CA2114273C - Access to capabilities of other telephone stations - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for granting to one telephone customer the features of another such customer. The first (remote) customer is connected to the switching system providing service to the second (home) customer. After the remote customer is duly authorized, the block of data defining the features allocated to the home customer is associated with the call control process for serving the remotecustomer. Advantageously, using such an arrangement, calls by the remote may be billed to the account of the home customer and all features that are available to the home customer are made available for use by the remote customer.

Description

211q273 ACCESS TO CAPABILITIES OF OTHER TELEPHONE STATIONS

Technical Field This invention relates to the provision of special features and capabilities to teleco.. ~ni~ations cuslu~
S Prl~L 1~
Special services such as custom features for individual telephone subscribers are becoming increasingly prevalent and increasingly illl~l ~It in the modern genela~ion of program controlled ~witching systems. Such custom features include, but are not limited to, abbreviated dialing lists, allowance of access to a toll 10 network, allowance of access to special private lines, special billing, allowance of access to services provided by intelligçnt ~,;~,h~ls, allowance of access to intçlligçnt n~ Iwo,ks. Such services are tied to a particular telephone c~lon~ - 's terrnin~1 port on a swhchillg system by means of a static data block of hlro.,~alion provided for the cu~lulllcr served by that termin~l port. A problem of the prior art is 15 that the features which have been provided for a particular cuslul~r served by that t~rmin~1 port are ~cceccible to that Cu~lO~f ~ only when he is using a telephoneir,~l, um~ nt cQnnectç~l to that t~rmin~1 port and are not available to other c11ston~e~
unless these other cuslu~llel~ have ordered similar fealu,~s.
Solution The above problem is solved and an advance is made over the prior art in accor~ance with my invention wh~ lll one telephone cnctQm~r~ hel~;n~t~,r called the remote customer, is granted the fea~u,es of the lelephone termin~l port, helGh~art~r called the home terminal port, associated with another cu~ el, the home cu~lolll~, by connec~ing the remote ~;USl~ to a switch serving the home 25 customer te~nin~1 port and providing the remote C~ Ql~ l with a static data block of the home iU~lULIl~l, r~uil~d to access all features which are ?ccescible to the home customer through dialing. Examples of such rea~ul~s are ability to make toll calls, confer~nce call, call fol~auding for in-~o...ing calls to the home termin~1 port, access to intelligent peliphelals for, for example, voice dialing, abbreviated dialing (speed 30 calling), special billing, and priority calling. A remote ~;u~lo~l~r (caller) dials an access code and an i-lentificafiQn of the home tennin~1 port; in response a connection is set up between the remote cu~lo,ller and a shadow termin~1 port on the switch of the home terminal port, and the shadow telmin~l port is then associated with thestatic data block of the home terminal port. All penni~sions associated with that 35 home terminal port, including permissions to alter specific portions of the home -2- 211~273 terminal port's static data block, are then also granted to the shadow termin~l port.
Advantageously, this arrangement permits a remote caller to receive all servicesgranted through the static data block of the home terminal port and this is accomplished without major changes in the call control software of the switch S serving the home terrnin~l port. The call process en~/iron.n~.~t for the home terrnin~
port is effectively cloned for the shadow t~rmin~l port.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, in order to prevent abuse of the feature, permission to use the static data block of the home t~rnin~l port is only granted if the remote ~;u~ ~ dials an aypl~oy.iate personal i~entification 10 number or uses some other a~lthentic~tion procedure; this ensures that the remote cu~ is authorized to use the services granted by the home termin~l port's staticdata block.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, while the remote user is charged for the use of the telephone conne~,lion r~uired to access the shadow 15 t~rrnin~l port, the home termin~l port is charged for all services invoked in the name of the home termin~l port including all conneclions set up from the shadow t~nin~l port.
In accol~ce with another aspect of the invention, a first shadow terminal port may be used as a means of ~ccessing a second shadow termin~l port;20 this is useful if the access to the second shadow termin~l port is denied to all except a limited group of users. In that case, once the calla has ~cesse~ the second shadow termin~l port, the caller is provided with and billed for the services given to the second home t~rmin~l port and the first shadow terrnin~l port is used only as an access mech~ni~m In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a cellular caller can be granted all ~ ble realu.~s available to a land based caller by establishing aconnection to a shadow terminal port on the same switch as the home terminal port.
Once this connection has been est~hli~h~A, the cellular caller has identical privileges to those granted a land based caller, since the cellular caller has adopted the static 30 data block of the home te min~l port.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, several remote callers can be given the access to the privileges of the home termin~l port sim~ neously, i.e., can be ~soci~ted with a col~ lon static data block.
In acco. lance with another aspect of the invention, the remote user has 35 control of the shadow termin~l port until the remote user explicitly releases the call connection (disconnects). While the call connection is up, llnlimitecl calls can be made from the shadow termin~l port.
Effectively, following the access to the shadow terminal port, the originator has esse.l~ially the same capabilities as he would have using a foreign exchange (FX) line. Advantageously, such an arrangement can be used for a 5 wireless station to make many calls over the land based network with a single channel request.
Brief Description of the D..,~
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illu~llaling the basic operation of applicant's invention, and FIGs. 2 and 3 are flow diagrams illu~ ling a method for imple., .~ g applicant's invention.
Detailed Dcsw ;,~tion FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the basic operation of applicant's invention. Consider first the home station 1 which is simply one of many stations 15 co~ ecl~l to home switching system 5. Home station is connecled to home ~wilchitlg system S at home tf rmin~l port 3. Switching system S is controlled by one or more processors (not shown) each operating under the control of a stored program. If home station ~i~in~tes a call, then home stadon will be ~s~igned a home call process, i.e., a block of memory for controlling the call. The home call 20 process will have a pointer to home termin~l port static data 9 in the static data block 7. The home tf rmin~l port static data describes all fedlul~is which the home station is provided by the home ~witching 5. Most of the data in the static data block is ~lmini~tered by an opf,l~ling telephone company, but there are some dialable static data items such as a call fol war~ lg nUlll~- which are m~lifif~ in response to 25 inf(l. m~l ;on provided from the associated home termin~l port. Remote station 21 is connectf. -3 through public swil~,hf,d telephone n~,lwol~ 23 to a t~rmin~l port 31, controlled by call process 32. Signals received over the connection to that terminal port, the connection being eYten-lible to other termin~l ports of the switch, are processed in the switch to delf ...;ne authon7~ ion and to allow the remote station 21 30 to make requests for features ~csi~ned to the home station 1. Under the control of remote call process 32, the remote access request is recognized and the switch 5connects port 31 to port 24 for ~cessing the remote almou,lcelllellt frame (RAF) 25.
Port 24 is connf~ted to RAF 25 and a control process? the front-end remote access authorization process (FRAP) 27 is ~c~i ned to control the RAF. After the caller's 35 authorization has been verified unda the control of Fl~AP, the remote caller on terminal port 31 is connected to a shadow terminal port and its process (shadow 211~273 terminal port/process) 33. Shadow tçrmin~l portlprocess (STPP) 33 comprises a control process for co..~.n.~ni~ting with remote call process 32 and the haldwal~; for co.. ~ ating with t~nin~l port 31. STPP 33 obtains further dialed dual tone multifrequency (DTMF) digits from the remote station 21 through a connection to a S digit receiver (not shown). STPP 33 has pOillt~ to the tr~n~l~tion data (block 9) of the home terminal port. The shadow process of STPP is i-l~nti~l to the home process 11 with a single exception that the poinle.~ to the translation data are not the pOillte~S that are tied to the physical home tç min~l port 3 but are pOillt~.~ that have been derived and are at this point tied to STPP 33. The.earter, the shadow call 10 process handles all received dialable signals in the same way as the home call process: it can set up calls from the shadow port t~nin~l continuously until theremote caller 21 disconnects and can modify any static data, such as a call forwarding null.~r that can be morlifie-l by a home call process.
FIG. 2 illustrates the process of giving the caller access to a shadow 15 tçrmin~l port/~,rocess. The remote user dials a remote directory access number (RDAN) (action block 201). This remote di~ l.y access number is a nulll~. used for acces~ g the service of providing the caller the featul~s of the home customer.
The call is routed to the home ~witchillg system (action block 203) and the homeswitching system connects the caller to a remote access front-end r~coldillg 20 announcement frame (RAF) (action block 205). The RAF pr~llyl~ the user for the access directory number (i.e., the direcloly nulllb,r of the customer whose fealul~,s the remote user wishes to use), a personal idçntific~tion number, and the type of request being made (action block 207). The type of request is required because the RAF is also used for providing a remote user with such eYi~ting fealules as remote 25 call fcnwal~illg. The RAF pe.rolms a validation based on static data for the lO~ dçntified by the access di~c~l.y nulllbc. (action block 209). The a--th(~ri7~tion process 27 tests whether the validation is successful (test 211). If the caller is not allowed access to the services of the access dh~,l(Jly number, then the caller receives some type of denied lle~ n~ such as an announce~nt, from the 30 switch (action block 213). If the caller is allowed access, a test is made whether the caller has made a shadow access request (action block 215). If so, then the remote user has made a shadow access request; the routing and terminal allocation process coll~ remote user on tt--rrnin~l port 31 to a t~min~l port/process 33, which canaccess the data of the access dil~lul~ nulll~r (action block 219). The request is 35 flagged as a shadow request (action block 221) and a shadow process is created in terminal port/process 33 (bubble 223). After waiting for acknowledgm~nt of the - 5 211~273 shadow request (action block 225), the RAF process receives a path descriptor from the shadow process (action block 227). The RAF process then transfers the network path from the caller and to the shadow termin~l port (action block 229) and the RAF
process is idle (action block 231).
FIG. 3 illustrates the process of creating (301) the shadow process, and the operation of the shadow process. The StdtiC data for the home tçrmin~l port is found by the routing process (action block 301). The shadow process is initi:~.li7.
with the access keys of the static data of the home termin~l port in the call pl~cessing message geneldt~d by the routing process (action block 303). The call10 pr~ess;ng message is flagged as a shadow process mess~ge (action block 305). The shadow call process is created but the h~dw~e of incoming t~rmin~l port 31 is not linked to static data (action block 307). The call process message is sent to the newly created shadow t.o-rmin~l port/~iocess (action block 309). The shadow process receives the call process mçss~ge (action block 311). After pl~cess; ng the call15 process message, a test is made as to whether this is a shadow process (test 313). If not, normal call p-~xessil~g is ~lrol--~d (action block 314). If this is a shadow process, it is necess~ y to create a shadow controller on top of the call process (action block 315) in order to ensure that the special functions required within a shadow process are executed Since call processing ~ lms that a process is 20 controlling a terminal port or channel, it is necess~ry to override this assumption to access the required data for the shadow process. The shadow controller is also able to process the equivalents of out of band signals. For example, a remote caller dials, for example, #, as the equivalent of a "flash" signal since the flash signal is not tr~n~mitte~l over PSTN 23. A remote caller wishing to flash, for example, to 25 establish a confe~nce, call, dials # as a flash/conrel~,nce indicator and the shadow controller converts the # signal to the flash/confe.ence in-licator for further processing by the call plvces~ing program. A path is allocated b~ .cel the caller's tçrmin~l port on the home switch and the shadow te~min~l port (action block 317).
A path desc.iplor is sent to the RAF process (action block 319) which ori in~lly30 requested the creation of the shadow process and from which the shadow process must ask for control of the path to the remote station 21. The home switch waitsuntil path continl~ity has been verified (action block 321) to be sure that the call is conne~d to the shadow port termin~l and then connects a digit receiver to the tçrmin~l port on the home switch to which the caller is connected (action block 323).
35 Thereafter, the request of the caller is processed using the static data of the access directory number (action block 325) in the same way as a local request from the 21 1427~

home termin~l port of the access di~ccloly number. TheleÇole, the remote caller 21 is provided with all ongin~ting services of the home port.
Several remote ~;u~l~n~cl~ can be granted the services of the home port terminal customer simlllt~ne~usly because separate shadow termin~l port/processes S can be created to handle these remote l~uc;,ls ~imlllt~neously. If one of the remote users has more than one call appearance, then each call appearance can be granted the services of the home port terminal or sepalate dirr~l~,nt home port terminals.
It is to be understood that the above description is only of one plcrell~d emho-limPnt of the invention. Null~el~us other arrang~merlb may be devised by one 10 skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. The invention is thus limited only as defined in the accompanying claims.

Claims (2)

1. In a telecommunications network having a first switching system in communication with a second switching system, a method for providing service features, comprising the steps of:
a) defining said features in a block of data and assigning said block of data to a customer at a first station served from a first terminal port on said first switching system;
b) using said features to process signals from said first station such that saidfeatures are available to process signals from the first station in accordance with said block of data;
c) connecting a first user at a second station being served on said second switching system to said first switching system via a second terminal port on said first switching system;
d) upon receipt of signals at said first switching system from said second station, allocating said block of data to said second terminal port such that said features are available to the first user to process signals from the second station;
e) using said features to process signals from said second station over the second port such that the same features available to the first station are available to the second station; and f) wherein said first user while being served by said second switching system has two call appearances on said second station and wherein granting said features to said first user comprises granting said features to one of said two call appearances.

2. In a telecommunications network having a first switching system in communication with a second switching system, a method of providing service features to customers, comprising the steps of:
a) defining features in a block of data and assigning said block of data to a customer at a first station served from a first terminal port on the first switching system such that said features are available to said customer at the first station to process signals from the first station;
b) connecting a second station being served on said second switching system to said first switching system via a second terminal port on said first switching system;
c) upon receipt of an authorized request from said second station, creating a shadow terminal port including a call process for said second terminal port and a controller to access said block of data and to process equivalents of out-of-band signals received from said second station;
d) allocating a path between said second terminal port and the shadow terminal port; and e) using said features to process the signals of the second station over the second terminal port such that the features process the signals of the second station in a manner identical to the manner in which signals are processed at the first station.