Managing a telephone communication system to dynamically throttle call attempts and reduce congestions during mass call events

• US 9,800,722 B1
• Filed: 11/21/2016
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AtHoc Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Original Assignee: AtHoc Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Wu, Xi Sigmund, Makkar, Himanshu, Xiao, Yousong
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US15/356,838
• Time in Patent Office: 337 Days
• Field of Search: 37911204, 37911208, 3791121, 37922103
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7428 Load situation, e.g. Current network load, traffic load or available resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/10 Providing fault- or trouble-signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2272 Subscriber line supervision circuits, e.g. call detection circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/367 Traffic or load control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/424 Arrangements for automatic redialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/04 for time-division multiplexing H04Q11/0001 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13387 Call gapping

Abstract

A device is configured to detect congestion and throttle phone calls in a telephone communication system. The device is configure to receive, from a telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a call failure to a phone number; determine that the phone number matches a flooding group number based on initial digits of the phone number, the flooding group number associated with a flooding group, the flooding group including a plurality of phone numbers with initial digits having identical values to the flooding group number; determine a time of the call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at the time of the call failure; and in response to the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the call failure exceeding a predefined threshold, update a capacity limit for the flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one hardware processor communicatively coupled with the memory and configured to;

receive, from a telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a call failure to a phone number;

in response to receiving the indication, determine that the phone number matches a flooding group number based on initial digits of the phone number, the flooding group number associated with a flooding group, wherein the flooding group includes a plurality of phone numbers with initial digits having identical values to the flooding group number, the plurality of phone numbers including the phone number, and wherein the flooding group is associated with a capacity limit, can route through the telephone dialing system without call failures;

in response to matching the flooding group number, determine a time of the call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at the time of the call failure;

in response to the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the call failure exceeding a predefined threshold, update the capacity limit for the flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls and store the phone number in a queue; and

when a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at a second time is below the capacity limit, transmit the phone number in the queue to the telephone dialing system to initiate a subsequent call to the phone number.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one hardware processor is further configured to:

receive, from the telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a second call failure to a second phone number;

in response to the second call failure, determine that the second phone number does not match any flooding group number;

determine a new flooding group number based on initial digits of the second phone number;

determine a set of phone numbers including the second phone number, each phone number in the set having initial digits identical to the new flooding group number;

generate a new flooding group, the new flooding group including the set of phone numbers and associated with the new flooding group number; and

determine a capacity limit for the new flooding group.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein generating the new flooding group comprises:

determining a time of the second call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure;

in response to the number of concurrent active calls exceeding a predefined threshold, generating the new flooding group; and

determining the capacity limit for the new flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the second call failure.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the second phone number includes a main number and an extension number, and determining the new flooding group number includes using the main number as the new flooding group number.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein determining the new flooding group number comprises:

determining a time of the second call failure;

determining a first number of concurrent active calls for a first set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the first set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last three digits;

determining a second number of concurrent active calls for a second set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the second set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last four digits;

determining a third number of concurrent active calls for a third set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the third set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last five digits; and

determining the new flooding group number based on the first, second and third number of concurrent active calls.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one hardware processor is further configured to:

receive a third phone number to dial;

determine that the third phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determine a number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group;

if the number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group is below the capacity limit of the flooding group, transmit the third phone number to the telephone dialing system; and

if the number of concurrent current active calls has reached the capacity limit of the flooding group, store the third phone number in the queue.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one hardware processor is further configured to:

receive, from the telephone dialing system, an indication that a call to a fourth phone number has successfully ended;

in response to the successful call, determine that the fourth phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determine that a maximum number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group during a predefined period of time is within a predetermined threshold from the capacity limit of the flooding group and determine that no failed calls have occurred for the flooding group during the predefined period of time; and

in response to the determining, increase the capacity limit for the flooding group.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a server and from a telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a call failure to a phone number, the server including a queue;

in response to receiving the indication, determining that the phone number matches a flooding group number based on initial digits of the phone number, the flooding group number associated with a flooding group, wherein the flooding group includes a plurality of phone numbers with initial digits having identical values to the flooding group number, the plurality of phone numbers including the phone number, and wherein the flooding group is associated with a capacity limit, the capacity limit representing an upper limit for a number of concurrent active calls the flood group can route through the telephone dialing system without call failures;

in response to matching the flooding group number, determining a time of the call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at the time of the call failure;

in response to the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the call failure exceeding a predefined threshold, updating the capacity limit for the flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls and storing the phone number in the queue; and

when a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at a second time is below the capacity limit, transmitting the phone number in the queue to the telephone dialing system to initiate a subsequent call to the phone number.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, at the server and from the telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a second call failure to a second phone number;

in response to the second call failure, determining that the second phone number does not match any flooding group number;

determining a new flooding group number based on initial digits of the second phone number;

determining a set of phone numbers including the second phone number, each phone number in the set having initial digits identical to the new flooding group number;

generating a new flooding group, the new flooding group including the set of phone numbers and associated with the new flooding group number; and

determining a capacity limit for the new flooding group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the new flooding group comprises:

determining a time of the second call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure;

in response to the number of concurrent active calls exceeding a predefined threshold, generating the new flooding group; and

determining the capacity limit for the new flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the second call failure.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in response to generating the new flooding group, storing information of the new flooding group, the information including at least the flooding group number and the capacity limit.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

deleting information of the flooding group when no calls to the phone numbers in the flooding group are attempted during a predefined period of time.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the second phone number includes a main number and an extension number, and determining the new flooding group number includes using the main number as the new flooding group number.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the new flooding group number comprises:

determining a time of the second call failure;

determining a first number of concurrent active calls for a first set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the first set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last three digits;

determining a second number of concurrent active calls for a second set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the second set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last four digits;

determining a third number of concurrent active calls for a third set of phone numbers at the time of the second call failure, each phone number in the third set having initial digits identical to the second phone number excluding last five digits; and

determining the new flooding group number based on the first, second and third number of concurrent active calls.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a third phone number to dial;

determining that the third phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determining a number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group;

if the number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group is below the capacity limit of the flooding group, transmitting the third phone number to the telephone dialing system; and

if the number of concurrent current active calls has reached the capacity limit of the flooding group, storing the third phone number in the queue.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, at the server and from the telephone dialing system, an indication that a call to a fourth phone number has successfully ended;

in response to the successful call, determining that the fourth phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determining that a maximum number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group during a predefined period of time is within a predetermined threshold from the capacity limit of the flooding group and determining that no failed calls have occurred for the flooding group during the predefined period of time; and

in response to the determining, increasing the capacity limit for the flooding group.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the queue is associated with the flooding group.

18. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed, cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a call failure to a phone number;

in response to receiving the indication, determining that the phone number matches a flooding group number based on initial digits of the phone number, the flooding group number associated with a flooding group, wherein the flooding group includes a plurality of phone numbers with initial digits having identical values to the flooding group number, the plurality of phone numbers including the phone number, and wherein the flooding group is associated with a capacity limit, the capacity limit representing an upper limit for a number of concurrent active calls the flood group can route through the telephone dialing system without call failures;

in response to matching the flooding group number, determining a time of the call failure and a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at the time of the call failure;

in response to the number of concurrent active calls at the time of the call failure exceeding a predefined threshold, updating the capacity limit for the flooding group based on the number of concurrent active calls and storing the phone number in a queue; and

when a number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group at a second time is below the capacity limit, transmitting the phone number in the queue to the telephone dialing system to initiate a subsequent call to the phone number.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the server and from the telephone dialing system, an indication indicating a second call failure to a second phone number;

in response to the second call failure, determining that the second phone number does not match any flooding group number;

determining a new flooding group number based on initial digits of the second phone number;

determining a set of phone numbers including the second phone number, each phone number in the set having initial digits identical to the new flooding group number;

generating a new flooding group, the new flooding group including the set of phone numbers and associated with the new flooding group number; and

determining a capacity limit for the new flooding group.

20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a third phone number to dial;

determining that the third phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determining a number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group;

if the number of concurrent current active calls for the flooding group is below the capacity limit of the flooding group, transmitting the third phone number to the telephone dialing system; and

if the number of concurrent current active calls has reached the capacity limit of the flooding group, storing the third phone number in the queue.

21. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the server and from the telephone dialing system, an indication that a call to a fourth phone number has successfully ended;

in response to the successful call, determining that the fourth phone number is associated with the flooding group;

determining that a maximum number of concurrent active calls for the flooding group during a predefined period of time is within a predetermined threshold from the capacity limit of the flooding group and determining that no failed calls have occurred for the flooding group during the predefined period of time; and

in response to the determining, increasing the capacity limit for the flooding group.