Telephone switching system and method

• US 6,560,464 B1
• Filed: 11/15/1999
• Issued: 05/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Schneider, Bernd, Egger, Franz, Rau, Helmut, Klotz, Udo
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thanh Cong
• Assistant Examiner(s): D AGOSTA, STEPHEN M
• Application Number:
  US09/441,160
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 379/92.03, 379/121.01, 379/156, 379/157-166, 379/219, 379/220-1-2, 455/456, 455/414-417, 455/507, 455/554, 455/555, 455/560, 455/3.01, 455/41
• US Class Current: 455/554.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/16 WPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]

Abstract

A telephone switching system and method for switching CENTREX (CTX) calls between CTX subscribers, is provided in which the CTX subscribers comprise mobile subscribers and wired subscribers. A message interface for the transmission of CTX-specific information is established between the mobile switching center allocated to the mobile subscribers and the fixed network switching center allocated to the wired CTX subscribers, and the control of the mobile switching center is supplemented by a control part for the CTX-specific mobile call processing.

Claims

1. A telephone switching system, comprising:

a CTX group, having wired CTX subscribers and mobile CTX subscribers, and within which CTX connections can be setup;

a database for storing CTX-specific data of said wired and mobile CTX subscribers;

a fixed network switching center to which said wired CTX subscribers are allocated, said fixed network switching center comprising a controller for controlling a setup of a CTX connection via said fixed network switching center between a wired CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber on the basis of CTX-specific data stored in said database;

a mobile switching center to which said mobile CTX subscribers are allocated, said mobile switching center comprising a mobile controller for controlling a setup of a CTX connection between a mobile CTX subscriber and said another CTX subscriber; and

a data interface for the transmission of CTX-specific data between said fixed network switching center and said mobile switching center for setup of a CTX connection, said data interface comprised by elements of said fixed network switching center and said mobile switching center.

2. A telephone switching system according to claim 1, wherein:

said fixed network switching center comprises a database in which said CTX-specific data of said wired and said mobile CTX subscribers are stored;

said controller located in said mobile switching center requests said CTX-specific data from said fixed network switching center via said data interfaces for said setup of a CTX connection between said mobile CTX subscriber and said other CTX subscriber; and

said controller located in said fixed network switching center reads said requested CTX-specific data from said database and transmits said data to said mobile switching center via said data interfaces in order to have said controller located in said mobile switching center set up said CTX connection together with said controller located in said fixed network switching center based on said transmitted CTX-specific data.

3. A telephone switching system according to claim 2, wherein:

said controller located in said mobile switching center requests CTX-specific data accompanying a location registration of said mobile CTX subscriber from said fixed network switching center via said data interfaces for setting up said CTX connection between said mobile CTX subscriber and said another CTX subscriber.

4. A telephone switching system according to claim 2, wherein:

said mobile switching center comprises a temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database for said transmitted said data within a visitor location register of said mobile switching center; and

said CTX-specific mobile controller accesses said CTX-specific data stored in said temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database for setting up said CTX-connection.

5. A telephone switching system according to claim 1, wherein:

said database further comprises a CTX-specific database in said fixed network switching center, and a permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber data base in said mobile switching center;

said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database store CTX-specific data of said mobile CTX subscribers; and

said controller located in said mobile switching center accesses said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database for setting up said CTX connection between said mobile CTX subscriber and said other CTX subscriber.

6. A telephone switching system according to claim 5, wherein:

said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database comprises information about said CTX groups of mobile CTX subscribers.

7. A telephone switching system according to claim 5, wherein:

said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database comprises information about said fixed network switching center responsible for each said mobile CTX subscriber.

8. A telephone switching system according to claim 5, wherein:

said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database is created in a home location register of said mobile switching center.

9. A telephone switching system according to claim 5, wherein:

said mobile switching center comprises a temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database for storing CTX-specific data read from said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database; and

said controller located in said mobile switching center accesses said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database and communicates with an appertaining said fixed network switching center via said data interface on the basis of this data.

10. A telephone switching system according to claim 9, wherein:

said temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database are created in a visitor location register of the mobile switching center.

11. A telephone switching system according to claim 1, wherein said database further comprises CTX-specific subscriber information of said individual wired CTX subscribers and said mobile CTX subscribers.

12. A telephone switching system according to claim 1, wherein said database further comprises CTX-specific group information of said CTX group.

13. A method for setting up CTX connections between defined CTX subscribers in a telephone switching system, comprising the steps of:

allocating wired CTX subscribers to a fixed network switching center, said fixed network switching center comprising a controller for controlling the setup of a CTX connection via said fixed network switching center between a wired CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber on the basis of CTX-specific data stored in a database;

allocating mobile CTX subscribers to a mobile switching center, said mobile switching center comprising a controller for controlling the setup of a CTX connection between a mobile CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber;

storing CTX-specific data of said mobile CTX subscribers and of said wired CTX subscribers in a CTX-specific database of said fixed network switching center;

requesting said CTX-specific data by said CTX-specific mobile controller of said mobile switching center from said fixed network switching center via a data interface comprised by elements of said fixed network switching center and said mobile switching center;

responding to said request of said CTX-specific mobile controller, by said controller located in said fixed network switching center;

reading said requested CTX-specific data from said CTX-specific database;

transmitting said requested CTX-specific data to said mobile switching center via said data interface; and

utilizing said transmitted CTX-specific data by said controller located in said mobile switching center together with said controller located in said fixed network switching center for setting up said CTX connections.

14. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 13, further comprising the step of:

requesting CTX-specific data accompanying a location registration of said mobile CTX subscriber from said fixed network switching center via said data interfaces, by said controller located in said mobile switching center.

15. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

storing said transmitted requested CTX-specific data in a temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database of said mobile switching center; and

accessing said stored data in said temporary mobile subscriber database by said controller located in said mobile switching center for setting up said CTX connections.

16. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

creating said temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database in a visitor location register of said mobile switching center.

17. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

storing CTX-specific data for said mobile CTX subscribers in a permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database of said mobile switching center;

accessing said stored CTX-specific data in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database by said controller located in said mobile switching center for setting up a CTX connection between said mobile CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber; and

communicating with an appertaining fixed network switching center via said data interface based on said accessed CTX-specific data.

18. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 17, wherein said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database further comprises information about said CTX groups of said mobile CTX subscribers.

19. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 17, wherein said CTX-specific data stored in said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database further comprises information about said fixed network switching center responsible for each said mobile subscriber.

20. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

creating said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database in a home location register of said mobile switching center.

21. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

storing data read from said permanent CTX-specific mobile subscriber database in a temporary CTX-specific mobile subscriber database by said mobile switching center;

accessing said stored data in said temporary CTX-specific database by said CTX-specific mobile controller; and

utilizing said accessed data for setting up a CTX connection between said mobile CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber.

22. The method for setting up CTX connections of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

creating said temporary CTX-specific database in a visitor location register of said mobile switching center.

23. A telephone switching system, comprising:

a CTX group, having wired CTX subscribers and mobile CTX subscribers, and within which CTX connections can be setup;

a fixed network switching center to which said wired CTX subscribers are allocated, said fixed network switching center comprising a database for storing CTX-specific data of said wired and mobile CTX subscribers, and further comprising a controller for controlling a setup of a CTX connection via said fixed network switching center between a wired CTX subscriber and another CTX subscriber on the basis of CTX-specific data stored in said database; and

a mobile switching center to which said mobile CTX subscribers are allocated, said mobile switching center comprising a mobile controller for controlling a setup of a CTX connection between a mobile CTX subscriber and said another CTX subscriber by requesting said CTX-specific data from said fixed network switching center and storing said data in a visitor location register of said mobile switching center.