Methods and systems for routing calling name service query messages in a communication network

• US 6,954,526 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2000
• Issued: 10/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tekelec Global, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Glenn, Dean Douglas, Marsico, Peter Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US09/534,281
• Time in Patent Office: 2,027 Days
• Field of Search: 379/219, 379/220.01, 379/221.08, 379/221.09, 379/221.1, 379/221.13, 379/207.15, 379/207.02
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A network element for routing a calling name (CNAM) query message through a communications network includes a communication module capable of receiving a CNAM query message from and transmitting the CNAM query message to a communications network. A CNAM query routing information database stores CNAM query routing information for at least one CNAM database. A CNAM query routing address translation process performs a lookup in the CNAM query routing information database based on information contained in the query message and determines whether to route the query message to a national CNAM database based on results from the database lookup.

Claims

1. A network element for routing a calling name (CNAM) query message through a communications network, wherein the communications network includes a national CNAM database, the network element comprising:

(a) a communication module capable of receiving a CNAM query message from and transmitting the CNAM query message to a communications network;

(b) a CNAM query routing information database for storing CNAM query routing information for at least one CNAM database; and

(c) a CNAM query routing address translation process for performing a lookup in the CNAM query routing information database based on information contained in the CNAM query message and determining whether to route the query message to a national CNAM database based on results from the database lookup.

2. The network element of claim 1 wherein the CNAM query message is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message.

3. The network element of claim 2 wherein the Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message is a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) message.

4. The network element of claim 1 wherein the communications network is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) network.

5. The network element of claim 1 wherein the communications network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

6. The network element of claim 1 wherein the communication module is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) Link Interface Module (LIM).

7. The network element of claim 1 wherein the communication module is an Internet Protocol (IP) capable Database Communication Module (DCM).

8. The network element of claim 1 wherein the CNAM query message is addressed to a destination point code (DPC) equal to a point code (PC) associated with the network element.

9. The network element of claim 1 wherein the CNAM query routing information includes telephone number information associated with one or more telephone service customers.

10. The network element of claim 1 wherein the CNAM query routing information includes network address information associated with the location of a CNAM database.

11. The network element of claim 1 wherein the information contained within the CNAM query message that is used in the CNAM query routing database lookup is a telephone number associated with a calling party (CgPA).

12. The network element of claim 1 wherein information returned by the CNAM query routing database lookup includes a network address associated with a CNAM database.

13. The network element of claim 12 wherein the CNAM database is a national CNAM database.

14. The network element of claim 12 wherein the CNAM database is a local CNAM database.

15. The network element of claim 12 wherein the network address is an Internet Protocol address.

16. The network element of claim 14 wherein the local CNAM database is owned by a carrier that owns the network element.

17. The network element of claim 14 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by a carrier that owns the network element.

18. The network element of claim 14 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information for customers associated with a specific geographic sub-region of a state, province, or country.

19. The network element of claim 13 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by a carrier that owns the network element as well as calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by other carriers.

20. The network element of claim 13 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers within a specific country.

21. The network element of claim 13 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers in the United States.

22. The network element of claim 1 wherein the CNAM query routing address translation process is adapted to modify content of the CNAM query message including replacing original contents of Destination Point Code (DPC) and Subsystem (SSN) fields in the CNAM query message with the values returned by the CNAM query routing information database lookup.

23. A method for routing a Calling Name (CNAM) query message in a communications network that includes a national CNAM database, the method comprising:

(a) at a node operated by a first carrier, receiving, from a first communication network, a CNAM query message for requesting calling party name information;

(b) determining whether the requested calling party name information is contained within a local CNAM database associated with the first carrier;

(c) in response to determining that the requested calling party name Information is contained within a local CNAM database associated with the first carrier, routing the CNAM query message to the local CNAM database associated with the first carrier for further processing; and

(d) in response to determining that the requested calling party name information is not contained within a local CNAM database associated with the first carrier, routing the query message to a national CNAM database for further processing.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the CNAM query message is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message is a Transaction Capabilities Application Part message.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the CNAM query message is comprised of an Internet Protocol (IP) encapsulated Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the first communication network is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) network.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein the second communication network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

29. The method of claim 23 wherein the local CNAM database is owned by the first carrier.

30. The method of claim 23 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by the first carrier.

31. The method of claim 23 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information for customers associated with a specific geographic sub-region of a state, province, or country.

32. The method of claim 23 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by the first carrier as well as calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by carriers other than the first carrier.

33. The method of claim 23 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers within a specific country.

34. The method of claim 23 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers in the United States.

35. The method of claim 24 wherein determining whether the requested calling party name information is contained within a local CNAM database associated with the first carrier includes performing a CNAM query routing address translation database lookup operation using information contained within the CNAM query message.

36. A method of routing a Calling Name (CNAM) query message through a communications network that includes a national CNAM database node, the method comprising:

(a) at a first network element owned by a first carrier and having a first SS7 point code (PC), receiving a CNAM query message having a first SS7 destination point code (DPC) and being associated with a Calling Party (CgPA) from a first communications network;

(b) performing a primary search of an exception-based routing rules database using a CgPA identification number contained within the CNAM query message;

(c) in response to failing to locate an entry corresponding to the CgPA identification number in the exception-based routing rules database, performing a secondary search of a range-based routing rules database using the CgPA identification number contained in the CNAM query message;

(d) modifying the CNAM query to include routing address information extracted from the exception-based routing rules or the range-based routing rules database so as to route the CNAM query message to a national CNAM database node if the CgPA is not a customer of the first carrier; and

(e) transmitting the modified CNAM query message into a second communications network.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the CNAM query message is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message is a Transaction Capabilities Application Part message.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the CNAM query message comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) encapsulated Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling message.

39. The method of claim 36 wherein the first communications network is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) network.

40. The method of claim 36 wherein the second communications network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

41. The method of claim 36 wherein the second communications network includes a local CNAM database owned by the first carrier.

42. The method of claim 36 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by the first carrier.

43. The method of claim 36 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information for customers associated with a specific geographic sub-region of a state, province, or country.

44. The method of claim 36 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by the first carrier as well as calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by carriers other than the first carrier.

45. The method of claim 36 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers within a specific country.

46. The method of claim 36 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers in the United States.

47. The method of claim 36 wherein the exceptions-based routing rules database includes records for customers that have been ported into or ported out of a network owned by the first carrier.

48. The method of claim 36 wherein the first SS7 destination point code is equal to the first SS7 point code.

49. The method of claim 36 wherein the routing address information incorporated within the CNAM query message includes an IP network address.

50. The method of claim 36 wherein the routing address information incorporated within the CNAM query message includes an SS7 network address.

51. A network element for processing and routing calling name (CNAM) service related messages through a communications network that includes a national CNAM database, the network element comprising:

(a) a communication module capable of transmitting to and receiving from a communications network query and response messages associated with CNAM service; and

(b) a CNAM query routing address translation process for;

(i) determining whether a CNAM query message can be processed by a local CNAM database or a national CNAM database,

(ii) in response to determining that local CNAM database processing is required, routing the query message to a local CNAM database, and

(iii) in response to determining that national CNAM database processing is required, routing the query message to a national CNAM database.

52. The network element of claim 51 wherein the CNAM query and response messages are Signaling System 7 (SS7) Transaction Capabilities Application Part messages.

53. The network element of claim 51 wherein the communications network is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) network.

54. The network element of claim 51 wherein the communications network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

55. The network element of claim 51 wherein the CNAM query and response messages are IP encapsulated Signaling System 7 (SS7) Transaction Capabilities Application Part messages.

56. The network element of claim 51 wherein the communication module is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) Link Interface Module (LIM).

57. The network element of claim 51 wherein the communication module is an Internet Protocol (IP) Database Communication Module (DCM).

58. The network element of claim 51 wherein the local CNAM database is owned by a carrier that owns the network element.

59. The network element of claim 51 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by a carrier that owns the network element.

60. The network element of claim 51 wherein the local CNAM database contains calling name-type information for customers associated with a specific geographic sub-region of a state, province, or country.

61. The network element of claim 51 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by a carrier that owns the network element as well as calling name-type information associated with customers serviced by carriers other than the carrier that owns the network element.

62. The network element of claim 51 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers within a specific country.

63. The network element of claim 51 wherein the national CNAM database contains calling name-type information associated with substantially all communication network customers in the United States.

64. The network element of claim 51 wherein determining whether to route the CNAM query message to a local CNAM database or the national CNAM database includes using information associated with the calling party (CgPA) that is contained within the CNAM query message.

65. The network element of claim 64 wherein the information associated with the called party is a number contained in a Calling Party Address (CgPA:

ADD) field of the CNAM query message.

66. The network element of claim 64 wherein the CNAM query routing address translation process is adapted to route the CNAM query message to a local CNAM database if the CgPA is associated with a customer of the carrier that owns the network element.

67. The network element of claim 64 wherein the CNAM query routing address translation process is adapted to route CNAM query message to the national CNAM database if the CgPA is not associated with a customer of the carrier that owns the network element.

68. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a national CNAM database, the national CNAM database comprising:

(a) a plurality of first data fields containing directory numbers of subscribers of a plurality of telephone service providers in a given country; and

(b) a plurality of second data fields respectively corresponding to the first data fields containing calling name information for each of the subscribers.

69. The computer readable medium of claim 68 wherein the plurality of first data fields contain directory numbers for subscribers of substantially all of the telephone network service providers in the country.

70. The computer readable medium of claim 69 wherein the calling name information contained in each of the plurality of second data fields includes a name for a calling party.

71. The computer readable medium of claim 69 wherein the calling name information contained in each of the plurality of second data fields includes a city for a calling party.

72. The computer readable medium of claim 69 wherein the calling name information contained in each of the plurality of second data fields includes a state for a calling party.

73. The computer readable medium of claim 69 wherein the calling name information contained in each of the plurality of second data fields includes a province for a calling party.

74. A national calling name database embodied in a computer-readable medium and containing calling name information for a plurality of telephone network subscribers, the national calling name database comprising:

(a) a subscriber table containing name information accessible using at least a first portion of a directory number;

(b) a city table containing city information accessible using at least a second portion of the calling party directory number different from the first portion;

(c) a state table containing state information accessible using at least a third portion of the calling party directory number different from the first and second portions; and

(d) a search engine operatively associated with the subscriber, city, and state tables for responding to queries for calling name information and extracting information from the tables based on the queries.

75. The national calling name database of claim 74 wherein the search engine is adapted to search the subscriber table using the first portion of the calling party directory number, and, in response to failing to locate an entry in the subscriber table, searching the city table using the second portion of the calling party directory number.

76. The national calling name database of claim 75 wherein the search engine is adapted to search the state table using the third portion of the calling party number in response to failing to locate an entry in the city table.

77. The national calling name database of claim 74 wherein the first portion is the entire calling party directory number, the second portion is the first six digits of the calling party directory number, and the third portion is the first three digits of the calling party directory number.