US20080273526A1 - Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network - Google Patents

Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US20080273526A1
US20080273526A1 US12/154,707 US15470708A US2008273526A1 US 20080273526 A1 US20080273526 A1 US 20080273526A1 US 15470708 A US15470708 A US 15470708A US 2008273526 A1 US2008273526 A1 US 2008273526A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
phone
phones
network
switched network
centrex
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US12/154,707
Inventor
Robert Michalski
Wayne Heinmiller
Dianna Tillks
Carol Gruchala
Louis M. Morales
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
AT&T Intellectual Property I LP
Original Assignee
SBC Knowledge Ventures LP
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by SBC Knowledge Ventures LP filed Critical SBC Knowledge Ventures LP
Priority to US12/154,707 priority Critical patent/US20080273526A1/en
Publication of US20080273526A1 publication Critical patent/US20080273526A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/44Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • H04M15/41Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • H04M15/43Billing software details
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • H04M15/80Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2215/00Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
    • H04M2215/01Details of billing arrangements
    • H04M2215/0152General billing plans, rate plans, e.g. charge rates, numbering plans, rate centers, customer accounts
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04MTELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2215/00Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
    • H04M2215/01Details of billing arrangements
    • H04M2215/0164Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to methods and systems of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one of the phones is associated with a non-affiliated network.
  • Centrex lines may be looking for ways to migrate some of their Centrex lines over to VoIP platforms.
  • One problem which arises as phones are moved over to VoIP platforms is the loss of Centrex services between the migrated and non-migrated phones. Accordingly, a need exists to allow Centrex customers who have moved some of their lines over to the VoIP platform to retain Centrex functionality on those lines, such as to support abbreviated dialing between the lines.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a system of supporting phone services between affiliated phones in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure.
  • the present disclosure discloses a method of supporting abbreviated dialing between phones.
  • the method includes determining dialing by a first phone of an abbreviated number associated with a second phone.
  • the first phone is in a circuit-switched network associated with a Centrex system and the second phone is in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network disassociated from the Centrex system.
  • Phones in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system.
  • the Centrex system supports abbreviated dialing between phones associated with the Centrex system.
  • the method further includes determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone to the second phone as a function of the abbreviated number.
  • the routing number includes IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone such as if both phones were associated with the Centrex system.
  • the present disclosure discloses a system of supporting abbreviated dialing between phone lines.
  • a first one of the phone lines is in a circuit-switched network and a second one of the phone lines is in an IP packet-switched network.
  • the system includes a Centrex system which supports abbreviated dialing between phone lines associated with the Centrex system.
  • Phone lines in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system and phone lines in the packet-switched network are disassociated from the Centrex system.
  • the system further includes a control point associated with the Centrex system. The control point is configured for determining dialing from the first phone line of an abbreviated number associated with the second phone line.
  • the control point is further configured for determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone line to the second phone line as a function of the abbreviated number, the routing number including IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone line such as if both phone lines were associated with the Centrex system.
  • One non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones in an environment where at least one of the phones is associated with a non-affiliated network.
  • the method may include determining dialing of an abbreviated number from an affiliated phone and determining a routing number as a function of the abbreviated number.
  • the abbreviated number may be associated with an affiliated phone of the non-affiliated network.
  • the routing number may be associated with the non-affiliated network and sufficient to support routing of a phone call between the affiliated phones.
  • the method may include billing the phone call as if the phone call was routed between affiliated networks and not between non-affiliated networks.
  • the method may include determining the phone call to be between affiliated phones prior to determining the routing number, such as if the phones are associated with a common Centrex system.
  • the method may include determining the phone call to be between non-affiliated networks prior to determining the routing number, such as if the phones are connected to different Centrex systems, if the phones are connected to networks provided by different service providers, or if one of the phones is connected to a TDM network and the other phone is connected to or reached through an IP network.
  • the method may include determining the routing number to support routing the phone call through an IP based network so as to support IP based phone calls, and optionally, packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to support IP based phone calls.
  • the method may include routing the phone call between the affiliated phones as a function of the routing number.
  • the system may include at least two affiliated phones and a control point configured for determining dialing of an abbreviated number. At least one of the phones may be associated with a non-affiliated network and the abbreviated number may be associated with a phone call between the phones such that the control point may be configured for determining a routing number as a function of the abbreviated number to support routing of a phone call between the phones.
  • the control point may be configured for determining billing for the phone call as if the phone call was routed between affiliated networks and not between non-affiliated networks.
  • the control point may be configured for determining the phone call to be between affiliated phones prior to determining the routing number if the phones are associated with a common Centrex system, such as if the phones are connected to different Centrex systems, if the phones are connected to networks provided by different service providers, or if one of the phones is connected to a TDM network and the other phone is connected to or reached through an IP network.
  • a common Centrex system such as if the phones are connected to different Centrex systems, if the phones are connected to networks provided by different service providers, or if one of the phones is connected to a TDM network and the other phone is connected to or reached through an IP network.
  • the control point may be configured for determining the routing number to support routing the phone call through an IP based network so as to support IP based phone calls.
  • the control point may be configured for packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to signals to IP based affiliated phone so as to support IP based phone calls.
  • the control point may be configured for generating the non-IP based signals from a TDM based phone and receiving the IP based signals with a VoIP based phone.
  • the control point may be configured for routing the phone call between the affiliated phones as a function of the routing number.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 of supporting phone services between affiliated phones 14 and 16 in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure.
  • System 10 generally relates to an environment wherein phone calls between affiliated phones 14 and 16 must be completed between an affiliated network 20 and at least one non-affiliated network 18 , i.e. networks 18 and 20 that may be provided by different service providers and/or associated with different operating systems.
  • Networks 18 and 20 may be wireline and/or wireless networks, or some combination thereof.
  • the present disclosure contemplates supporting calls communicated through terrestrial or extraterrestrial wireless configurations and through the inclusion of any number of other features, such as with soft switches, signal transfer points (STPs), signal service points (SSPs), service nodes (SNs), service package applications (SPAs), wireless cells, mobile switching centers (MSCs), home location registers (HLRs), visitor location registers (VLRs), server offices, server switches, feature servers, application program interfaces (APIs), and the like.
  • STPs signal transfer points
  • SSPs signal service points
  • SNs service nodes
  • SPAs service package applications
  • wireless cells mobile switching centers
  • MSCs home location registers
  • HLRs home location registers
  • VLRs visitor location registers
  • server offices server switches, feature servers, application program interfaces (APIs), and the like.
  • APIs application program interfaces
  • Networks 18 and 20 may be considered as non-affiliated networks if the they are supported by different services providers. Likewise, networks 18 and 20 may be considered as non-affiliated networks, even if the networks are supported by the same service provider, if they are associated with different operation systems, such as if one network is a time or frequency division multiplexed (TDM, FDM) network and the other is an Internet Protocol (IP) or other packet switching based network, and/or if one network is a associated with a Centrex system and the other is associated with a different Centrex system or none at all.
  • TDM time or frequency division multiplexed
  • IP Internet Protocol
  • the affiliations may be determined as a function of service providers, system configuration, and other dichotomies which distinguish between the networks.
  • networks 18 and 20 may be considered as non-affiliated networks if charges, fees, or other costs are typically incurred or associated with routing calls through the non-affiliated network. Accordingly, the present disclosure fully contemplates any number of configurations and means for determining whether networks 18 and 20 are affiliated or non-affiliated.
  • System 10 further requires phones 14 and 16 to be affiliated, i.e. with each other and at least one of networks 18 and 20 .
  • the affiliation of phones 14 and 16 may be determined in a manner similar to the affiliation of networks 18 and 20 .
  • phones 14 and 16 may be affiliated if they are associated with a common Centrex system, a common service provider, and/or a common account.
  • phones 14 and 16 may be affiliated if they have different operating characteristics or parameters, such as if one of the phones is a TDM or FDM phone and the other phone is an IP phone.
  • a control point 22 may be associated with the affiliated network 20 and phones 14 and 16 and configured to support the operation thereof.
  • control point 22 may be central office (CO), service control point (SCP), integrated service control point (ISCP), or any other device or system configured to support call routing between phones 14 and 16 .
  • control point 22 may be configured to support Centrex and other similar call management operations.
  • the phones may be located at remote locations and the control point may be configured to provide Centrex based services between the remotely located phones.
  • phones 14 and 16 may be associated with a Centrex customer having remotely located offices.
  • the Centrex operations may be distinct from typical phone services, as one having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate.
  • the Centrex services may include any number of services or custom services, including intercom communicating, call forwarding, call transferring, toll restricting, least cost routing, call holding, abbreviated dialing, and the like.
  • the Centrex operations and services described by the present disclosure are intended to relate to any number of operations and services and the systems, applications, or features required to support them. Of course, the present disclosure fully contemplates any number of other services and is not intended to be limited to the foregoing.
  • System 10 may include any number of features, exchanges, switches, networks and other parameters to facilitate servicing calls between the phones.
  • present disclosure fully contemplates any number of components and is not intended to be limited to the foregoing. Rather, the foregoing is intended to represent one of a number of configurations suitable for supporting operations in accordance with the present disclosure.
  • Control point 22 may be configured to determine a routing number to facilitate routing a phone call associated therewith.
  • a user may dial an abbreviated number associated with the second phone into the first phone, such as if phones 14 and 16 are associated with a common Centrex system that supports abbreviated dialing.
  • Control point 22 may include a lookup table, database, or other feature configured to determine the routing number as a function the abbreviated number.
  • the routing number may be one or more numbers associated with supporting routing of the phone call through non-affiliated network 18 .
  • non-affiliated network 18 may be associated with an IP network.
  • Control point 22 may be configured to determine a routing number or other addressing sufficient for relaying the call through soft-switches and other IP based devices associated with non-affiliated network 18 .
  • Control point 22 may initiate a local number portability (LNP) inquiry to determine a local routing number (LRN) associated with completing a call.
  • LNP local number portability
  • the LRN may include any number of digits and configurations, which for the exemplary purposes may correspond with a ten-digit number comprising an area code, city code, and destinations code, associated with the dialed extension, such as 847-727-2019.
  • the LRN may correspond with number plan areas (NPAs), such as the North American number plan area (NPA-NXX), or any number of other number plan areas, such as those associated with international dialing.
  • control point 22 being configured to determine any number of routing numbers and to support any number of operations associated with completing the call through the non-affiliated network.
  • the dialing phone is TDM based and the dialed phone is IP based
  • the control point may be configured to packetize the signals associated therewith and to provide sufficient addressing so as to facilitate transporting the signals over a non-affiliated IP network for receipt by the IP based phone.
  • the present disclosure is able to support abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones of non-affiliated networks, i.e., between a TDM and IP network.
  • Control point 22 may be configured to bill calls routed between the phones as if the calls were made over an affiliated network or through a common Centrex system. For example, if phones 14 and 16 are associated with a Centrex system, calls between the phones may be billed according to billing parameters associated with the Centrex system, even if the signaling outside of the Centrex system is performed. This may be advantageous in supporting customers having a Centrex system with some phones being supported over TDM networks and some phones being supported over IP networks, which is a common problem when customers migrate from TDM phones to IP phones.

Abstract

A method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between phones include determining dialing by a first phone of an abbreviated number associated with a second phone. The first phone is in a circuit-switched network associated with a Centrex system and the second phone is in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network disassociated from the Centrex system. The phones in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system. The Centrex system supports abbreviated dialing between phones associated with the Centrex system. A routing number for a phone call from the first phone to the second phone is determined as a function of the abbreviated number. The routing number includes IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone such as if both phones were associated with the Centrex system.

Description

    CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
  • This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/128,820, filed May 13, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,379,449; the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
  • 1. Field of the Disclosure
  • The present disclosure relates to methods and systems of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one of the phones is associated with a non-affiliated network.
  • 2. Background Art
  • With the availability of new technology, customers may be looking for ways to migrate some of their Centrex lines over to VoIP platforms. One problem which arises as phones are moved over to VoIP platforms is the loss of Centrex services between the migrated and non-migrated phones. Accordingly, a need exists to allow Centrex customers who have moved some of their lines over to the VoIP platform to retain Centrex functionality on those lines, such as to support abbreviated dialing between the lines.
  • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a system of supporting phone services between affiliated phones in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure.
  • DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
  • The present disclosure discloses a method of supporting abbreviated dialing between phones. The method includes determining dialing by a first phone of an abbreviated number associated with a second phone. The first phone is in a circuit-switched network associated with a Centrex system and the second phone is in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network disassociated from the Centrex system. Phones in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system. The Centrex system supports abbreviated dialing between phones associated with the Centrex system. The method further includes determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone to the second phone as a function of the abbreviated number. The routing number includes IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone such as if both phones were associated with the Centrex system.
  • The present disclosure discloses a system of supporting abbreviated dialing between phone lines. A first one of the phone lines is in a circuit-switched network and a second one of the phone lines is in an IP packet-switched network. The system includes a Centrex system which supports abbreviated dialing between phone lines associated with the Centrex system. Phone lines in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system and phone lines in the packet-switched network are disassociated from the Centrex system. The system further includes a control point associated with the Centrex system. The control point is configured for determining dialing from the first phone line of an abbreviated number associated with the second phone line. The control point is further configured for determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone line to the second phone line as a function of the abbreviated number, the routing number including IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone line such as if both phone lines were associated with the Centrex system.
  • One non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones in an environment where at least one of the phones is associated with a non-affiliated network. The method may include determining dialing of an abbreviated number from an affiliated phone and determining a routing number as a function of the abbreviated number. The abbreviated number may be associated with an affiliated phone of the non-affiliated network. The routing number may be associated with the non-affiliated network and sufficient to support routing of a phone call between the affiliated phones.
  • The method may include billing the phone call as if the phone call was routed between affiliated networks and not between non-affiliated networks.
  • The method may include determining the phone call to be between affiliated phones prior to determining the routing number, such as if the phones are associated with a common Centrex system.
  • The method may include determining the phone call to be between non-affiliated networks prior to determining the routing number, such as if the phones are connected to different Centrex systems, if the phones are connected to networks provided by different service providers, or if one of the phones is connected to a TDM network and the other phone is connected to or reached through an IP network.
  • The method may include determining the routing number to support routing the phone call through an IP based network so as to support IP based phone calls, and optionally, packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to support IP based phone calls.
  • The method may include routing the phone call between the affiliated phones as a function of the routing number.
  • Another non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system of supporting abbreviated dialing. The system may include at least two affiliated phones and a control point configured for determining dialing of an abbreviated number. At least one of the phones may be associated with a non-affiliated network and the abbreviated number may be associated with a phone call between the phones such that the control point may be configured for determining a routing number as a function of the abbreviated number to support routing of a phone call between the phones.
  • The control point may be configured for determining billing for the phone call as if the phone call was routed between affiliated networks and not between non-affiliated networks.
  • The control point may be configured for determining the phone call to be between affiliated phones prior to determining the routing number if the phones are associated with a common Centrex system, such as if the phones are connected to different Centrex systems, if the phones are connected to networks provided by different service providers, or if one of the phones is connected to a TDM network and the other phone is connected to or reached through an IP network.
  • The control point may be configured for determining the routing number to support routing the phone call through an IP based network so as to support IP based phone calls.
  • The control point may be configured for packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to signals to IP based affiliated phone so as to support IP based phone calls. The control point may be configured for generating the non-IP based signals from a TDM based phone and receiving the IP based signals with a VoIP based phone.
  • The control point may be configured for routing the phone call between the affiliated phones as a function of the routing number.
  • The above features and advantages, along with other features and advantages of the present disclosure, are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the present disclosure when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 of supporting phone services between affiliated phones 14 and 16 in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure. System 10 generally relates to an environment wherein phone calls between affiliated phones 14 and 16 must be completed between an affiliated network 20 and at least one non-affiliated network 18, i.e. networks 18 and 20 that may be provided by different service providers and/or associated with different operating systems.
  • Networks 18 and 20 may be wireline and/or wireless networks, or some combination thereof. For example, the present disclosure contemplates supporting calls communicated through terrestrial or extraterrestrial wireless configurations and through the inclusion of any number of other features, such as with soft switches, signal transfer points (STPs), signal service points (SSPs), service nodes (SNs), service package applications (SPAs), wireless cells, mobile switching centers (MSCs), home location registers (HLRs), visitor location registers (VLRs), server offices, server switches, feature servers, application program interfaces (APIs), and the like.
  • Networks 18 and 20, for the purposes of the present disclosure, may be considered as non-affiliated networks if the they are supported by different services providers. Likewise, networks 18 and 20 may be considered as non-affiliated networks, even if the networks are supported by the same service provider, if they are associated with different operation systems, such as if one network is a time or frequency division multiplexed (TDM, FDM) network and the other is an Internet Protocol (IP) or other packet switching based network, and/or if one network is a associated with a Centrex system and the other is associated with a different Centrex system or none at all.
  • The affiliations may be determined as a function of service providers, system configuration, and other dichotomies which distinguish between the networks. For example, networks 18 and 20 may be considered as non-affiliated networks if charges, fees, or other costs are typically incurred or associated with routing calls through the non-affiliated network. Accordingly, the present disclosure fully contemplates any number of configurations and means for determining whether networks 18 and 20 are affiliated or non-affiliated.
  • System 10 further requires phones 14 and 16 to be affiliated, i.e. with each other and at least one of networks 18 and 20. The affiliation of phones 14 and 16 may be determined in a manner similar to the affiliation of networks 18 and 20. For example, phones 14 and 16 may be affiliated if they are associated with a common Centrex system, a common service provider, and/or a common account. Unlike networks 18 and 20, however, phones 14 and 16 may be affiliated if they have different operating characteristics or parameters, such as if one of the phones is a TDM or FDM phone and the other phone is an IP phone.
  • A control point 22 may be associated with the affiliated network 20 and phones 14 and 16 and configured to support the operation thereof. For example, control point 22 may be central office (CO), service control point (SCP), integrated service control point (ISCP), or any other device or system configured to support call routing between phones 14 and 16. In particular, control point 22 may be configured to support Centrex and other similar call management operations. The phones may be located at remote locations and the control point may be configured to provide Centrex based services between the remotely located phones. For example, phones 14 and 16 may be associated with a Centrex customer having remotely located offices.
  • The Centrex operations may be distinct from typical phone services, as one having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate. The Centrex services may include any number of services or custom services, including intercom communicating, call forwarding, call transferring, toll restricting, least cost routing, call holding, abbreviated dialing, and the like. The Centrex operations and services described by the present disclosure are intended to relate to any number of operations and services and the systems, applications, or features required to support them. Of course, the present disclosure fully contemplates any number of other services and is not intended to be limited to the foregoing.
  • System 10 may include any number of features, exchanges, switches, networks and other parameters to facilitate servicing calls between the phones. Of course, the present disclosure fully contemplates any number of components and is not intended to be limited to the foregoing. Rather, the foregoing is intended to represent one of a number of configurations suitable for supporting operations in accordance with the present disclosure.
  • Control point 22 may be configured to determine a routing number to facilitate routing a phone call associated therewith. In more detail, a user may dial an abbreviated number associated with the second phone into the first phone, such as if phones 14 and 16 are associated with a common Centrex system that supports abbreviated dialing. Control point 22 may include a lookup table, database, or other feature configured to determine the routing number as a function the abbreviated number. The routing number may be one or more numbers associated with supporting routing of the phone call through non-affiliated network 18.
  • For example, non-affiliated network 18 may be associated with an IP network. Control point 22 may be configured to determine a routing number or other addressing sufficient for relaying the call through soft-switches and other IP based devices associated with non-affiliated network 18. Control point 22 may initiate a local number portability (LNP) inquiry to determine a local routing number (LRN) associated with completing a call. The LRN may include any number of digits and configurations, which for the exemplary purposes may correspond with a ten-digit number comprising an area code, city code, and destinations code, associated with the dialed extension, such as 847-727-2019. The LRN may correspond with number plan areas (NPAs), such as the North American number plan area (NPA-NXX), or any number of other number plan areas, such as those associated with international dialing.
  • Of course, the present disclosure contemplates control point 22 being configured to determine any number of routing numbers and to support any number of operations associated with completing the call through the non-affiliated network. For example, if the dialing phone is TDM based and the dialed phone is IP based, the control point may be configured to packetize the signals associated therewith and to provide sufficient addressing so as to facilitate transporting the signals over a non-affiliated IP network for receipt by the IP based phone. In this manner, the present disclosure is able to support abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones of non-affiliated networks, i.e., between a TDM and IP network.
  • Control point 22 may be configured to bill calls routed between the phones as if the calls were made over an affiliated network or through a common Centrex system. For example, if phones 14 and 16 are associated with a Centrex system, calls between the phones may be billed according to billing parameters associated with the Centrex system, even if the signaling outside of the Centrex system is performed. This may be advantageous in supporting customers having a Centrex system with some phones being supported over TDM networks and some phones being supported over IP networks, which is a common problem when customers migrate from TDM phones to IP phones.
  • While embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the present disclosure. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (13)

1. A method of supporting abbreviated dialing between phones, the method comprising:
determining dialing by a first phone of an abbreviated number associated with a second phone, wherein the first phone is in a circuit-switched network associated with a Centrex system and the second phone is in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network disassociated from the Centrex system, wherein phones in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system, wherein the Centrex system supports abbreviated dialing between phones associated with the Centrex system; and
determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone to the second phone as a function of the abbreviated number, the routing number including IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone such as if both phones were associated with the Centrex system.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
billing the phone call as if the phone call was routed between the same network and not between different networks.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining the phone call to be between different networks prior to determining the routing number.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the circuit-switched network is a TDM network.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to support IP based phone calls.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the packet-switched network is a VoIP network.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
routing the phone call between the phones as a function of the routing number.
8. A system of supporting abbreviated dialing between phone lines, wherein a first one of the phone lines is in a circuit-switched network and a second one of the phone lines is in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network, the system comprising:
a Centrex system which supports abbreviated dialing between phone lines associated with the Centrex system, wherein phone lines in the circuit-switched network are associated with the Centrex system and phone lines in the packet-switched network are disassociated from the Centrex system;
a control point associated with the Centrex system and configured for determining dialing from the first phone line of an abbreviated number associated with the second phone line, wherein the control point is further configured for determining a routing number for a phone call from the first phone line to the second phone line as a function of the abbreviated number, the routing number including IP addressing sufficient to support routing of the phone call through the packet-switched network to the second phone line such as if both phone lines were associated with the Centrex system.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the control point is further configured for determining billing for the phone call as if the phone call was routed between the same network.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein the circuit-switched network is a TDM network.
11. The system of claim 8 wherein the control point is further configured for packetizing signals associated with the phone call from non-IP based signals to IP signals so as to support IP based phone calls.
12. The system of claim 8 wherein the circuit-switched network is a TDM network and the packet-switched network is a VoIP network.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the control point is further configured for routing the phone call between the phones as a function of the routing number.
US12/154,707 2005-05-13 2008-05-27 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network Abandoned US20080273526A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/154,707 US20080273526A1 (en) 2005-05-13 2008-05-27 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11/128,820 US7379449B2 (en) 2005-05-13 2005-05-13 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network
US12/154,707 US20080273526A1 (en) 2005-05-13 2008-05-27 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/128,820 Continuation US7379449B2 (en) 2005-05-13 2005-05-13 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20080273526A1 true US20080273526A1 (en) 2008-11-06

Family

ID=37419133

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/128,820 Active 2026-09-13 US7379449B2 (en) 2005-05-13 2005-05-13 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network
US12/154,707 Abandoned US20080273526A1 (en) 2005-05-13 2008-05-27 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/128,820 Active 2026-09-13 US7379449B2 (en) 2005-05-13 2005-05-13 Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network

Country Status (1)

Country Link
US (2) US7379449B2 (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2023187534A1 (en) * 2022-03-30 2023-10-05 Jio Platforms Limited A network device and method for a universal central exchange

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7986656B2 (en) * 2007-01-17 2011-07-26 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Method and system for inter-network mobile number portability

Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5881145A (en) * 1996-07-29 1999-03-09 Northern Telecom Limited Redirection of calls to ported directory numbers in telephone networks
US5892821A (en) * 1995-06-02 1999-04-06 Bell Sygma Inc. Virtual wide area centrex
US20020075847A1 (en) * 2000-12-15 2002-06-20 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Methods, system and gateway for accessing features of equipment connected to a PSTN
US20020176404A1 (en) * 2001-04-13 2002-11-28 Girard Gregory D. Distributed edge switching system for voice-over-packet multiservice network
US20030231759A1 (en) * 2002-04-16 2003-12-18 Bedingfield James C. Methods and systems for implementing personal dialing plans
US6718030B1 (en) * 2000-08-10 2004-04-06 Westell Technologies, Inc. Virtual private network system and method using voice over internet protocol
US20040072593A1 (en) * 2002-10-10 2004-04-15 Robbins Barry R. Extension of a local area phone system to a wide area network
US6778656B1 (en) * 2000-09-01 2004-08-17 Alcatel Telecommunications system, service control point and method for establishing at least one new dialing plan utilizing the traditional international dialing plan
US20050025128A1 (en) * 2003-08-01 2005-02-03 Tienyu Chiu Integration of an IP private branch exchange with a telecommunication switch provides users with additional features
US6865266B1 (en) * 2002-01-16 2005-03-08 Verizon Services Corp. Methods and apparatus for transferring from a PSTN to a VOIP telephone network
US20050243991A1 (en) * 2003-12-05 2005-11-03 Utstarcom, Inc. Method for remote service forwarding (RSF) between dissimilar systems with operator, service and location portability
US7062032B1 (en) * 2002-11-18 2006-06-13 At&T Corp Virtual work environment for remote users

Patent Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5892821A (en) * 1995-06-02 1999-04-06 Bell Sygma Inc. Virtual wide area centrex
US5881145A (en) * 1996-07-29 1999-03-09 Northern Telecom Limited Redirection of calls to ported directory numbers in telephone networks
US6718030B1 (en) * 2000-08-10 2004-04-06 Westell Technologies, Inc. Virtual private network system and method using voice over internet protocol
US6778656B1 (en) * 2000-09-01 2004-08-17 Alcatel Telecommunications system, service control point and method for establishing at least one new dialing plan utilizing the traditional international dialing plan
US20020075847A1 (en) * 2000-12-15 2002-06-20 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Methods, system and gateway for accessing features of equipment connected to a PSTN
US20020176404A1 (en) * 2001-04-13 2002-11-28 Girard Gregory D. Distributed edge switching system for voice-over-packet multiservice network
US6865266B1 (en) * 2002-01-16 2005-03-08 Verizon Services Corp. Methods and apparatus for transferring from a PSTN to a VOIP telephone network
US20030231759A1 (en) * 2002-04-16 2003-12-18 Bedingfield James C. Methods and systems for implementing personal dialing plans
US20040072593A1 (en) * 2002-10-10 2004-04-15 Robbins Barry R. Extension of a local area phone system to a wide area network
US7062032B1 (en) * 2002-11-18 2006-06-13 At&T Corp Virtual work environment for remote users
US20050025128A1 (en) * 2003-08-01 2005-02-03 Tienyu Chiu Integration of an IP private branch exchange with a telecommunication switch provides users with additional features
US20050243991A1 (en) * 2003-12-05 2005-11-03 Utstarcom, Inc. Method for remote service forwarding (RSF) between dissimilar systems with operator, service and location portability

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2023187534A1 (en) * 2022-03-30 2023-10-05 Jio Platforms Limited A network device and method for a universal central exchange

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20060256946A1 (en) 2006-11-16
US7379449B2 (en) 2008-05-27

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US8447024B2 (en) Systems and methods for providing ENUM in an LNP environment
CN101682679B (en) Reverse call set up via an interconnection between different networks
CA2565430C (en) A system and method for intercepting international calls and applying least cost routing for selected subscribers
US6741693B1 (en) Method of operating a virtual private network
US20060193461A1 (en) Method and system for dynamically terminating wireless and wireline calls between carriers
US6882722B2 (en) Virtual private communications network
US6778656B1 (en) Telecommunications system, service control point and method for establishing at least one new dialing plan utilizing the traditional international dialing plan
US20180227429A1 (en) Non-geographic numbering and call routing
EP1434446B1 (en) Carrier identification codes conversion
US6493339B1 (en) Method of handling a telephone call
US8411831B2 (en) Call center mapping system and method
US7379449B2 (en) Method and system of supporting abbreviated dialing between affiliated phones wherein at least one phone is associated with a non-affiliated network
CN101729930B (en) Method for realizing multi-intelligent service fusion via intelligent network gateway
US20060246951A1 (en) Wireless intelligent network custom call routing for integrating enterprise networks with mobility networks
CN101014004B (en) Method and system for processing emergent calling and a softswitch
US8311534B2 (en) Roaming in telecommunication networks
SE517319C2 (en) Systems and devices in private telecommunications systems where IP networks are used for signaling regarding inquiry and response messages
KR100923569B1 (en) Location server, communication system comprising the location server and communication method using the location server
US8355495B2 (en) Multi vendor NPAC administration peering
US20090022303A1 (en) Reduction of Wireless Communication Costs in Enterprises
CN101098551B (en) Calling route selection method and communication system under roaming access mode
AU4675100A (en) Method and apparatus for local routing of toll free calls
US7924997B1 (en) Method and apparatus for transferring services for a first location to a different location in response to a predetermined event
US7433360B2 (en) Virtual private communications network
JP2000224626A (en) System for routing between exchanges

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION