TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES REPORTING SYSTEM

• US 20070172037A1
• Filed: 04/18/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ameritech Communications Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Watson, Raymond, Kreckel, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,263,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/111
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0164 Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0176 Billing arrangements using internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number

Abstract

A system and method for processing a plurality of call detail records (CDRs) each indicative of a call transaction on a telecommunications network. The method includes receiving the plurality of CDRs at a first controller, wherein each of the CDRs include a data structure including a plurality of fields each containing at least one character. The method then selects a first sorting field from the plurality of fields and groups the plurality of CDRs as a function of data within the first sorting field. In one embodiment, the first sorting field is used to group the CDRs according to different carriers. The method then analyzes at least one additional sorting field within each of the CDRs which were previously grouped according to the first sorting field. A report is then generated for each of the grouped CDRs as a function of data within the additional sorting field. In this way, periodic, customized reports can be generated from information contained with CDRs with user-selectable sorting or analysis fields.

Claims

1. A method of processing a plurality of call detail records (CDRs), the method comprising:

processing the plurality of CDRs according to telecommunications carrier supported call transactions indicated in the plurality of CDRs;

receiving the plurality of CDRs at a first controller, each of the plurality of CDRs having a data structure including a plurality of fields containing at least one character;

selecting a first sorting field from the plurality of fields and grouping the plurality of CDRs as a function of data within the first sorting field comprising a carrier identification field;

analyzing a user-selected second sorting field with each of the grouped CDRs; and

generating a customized carrier-specific report for each of the group CDRs based on data within the user-selected second sorting field such that each report generated from the grouped CDRs is carrier-specific.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising delivering the customized carrier-specific report to a remote user terminal.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting the customized carrier-specific report to the user at the remote user terminal according to user-selected format preferences, the customized carrier-specific report being selectable to monitor network usage, to make billing statements, or any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CDRs are generated at a second controller coupled to a telecommunications network and located remote from the first controller.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the call transactions is a long distance calling card transaction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-selected second sorting field is an enhanced service identifier field including at least one subfield selected from the group consisting of a message store and forward subfield, a directory assistance subfield, and a conference calling subfield.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the plurality of CDRs at the first controller is executed periodically at daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly intervals.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a user-selected third sorting field within each of the grouped CDRs; and

generating a customized report for each of the grouped CDRs as a function of data within the user-selected second and third sorting fields.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

displaying a system variable as a function of data within at least one of the user-selected second and third sorting fields; and

wherein the user-selected second sorting field contains data indicative of total call attempts and the system variable corresponds to successful call attempts.

10. A call detail record (CDR) processing system, the system comprising:

a system cluster communicating with a telecommunications network, the system cluster generating a plurality of CDRs;

a server-based splitter communicating with the system cluster, the server-based splitter processing each of the plurality of CDRs according to telecommunications carrier supported call transactions indicated in the plurality of CDRs;

a production database server communicating with the system cluster, the production database server storing the plurality of CDRs as received from at least one of the system cluster and the server-based splitter; and

a user access server communicating with the production database server, the user access server programed to;

(i) select a first sorting field from a plurality of fields within each of the plurality of CDRs and group the plurality of CDRs as a fiction of data within the first sorting field, wherein the first sorting field is a carrier identification field,

(ii) analyze a user-selected second sorting field within each of the grouped CDRs, and

(iii) generate a customized carrier-specific report corresponding to each of the grouped CDRs based on data within the user-selected second sorting field such that each report generated from each of the grouped CDRs is carrier-specific.

11. The system of claim 10, finer comprising:

at least one cluster of servers remote from the system cluster and communicating with the telecommunications network to generate CDRs; and

a master database communicating with the system cluster and each cluster of servers to store CDRs generated by the system cluster and each additional cluster of servers.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the system cluster is a calling card system cluster generating a CDR in response to each calling card transaction on the telecommunications network.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the CDR fields include a call type offered field, a system failure field, a rate class field, a method of recording field, a message type field, a call statistics field, or any combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the call statistics field includes a message store and forward subfield, a directory assistance subfield, a conference calling subfield, or any combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the rate class field includes a person-to-person subfield, a dialed station subfield, an operator assisted dialing subfield, or any combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the call type offered field includes a local exchange carrier calling card subfield, a proprietary calling card subfield, or any combination thereof.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the server-based splitter sends the plurality of CDRs to the production database server through the system cluster.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the production database server stores summarized data accumulated from the plurality of CDRs.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the summarized data includes historical data accumulated from CDRs associated with a limited time period.

20. The system of claim 10, farther comprising:

a production web server communicating with the production database server;

wherein the production web server sends the customized carrier-specific report to a user access terminal; and

wherein the customized carrier-specific report is displayed according to user-selected format preferences, the customized carrier-specific report selectable to monitor network usage, billing statements, or any combination thereof.