WO2000036814A1

WO2000036814A1 - Telecommunications system with charge rate information display function

Info

Publication number: WO2000036814A1
Application number: PCT/EP1999/009725
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joachim Cappel
Original assignee: Nokia Networks Oy
Priority date: 1998-12-12
Filing date: 1999-12-10
Publication date: 2000-06-22
Also published as: DE19857449A1; AU1975500A

Abstract

A telecommunications system with a terminal device, in particular telephone apparatus, which is provided with an interface device for the digital data transmission to and from a switching device (Local Exchange LE) of a first network with an access being enabled through the switching device to at least one further switching device belonging to a further network with a predeterminable network preselection (Network Access Code) and with the digital data transmission occuring through a signalling protocol and with the signalling protocol, and in particular the ISDN D-channel protocol or PSTN protocol, being provided with a charge rate information protocol range for the transmission of charge rate information from the switching device to the terminal device on a call to be started, with the charge rate information considering the desired area code and, optionally, the network preselection of the desired further network in order to further develop a telecommunications system, or a method aimed at the same, so that the user is provided prior to the commencement of a call with up-to-date information on the charge rate of a call to be performed.

Description

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM WITH CHARGE RATE INFORMATION

DISPLAY FUNCTION

The invention relates to a telecommunications system with a terminal device, in particular telephone apparatus, which is provided with an interface device for the digital data transmission to and from a switching device (Local Exchange LE) of a first network, with an access being enabled through the switching device to at least one further switching device belonging to a further network with a predeterminable network preselection (Network Access Code) and with the digital data transmission occurring through a signalling protocol.

An apparatus of the kind mentioned above as well as a method are known from practice.

Following the liberalisation of the telephone market the opportunity has arisen to make telephone calls through telephone companies other than the standard network operator who in the past pursued the telecommunications business as a monopolist. In principle there are two variants that can be used by the telephone customer in order to perform the conversation via the new telephone companies. In the one variant, which is the so-called "call by call" variant, the caller decides before each telephone call again which company he or she wishes to use for placing the phone call. Before the actual subscriber's number the customer must dial the network prefix of the network of the desired telephone company and then the complete subscriber's number. When this method is employed charges are invoiced in the conventional manner through the former monopolist whose list of calls will disclose the costs for the telephone calls performed through the new telephone companies.

As a variant the possibility is offered in form of "preselection" that the customer determines to use only one telephone company for long-distance calls. All calls that start with a 0 are automatically re-routed through the network of the new company. It is no longer necessary to dial any network identifier. In order to use "preselection" the customer must register with the respective company so that the technical presets can be made .

The respective charge rates will differ for each provider for the calls to be made. They differ from one another by the respective dependence on the time of day, weekday and distance. In order to provide the user with an indication how the respective call can best be conducted, so-called Least Cost Routers (LCR) are known which can either be assigned as so-called separate units to the terminal device or are arranged in a major local system as Private Branch Exchange PBX. They will calculate the cheapest route through a network and the cheapest provider for the respective call. These devices retrieve the charge rate information from a local database where the information on all charge rates is stored. Since such a database has to be regularly updated with changes in the information on the charge rates, the disadvantage is that the information on the charge rates is frequently outdated.

Another possibility for a cost-effective selection of telephone networks is checking the charge rates of the various providers in the Internet or in certain magazines. This variant is time-consuming and also leads to frequently outdated information. It is also known in practice that the terminal device will display the incurred charges during or after the call. The user, however, does not have any possibility to intervene in the network as desired by him.

The invention is thus based on the object of further developing a telecommunications system or a method for such a system in the respect that the user is provided with up-to-date information on the charges of the call to be performed prior to commencing the call.

This object is achieved in accordance with the invention that the signalling protocol, and in particular the ISDN D-channel protocol or PSTN protocol, is provided with a charge rate information protocol range for the transmission of charge rate information on a call from the switching device to the terminal device, with the charge rate information considering the desired area code and, optionally, the network preselection of the desired further network.

According to the variant of the invention relating to the process employed, this object is achieved in such a way that the preselecting unit is provided with a comparator unit for comparing the stored values obtained for each network preselection.

The invention is characterised in that the user is informed prior to performing the call about the applicable charge rates of the chosen network provider. The information on the charge rate is transmitted directly from the switching device belonging to the selected network to the terminal device. Accordingly, the user can obtain the applicable charge rate information both for the standard network (e.g. Deutsche Telekom) as well as for any of the "new networks" if the user desires to use any of the other network operators. Since this information on the costs for the call must already be present in the switching device for invoicing reasons, it can be assumed that the obtained charge rate information will always be up-to-date without the user having to take any measures by himself or herself to update the information.

The display of the charge rate information can either occur by way of an acoustic display (standard telephone receiver) or an additional optical display unit which is usually present in modern convenient telephone receivers.

For the purpose of transmitting the charge rate information the range of the signalling protocol is extended by a range in which the charge rate information is transmitted. In fixed-line devices this will usually occur through the extension of the ISDN D-channel protocol or the conventional PSTN signalling protocol. In mobile radio devices this will occur through the signalling protocols used in the GSM standard or in other cellular networks. The invention can thus be realised independent of the terminal device used, be it for a fixed-line device or for a mobile phone. The implementation of the invention can occur both in the switching unit as well as in the terminal device as long as the same are provided with display devices for messages. When small-size LCD displays are used in the terminal devices, the charge rate information can be displayed in a compressed format by using a compression apparatus so that the charge rate information can be displayed visually in a reduced manner.

A particularly preferable embodiment of the invention can be obtained in that the terminal device is assigned a preselecting device with which the network preselections of different network operators can be predetermined successively and thus the most favourable charge rate can automatically be determined by comparisons for a specific selected area code.

Further preferred embodiments are disclosed by the following subclaims.

The invention is now explained in closer detail by reference to the enclosed drawing and two tables, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a telecommunications system in accordance with the invention with the respective devices.

Table 1 shows a first variant of a method in accordance with the invention for operating a telecommunications system according to fig. 1.

Table 2 shows a second variant for a method in accordance with the invention for operating a telecommunications system according to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows the structure of an embodiment of a telecommunications system in accordance with the invention. It comprises a telecommunications terminal device, i.e. a telephone receiver which in the conventional manner is provided with a keypad and a display. The telephone terminal is in connection via an interface device Network Terminal NT for digital data transmission with the switching unit (local exchange) of the standard network, e.g. that of Deutsche Telekom. Digital data transmission is performed via a signalling protocol which is standardised. The switching device of the standard network provider is in connection with further switching devices of other network providers. Fig. 1 shows only one such further switching device (NOP Local Exchange) as an example.

The signalling protocol is provided in accordance with the invention with a charge rate protocol range in addition to the conventional data range which is available for the transmission of charge rate information from the switching device to the display of the terminal device. The system works as follows:

In a first variant which will be explained in connection with table 1, the user at first manually dials the network preselection of the desired network by entering the numbers on the keypad. The network preselection is transmitted to the switching device via the digital interface device of the terminal device (network terminal) . Thereupon the switching device switches over to the new switching device of the desired network.

As a next step the user enters the area code of the desired subscriber and it will be transmitted. Thereupon the new switching device of the desired network will calculate the charge rate information for this desired connection by considering the desired dialled area code. The data according to the calculated charge rate are transmitted to the terminal device via the charge rate information protocol range available in the signalling protocol .

The display of the charge rate information on the display will show the user the charge rate applicable for the planned call. If he or she chooses to accept this charge rate, the call can be started. If the user wishes to obtain information about another company, the aforementioned procedure is employed by entering the network preselection of the other network provider.

A second variant for performing the method in accordance with the invention is illustrated in connection with table 2.

In this variant the terminal device is provided with a preselecting device (not shown in fig. 1) with which successively all network preselections of all other connected networks can be automatically preseleted, the respective charge rate information for the desired area code can be calculated successively in the respective switching device and can be transmitted back to the terminal device and can be saved there as stored values assigned to the respective network. Thereafter a comparison of the respective stored values and a selection of the stored value with the lowest charge rate is performed. The network with the lowest charge rate can then be automatically dialled via the preselecting device .

The procedure in connection with table 2 occurs as follows :

The area code of the desired regional district is at first entered by the user manually and transmitted to the switching device. Thereafter the user presses a key provided on the terminal device in order to active the preselecting device. Thereafter the preselecting device automatically dials a first network preselection of a third-party network, whereupon the switching device of said third-party network will switch over. The charge rate information will be calculated there by taking the desired area code into account and transmitted back to the terminal device via the predetermined protocol range in the signalling protocol. The pertinent charge rate information is saved in the terminal device as a stored value.

Thereafter the preselection of the next network occurs automatically and the aforementioned steps are repeated until a respective charge rate information is available for each saved network.

Thereafter a comparator device will compare the individual stored values with one another and will show the stored value with the lowest rate in the display, so that the call can be started by the user by using the thus obtained information via the network with the cheapest rate.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system with a terminal device, in particular a stationary telephone apparatus or a mobile phone, which is provided with an interface device for the digital data transmission to and from a switching device (Local Exchange LE) of a first network, with an access being enabled through the switching device to at least one further switching device belonging to a further network with a predeterminable network preselection (Network Access Code) and with the digital data transmission occurring through a signalling protocol, characterised in that the signalling protocol, and in particular the ISDN D-channel protocol or PSTN protocol, is provided with a charge rate information protocol range for the transmission of charge rate information from the switching device to the terminal device on a call to be started, with the charge rate information considering the desired area code and, optionally, the network preselection of the desired further network.

2. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the terminal device is provided with an acoustic display unit for the charge rate information.

3. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the terminal device is provided with an optical display unit for the charge rate information.

4. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that a compression device for compressing the data to be displayed is assigned to the optical display unit.

5. A telecommunications system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the terminal device is provided with a keypad for the manual input of the area code and the network preselection of the further network.

6. A telecommunications system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the terminal device is provided with a preselecting unit for the automatic preselection of the network preselection of further networks and a memory unit for the separate storage of charge rate information obtained from said further network.

7. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that the preselecting unit is provided with a comparator unit for comparing the stored values obtained for each network preselection.

8. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the comparator unit is coupled in such a way with the display unit that the network preselection and the charge rate information of the lowest charge rate for the desired call can be displayed.

9. A method for operating a telecommunications system which is provided with a terminal device which is in connection via a digital interface with a switching device (LE) of a first network, with an access being enabled through the switching device to at least one further switching device belonging to a further network with a predeterminable network preselection (Network Access Code) and with the digital data transmission occurring through a signalling protocol, characterised in that on entering a desired area code and, optionally, the network preselection of a desired further network the user is provided with charge rate information on this call prior to the commencement of the call.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, characterised by the following steps:

a) the manual input by the user of the network preselection of the desired further network into the terminal device;

b) the trunk offering of the switching device to the further switching device of the desired further network;

c) manual input of the desired area code by the user;

d) calculation of the pertinent charge rate in the further switching device assigned to the desired network and transmission of the same to the first switching device;

e) transmission of the charge rate information via the provided charge rate information protocol range in the signalling protocol to the terminal device;

f) display of the charge rate information on the display device of the terminal device; g) commencement of call.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9, characterised by the following steps:

a) manual input of the desired area code by the user;

b) activation of an automatic preselecting unit for network preselections of various further networks by the user;

c) automatic selection of a network preselection as . predeterminable in the preselecting unit;

d) switch-over of the switching device to the further switching device belonging to the desired network;

e) calculation of the charge rate information for the desired network by considering the area code;

f) transmission of said charge rate information to the preselecting device;

g) saving of said charge rate information in the preselecting device;

h) repetition of steps (c) through (g) until all available network preselections have been dialled automatically; i) calculation of the cheapest charge rate information in the preselecting unit;

j) display of the cheapest charge rate information together with the pertinent network preselection in the display device;

k) commencement of call.