Title: Method for the provision and allocation of call numbers in a telecommunication network
Abstract: The invention relates to a method for the provision and allocation of call numbers in a telecommunication network. According to said method, the call numbers are allocated to the subscribers of the telecommunication network, in addition to the available subscriber call numbers. A plurality of number contingents containing temporary anonymous TAC call numbers is made available and allocated to at least one management entity. The TAC call numbers of the number contingent can be individually or collectively allocated to the subscribers upon request, e.g. from a subscriber, by precisely allocating a TAC call number of a contingent to an available subscriber call number.
Patent Number: 7,013,132 Issued on 03/14/2006 to Kehr
| Inventors:
|
Kehr; Klaus (Bonn, DE)
|
| Assignee:
|
T-Mobile Deutschland GmbH (Bonn, DE)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
489234 |
| Filed:
|
September 11, 2002 |
| PCT Filed:
|
September 11, 2002
|
| PCT NO:
|
PCT/DE02/03372
|
| 371 Date:
|
April 12, 2004
|
| 102(e) Date:
|
April 12, 2004
|
| PCT PUB.NO.:
|
WO03/024074 |
| PCT PUB. Date:
|
March 20, 2003 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Sep 11, 2001[DE] | 101 44 726 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
455/415; 455/551; 455/414.1; 455/461; 379/142.09; 379/201.01 |
| Current Intern'l Class: |
H04M 3/42 (20060101); H04M 1/00 (20060101); H04M 15/06 (20060101); H04Q 7/20 (20060101) |
| Field of Search: |
455/551,415,414.1,461,445,403
379/142.09,201.01
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 5428666 | Jun., 1995 | Fyfe et al.
| |
| 5512855 | Apr., 1996 | Kimura.
| |
| 5512885 | Apr., 1996 | Agestam et al.
| |
| 5590184 | Dec., 1996 | London.
| |
| 6327353 | Dec., 2001 | Fukuzawa et al.
| |
| 2002/0128022 | Sep., 2002 | Whitezel.
| |
| Foreign Patent Documents |
| 2371135 | Nov., 2000 | CA.
| |
| 0 847 177 | Jun., 1998 | EP.
| |
| 0 986 237 | Mar., 2000 | EP.
| |
| 1 175 073 | Jan., 2002 | EP.
| |
| WO 97/4598/8 | Dec., 1997 | WO.
| |
Other References
"ESTI TS 100 518 v7.0.0; Digital Cellurlar Telecommunications System (Phase 2+);
Closed User Group (CUG) Supplementary Services—Stage 1 (GSM 02.85 Version
7.0.0 Reasel 1998", Aug. 1999.
|
Primary Examiner: Trost; William
Assistant Examiner: Kim; Wesley
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Baker & Daniels
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Procedure for the allocation and assignment of telephone numbers in a telecommunications
network, whereby the telephone numbers are assigned to the subscribers of the telecommunications
network in addition to the existing subscriber telephone numbers, comprising the
following steps:
providing of a number of number contingents containing temporary, anonymous TAC
telephone numbers;
assigning of number contingents to at least one administrative instance;
assigning individual or collective TAC telephone numbers of the number contingent
through the administrative instance to the subscriber, in that a TAC telephone
number of a contingent is assigned to exactly one existing subscriber telephone
number upon request, characterized in that the contingents are either open number
contingents, the TAC telephone numbers of which are reachable for everyone, or
closed contingents, the TAC telephone numbers of which are only reachable for other
TAC telephone numbers of the same contingent, whereby the TAC telephone number
of the caller is always displayed as the telephone number display for calls within
a closed contingent.
2. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that each individual
TAC telephone number is assigned its own telephone number profile, in which the
service type, the reachability times, and the period of validity of the TAC telephone
number can be determined by the subscriber and/or the provider.
3. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that either the TAC
telephone number or the subscriber telephone number is displayed as the telephone
number display for calls from a TAC telephone number of an open contingent.
4. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the administrative
instance is connected to the telecommunications network and is supplied with the
connection information of the individual TAC telephone numbers of the contingents
managed by it.
5. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the TAC telephone
numbers comply with a number schema that allows the administrative instance and
the devices of the telecommunications network to uniquely assign a TAC telephone
number to a contingent.
6. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the subscriber
can perform an establishment, a configuration, and an activation/deactivation of
the TAC telephone numbers at any time.
7. Procedure in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a mobile network
is used as the telecommunications network.
8. Procedure in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the administrative
instance is connected to the telecommunications network and is supplied with the
connection information of the individual TAC telephone numbers of the contingents
managed by it.
9. Procedure in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that the administrative
instance is connected to the telecommunications network and is supplied with the
connection information of the individual TAC telephone numbers of the contingents
managed by it.
10. Procedure in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the TAC telephone
numbers comply with a number schema that allows the administrative instance and
the devices of the telecommunications network to uniquely assign a TAC telephone
number to a contingent.
11. Procedure in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that the TAC telephone
numbers comply with a number schema that allows the administrative instance and
the devices of the telecommunications network to uniquely assign a TAC telephone
number to a contingent.
12. Procedure in accordance with claim 4, characterized in that the TAC telephone
numbers comply with a number schema that allows the administrative instance and
the devices of the telecommunications network to uniquely assign a TAC telephone
number to a contingent.
13. Procedure in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the subscriber
can perform an establishment, a configuration, and an activation/deactivation of
the TAC telephone numbers at any time.
14. Procedure in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that the subscriber
can perform an establishment, a configuration, and an activation/deactivation of
the TAC telephone numbers at any time.
15. Procedure in accordance with claim 4, characterized in that the subscriber
can perform an establishment, a configuration, and an activation/deactivation of
the TAC telephone numbers at any time.
16. Procedure in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that the subscriber
can perform an establishment, a configuration, and an activation/deactivation of
the TAC telephone numbers at any time.
17. Procedure in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that a mobile network
is used as the telecommunications network.
18. Procedure in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that a mobile network
is used as the telecommunications network.
19. Procedure in accordance with claim 4, characterized in that a mobile network
is used as the telecommunications network.
20. Procedure in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that a mobile network
is used as the telecommunications network.
Description
The invention concerns a procedure for the allocation and assignment of telephone
numbers in a telecommunications network.
Currently, one subscriber telephone number (MSISDN) per subscriber identity
module (SIM card) is assigned to a subscriber in a mobile network. If the mobile
telephone is turned on and no call diversion or such is activated, then the subscriber
can be reached under this telephone number by anyone. For this reason, there is
a certain danger in making this number known to a large, potentially anonymous
group of people, since the probability for annoyance or even misuse increases with
the increasing divulgence of the telephone number. This point has new importance,
especially in the mobile phone network, since telephones are normally carried around
all of the time. This problem also exists in the fixed telephone network, whereby
however several telephone numbers can be assigned to one subscriber connection.
Generally speaking, these are easier to "keep secret." If a subscriber appears
as a caller, in modern communications networks, he can either completely eliminate
the display of his telephone number to the communications partner by means of the
Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR) service or his (the one MSISDN)
telephone number is displayed based on the Calling Line Identification Presentation
(CLIP) service. The display of a situation- or target-number-dependent subscriber
identification number, under which the caller is also reachable for the person
called, is not possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,184 A discloses a procedure for assigning a randomly selected,
anonymous telephone number to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, whereby
the telephone number is used instead of the actual subscriber telephone number
and the subscriber appears to other subscribers under this anonymous telephone
number. Each anonymous telephone number is assigned separately and individually
to a subscriber. A similar procedure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,353 A.
The document ETSI, TS 100 518, V7.0.0, 1999-08, Digital Cellular Telecommunications
System (Phase 2+); Closed User Group (CUG) Supplementary Services—Stage 1
(GSM 02.85 Version 7.0.0 Release 1998 concerns the "closed user group" supplementary
service, which is offered in the GSM mobile network. The members of the user group
are identified based on their telephone number. The formation and use of telephone
number contingents of any type is not described.
The problem of the invention is to suggest a procedure for the allocation and
assignment of telephone numbers in a telecommunications network, through which,
in addition to the existing subscriber numbers, the subscribers in the communications
network can be assigned additional temporary and anonymous telephone numbers that
considerably decrease the danger of undesired annoyance or misuse of a telephone
number or that can only be implemented for specific purposes or user groups.
This problem is solved by the characteristics given in claim
1. Advantageous
embodiments and continuations of the invention are given in the dependent patent claims.
The suggested procedure enables a subscriber in a telecommunications network
to provide himself with temporary, anonymous telephone numbers, also called temporary
anonymous connections (TAC) below, from specific (for example, made available by
different providers) number contingents. This is possible without concluding new
contracts with a network operator or provider or giving out additional SIM cards.
A specific profile, in which the type of accessibility (e.g. service type: SMS
and/or telephony), accessibility times, the period of validity, and other characteristics
are determined, can be associated with each individual TAC number. Via a TAC number
configured in this manner, the subscriber can only be reached for a limited period
of time, only via selected services, and only at times of day determined by the subscriber.
During the lifespan of a TAC number, it can be turned off and on at any time,
e.g. by sending an SMS to the administrative instance. In a further expansion stage,
the profiles are expanded further through so-called "blacklists" or "whitelists"
that ensure for each call that certain persons can never reach the TAC number (blacklist)
or only selected persons can reach the TAC number (whitelist).
The number contingents can be open or closed. Closed means that only members
of the group (of a contingent) can communicate with each other, while a TAC number
from an open contingent is principally reachable for everyone. Furthermore, for
calls within a closed group, the TAC number of the caller instead of his MSISDN
is always displayed as the CLI (Calling Line Identification).
By dialing an appropriate prefix before the actual telephone number, the subscriber
can cause his TAC number to appear as the CLI.
The normal handling of telephone traffic using the subscriber telephone numbers
(e.g. MSISDN) assigned to the subscriber is not affected by the procedure. That
is, regardless whether a temporary TAC telephone number is used, whether or not
it is blocked, the subscriber is reachable as usual under his MSISDN and can also
use all services at any time. The use of the CLIR (Calling Line Identification
Restriction) feature also functions without restrictions for the TAC telephone numbers.
A subscriber can thus now give a configurable and disengageable TAC telephone
number
for certain purposes, without his MSISDN becoming known. This considerably reduces
the danger of misuse and annoyance for the subscriber. With the establishment of
blacklists and whitelists, certain callers can be excluded right from the start.
The advantages are obvious. The anonymity of the subscriber is ensured through
an assigned TAC telephone number, since the TAC telephone number is only temporarily
valid and is not listed in a telephone directory. The subscriber can assign one
or more TAC telephone numbers to himself at any time without having to conclude
a new subscriber contract or having to obtain a new SIM. The subscriber can configure
his TAC telephone numbers via online interfaces.
The establishment and allocation of TAC telephone numbers can be implemented
relatively easily by the network operator.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained below based on a drawing.
Additional characteristics, advantages, and applications of the invention result
from this. In the example, the use of the procedure is described in a mobile network.
Use in a fixed network can be implemented in a similar manner.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the technical components for implementing the procedure
in accordance with the invention.
ALLOCATION OF THE NUMBER CONTINGENTS
The number contingents
10 are allocated by the network operators or, as
the case may be, by other providers. This means that the network operator determines
how many contingents
10 there are and how many TAC telephone numbers
11
each contingent contains. The contingents
10 are assigned to one or more
administrative instances (TAC servers)
7, which are then responsible for
handling the service. The administrative instances are tied to the mobile network
e.g. via a gateway
6, displayed here in a simplified manner by switching
center
4. The network operator must ensure that each administrative instance
7 receives the connection data for all transactions that concern contingents
managed by it. With telephony, this can occur e.g. through the establishment of
triggers
5 in the switching centers (MSC)
4 and, with the short message
service, through so-called large accounts
9 in the short message service
center (SMSC)
8. In order to enable these mechanisms with the network operator,
the TAC telephone numbers must therefore comply with a number schema that always
allows a clear assignment of TAC telephone numbers to the appropriate contingent.
For example, all TAC telephone numbers N
1; . . . ; Nx from contingent
K
1 can begin with 111, from contingent K
2, with 22, etc. so that
a clear assignment is possible. In this manner, however, due to the limited number
of possible triggers
5, only relatively few contingents K
1; . . .
; Ky can be established.
The most advantageous appears to be a multi-layered schema in which an administrative
instance
7 provided especially for this service first contains the data
for all transactions that concern this service. This administrative instance can
then either regulate the distribution of the contingents
10 and the TAC
telephone numbers
11 to other administrative instances or it can take over
further processing itself.
The TAC telephone numbers
10 would then be established according to the
following schema:
N=t
1 . . . t
a k
1 . . . k
b n
1
. . . n
c,
- whereby,
- t1 . . . ta: unique identifier of the service
- k1 . . . kb: unique identifier of the contingent K
- n1 . . . nc: unique telephone number (only within
the contingent k1 . . . kb
Registration of Subscribers for Contingents
After the tailoring of the contingents
10, the distribution of the TAC
telephone numbers
11 to the subscribers takes place. For this, each TAC
telephone number
11 from a contingent is assigned the unique MSISDN of the
subscriber. In particular for this reason, each subscriber can only receive a maximum
of one TAC telephone number from one contingent. However, other TAC telephone numbers
from other contingents can be assigned.
As a rule, two procedures are possible for the assignment of MSISDN to TAC telephone numbers:
- individual assignment:
The participant wants to register for a specific contingent K1, but does
not know whether there are still free TAC telephone numbers. (For example, he heard
about it from a newspaper/on TV/on the radio). With his mobile telephone 1,
he sends e.g. a registration SMS 12 to an appropriate service number (alternative:
via phone call, email, Web interface, . . . ) that is forwarded to the appropriate
administrative instance 7. If there are still TAC telephone numbers available
in the contingent K1, he receives a confirmation with his TAC telephone number.
- collective assignment:
The subscriber receives a certain TAC telephone number (for example, from the
organizer of a telephone party on a pin together with an admission ticket) which
he then sends to a corresponding service number for activation in a registration
SMS (alternative: via phone call, email, Web interface, . . . ).
Configuration of the Profile
A profile R containing e.g. the following characteristics is linked to each TAC
telephone number:
- reachability intervals
The subscriber can determine at which times of day he wants to be reached via
the TAC telephone number. (For example, Monday through Friday from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm)
- type of service
The subscriber can determine whether he wants to be reachable via his TAC telephone
number only for SMS, only for telephony, or for both
- blacklist
The subscriber can determine which senders (defined via TAC telephone numbers
or MSISDN) should not reach his TAC telephone numbers
- whitelist
The subscriber can determine which senders (defined via TAC telephone numbers
or MSISDN) should exclusively reach his TAC telephone numbers
Other embodiments of the profile are possible. The handling of profile R ideally
takes place via a Web interface. Alternatively, the call of a service number and
the sending of SMS or email are also possible.
Turning the Number On and Off/Reconfiguration
So that the subscriber is always able to activate/deactivate reachability via
his TAC telephone number, an SMS interface is offered.
With his mobile phone
1, he sends a change SMS
12 (for activation/deactivation)
to a certain telephone number (alternative: via a phone call, email, . . . ). The
reachability of his TAC telephone number is appropriately changed.
Likewise, the activation/deactivation can also be performed for individual
services only (for SMS/telephony only).
Alternatively to the suggested configuration via SMS, a telephone call,
email, Web interface can also be used.
Use of the TAC Telephone Number
a. For Incoming (MT: Mobile Terminated)-SMS and Incoming (MT) Calls:
If a telephone subscriber A with the MSISDN
A wants to use the TAC
telephone
number N
B of a subscriber B with the MSISDN
B for a service
(call, SMS), the following circumstances should be noted:
- the TAC telephone number NB belongs to a closed contingent K
Subscriber A can only use the service for subscriber B if he is also registered
for the contingent K. He thereby received the TAC telephone number NA.
If the profile R configured for NB allows it, the service can be used,
i.e. the subscriber B can be reached. NA is displayed as the telephone
number for the sender.
- the TAC telephone number NB belongs to an open contingent K
Subscriber A can use the service for subscriber B in any case, if the
profile R configured for NB allows it. The following is displayed as
the telephone number for the sender:
- the MSISDNA, if subscriber A dialed the telephone number
of subscriber B without a prefix
- the TAC telephone number NA, if A is registered for the contingent
K, received the TAC telephone number NA from there, and authorized the
display of this telephone number by dialing an appropriate prefix (see above)
- regardless of the registration for the contingent K and the profile
R associated with the NB, the MSISDNB can always be used
without restriction.
- if subscriber A activated the CLIR feature, his telephone number is
not displayed in any case (neither TAC telephone number nor MSISDN).
For Outgoing (MO: Mobile Originated)-SMS and Incoming Calls
If a telephone subscriber A wants to have his TAC telephone number displayed
as
CLI (regardless whether the contingent K is closed or open), the following procedure
is selected. The subscriber dials as a prefix the identifier of the service t
1,
. . . , t
a followed by the identifier of the contingent k
1 .
. . k
b, then a special character (e.g. #), followed by the target telephone
number (TAC telephone number or MSISDN). In this manner, a routing of the service
takes place via the administrative instance
7 (TAC server), which can then
employ the TAC telephone number of the subscriber from the appropriate contingent
K (insofar as the subscriber is registered for the contingent). Alternatively,
the use of a proprietary service number for this feature is also possible.
Billing Options
There are several options for the billing of the service:
- the easiest option is the establishment of a general rate for the service
number. All calls to a TAC telephone number are then charged in the same manner
- additionally, the TAC server 7 could create billings tickets
(VAS tickets) to levy charges for the use of the service
The establishment of a much more refined rate scale is also possible. For example,
separate rate schedules can be established for each contingent K.
There are many applications for the procedure based on the invention. Here
are a few examples.
In advertisements: The subscriber can give his TAC telephone number in an advertisement
and can then only be reached at the configured times. Upon successful conclusion,
the TAC telephone number is blocked and no further calls can be made. No one can
determine the identity of the provider via telephone directories etc. This use
of the invention is a good alternative to ciphering services.
At exhibitions and trade fairs: During the exhibition, organizers/consultants/salespeople
are permanently reachable. After the exhibition is over, the TAC telephone numbers
lose their validity.
For SMS and telephone parties: Each participant receives a TAC telephone number
from the organizer that he can make known to anyone. During the party (and perhaps
a little longer), he can be reached at this telephone number, but not after this.
If he does not want any more contacts even during the event, he can deactivate
the service at any time.
LIST OF REFERENCES
1 Mobile Station
2 SIM (with MSISDN)
3 Call
4 Switching Center (MSC)
5 Trigger
6 Gateway
7 Administrative Instance (TAC Server)
8 Short Message Service Center (SMSC)
9 Large Account
10 Number Contingent
11 TAC Telephone Number+Telephone Number Profile
12 Short Message
*
