Method of conditionally routing a call made to a fixed telephone number

• US 8,706,098 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Bot, Jan, Goeijers, Peter, Dekkers, Helmuth
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEHRA, INDER P
• Application Number:
  US11/849,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20080108357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,426 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/417, 455/432.3, 455/406, 455/418, 455/420, 455/445, 370/202.01, 370/259, 370/202, 370/328, 370/338, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/356, 370/401, 370/496, 379/201.01, 379/201.02, 379/201.03, 379/201.04, 379/201.05, 379/201.06, 379/201.07, 379/88.21, 379/93.03, 379/211.02, 379/211.05, 379/266.09
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/105 PBS [Private Base Station] network H04W84/12 - H04W84/16 take precedence

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of routing a call made by a calling party to a fixed telephone number of a called party, wherein the call is routed to one or more mobile terminals (34) via an Internet Protocol network (12) and a wireless access point (10) associated with the fixed telephone number if the one or more mobile terminals (34) are located in an area covered by the wireless access point (10), or to an alternative terminating point if the one or more mobile terminals (34) are located outside the area. A specific Service Control Point is arranged to store a list that comprises alternative terminating points for the calls to the fixed number.

Claims

1. A method, in a telecommunication network, of routing a call made by a calling party to a fixed telephone number of a called party, the method comprising:

routing said call to a telephony switch of a telecommunication network, wherein said call triggers Intelligent Network (IN) functions;

a service control point (SCP) of the telecommunication network, based on the fixed telephone number received in a CalleD Party Number (CDPN) from the telephony switch, executing a first check by querying a database for determining a relationship between the fixed telephone number and one or more mobile terminals associated with the CDPN;

the SCP executing a second check to determine if at least one of said one or more mobile terminals is registered on a Security Gateway of the telecommunication network,

if the at least one of said one or more mobile terminals is determined to be registered on the Security Gateway, routing said call to the at least one of said one or more mobile terminals via a wireless access point of an Internet Protocol (IP) network and through a secure tunnel set up by the Security Gateway through the IP network, or

routing the call to an alternative terminating point if said one or more mobile terminals are determined to not be registered on the Security Gateway.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said alternative terminating point comprises an answering service.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said alternative terminating point comprises another telephone number.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein if a first mobile terminal associated with said fixed telephone number is not registered on the Security Gateway, said call is routed to a second mobile terminal associated with said fixed telephone number.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said call is routed to every mobile terminal associated with said fixed telephone number and registered on the Security Gateway.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein if said one or more mobile terminals are not registered on the Security Gateway, but said calling party is on a hot list, said call is routed to a mobile telephone number associated with said fixed telephone number.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein if said calling party is calling with a calling party mobile terminal, said call is routed via said wireless access point of said IP network only if said calling party mobile terminal is connected via a further wireless access point.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein information on whether said one or more mobile terminals are registered on the Security Gateway is received from the Security Gateway.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating area presence indicators in an IN service database in the SCP based on entry/exit triggers received from the Security Gateway so that when an entry trigger is received, the area presence indicator is given a value ‘

in’ and

when an exit trigger is received, the area presence indicator is given a value ‘

out’

.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the entry/exit triggers are syslog messages and are transformed into Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LPAD) messages to be sent to the IN service database,

wherein the LPAD messages are used to update the area presence indicators in the IN service database.

11. A Service node for use in a telecommunication network, said Service node being arranged to receive a routing request from a Service Switching Point of a fixed telephone network and to send a routing order to said Service Switching Point, said Service node being arranged to:

store for each of a plurality of subscribers;

a fixed number, one or more related areas associated with said fixed telephone number, and a list comprising one or more associated alternative terminating points and for each alternative terminating point an area presence indicator;

receive entry/exit triggers from a Security Gateway, each entry/exit trigger corresponding to one of the alternative terminating points and indicating registration/deregistration of the corresponding alternative terminating point on the Security Gateway;

update said area presence indicators based on the received entry/exit triggers so that when an entry trigger is received, a corresponding one of the area presence indicators is given a value ‘

in’ and

when an exit trigger is received, the corresponding area presence indicator is given a value ‘

out’

;

determine said routing order by finding, in the list comprising one or more associated alternative terminating points for a subscriber indicated in the received routing request, an alternative terminating point in said list for which the corresponding area presence indicator has a value ‘

in’

; and

send the routing order to said Service Switching Point.

12. The Service node according to claim 11, wherein said Service node comprises a database arranged to store said list.

13. The Service node according to claim 11, wherein said alternative terminating points associated with one fixed telephone number are sorted in a predefined order of priority.

14. The Service node according to claim 11, wherein said list has at least one alternative endpoint with an area in/out indication with a fixed “

in”

value.

15. The Service node according to claim 11, wherein said Service node comprises a Service Control Point.

16. A telecommunication network comprising:

a fixed telephone network with a Telephony switch that includes a Service Switching Point;

a Service node for determining whether a mobile terminal is located in or outside a Home Zone;

a Security Gateway in communication with the Service node, the Service node determining whether the mobile terminal is located in or outside the Home Zone based on whether the mobile terminal is registered on the Security Gateway;

an IP network in communication with said telephony switch and said Security Gateway; and

one or more wireless access points in communication with said IP network, said wireless access points being arranged to connect telephone calls received from said IP network to the mobile terminal through a secure tunnel set up by the Security Gateway in an unlicensed mobile access network,

wherein the Service node routes the telephone calls to be connected by the wireless access points if the Service node determines that the mobile terminal is located in the Home Zone.

17. The telecommunication network according to claim 16, further comprising

a media gateway, wherein said mobile terminal is connected via said Security Gateway and said media gateway to the Telephony switch.

18. A method for providing presence information of a mobile terminal in a coverage area having one or more wireless access points, the method comprising:

a Security Gateway setting up a secure tunnel towards said mobile terminal;

the Security Gateway providing entry/exit triggers identifying registration and deregistration of said mobile terminal on the Security Gateway as syslog events to a syslog server; and

said syslog server providing said presence information.