Method of handling subscriber services in a wireless intelligent network

• US 6,615,042 B1
• Filed: 07/05/2000
• Issued: 09/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Optis Wireless Technology, LLC (Brevet Capital)
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Nguyen, Binh, Nguyen, Phat M., Britt, Margaret, Bruzzese, Giuseppe, Fionda, Pietro, Anctil, Susan, Vo, Hanh Duy
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Danh C
• Application Number:
  US09/610,135
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 455/432, 455/435, 455/433, 455/461, 455/445, 379/201.01, 379/201.02, 379/201.12, 379/207.02, 379/221.08, 379/1, 379/221.12, 379/230
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A method in a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) of handling subscriber services when a serving Mobile Switching Center (MSC) does not support all WIN triggers. The WIN includes a Home Location Register (HLR) having a subscriber profile that indicates the WIN triggers required to support a particular subscriber'"'"'s active services. When an invoke message is sent from the MSC to the HLR, a WIN Capabilities (WINCAP) parameter is included and indicates the WIN triggers supported by the MSC. The HLR identifies a Service Control Point (SCP) for each subscriber service that requires a WIN trigger and is not supported by the MSC. The HLR then queries each identified SCP for call-treatment instructions. If an SCP determines that its service is essential, a response is returned to the HLR with an instruction to deny service to the subscriber. If an SCP determines that its service is not essential, a response is returned to the HLR with an instruction to skip the unsupported service and allow basic services to the subscriber. The HLR collates the responses and determines a call-treatment response to return to the MSC.

Claims

1. A method in a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) of handling subscriber services when a serving Mobile Switching Center (MSC) does not support all WIN triggers, said WIN including a Home Location Register (HLR) having a subscriber profile that indicates the WIN triggers required to support a particular subscriber'"'"'s active WIN services, said method comprising the steps of:

sending from the MSC to the HLR, an indication of the WIN triggers supported by the MSC;

identifying by the HLR, the WIN triggers in the profile that are not supported by the MSC;

identifying for each WIN trigger in the profile that is not supported by the MSC, an associated service-providing entity in the network;

querying each identified service-providing entity by the HLR for call-treatment instructions;

sending call-treatment instructions from the service-providing entities to the HLR;

determining by the HLR, a call-treatment response; and

sending the call-treatment response to the MSC.

2. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 1 wherein the step of sending an indication of the WIN triggers supported by the MSC from the MSC to the HLR includes sending a WIN capabilities parameter in a Registration Notification Invoke message during registration of a mobile station.

3. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 1 wherein the step of sending an indication of the WIN triggers supported by the MSC from the MSC to the HLR includes sending a WIN capabilities parameter in a Location Request Invoke message during call setup for a mobile station.

4. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 1 wherein the step of sending an indication of the WIN triggers supported by the MSC from the MSC to the HLR includes sending a WIN capabilities parameter in an Origination Request Invoke message during call setup for a mobile station.

5. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 1 wherein the step of querying each identified service-providing entity by the HLR for call-treatment instructions includes concurrently sending a plurality of queries to a plurality of identified Service Control Points (SCPs).

6. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 1 further comprising, after the step of querying each identified service-providing entity by the HLR for call-treatment instructions, the steps of:

determining in each service-providing entity, whether its associated unsupported service is an essential service;

preparing in each service-providing entity, call-treatment instructions to allow a reduced set of services upon determining that its associated unsupported service is not an essential service; and

preparing in each service-providing entity, call-treatment instructions to deny service upon determining that its associated unsupported service is an essential service.

7. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 6 wherein the step of determining a call-treatment response by the HLR includes the steps of:

comparing the call-treatment instructions received from each service-providing entity; and

selecting the strictest call-treatment instruction.

8. A method in a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) of handling subscriber services when a serving Mobile Switching Center (MSC) does not support a particular WIN trigger (Trigger X) which supports a plurality of WIN services, said WIN including a Home Location Register (HLR) having a database that associates WIN triggers with Service Control Points (SCPs), and a first SCP (SCP1) having a Service Interaction Manager (SIM) for Trigger X, said method comprising the steps of:

sending from the MSC to the HLR, an indication that the MSC does not support Trigger X;

identifying SCP1 by the HLR as the SCP associated with Trigger X;

querying SCP1 by the HLR for call-treatment instructions;

identifying by SCP1, an SCP associated with each of the plurality of WIN services supported by Trigger X;

querying each identified SCP by SCP1 for call-treatment instructions related to each SCP'"'"'s associated WIN service;

sending call-treatment instructions from each SCP to SCP1;

determining by SCP1, a call-treatment response;

sending the call-treatment response from SCP1 to the HLR; and

sending the call-treatment response from the HLR to the MSC.

9. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 8 further comprising, after the step of querying each identified SCP by SCP1 for call-treatment instructions, the steps of:

determining in each SCP, whether its associated WIN service is an essential service;

preparing in each SCP, call-treatment instructions to allow a reduced set of services upon determining that its associated unsupported service is not an essential service; and

preparing in each SCP, call-treatment instructions to deny service upon determining that its associated unsupported service is an essential service.

10. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 9 wherein the step of determining a call-treatment response by SCP1 includes the steps of:

comparing the call-treatment instructions received from each SCP; and

selecting the strictest call-treatment instruction.

11. A method of handling subscriber services in a Home Location Register (HLR) in a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN), said WIN including a plurality of Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) that support varying numbers of WIN triggers, and an HLR having a subscriber profile that indicates WIN triggers required to support a particular subscriber'"'"'s active services, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in a database in the HLR, a plurality of call-treatment responses, each of said responses being associated with a different set of WIN triggers;

receiving from one of the MSCs in the network, an indication of the set of WIN triggers that are supported by the MSC;

identifying by the HLR, a stored call-treatment response associated with the set of WIN triggers that are supported by the MSC; and

sending the identified call-treatment response to the MSC.

12. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 11 wherein the step of storing a plurality of call-treatment responses in a database in the HLR includes the following steps performed in the HLR:

identifying for each WIN trigger required to support a subscriber service, an associated service-providing entity in the network;

querying each identified service-providing entity for call-treatment instructions;

receiving the call-treatment instructions from the service-providing entities;

determining a call-treatment response; and

storing the call-treatment response in the database in the HLR.

13. The method of handling subscriber services of claim 12 wherein the step of storing a plurality of call-treatment responses in a database in the HLR is performed by the HLR prior to receiving an invoke message from the MSC that includes the indication of the set of WIN triggers that are supported by the MSC.

14. A method of handling subscriber services in a Home Location Register (HLR) in a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN), said WIN including a plurality of Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) that support varying numbers of WIN triggers, and an HLR having a subscriber profile that indicates the WIN triggers required to support a particular subscriber'"'"'s active services, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving in the HLR, an indication of the WIN triggers supported by the MSC;

identifying by the HLR, the WIN triggers in the profile that are not supported by the MSC;

identifying by the HLR, a service-providing entity in the network associated with each WIN trigger in the profile that is not supported by the MSC;

querying each identified service-providing entity by the HLR for call-treatment instructions;

receiving in the HLR, call-treatment instructions from the service-providing entities;

determining by the HLR, a call-treatment response; and

sending the call-treatment response to the MSC.