WO2004100575A2

WO2004100575A2 - Call management protocol with nominated caller group

Info

Publication number: WO2004100575A2
Application number: PCT/IB2004/001441
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ari Kahn
Original assignee: Ari Kahn
Priority date: 2003-05-08
Filing date: 2004-05-07
Publication date: 2004-11-18
Also published as: WO2004100575A3

Abstract

A method and system for operating a telephony service are disclosed. A telephony network has a database which stores data associated with subscribers, defining one or more groups of nominated callers. In operation, the network monitors calls to the subscriber to identify calls originating from members of the group or groups. If a call is detected as originating from such a group member, a call is established to the subscriber, notifying the subscriber of the incoming call and overriding any existing call divert instructions from the subscriber. The members of the nominated caller group will normally be entered by the subscriber, for example, via a website or IVR center, but could also be determined automatically by the network, based on an analysis of calls made to and from the subscriber's number.

Description

Call Management Protocol with Nominated Caller Group

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

THIS invention relates to a method and system for operating a telephony service, and in particular to a real-time call management protocol on a telephony network.

Subscribers on telephone networks are often given a range of functionality to manage incoming calls. Under conventional call management protocols a range of options is provided to accommodate the preferences of the subscriber. The options that are chosen by the subscriber would apply to all incoming calls. With the advent of modern telephone networks and, more recently, cellular networks with enhanced functionality, the potential now exists of modifying existing network management protocols to deal with the management of incoming calls so as to provide additional or enhanced options to subscribers. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a method of operating a telephony service, the method comprising:

receiving and storing data associated with a subscriber of a telephony network, the data defining at least one nominated caller group;

monitoring calls to the subscriber to identify calls originating from callers who are included in said at least one nominated caller group; and

if a call originates from a caller included in said at least one nominated caller group, establishing a call to the subscriber such that:

i) any one or more call divert instructions from the subscriber on the network are overridden; and

ii) the subscriber is notified of the incoming call.

Preferably, the method includes establishing the call irrespective of other calls that are connected the subscriber.

The method may comprise applying a call waiting instruction so that detection of a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group causes a call waiting notification to be sent to the subscriber, irrespective of other subscriber-determined call handling instructions.

Alternatively, the method may comprise connecting a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group to the subscriber directly, disconnecting a pre-existing call or putting it on hold. Typically, the method includes the additional step of allocating at least a portion of the charges associated with the call to the subscriber.

The method may include generating a notification to the subscriber that a call has been established with a caller belonging to the subscriber's nominated caller group.

Alternatively, or in addition, the method may include generating a notification to the caller that a call has been established with a subscriber whose nominated caller group includes the caller. In such a case, the notification may comprise an alternative ringing tone played to the caller.

The subscriber may enter the data defining said at least one nominated caller group.

For example, the subscriber may enter the data via a website, an interactive voice response (IVR) center, or directly to the network via a telephone keypad.

Alternatively, or in addition, the network may assign members to one or more default nominated caller groups automatically by analyzing calls originating from and made to the subscriber's telephone number.

The subscriber and the caller may be making use of telephony networks operated by the same or different operators.

Further according to the invention there is provided a system for operating a telephony service, the system comprising:

a telephony network with a plurality of subscribers;

at least one database for storing data associated with subscribers, the data defining groups of nominated callers; and at least one network node with screening logic arranged to:

i) monitor calls to a subscriber to identify calls originating from callers who are included in the subscriber's group of nominated callers; and

ii) establish a call to the subscriber originating from a caller included in the subscriber's group of nominated callers, such that:

a) any one or more call divert instructions from the subscriber on the network are overridden; and

b) the subscriber is notified of the incoming call.

The network node will typically be a Service Control Point (SCP) in an intelligent network (IN).

The screening logic may be arranged to apply a call waiting instruction so that detection of a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group causes a call waiting notification to be sent to the subscriber, irrespective of other subscriber-determined call handling instructions.

Alternatively, the screening logic may be arranged to connect a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group to the subscriber directly, disconnecting a pre-existing call or putting it on hold.

The system may include a website or an interactive voice response (IVR) center arranged to receive data from subscribers defining said at least one nominated caller group.

The system may further include software arranged to analyze calls originating from and made to subscribers' telephone numbers, and to assign members to one or more default nominated caller groups automatically.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The single drawing is a simplified diagrammatic illustration of a call management system according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

The method and system of the invention are preferably implemented in a modern telephony network, including conventional fixed or wireless networks, and particularly an intelligent network (IN) platform which comprises a plurality of distributed and scalable network nodes which handle call setup logic and specialised routing instructions. The method and system of the invention may also be implemented across more than one telephony network that are linked but operated by different operators. It is nevertheless easiest to implement the method and system homogeneously, that is, where the called and calling parties are members of the same network.

The drawing shows, in a highly simplified schematic form, the architecture of a part of a modern GSM mobile telephone network. The diagram does not purport to be comprehensive but merely illustrative. The network will preferably embody intelligent network (IN) functionality, but this is not essential for implementation of the invention.

In Figure 1 , a mobile telephone 10 of a caller communicates with a first base station 12 which in turn communicates with a mobile switching center (MSC) 14. The base station 12 comprises a base station controller (BSC) and a base transceiver station (BTS) with associated antenna (not shown). Associated with the mobile switching center 14 is a visited location register (VLR) 16.

A call recipient has a mobile telephone 18 which communicates with a second base station 20. The base station 20 is connected to a further mobile switching center (MSC) 22 with its own associated visited location register 24. (In some cases, the two base stations could be connected to the same MSC.) The respective mobile switching centers 14 and 22 and the respective visited location registers 16 and 24 are interconnected as shown. The visited location registers are also connected to a home location register (HLR) 26 and to a billing center 28. The MSC 22 is connected to the HLR 26 via the VLR 24. The HLR is a central database containing data relating to the account status and predetermined network settings of subscribers, such as call settings, in particular call divert and call waiting settings. The VLRs are decentralised databases which are updated with data from the HLR relating to a particular subscriber when that subscriber's telephone connects to the MSC in question.

Connected to the MSC 14 are a service control point (SCP) 30, a service data point (SDP) 32 and a service switching point (SSP) 34.

The SCP of the MSC 22 servicing the call recipient has terminating screening logic which is invoked when calls are set to route to the call recipient. The SDP is a database associated with the SCP containing data associated with the call recipient and in the context of this invention defining one or more groups of callers and their respective phone numbers.

The SSP is an optional intelligent network component forming part of a switching subsystem which essentially defines a network layer associated with switching services.

In the context of the drawing, the call recipient with the mobile telephone 18 is a subscriber who has one or more nominated caller groups on the network. The creation of such groups can be done, for example, by accessing a website provided by the network operator and entering the relevant data, by using an interactive voice response (IVR) center provided by the network operator, or entering the details of the respective approved callers in the nominated caller group directly to the network, via the keypad of the mobile telephone 18.

The members of the nominated caller group can be subscribers of the same network or a different network, and would typically be individuals to whom the subscriber has allocated a high priority relative to other possible callers. For example, the group members may be family members or other preferred callers.

It is also possible for the network to intelligently and automatically (employing software that applies well known artificial intelligence rules) assign members to default groups by analysing the trends and patterns of numbers and phone calls originating from and made to a subscriber's telephone number, since these numbers, call durations and call frequencies are all known and available to the network operator. In the most simple example, the network can analyze the frequency of calls made to and from other telephone numbers and include the most frequently called and/or calling numbers in a nominated caller group.

The subscriber-entered settings are stored in the home location register (HLR) 26 which stores all data related to the subscriber, and this data is propagated to the relevant visited location register (VLR) 24 when the subscriber is logged onto the network, so that the subscriber service control point (SCP) 30 associated with the relevant mobile switching center (MSC) has access to the relevant subscriber-specific profiles, including the current state of the subscriber's call divert and call waiting settings.

When the caller using the mobile telephone 10 initiates a call to the subscriber, the MSC 22 and/or the service switching point (SSP) 34 request the service control point (SCP) 30 to determine whether any special conditions or instructions are defined relating to the call recipient prior to completing the routing of the call.

The SCP 30 for the call recipient determines that the caller is a member of the nominated caller group, for example utilising caller line identification (CLI) data (it is also possible to use other data like the IMSI - the international mobile subscriber identity) and requests either the SSP 34 or the mobile switching center (MSC) 22 to temporarily override the current status of any call divert or call waiting settings for the mobile telephone 18 of the call recipient.

Thus, even if the call recipient has entered settings to divert calls when busy or to suppress call waiting indications, the call is routed through to the call recipient's mobile phone.

Assuming that the call recipient's mobile phone is on and no call is currently in progress, the mobile telephone 18 of the call recipient will ring and can be answered normally. Preferably, a modified ringing tone is generated to the caller to indicate that the caller is a member of a nominated caller group. If the call recipient is busy on a pre-existing call, a call waiting indication can be generated, or the pre-existing call may even be disconnected or put on hold automatically. These latter options can be subscriber or network determined. Significantly, existing call divert settings entered by the subscriber are over-ridden, so that calls from members of the nominated caller group or groups are given priority. In either case, a notification is generated to the subscriber that a call has been established with a caller belonging to the subscriber's nominated caller group. The notification may take the form of a special call-waiting tone, for example. Once the call is established, a further confirmatory tone can be generated to indicate to the subscriber and/or the caller that the caller is a member of a nominated caller group.

Some or all of the members of the nominated caller group may be approved reverse charge callers, and reverse charge calls are preferably presented to the call recipient with an option to accept the charges (for example, by pressing the green "call" or "send" button) or to reject the call. All or a predetermined portion of the call charges may be assumed.

Conveniently, a subscriber making use of the described service may be provided with default settings by the network operator, and/or can configure the relevant settings via a website or the mobile telephone itself, preferably with the aid of user-friendly menus.

An important feature of the above described method and system is that callers belonging to the nominated caller group, and who may not at the time of originating the call have any airtime credit available and would thus normally not be permitted by the network to originate calls and connect to a destination number, are now able to do so provided that they are also approved reverse-charge callers in the call recipient's nominated group of callers.

The described method and system have a number of advantages. They allow subscribers to nominate a group of approved callers who will automatically override the call divert, call waiting and other similar instructions that would conventionally apply to other callers to the subscriber. This allows the subscriber to determine a group of preferred or high-priority callers. This is particularly useful in the case of family members whom the subscriber may wish to give preference over other callers, for example. Preferably, the approved callers are pre-approved reverse-charge callers.

Moreover, the callers who are included in the subscriber's nominated group of callers may be changed from time to time by the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method of operating a telephony service, the method comprising:

iii) the subscriber is notified of the incoming call.

2. A method according to claim 1 including establishing the call irrespective of other calls that are connected the subscriber.

3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising applying a call waiting instruction so that detection of a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group causes a call waiting notification to be sent to the subscriber, irrespective of other subscriber-determined call handling instructions.

4. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising connecting a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group to the subscriber directly, disconnecting a pre-existing call or putting it on hold.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 including the additional step of allocating at least a portion of the charges associated with the call to the subscriber.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 including generating a notification to the subscriber that a call has been established with a caller belonging to the subscriber's nominated caller group.

7. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 including generating a notification to the caller that a call has been established with a subscriber whose nominated caller group includes the caller.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein the notification comprises an alternative ringing tone played to the caller.

9. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the subscriber enters the data defining said at least one nominated caller group.

10. A method according to claim 9 wherein the subscriber enters the data via a website, an interactive voice response (IVR) center, or directly to the network via a telephone keypad.

11. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the network assigns members to one or more default nominated caller groups automatically by analyzing calls originating from and made to the subscriber's telephone number.

12. A system for operating a telephony service, the system comprising:

a telephony network with a plurality of subscribers; at least one database for storing data associated with subscribers, the data defining groups of nominated callers; and

at least one network node with screening logic arranged to:

b) the subscriber is notified of the incoming call.

13. A system according to claim 12 wherein the network node is a Service Control Point (SCP) in an intelligent network (IN).

14. A system according to claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the screening logic is arranged to apply a call waiting instruction so that detection of a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group causes a call waiting notification to be sent to the subscriber, irrespective of other subscriber-determined call handling instructions.

15. A system according to claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the screening logic is arranged to connect a call from a caller included in the subscriber's nominated caller group to the subscriber directly, disconnecting a pre-existing call or putting it on hold.

16. A system according to any one of claims 12 to 15 including a website or an interactive voice response (IVR) center arranged to receive data from subscribers defining said at least one nominated caller group.

17. A system according to any one of claims 12 to 16 including software arranged to analyze calls originating from and made to subscribers' telephone numbers, and to assign members to one or more default nominated caller groups automatically.