TCAP event processing environment

• US 7,085,821 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2002
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas E., Moore, Victor S., Walters, Glen R., Jaiswal, Peeyush
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, David Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/172,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20030233486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/227, 709/230
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling

Abstract

A method of implementing a telephony service in a Transaction Capability Application Part (TCAP) processing system can include receiving a TCAP event from a signaling network and matching the received TCAP event to a TCAP markup language script implementation of a telephony service. The TCAP markup language script can be retrieved from a data store. The TCAP event can be processed in accordance with the TCAP markup language script to implement the telephony service.

Claims

1. A method of implementing a telephony service in a communication network using a Transaction Capability Application Part (TCAP) processing system, the method comprising:

receiving a TCAP event from said communication network;

matching said received TCAP event to a markup language script configured for causing the implementation of said telephony service, the markup language script defining a TCAP markup language script; and

processing said TCAP markup language script to cause said communication network to implement said telephony service,

wherein said receiving step further comprises identifying a called directory number from said received TCAP event; and

wherein said matching step comprises matching said directory number to a network location of said TCAP markup language script, said directory number registered for said TCAP markup language script implementation of said telephony service and retrieving said TCAP markup language script from a data store.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to said processing step, transmitting said called directory number and said network location of said TCAP markup language script to a transaction session manager.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining with the transaction session manager prior to the processing step the existence of an event context for said received TCAP event in a cache memory.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

if no event context for said received TCAP event exists in said cache, creating a new event context for said received TCAP event.

5. The method of claim 2, said retrieving comprising:

providing said network location to a TCAP markup language parser;

said parser retrieving said TCAP markup language script from said network location;

parsing said TCAP markup language script into an intermediate format; and

providing said parsed TCAP markup language script to said transaction session manager.

6. The method of claim 5, said processing step further comprising:

providing said parsed TCAP markup language script to a transaction service processor for executing said TCAP markup language script.

7. A system for implementing a telephony service in a communication network comprising:

a transaction service processor having a plurality of addresses of markup language script implementations of telephony services, defining TCAP markup language scripts, associated with a plurality of directory numbers, wherein said transaction service processor is configured to execute parsed TCAP markup language scripts to cause said telephony services to be implemented in the communication network;

a TCAP markup language parser configured to retrieve said TCAP markup language script implementations of telephony services from said addresses and parse said TCAP markup language scripts; and

at least one transaction session manager configured to coordinate the operation of said TCAP markup language parser and said transaction service processor by conveying information between said TCAP markup language parser and said transaction service processor based on information received via a media gateway of the communication network.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said transaction service processor, said TCAP markup language parser, and said transaction session manager each run within at least one independent virtual machine.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said TCAP markup language parser, said transaction service processor, and said at least one transaction session manager are each disposed in a separate computing machine.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a TCAP event processor configured to receive TCAP events from a signaling network and provide said TCAP events to said transaction service processor.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a data store including said TCAP markup language scripts.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a server communicatively linked to said data store and said TCAP markup language parser for facilitating the retrieval of said TCAP markup language scripts.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a cache memory disposed between said transaction session manager and said TCAP markup language parser configured to store frequently retrieved TCAP markup language scripts.

14. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a call processor unit configured to receive calls, said call processor unit having a plurality of addresses of voice markup language document implementations of telephony services associated with said plurality of directory numbers;

a voice markup language parser configured to retrieve said voice markup language documents from said addresses and parse said voice markup language documents responsive to receiving said calls;

a service processor configured to execute said parsed voice markup language documents to cause said telephony services to be implemented in said communications network; and

at least one session manager configured to coordinate the operation of said voice markup language parser and said service processor.

15. A tangible machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a TCAP event from a communication network;

matching said received TCAP event to a markup language script configured for causing the implementation of said telephony service the markup language script defining a TCAP markup language script; and

processing said TCAP markup language script to cause said communication network to implement said telephony service;

wherein said receiving step further comprises identifying a called directory number from said received TCAP event, and

wherein said matching step comprises matching said directory number to a network location of said TCAP markup language script, said directory number being registered for said TCAP markup language script implementation of said telephony service and retrieving said TCAP markup language script from a data store.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising prior to said processing step, transmitting said called directory number and said network location of said TCAP markup language script to a transaction session manager.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising prior to said processing step, determining with the transaction session manager prior to the processing step the existence of an event context for said received TCAP event in a cache memory.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising prior to said processing step, if no event context for said received TCAP event exists in said cache, creating a new event context for said received TCAP event.

19. The method of claim 17, said retrieving comprising:

providing said network location to a TCAP markup language parser;

said parser retrieving said TCAP markup language script from said network location;

parsing said TCAP markup language script into an intermediate format; and

providing said parsed TCAP markup language script to said transaction session manager.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 19, said processing step further comprising:

providing said parsed TCAP markup language script to a transaction service processor for executing said TCAP markup language script.