System and method for managing interconnect carrier routing

• US 20030229613A1
• Filed: 12/17/2002
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telarix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Telarix Incorporated
• Inventors: Zargham, Shawn, Yazdanpanah, Amir, Hekmat, Hormoz
• Granted Patent: US 7,050,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13138 Least cost routing, LCR
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13148 Maximum profit routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13332 Broadband, CATV, dynamic bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13352 Self-routing networks, real-time routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

A system and method for managing a carrier'"'"'s interconnect traffic across a telecommunications network, the method involving receiving cost and routing rules from the carrier, gathering performance data corresponding to the interconnect traffic, applying the cost and routing rules to the performance data to determine a first impact on the interconnect traffic, receiving superseding routing rules from the carrier, automatically calculating proposed changes in network routing based on the superseding routing rules and the first impact, and presenting the proposed changes to the carrier.

Claims

1. A method for managing a carrier'"'"'s interconnect traffic across a telecommunications network comprising:

receiving cost and routing rules from the carrier;

gathering performance data corresponding to the interconnect traffic;

applying the cost and routing rules to the performance data to determine a first impact on the interconnect traffic;

receiving superseding routing rules from the carrier;

automatically calculating proposed changes in network routing based on the superseding routing rules and the first impact; and

presenting the proposed changes to the carrier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data comprises at least two of answer-to-seize ratios, traffic volumes, network usage, network capacity, exchange rates, interconnect costs, service quality, and volume agreements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data is gathered in real-time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cost and routing rules comprise at least one of business rules, benchmarks, answer-to-seize ratio thresholds, margin thresholds, percentage routing, and number of routes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the superseding routing rules comprise one of exclusion rules, manual exceptions, effective dates, and emergency overrides.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically calculating the proposed changes in the network traffic comprises:

identifying trunks capable of carrying outbound traffic;

applying the cost and routing rules to the trunks to yield cost data and traffic data;

filtering the trunks based on the cost data and the traffic data, thereby yielding remaining trunks;

ranking the remaining trunks based on the cost data; and

adjusting the ranking based on the superseding routing rules,

wherein the proposed changes are based on the adjusted ranking.

7. A method for managing interconnect traffic comprising:

identifying trunks capable of carrying outbound traffic;

applying optimization criteria to the trunks to yield cost data and traffic data;

filtering the trunks based on the cost data and the traffic data, thereby yielding remaining trunks;

ranking the remaining trunks based on the cost data;

adjusting the ranking based on override ranking instructions provided by a user; and

returning a route guide to the user, wherein the route guide is based on the adjusted ranking.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic data comprises one of answer-to-seize ratios and trunk capacities.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the cost data comprises one of inter-machine trunk rates and trunk margins.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein filtering comprises removing trunks that fail to meet predetermined thresholds of one of the cost data and the traffic data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cost data is trunk margins, and wherein trunks that fail to meet predetermined thresholds have a trunk margin lower than a designated margin benchmark.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the cost data is inter-machine trunk rates, and wherein trunks that fail to meet predetermined thresholds have inter-machine trunk routes with margins lower than a designated margin benchmark.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the traffic data is answer-to-seize ratios, and wherein trunks that fail to meet predetermined thresholds have an answer-to-seize ratio lower than a designated answer-to-seize ratio benchmark.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the traffic data is trunk capacities, and wherein trunks that fail to meet predetermined thresholds have a trunk capacity lower than a designated trunk capacity benchmark.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the route guide presents the remaining trunks in order of preference.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying capable trunks comprises excluding trunks that loop the traffic.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein if there are not enough remaining trunks to choose a routing option, the method further comprises reconsidering previously removed trunks.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein if the number of remaining trunks exceeds a designated maximum number of routes allowed, then the method further comprises removing a lowest ranked trunk until the number of remaining trunks no longer exceeds the designated number of routes allowed.

19. A method for managing interconnect traffic comprising:

identifying trunks capable of carrying outbound traffic;

receiving override instructions from a network operator;

eliminating trunks identified to be excluded in the override instructions;

eliminating trunks that could cause looping;

removing inter-machine trunk rates;

eliminating trunks having no rates;

filtering the trunks based on margin, answer-to-seize ratio, and capacity, thereby leaving remaining trunks;

ranking the remaining trunks based on cost;

adjusting the ranking of the remaining trunks based on the override instructions;

determining inter-machine trunk costs for the remaining trunks;

filtering the remaining trunks based on margin, thereby leaving final trunks;

ranking the final trunks based on cost;

adjusting the ranking of the final trunks based on the override instructions;

eliminating, from the final trunks, trunks that could cause looping, thereby leaving final available trunks;

ranking the final available trunks based on cost;

adjusting the ranking of the final available trunks based on the override instructions; and

reporting the adjusted ranking of the final available trunks to the network operator.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, if the final available trunks are fewer than a minimum number of routes needed to choose a routing option, then the method further comprises bringing previously filtered trunks back into consideration.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein if the number of final available trunks exceeds a designated maximum number of routes allowed, then the method further comprises removing a lowest ranked trunk until the number of final available trunks no longer exceeds the designated number of routes allowed.

22. A system for managing interconnect traffic across a telecommunications network comprising:

a controller that automatically manages collection and processing of call detail records from mediation devices, wherein the call detail records are associated with the interconnect traffic;

a call detail record database that stores the call detail records;

a vendor agreement database from which the controller retrieves data for calculating least cost route guides for each quality of service level that a vendor provides;

a customer agreement database from which the controller retrieves data for calculating routing options for a customer;

a reference data database from which the controller retrieves calculation parameters;

wherein, based on the data from the vendor agreement database, the customer agreement database, and the reference data database, for a current routing scheme, the controller determines optimum network routing selections.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller is adapted to receive the call detail records in a raw format.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the vendor agreement database contains physical interconnect details, buy rates by destination, and rate plans.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the customer agreement database contains interconnect details, sell rates by destination, and rate plans.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the reference data database contains quality of service thresholds, answer-to-seize ratio benchmarks, and numbering plans.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller rates the call detail records.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller produces route guide reports, cost reports, answer-to-seize ratio reports, revenue reports, and capacity reports.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller provides alerts to a user based on rules provided the user as applied to the call detail records.

30. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller is adapted to:

identify trunks capable of carrying outbound traffic,

apply optimization criteria to the trunks to yield cost data and traffic data,

filter the trunks based on the cost data and the traffic data, thereby yielding remaining trunks,

rank the remaining trunks based on the cost data,

adjust the ranking based on override ranking instructions provided by a user, and

return the optimum network routing selections to the user, wherein the optimum network routing selections are based on the adjusted ranking.

31. A system for managing a carrier'"'"'s interconnect traffic across a telecommunications network comprising:

means for receiving cost and routing rules from the carrier;

means for gathering performance data corresponding to the interconnect traffic;

applying the cost and routing rules to the performance data to determine a first impact on the interconnect traffic;

means for receiving superseding routing rules from the carrier;

means for automatically calculating proposed changes in network routing based on the superseding routing rules and the first impact; and

means for presenting the proposed changes to the carrier.