with said prioritized sequence.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said telecommunications event includes a detection of a call origination request transmitted by the subscriber station.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said telecommunications event includes a detection of a request to set up a call connection with the subscriber station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of identifying an available set of services further comprises the step of querying a library of services to determine which of said plurality of services are currently present in the library.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

querying a home location register (HLR) for subscriber-specific information relating to the subscriber station; and

receiving from the HLR said subscriber-specific information; and

generating a prioritized sequence in accordance with the received subscriber-specific information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the subscriber-specific specific information includes an identification of services that are subscribed to by the subscriber station.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the subscriber-specific information includes service prioritization information.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

retrieving system operator-specified service prioritization information; and

generating a prioritized sequence in accordance with the retrieved operator-specified prioritization information.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

comparing the prioritized sequence, generated in accordance with the retrieved prioritization information, with a set of static priority rules; and

rearranging the prioritized sequence to comply with the static priority rules.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

retrieving a set of logic instructions for each of the services to be executed during the step of executing; and

using said logic instructions for performing said step of executing.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

querying a home location register (HLR) for subscriber-specific information relating to the subscriber station;

receiving from the HLR said subscriber-specific information, wherein said subscriber-specific information includes service prioritization data;

querying a library of services to determine which of said plurality of services are currently present in the library;

receiving available service information from the library, wherein said available service information includes service prioritization data; and

wherein said step of arranging the available set of services into the prioritized sequence is further dependent upon the service prioritization data included in the available service information received from the library and the subscriber-specific information received from the HLR.

12. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a switch for routing calls within the telecommunications system, said switch operating to detect a trigger condition relating to a subscriber station;

a service library for storing at least one service module, each said service module containing instructions for executing a specific telecommunications service; and

a telecommunications node linked to the switch and to the service library, wherein said telecommunications node operates to;

receive a trigger signal from the switch, said trigger signal generated by the switch in response to the detection of the trigger condition and wherein the trigger signal identifies the trigger condition;

identify a plurality of services implicated by the trigger condition;

determine an available set of services from the plurality of services that are currently available in the service library; and

arrange the available set of services into a prioritized sequence for execution.

13. The telecommunications system of claim 12, wherein the telecommunications node further operates to execute at least one service in the available set of services according to the prioritized sequence.

14. The telecommunications system of claim 13, wherein the telecommunications node sends a return signal to the switch after executing the at least one service in the available set of services, said return signal including instructions for responding to the trigger condition.

15. The telecommunications system of claim 12, wherein the service library further stores service prioritization data for at least one service in the library.

16. The telecommunications system of claim 15, wherein the available set of services are arranged into the prioritized sequence based, at least in part, on service, prioritization data stored in the service library.

17. The telecommunications system of claim 15, wherein the telecommunications node further operates to receive subscriber-specific data from a home location register (HLR) associated with the subscriber station, said subscriber-specific data indicating which services containing subscription information for the subscriber station and containing service prioritization data for the subscriber station.

18. The telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the available set of services includes only services that are listed in the subscription information received from the HLR.

19. The telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the available set of services are arranged into the prioritized sequence based, at least in part, on service prioritization data stored in the service library and on service prioritization data contained in the subscriber-specific data.

20. A service control point in an intelligent network of a telecommunications system, comprising:

a service library for storing at least one service logic program, each service logic program for executing a telecommunications service; and

a service interaction manager for generating a service execution sequence in response to a detection of a trigger condition within the intelligent network, the service interaction manager operating to;

identify a plurality of services implicated by the trigger condition;

retrieve subscriber information stored in a home location register (HLR) for a particular subscriber to the telecommunications system, said subscriber associated with said HLR, wherein the subscriber information identifies the subscriber'"'"'s subscribed-to services;

determine an available set of services from said implicated plurality of services by identifying which services are available in the service library;

retrieve, from the service library, the service logic program for each service of an applicable set of services, wherein the applicable set of services includes each service that is both one of the services in the available set of services and is identified with subscriber information; and

generate said execution sequence by arranging the applicable set of services into a prioritized sequence based, at least in part, on certain properties associated with said applicable set of services.

21. The service control point of claim 20 wherein each service logic program comprises a code written in an interpreted language to support dynamic loading and reflection.

22. The service control point of claim 20 further comprising a memory for storing data correlating at least one trigger condition with a plurality of implicated services.

23. The service control point of claim 20 wherein said certain properties include service priority information stored in the service library, the service interaction manager retrieving the service priority information and using the service priority information for generating the execution sequence.

24. The service control point of claim 23 wherein the subscriber information identifies at least one service priority preference for the subscriber.

25. The service control point of claim 24 wherein said certain properties further include the at least one service priority preferance and the service interaction manager further uses the at least one service priority preference for generating the execution sequence.

26. The service control point of claim 25 wherein the service interaction manager further executes, in accordance with the execution sequence, at least one service from the applicable set of services.

27. The service control point of claim 26 wherein the service interaction manager further sends an instruction message, following the execution of the execution sequence, to a service switching point associated with the service control point in the telecommunications network.