Signaling aggregator and method for use in a signaling network

• US 6,782,276 B1
• Filed: 11/22/2000
• Issued: 08/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Lam, Man Tat, Bou-Diab, Bashar S., Jackson, Matthew C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Sinh
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUY D
• Application Number:
  US09/718,277
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 455/560, 455/445, 455/426.1, 455/561, 455/453, 455/433
• US Class Current: 455/560
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/12 Marking faulty circuits "busy"; Enabling equipment to disengage itself from faulty circuits ; Using redundant circuits; Response of a circuit, apparatus or system to an error
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/06 using auxiliary connections for control or supervision , e.g. where the auxiliary connection is a signalling system number 7 link
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling

Abstract

A signaling aggregator and method for signal aggregation alleviate port exhaustion at network nodes such as mobile switching centers (MSCs), home location registers (HLRs), and other signaling network nodes. The signaling aggregator is inserted between any signaling node requiring a plurality of signaling links, to relieve signaling port exhaustion. The signaling aggregator is connected to the signaling node by a high-speed linkset and transparently transfers signaling messages between the signaling node and other signaling nodes connected to the signaling aggregator. The signaling aggregator masquerades as the signaling node to the other signaling nodes, utilizing the point code of the signaling node in the originating point code (OPC) field of signaling messages sent to the other signaling nodes. The signal aggregator may also provide protocol conversion between two or more signaling protocols. Mated signaling aggregators are used to provide redundancy.

Claims

1. A signaling aggregator for use in a out-of-band signaling network to relieve port exhaustion at a first node that requires a connection to a plurality of signaling links connected to other nodes in the network, the signaling aggregator comprising:

a) a plurality of signaling ports for terminating at least some of the plurality of signaling links connected to the other nodes in the network, and at least one signaling port for terminating at least one signaling link connected to the first node; and

b) an aggregator proxy for transparently transferring selected signaling messages between the first node and the other nodes, the aggregator proxy masquerading as the first node to the other nodes.

2. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signaling network is a common channel signaling network.

3. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 2, wherein the common channel signaling network operates under a Signaling System #7 (SS7) protocol.

4. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the first node and the other nodes has a point code used to address signaling messages to the respective nodes, and the signaling aggregator masquerades as the first node using the point code of the first node in an origination point code field (OPC) of signaling messages forwarded to the other nodes.

5. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 4, wherein the signaling aggregator is assigned a second point code used for exchanging signaling messages with the first node.

6. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signaling aggregator is further adapted to perform protocol conversion, to convert the selected signaling messages transferred from a first signaling protocol used by the first node to a second signaling protocol used by the other nodes.

7. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first node is a mobile switching center (MSC) in a switched telephone network.

8. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the other nodes are base station controllers (BSCs) in switched telephone network.

9. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first node is one of a home location register (HLR) and a visitor location register (VLR) in a switched telephone network.

10. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 9, wherein the one of the HLR and the VLR are Internet Protocol (IP) devices.

11. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first node is a signal transfer point (STP) in a switched telephone network.

12. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first node is a service switching point (SSP) in a switched telephone network.

13. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first node is a service control point (SCP) in a switched telephone network.

14. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one high-capacity signaling linkset has sufficient capacity to achieve at least a 2:

1 compression of the signals transferred from the signaling aggregator to the first node.

15. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signaling aggregator supports a plurality of high-capacity links.

16. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 15, wherein the plurality of high capacity links are connected to a plurality of first nodes.

17. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 16, wherein the first nodes perform different functions.

18. The signaling aggregator as claimed in claim 17, wherein at least one of the first nodes operates under a different protocol than others of the first nodes.

19. The signaling protocol as claimed in claim 18, wherein the signaling aggregator is adapted to provide protocol conversion for at least one of the first signaling nodes that operates under a different protocol.

20. The method as claimed in claim 15, of provisioning the signaling aggregator with a port that supports a high-capacity linkset that operates under a different protocol than a signaling protocol of a signaling network.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, further comprising a step of connecting a node to the port using the high-capacity linkset.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising a step of performing protocol conversion on the messages transparently transferred through the signaling aggregator.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the protocol conversion comprises a step of converting Signaling System #7 (SS7) messages to Internet Protocol (IP) messages, and vice versa.

24. A method of reducing signaling port exhaustion at a first signaling node in an out-of-band signaling network, the first signaling node requiring a plurality of signaling links respectively connected to a plurality of second signaling nodes in the network, comprising steps of:

a) connecting at least a portion of the plurality of signaling links to a signaling aggregator adapted to masquerade as the first signaling node to the plurality of second signaling nodes;

b) interconnecting the first signaling node and the signaling aggregator using at least one signaling linkset; and

c) transparently transferring selected signaling messages through the signaling aggregator.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the step of transparently transferring selected messages is performed by an aggregator proxy that transparently transfers all payload signaling messages between the first signaling node and the plurality of second signaling nodes.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the aggregator proxy does not transfer selected link state maintenance messages between the first signaling node and the plurality of second signaling nodes.

27. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the step of masquerading comprises sending signaling messages from the signaling aggregator using an originating point code (OPC) of the first signaling node, and accepting signaling messages at the signaling aggregator having a destination point code of the first signaling node.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, further comprising a step of sending link state maintenance messages from the signaling aggregator to the first signaling node using an originating point code (OPC) associated with the signaling aggregator, but known only to the first signaling node.

29. The method as claimed in claim 27, further comprising a step of sending link state maintenance messages from the signaling aggregator to the plurality of second signaling nodes using an originating point code (OPC) of the first signaling node to masquerade as the first signaling node.