Customer owned telephone numbers

• US 8,031,856 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hunter, Dena M., Mikleton, Christopher W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar; Ahmad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Asanbayev; Oleg
• Application Number:
  US11/319,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20070147358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,107 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/356, 379/219, 379/220.01
• US Class Current: 379/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

According to various embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods for routing telephone calls from host switch to remote switch in a Voice Over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) network. A host switch in the VoIP network may be communicably coupled with a plurality of remote switches and with a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”); the host switch may receive a call from PSTN having signaling that includes a called party number field and/or a location routing number field. Based on the called party number field and/or the location routing number field, host switch identifies a target remote switch from among the plurality of remote switches that is associated with the called party number field by, for example, querying a database of associations between location routing numbers and/or telephone numbers and remote switches. Host switch then sends the call to identified target remote switch.

Claims

1. A method of routing a call toward a destination communications device, the method comprising:

providing a host switch in a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network communicably coupled with a plurality of remote switches and with a public switched telephone network (PSTN), wherein each of the remote switches is located on one or more remote networks distinct from the VoIP network and the PSTN;

receiving a call from the PSTN with the host switch, the call having signaling comprising a location routing number field, wherein the location routing number field comprises a location routing number;

identifying, by the host switch, a target remote switch of the plurality of remote switches that is associated with the location routing number, wherein identifying the target remote switch of the plurality of remote switches that is associated with the location routing number comprises querying a location routing number (LRN)/telephone number (TN) database within the VoIP network to identify the target remote switch that corresponds with at least a portion of the location routing number; and

sending the call to the target remote switch based on the identification such that the call is transmitted to the destination communications device at least in part over one of the remote networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling comprises a calling party number field and a called party number field, and wherein the method further comprises:

transposing the location routing number field with the called party number field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target remote switch is a Class 5 softswitch.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the host switch is a Class 5 softswitch.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the host switch is a Class 4 softswitch.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the host switch is a hybrid Class 4/Class 5 softswitch.

4. A system comprising:

a computer, wherein the computer is communicably coupled to a computer readable medium within a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network, wherein the computer is further communicably coupled to a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and a plurality of remote switches, each of the plurality of remote switches being located on one or more remote networks distinct from the VoIP network and the PSTN, and wherein the computer readable medium includes instructions executable by the computer to;

receive a call from the PSTN, the call having signaling comprising a location routing number field, wherein the location routing number field comprises a location routing number;

identify a target remote switch of the plurality of remote switches that is associated with the location routing number, wherein the instructions executable by the computer to identify the target remote switch of the plurality of remote switches that is associated with the location routing number further comprise instructions executable by the computer to query an LRN/TN database within the VoIP network to identify the target remote switch that corresponds with at least a portion of the location routing number; and

send the call to the target remote switch based on the identification such that the call is transmitted at least in part over one of the remote networks.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the signaling further comprises a calling party number field and a called party number field, and wherein the computer readable medium further includes instructions executable by the computer to:

transpose the location routing number field with the called party number field.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the target remote switch is a Class 5 softswitch.

15. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer is a Class 5 softswitch.

16. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer is a Class 4 softswitch.

17. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer is a hybrid Class 4/Class 5 softswitch.

7. A method for establishing a customer-owned telephone number routing system, the method comprising:

providing a host softswitch within a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, the host softswitch communicably coupled with a second network;

communicably coupling the host softswitch with a remote softswitch configured to connect calls to a subscriber, wherein the remote softswitch is located on a remote network distinct from the VoIP network and the second network;

associating the host softswitch with the remote softswitch in a local exchange routing guide (LERG) database;

provisioning a location routing number (LRN)/telephone number (TN) database within the VoIP network with information associating a location routing number (LRN) and a block of telephone numbers with the remote softswitch;

receiving via the host softswitch a call from the second network for the subscriber, the second network identifying the host softswitch responsible for routing calls to the subscriber by querying the LERG database, wherein the call received via the host softswitch comprises signaling, the signaling comprising a called party number and the LRN;

determining, by the host softswitch, that the remote softswitch is associated with the subscriber by querying the LRN/TN database based on the received LRN; and

sending the call to the remote softswitch based on the determination.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the host softswitch is a Class 5 softswitch.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the host softswitch is a Class 4 softswitch.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the host softswitch is a hybrid Class 4/Class 5 softswitch.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the remote softswitch is a Class 5 softswitch.