Methods and systems for routing messages associated with ported subscribers in a mobile communications network

• US 6,662,017 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2001
• Issued: 12/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tekelec Global, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: West, Robert Fulton Jr., Marsico, Peter Joseph, Rao, Raghavendra Gopala, McCann, Thomas Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOBUTKA, PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US09/759,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20010029182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 455/445, 455/432, 455/433, 455/412, 455/414, 455/417, 455/461
• US Class Current: 455/461
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/28 Number portability ; Network address portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A porting control routing (PCR) node (302) is adapted to efficiently route signaling messages associated with a mobile subscriber that has been either ported in to or out of a service provider'"'"'s wireless communication network. The PCR node (302) includes both range- and exception based routing rule databases (348 and 346). These databases increase flexibility in allocating mobile identification numbers among multiple mobile service nodes. Furthermore, the association of a ported status indicator and related routing information with entries in the exception based database allows the PCR node (302) to more efficiently manage a service provider'"'"'s mobile service resources.

Claims

1. A method for processing messages in a mobile communications network, the method comprising:

at a signaling message routing node capable of routing signaling messages between nodes in a mobile communications network;

(a) receiving a message relating to a communication in a mobile communications network, the message including a called party identifier formerly associated with a subscriber record in a first HLR in a first service provider'"'"'s network;

(b) analyzing information in the message to determine whether mobile number portability processing is required for the message;

(c) in response to determining that mobile number portability processing is required for the message, performing a lookup in a first database located in the signaling message routing node based on the called party identifier to determine whether the called party has been ported into a second service provider'"'"'s network including a second HLR; and

(d) in response to determining that the called party has been ported into the second network, relaying the message to the second HLR, wherein performing steps (a)-(d) at a signaling message routing node includes performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a message includes receiving a signaling system 7 (SS7) signaling message.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving an SS7 signaling message includes receiving an Internet protocol-encapsulated SS7 signaling message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a message includes receiving a send routing information (SRI) signaling message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a message includes receiving a session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling message.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identifier includes a mobile subscriber ISDN (MSISDN) number.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identifier includes a telephone number associated with a wireline network subscriber.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identifier includes an electronic mail (email) address.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identifier includes an Internet protocol (IP) address.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing information in the message to determine whether number portability processing is required includes examining a translation type (TT) parameter.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing information in the message to determine whether mobile number portability processing is required includes examining a global title indicator (GTI) parameter.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing information in the message to determine whether mobile number portability processing is required includes examining a numbering plan (NP) parameter.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing information in the message to determine whether mobile number portability processing is required includes examining a nature of address indicator (NAI) parameter.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein performing a lookup in the first database includes performing a lookup in the database based on a mobile service entity type in the message.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the mobile service entity type indicates a home location register.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein performing a lookup in a first database includes performing a lookup in an exceptions-based routing database having entries that are exceptions to ranges of called party identifiers.

17. The method of claim 16 comprising in response to failing to locate an entry corresponding to the called party identifier in the first database, performing a second lookup in a second database based on the called party identifier, wherein performing a lookup in the second database includes performing a lookup in a range-based routing database having entries corresponding to the ranges of called party identifiers.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point includes performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point including SS7/IP gateway functionality.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identifier in the message is a number within a block of called party identifiers assigned to the first HLR and outside of a block of called party identifiers assigned to the second HLR.

19. A signal transfer point for routing messages between nodes in mobile communications network, the signal transfer point comprising:

(a) a communication module in the signal transfer point for receiving a message relating to a call in a mobile communications network, the message including a called party identifier formerly associated with a subscriber record in a first HLR in a first service provider'"'"'s network;

(b) a first database located in the signal transfer point containing entries corresponding to called party identifiers, the entries each including information as to whether mobile number portability processing is required for call signaling messages and information as to whether the called party is a ported in subscriber; and

(c) a database controller in the signal transfer point for determining, based on the information in the first database, whether mobile number portability processing is required for the message and whether the called party is a ported in subscriber, and, in response to determining that mobile number portability processing is required for the first message and that the called party is a ported in subscriber, relaying the message to a second HLR in a second service provider'"'"'s network into which the subscriber has been ported, wherein the communication module includes a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP)—

capable data communication module (DCM) for sending and receiving SS7 messages over an IP network.

20. The signal transfer point of claim 19 wherein the first database comprises an exception-based database and each entry in the exception-based database is an exception to a set of default routing rules.

21. The signal transfer point of claim 20 comprising a range-based database containing entries corresponding to ranges of called party identifiers wherein each entry in the exception-based database contains a called party identifier or range of called party identifiers that do not fall within any of the called party identifier ranges in the range-based database.

22. The routing node of claim 19 wherein the database controller determines whether number portability processing is required by examining at least one of a translation type (TT), global title indicator (GTI), numbering plan (NP), and nature of address (NAI) parameters in the first message.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the called party identifier in the message is a number within a block of called party identifiers assigned to the first HLR and outside of a block of called party identifiers assigned to the second HLR.

25. The signal transfer point of claim 19 wherein the message is a send routing information (SRI) message.

26. The signal transfer point of claim 19 wherein the message is a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.

27. The signal transfer point of claim 19 wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) message.

24. A routing node for processing messages in mobile communications network, the routing node comprising:

(a) a communication module for receiving a first message destined for a mobile services node and relating to a call in a mobile communications network, the first message including a called party identifier;

(b) a first database containing entries corresponding to called party identifiers, the entries each including information as to whether number portability processing is required for call signaling messages and information as to whether a reply is required for the call signaling messages; and

(c) a database controller for determining, based on the information in the first database, whether number portability processing is required for the first message, and, in response to determining that number portability processing is required for the first message, determining whether a reply is required for the first message, and in response to determining that a reply is required for the first message, formulating the reply, wherein first database comprises an exception-based database and each entry in the exception-based database is an exception to a set of default routing rules, and wherein the routing node further comprises a range-based database containing entries corresponding to ranges of called party identifiers, wherein each entry in the exception-based database contains a called party identifier or range of called party identifiers that do not fall within any of the called party identifier ranges in the range-based database, and wherein the database controller searches the exception-based database, and, in response to failing to locate an entry in the exception-based database, searches the range-based database.

28. A method for routing short message service messages directed to ported mobile subscribers, the method comprising:

at a signaling message routing node capable of routing signaling messages between nodes in a mobile communications network;

(a) receiving, from a mobile switching center, a short message service message including a receiving party identifier associated with a receiving party who has been ported out of a first service provider'"'"'s network;

(b) determining whether mobile number portability processing is required for the short message service message;

(c) in response to determining that mobile number portability processing is required for the short message service message, performing a lookup in a mobile number portability database located in the signaling message routing node to determine routing information for the short message service message; and

(d) relaying the short message service message to a second mobile switching center in a second service provider'"'"'s network to which the receiving party has been ported based on the routing information, wherein performing steps (a)-(d) at a signaling message routing node includes performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point includes performing steps (a)-(d) at a signal transfer point including SS7/IP gateway functionality.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein the receiving party identifier is within a block of receiving party identifiers assigned to the first service provider'"'"'s network and outside a block of receiving party identifiers assigned the second service provider'"'"'s network.

32. A signal transfer point for intercepting signaling messages intended for an HLR and for responding on behalf of the HLR, the signal transfer point comprising:

(a) a mobile number portability database containing entries for ported out subscribers, the entries being indexed by MSISDN numbers, the MSISDN numbers being within a range of MSISDN numbers assigned to an HLR in a first service provider'"'"'s network from which the subscribers have been ported and outside of a range of MSISDN numbers assigned to an HLR in a second service provider'"'"'s network into which the subscribers have been ported; and

(b) a mobile number portability database manager for intercepting messages containing called party MSISDN numbers falling in the range of MSISDN numbers assigned to the HLR in the first service provider'"'"'s network and for responding on behalf of the HLR in the first service provider'"'"'s network using information stored in the mobile number portability database.

33. A signal transfer point for relaying messages directed to ported in subscribers to an HLR in a network to which the subscribers have been ported, the signal transfer point comprising:

(a) a mobile number portability database for storing entries indexed by individual subscriber MSISDN numbers for ported in subscribers, the MSISDN numbers being outside of a range of MSISDN numbers assigned to an HLR in a first service provider'"'"'s network to which the subscribers have been ported and within a range of MSISDN numbers assigned to an HLR in a second service provider'"'"'s network from which the subscribers have been ported;

(b) a mobile number portability database module for receiving messages relating to subscribers that have been ported from one service provider'"'"'s network to another service provider'"'"'s network and that are global-title-addressed to the individual subscriber MSISDN numbers and for relaying the messages to the HLR in the first service provider'"'"'s network to which the subscribers have been ported.