System and method for determining whether a failed communication between signal transfer points was in error

• US 9,104,566 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2009
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sutterfield, Terri L., Cherng, Shu-Yi S.
• Primary Examiner(s): SERRAO, RANODHI N
• Application Number:
  US12/604,865
• Publication Number:
  US 20110099434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,118 Days
• Field of Search: 709/238, 714/48, 726/4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06

Abstract

An exemplary system includes a first signal transfer point configured to communicate with a second signal transfer point via a communication network. The first signal transfer point is configured to generate an error message in response to receiving an unauthorized signal from the second signal transfer point. A monitoring system is in communication with the first signal transfer point. An order system is in communication with the monitoring system and is configured to store orders authorizing communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point. The monitoring system is configured to receive the error message generated by the first signal transfer point and query the order system to determine whether an order authorizing the communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point exists.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first signal transfer point configured to communicate with a second signal transfer point via a communication network, wherein said first signal transfer point is configured to determine whether a communication received from said second signal transfer point is authorized, and if not, generate an error message;

a monitoring system in communication with said first signal transfer point; and

an order system in communication with said monitoring system, wherein said order system is configured to store pending orders authorizing communication between said first signal transfer point and said second signal transfer point, and

wherein said monitoring system includes a computing device configured to receive the error message generated by said first signal transfer point, query said order system to determine whether a pending order authorizing the communication between said first signal transfer point and said second signal transfer point exists, and reject the error message to allow the communication from said second signal transfer point to said first signal transfer point if the pending order authorizing the communication exists in the order system, and to reject the error message, said monitoring device is configured to transmit a notification to said first signal transfer point indicating that the communication from said second signal transfer point has been authorized.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said first signal transfer point includes a first point code that is unique to said first signal transfer point,

said second signal transfer point includes a second point code that is unique to said second signal transfer point, and

the error message generated by said first signal transfer point includes the first point code and the second point code.

3. A system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said monitoring system is configured to determine whether an order authorizing the communication between said first signal transfer point and said second signal transfer point by querying said order system for orders that include the first point code and the second point code.

4. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first signal transfer point is configured to screen messages from said second signal transfer point to determine whether the message from said second signal transfer point is authorized.

5. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said monitoring system is configured to receive the error message from said first signal transfer point in a hexadecimal format and convert the error message to a decimal format.

6. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said first signal transfer point is paired with a third signal transfer point in communication with the second signal transfer point over the communication network, and

said second signal transfer point is paired with a fourth signal transfer point in communication with said first signal transfer point and said third signal transfer point over the communication network.

17. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first and second signal transfer points are associated with different service provider networks.

18. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is configured to receive the error message from the first signal transfer point as part of a batch process.

19. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is configured to reject the communication from the second signal transfer point if no pending order authorizing the communication exists in the order system by discarding the communication or transmitting a notification to said first signal transfer point indicating that the communication is prohibited.

20. A system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is configured to generate a temporary order if no pending orders authorizing the communication from the second signal transfer point exist in the order system, the temporary order authorizing future communications from the second signal transfer point to the first signal transfer point.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a message at a first signal transfer point, the message being transmitted from a second signal transfer point;

determining at the first signal transfer point whether communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point is authorized;

generating an error message at the first signal transfer point if the communication with the second signal transfer point is unauthorized;

receiving, at a monitoring system, the error message from the first signal transfer point;

determining, via the monitoring system, whether a pending order authorizing communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point is stored in an order system; and

if the pending order authorizing communication exists in the order system, rejecting the error message via the monitoring system to allow the communication to said first signal transfer point from said second signal transfer point, wherein rejecting the message includes transmitting a notification to the first signal transfer point indicating that the communication from the second signal transfer point has been authorized.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first signal transfer point includes a first point code and the second signal transfer point includes a second point code, and wherein determining whether an order authorizing communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point is stored in the order system includes querying the order system for orders that include the first point code and the second point code.

9. A method as set forth in claim 7, wherein determining whether communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point is authorized includes screening the message transmitted from the second signal transfer point to the first signal transfer point.

10. A method as set forth in claim 7, wherein receiving the error message from the first signal transfer point includes receiving the error message in a hexadecimal format.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10, further comprising converting the error message to a decimal format.

12. A method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising generating a temporary order authorizing the communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an error message generated by a first signal transfer point indicating unauthorized communication between the first signal transfer point and a second signal transfer point;

querying an order system for pending orders that correspond to the error message and authorize communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point; and

rejecting the error message generated by the first signal transfer point if a pending order authorizing the communication exists by transmitting a notification to the first signal transfer point indicating that the communication from the second signal transfer point has been authorized,

wherein querying the order system includes querying the order system for pending orders that include the first point code and the second point code.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 13, the operations further comprising identifying a first point code corresponding to the first signal transfer point and a second point code corresponding to the second signal transfer point from the error message.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 13, the operations further comprising converting the error message from a hexadecimal format to a decimal format.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 13, the operations further comprising updating the order system to include a temporary order authorizing the communication between the first signal transfer point and the second signal transfer point.