System for processing calling party information for international communications services

• US 5,506,894 A
• Filed: 05/12/1994
• Issued: 04/09/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T IPM Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billings, Karen S., Nieto, Luis E., Tseng, I. Grace
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US08/241,817
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• Field of Search: 379/97, 379/112, 379/127, 379/142, 379/201, 379/207, 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/230, 379/245, 379/246, 379/196, 379/197, 379/198
• US Class Current: 379/127.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/60 Semi-automatic systems, i.e. in which the numerical selection of the outgoing line is under the control of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1313 Metering, billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13512 800 - freefone
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13533 multivendor and hybrid, e.g. public/private, networks, inc. international
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13541 routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/912 Geographically adaptive

Abstract

A system for delivering originating country information for international calls to a subscriber includes three separate processes. In a first process, the country code is extracted from either billing/routing data forwarded by the caller'"'"'s national telephone network to the communication switching system of the destination country of the call, or from channel information associated with the call. In the second process, the originating county code is then inserted in either the calling party number or the destination number depending on the subscriber'"'"'s terminal device egress arrangement. In the third process, the originating country code is delivered to the subscriber before the call is completed. Once received by the subscriber, the originating country information can be used to tailor customized services for the foreign caller. These customized services include for example, connecting callers from a given country to specialized attendants fluent in caller'"'"'s native language or mapping the originating country code to the country'"'"'s name for display to attendants.

Claims

1. A method of identifying in a communications system the country of origin of an international call wherein said method comprises the steps of:

receiving over a channel connected to a switch of said communications system a telephone number associated with a subscriber to whom said call is directed;

correlating prestored information associated with said channel to one of a plurality of originating country codes;

inserting said originating country code in a field which is unused for international calls and which ordinarily contains area code and directory number of a calling party for domestic calls; and

delivering said originating country code to said subscriber using said field.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said channel information includes a trunk subgroup number.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of

creating a billing record for said call using said originating country code as a basis for deriving a billing rate for said call.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said call is a database-queried call and wherein said method further comprises the step of

retrieving pre-stored data to determine whether a subscriber identifed by said telephone number wishes to receive calls from a country identified by said originating country code.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of

deriving a destination number for said call if said subscriber wishes to receive calls from said country;

and

routing said call to said destination number.

6. The invention of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

terminating said call if said pre-stored data indicates that the subscriber wishes to receive no calls from the country identified by said originating country code.

7. A system of identifying in a communications system the country of origin of an international call wherein said system comprises

means for receiving over a channel connected to a switch of said communications system a telephone number associated with a subscriber to whom said call is directed;

means for correlating prestored information associated with said channel to one of a plurality of originating country codes;

means for inserting said originating country code in a field which is unused for international calls and which ordinarily contains area code and directory number of a calling party for domestic calls; and

means for delivering said originating country code to said subscriber using said field.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said channel information includes a trunk subgroup number.

9. The system of claim 7 further comprising

means for creating a billing record for said call using said originating country code as a basis for deriving a billing rate for said call.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein said call is a database-queried call and wherein said system further comprises

means for retrieving pre-stored data to determine whether a subscriber identified by said telephone number wishes to receive calls from a country identified by said originating country code.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising

means for deriving a destination number for said call if said subscriber wishes to receive calls from said country;

and

routing said call to said destination number.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising

means for terminating said call if said pre-stored data indicates that the subscriber wishes to receive no calls from the country identified by said originating country code.