Communication method for terminals connected to IP networks to receive services provided by intelligent networks

• US 6,829,232 B1
• Filed: 01/28/2000
• Issued: 12/07/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takeda, Yukiko, Tanabe, Shiro, Shimizu, Satoshi, Yoshimoto, Tetsuro
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzlo, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Alan V.
• Application Number:
  US09/493,796
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/401, 370/410, 370/395.52, 370/465, 370/466, 370/467, 370/475, 709/218, 709/249
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/6472 Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/6475 N-ISDN, Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13097 Numbering, addressing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13106 Microprocessor, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13176 Common channel signaling, CCS7
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13196 Connection circuit/link/trunk/junction, bridge, router, gateway
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13242 Broadcast, diffusion, multicast, point-to-multipoint (1 : N)
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13299 Bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13332 Broadband, CATV, dynamic bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13399 Virtual channel/circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

A server 3b for controlling a gateway 2 connecting a transport layer and an IP network has the function of accessing a service control point (SCP) 4 via a service control gateway 1a. A server 3 for controlling terminals on the IP network stores information of correspondence between telephone number of a terminal and the IP address. When a signal including number information which requires an access to the SCP is received from a terminal 11 managed by the server 3a, an interrogation request is multicasted to the other servers each having the function of accessing the SCP. A server which has sent a response signal accesses the SCP via the service control gateway to provide an IN service process.

Claims

1. A communication method, at an IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server of a network including:

a plurality of telephone networks each having a plurality of switching systems to which telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals are connected;

an internet protocol (IP) network;

a plurality of gateways connected to the plurality of telephone networks and the IP network, for IP encapsulating voice and for translating IP encapsulated voice to voice;

a plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals connected to the IP network;

a plurality of gateway management servers connected to the IP network, for managing the plurality of gateways; and

the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server connected to the IP network, for managing the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals,

the method comprising the steps of;

receiving an admission request from one of said IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals, the admission request including a destination number corresponding to any of the plurality of telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals from any of the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals;

judging the kind of the destination number indicated in the admission request;

retrieving an address of one of said gateways and said gateway management servers by referring to a table according to the destination number, said table indicating an address of one of the plurality of gateways to be communicated in order to originate a call from the IP network subscriber terminal to the destination number if the destination number is of a first kind, and indicating a multicast address for communicating a group of gateway management servers determined depending on the destination number in order to interrogate an address of a gateway to be communicated later if the destination number is of a second kind;

said table being stored in the subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server, and comprising a plurality of entries each indicating a destination terminal number, class of the destination terminal number and an IP address of one of the gateways or a multicast address determined in accordance with the class,

notifying the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of a gateway corresponding to the destination number when the destination number received is of the first kind;

multicasting an interrogation request to a group of gateway management servers according to the multicast address corresponding to the destination number when the destination number received is of the second kind; and

notifying the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of one of the gateway management servers when a response to the interrogation request is received from the gateway management server.

2. A communication control method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

holding the address of the gateway management server which has transmitted the response into a storage; and

notifying one of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals of the address of the gateway management server held in the storage when an admission request including the destination number of the second kind is received from the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal.

3. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server for a communication network including at least:

a first telephone network comprised of a first transport layer and a first intelligent layer,

the first transport layer being comprised of a plurality of switching systems to each of which first telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals are connected, the first intelligent layer having a first service control point for controlling services to be provided to the first telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals and being connected to the first transport layer via a first signalling network;

a second telephone network comprised of a second transport layer and a second intelligent layer, the second transport layer being comprised of a plurality of switching systems to each of which second telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals are connected, the second intelligent layer having a second service control point for controlling services to be provided to the second telephone network subscriber terminals and being connected to the second transport layer via a second signalling network;

an internet protocol (IP) network;

a first gateway connected between the first telephone network and the IP network, for IP encapsulating voice and translating IP encapsulated voice into voice;

a second gateway connected between the second telephone network and the IP network, for IP encapsulating voice and translating IP encapsulated voice into voice;

a plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals connected to the IP network;

a first gateway management server connected to the IP network for managing the first gateway;

a second gateway management server which is connected to the IP network for managing the second gateway;

a first service control gateway connected to the first intelligent network and the first gateway management server, capable of performing protocol conversion between a protocol used in the first signalling network and the IP and requesting the first service control point to provide services according to a request from the first gateway management server; and

a second service control gateway connected to the second intelligent network and the second gateway management server, capable of performing protocol conversion between a protocol used in the second signalling network and the IP and requesting the second service control point to provide services according to a request from the second gateway management server,

the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server being connected to the IP network for managing the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals and comprising a controller, a memory and a communication interface connected to the IP network,

wherein the memory includes a table in which;

the address of either the first gateway management server or the second gateway management server is designated in association with destination number patterns of a first kind which do not require an access to the first or second service control point; and

a multicast address for communicating with the first and second gateway management servers is designated in association with destination number patterns of a second kind which require an access to the first or second service control point in order to receive services provided by the first or second service control point, and

the controller responds to an admission request from any of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal by judging the kind of a destination number designated in the admission request according to the table and by selectively communicating with the first and second gateway management servers depending on the kind of the destination number, thereby to specify one of the first and second gateway management servers as a server to be accessed by the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal to request a call setup, wherein said multicast address is registered in the table in with a class of the destination terminal number.

4. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server according to claim 3, wherein the controller comprises:

first means for referring to the table in the memory when the communication interface receives an admission request including a destination number corresponding to one of the first and second telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminal from any of the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals, to judges the kind of the destination number;

second means for notifying the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of either the first or second gateway management server whose destination number pattern defined in the table corresponds to the destination number in the admission request when the received destination number is of the first kind,

third means for multicasting an interrogation request to the first and second gateway management servers when the destination number is of the second kind, and notifying, when a response signal to the interrogation request is received from either the first or second gateway management server, the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of the gateway management server which has sent the response signal.

5. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server according to claim 4, wherein:

the controller further comprises fourth means for storing the address of the gateway management server, which has transmitted the response signal, into a cache area of a table entry in association with the destination address pattern in the table, and said first means notifies one of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals of the address of the gateway management server held in the cache area when an admission request regarding the destination number of the second kind is received thereafter from the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal.

6. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server for a communication network including:

a plurality of telephone networks each having a plurality of switching systems to which telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals are connected;

an internet protocol (IP) network;

a plurality of gateways connected to the plurality of telephone networks and the IP network, for IP encapsulating voice and for translating IP encapsulated voice to voice;

a plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals connected to the IP network; and

a plurality of gateway management servers connected to the IP network, for managing the plurality of gateways;

the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server being connected to the IP network for managing the plurality of IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals and comprising a controller, a memory and a communication interface connected to the IP network,

wherein the memory includes a table for indicating an address of one of the plurality of gateways to be connected with one of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals when the terminal originates a call to one of the telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals having a destination number corresponding to a first kind of destination number patterns, and a multicast address for communicating a group of gateway management servers in order to interrogate an address of a gateway to be connected with one of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals when the terminal originates a call to one of the telephone network subscriber'"'"'s terminals having a destination number corresponding to a second kind of destination number patterns, and

the controller responds to an admission request from any of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal by judging the kind of a destination number designated in the admission request according to the table and by selectively communicating with

the group of gateway management servers depending on the kind of the destination number, thereby to specify one of the gateway or one of the gateway management servers as a server to be accessed by the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal to request a call setup, wherein

said multicast address is registered in the table in association with a class of the destination terminal number so that different group of gateway management servers can be interrogated depending on the class.

7. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server according to claim 6, wherein the controller comprises:

first means for referring to the table in the memory when the communication interface receives an admission request including a destination number to judge the kind of the destination number

second means for notifying the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of a gateway whose destination number pattern defined in the table corresponds to the destination number in the admission request when the destination number has the first kind of destination number pattern,

third means for multicasting an interrogation request to the plurality of gateway management servers when the destination number has the second kind of destination number pattern, and notifying, when a response signal to the interrogation request is received from any of the plurality of gateway management servers, the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal of the address of the gateway management server which has sent the response signal.

8. An IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals management server according to claim 7, wherein

the controller further comprises fourth means for holding the address of the gateway management server, which has transmitted the response signal, into a cache area of a table entry corresponding to destination number pattern in the table, and

said first means notifies one of the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminals of the address of the gateway management server held in the cache area when an admission request regarding the destination number of the second kind is received thereafter from the IP network subscriber'"'"'s terminal.