Title: Network and method for providing a flexible call forwarding telecommunications service with automatic speech recognition capability
Abstract: A network for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech recognition to a telecommunications user, including a switch in communication with a telecommunications device used by the telecommunications user for detecting a trigger specific to the telecommunications service in response to a communication from the telecommunications device, and an intelligent resource server in communication with the switch for receiving the communication from the telecommunications device via the switch, for playing an audible message for the telecommunications user in response to receiving the communication, the message prompting the telecommunications user to modify a call forwarding profile associated with the telecommunications user, and for automatically recognizing a predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user in response to the message.
Patent Number: 6,993,119 Issued on 01/31/2006 to Zhang, et al.
| Inventors:
|
Zhang; Zeeman (Marietta, GA);
Knoerle; Joseph (Atlanta, GA)
|
| Assignee:
|
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation (Wilmington, DE)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
635018 |
| Filed:
|
August 9, 2000 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
379/88.01; 704/231 |
| Current Intern'l Class: |
H04M 1/64 (20060101) |
| Field of Search: |
379/8801,880.2,70,77,80,81,84,211,197,882.5,219
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 4959855 | Sep., 1990 | Daudelin.
| |
| 5430719 | Jul., 1995 | Weisser, Jr.
| |
| 5438568 | Aug., 1995 | Weisser, Jr.
| |
| 5511111 | Apr., 1996 | Serbetcioglu et al.
| |
| 5526413 | Jun., 1996 | Cheston, III et al.
| |
| 5539806 | Jul., 1996 | Allen et al.
| |
| 5566235 | Oct., 1996 | Hetz.
| |
| 5572583 | Nov., 1996 | Wheeler, Jr. et al.
| |
| 5636269 | Jun., 1997 | Eisdorfer.
| |
| 5784438 | Jul., 1998 | Martinez.
| |
| 5796806 | Aug., 1998 | Birckbichler.
| |
| 5812653 | Sep., 1998 | Jodoin et al.
| |
| 5838768 | Nov., 1998 | Sumar et al.
| |
| 5850435 | Dec., 1998 | Devillier.
| |
| 5859900 | Jan., 1999 | Bauer et al.
| |
| 5864614 | Jan., 1999 | Farris et al.
| |
| 5898917 | Apr., 1999 | Batni et al.
| |
| 5903726 | May., 1999 | Donovan et al.
| |
| 5905774 | May., 1999 | Tatchell et al.
| |
| 5905954 | May., 1999 | Nguyen.
| |
| 5915220 | Jun., 1999 | Chelliah.
| |
| 5940493 | Aug., 1999 | Desai et al.
| |
| 5943409 | Aug., 1999 | Malik.
| |
| 5999611 | Dec., 1999 | Tatchell et al.
| |
| 6011975 | Jan., 2000 | Emery et al.
| |
| 6094478 | Jul., 2000 | Shepherd et al.
| |
| 6173050 | Jan., 2001 | Malik.
| |
| 6188757 | Feb., 2001 | Malik.
| |
| 6327346 | Dec., 2001 | Infosino.
| |
| 6366661 | Apr., 2002 | Devillier et al.
| |
| 6381323 | Apr., 2002 | Schwab et al.
| |
| 6400652 | Jun., 2002 | Goldberg et al.
| |
| 6459780 | Oct., 2002 | Wurster et al.
| |
| 6463140 | Oct., 2002 | Tuunanen et al.
| |
| 6505163 | Jan., 2003 | Zhang et al.
| |
| 6580790 | Jun., 2003 | Henry et al.
| |
Other References
U.S. Appl. No. 09/634,793, filed Aug. 9, 2000.
U.S. Appl. No. 09/635,167, filed Aug. 9, 2000.
U.S. Appl. No. 09/635,165, filed Aug. 9, 2000.
U.S. Appl. No. 09/635,166, filed Aug. 9, 2000.
|
Primary Examiner: Tsang; Fan
Assistant Examiner: Chow; Ming
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Cantor Colburn LLP
Goverment Interests
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to communications networks and, more
particularly, to networks and methods for providing calling services with automatic
speech recognition capability.
2. Description of the Background
Automatic recall service, also known as "call return" or "*69," is a popular
calling service offered by many telecommunications service providers. Automatic
recall service typically allows a customer to dial a special feature code to receive
an enunciation of the telephone number, and perhaps name, of the last incoming
caller. The customer is then typically audibly presented the option of calling
back the directory number associated with the last incoming call by dialing another
special code. Thus, a customer may use the automatic recall service to screen his
or her calls, or when the customer is unable to answer a call before the calling
party hangs up. The automatic recall service may also be used when a customer does
not know the directory number of that caller, but wants to call back the last incoming caller.
According to another popular call screening-type service, typically referred
to as the "calling name service," a called party may be presented with the name
and/or directory number of a calling party visually, such as with a display unit
including an LCD display, or audibly, by voicing the pertinent information to the
called party over the telephone interface. The called party may then route the
incoming call as desired by dialing certain codes. For example, the called party
may dial one code to accept the incoming call, another code to reject the call,
and yet a third code to, for example, route the call to a voice-mail messaging system.
According to either of these exemplary enhanced calling features, however,
the customer is required to dial a code to realize certain benefits of the service.
For instance, according to the call return feature, the called party is required
to dial a code to call back the directory number associated with the last incoming
call. Similarly, for the calling name party, the called party is required to dial
a code to route the incoming call as desired.
Mandating that customers dial certain codes to realize the benefits of
calling services to which they subscribe is not ideal for certain applications.
For example, wireless telephone users may be unable to dial codes on their wireless
telephones because their hands may be occupied with other tasks, such as driving.
Similarly, the hands of personal computer (PC) users may be occupied with tasks
such as typing, which do not facilitate the manual dialing of codes on a telephone.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a manner in which telecommunications
customers may realize the benefits of enhanced calling features and services without
the manual dialing of codes.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides a practical implementation for allowing telecommunications
customers to speak predetermined voice commands over their telephone to realize
the benefits of enhanced calling features and services, thus obviating the need
to manually dial feature codes, which is required in the prior art. The present
invention may be utilized in conjunction with either landline or wireless telephones.
In addition, the present invention may be implemented to provide such voice command
functionality for such popular telecommunications services as the calling name
service, the flexible call forwarding service, the automatic recall service (also
called call return or "*69"), call screening services, the name and number delivery
service (commonly referred to as directory assistance or "411"), and a user interface
for the simultaneous ring service.
According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a network
for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech recognition to
a telecommunications customer. The network includes a switch in communication with
a telecommunications device associated with the telecommunications customer and
an intelligent resource server in communication with the switch. The switch may
be an SSP switch of a central office (CO) of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)
in communication with, for example, a landline telephone of the telecommunications
customer via a subscriber line or, according to another embodiment, may be a switch
of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) of a wireless network in communication with
a wireless telephone via an air-interface communication scheme. The switch may
detect certain triggering events resulting from communications to or from the telecommunications
device of the customer, and route the communications to the intelligent resource
server in response to detection of the triggers. To facilitate routing of the communications
from the switch to the intelligent resource server, the AIN or the wireless network
may include a Service Control Point (SCP), which provides instructions to the switch
to route the communications through the network in accordance with the particular
telecommunications service being provided.
The intelligent resource server includes, among other things, an enunciation
module and an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) module. In response to receiving
a communication from the switch, the enunciation module of the intelligent resource
server may play an audible message for one of the parties to the communication,
which for some services may be the calling party and for others may be the called
party, prompting the party to enter a character with their telephone or speak a
certain word over their telephone in response to the message to realize the benefits
of the particular service. In response to the message, if the party voices the
keyword, the ASR module automatically detects the spoken keyword and, in response
thereto, the intelligent resource server may send a message to the SCP to implement
the service in accordance with the instructions associated with the spoken keyword.
In addition, the intelligent resource server may include a Dual Tone MultiFrequency
(DTMF) decoder module for determining whether the party hearing the message entered
the requested DTMF character in response to the message. Similarly, if the DTMF
character is detected in response to the message, the intelligent resource server
may send a message to the SCP to implement the service in accordance with the instructions
associated with the recognized DTMF character.
For example, for an embodiment of the network providing the flexible call forward
service, a subscriber of the service may dial a feature code specific to the service
which is detected by the switch. The call may then be routed from the switch to
the intelligent resource server. The enunciation module may the play an outgoing,
audible communication for the subscriber stating, for example, when the subscriber's
call forwarding service is presently activated. The enunciation module may then
play a message for subscriber prompting the subscriber to modify the call forwarding
profile. For example, the enunciation module may play a message such as: "To deactivate
the call forwarding service, please press or speak 'one' now. To forward incoming
calls to your wireless telephone, please press or speak 'two' now." In response
to this exemplary message, if the intelligent resource server recognizes the utterance
of one of the keywords by the subscriber or if one of the requested DTMF characters
is detected, the intelligent resource server may send a message to the SCP to modify
the subscriber's call forwarding profile in accordance with the instructions associated
with the detected keyword or DTMF character.
Thus, with the present invention, telecommunications customers may realize
the benefits of popular telecommunications services without having to manually
enter codes with their telephones. Consequently, persons whose hands are occupied,
such as from typing or driving, may enjoy the benefits of these services without
having to cease performing their hand-occupying tasks.
These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent from the
detailed description hereinbelow.
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A network for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech
recognition to a telecommunications user, comprising:
a switch in communication with a telecommunications device associated with the
telecommunications user for:
detecting a first trigger specific to a first telecommunications service in response
to a first communication from the telecommunications device;
storing identifying information regarding a prior calling party to the telecommunications
user in conjunction with a second telecommunications service;
detecting a second trigger specific to a second telecommunications service in
response to a second communication from the telecommunications device;
detecting a third trigger specific to a third telecommunications service in response
to a third communication from the telecommunications device; and
routing the third communication to an operator services system in response to
the detection of the third trigger;
an intelligent resource server in communication with the switch, wherein the
intelligent resource server is for:
receiving the first communication from the telecommunications device via the switch;
playing a first audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the first communication, the first audible message prompting the telecommunications
user to modify a communication services profile associated with the telecommunications user;
automatically recognizing a first predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the first audible message by digitizing the telecommunications
user's response and comparing the digitized response to a set of coded waveforms
corresponding to predefined keywords;
receiving the second communication and a first message including the identifying
information from the telecommunications device via the switch;
playing a second audible message for the telecommunications user in response
to receiving the second communication, the second audible message containing the
information regarding the prior calling party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
prior calling party;
automatically recognizing a second predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the second audible message;
receiving the third communication from the operator services system with a second
message including information regarding a party requested by the telecommunications
user from the operator services system;
playing a third audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the third communication, the third audible message containing the information
regarding the party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
party; and
automatically recognizing a third predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the third audible message.
2. The network of claim 1, wherein the switch includes a switch of a central
office in communication with the telecommunications device via a subscriber line.
3. The network of claim 1, wherein the switch includes a switch of a mobile switching
center in communication with the telecommunications device via an air-interface
communication scheme.
4. The network of claim 1, wherein the switch is further for detecting an originating
trigger in response to a feature code entered by the telecommunications user from
the telecommunications device.
5. The network of claim 1, wherein the switch is further for detecting a terminating
trigger in response to an administration number entered by the telecommunications
user from the telecommunications device.
6. The network of claim 1, further comprising a service control point in communication
with the switch.
7. The network of claim 6, wherein:
the switch is further for sending a query message to the service control point
in response to detecting the first trigger; and
the service control point is for returning a third message to the switch to route
the first communication from the telecommunications device to the intelligent resource server.
8. The network of claim 7, wherein the service control point is further for returning
the third message to the switch to route the first communication to the intelligent
resource server based on a determination of whether the telecommunications user
is a subscriber of the first telecommunications service.
9. The network of claim 6, wherein the intelligent resource server is further
for sending a fourth message to the service control point based on recognition
of the first predetermined keyword to modify the communication services profile
of the telecommunications user.
10. The network of claim 6, wherein the intelligent resource server is further
for sending a fifth message to the service control point based on recognition of
a predetermined DTMF character entered by the telecommunications user to modify
the communication services profile.
11. A network for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech
recognition to a telecommunications user, comprising:
a switch in communication with a telecommunications device associated with the
telecommunications user for:
detecting a first trigger specific to a first telecommunications service in response
to a first communication from the telecommunications device;
storing identifying information regarding a prior calling party to the telecommunications
user in conjunction with a second telecommunications service;
detecting a second trigger specific to a second telecommunications service in
response to a second communication from the telecommunications device;
detecting a third trigger specific to a third telecommunications service in response
to a third communication from the telecommunications device; and
routing the third communication to an operator services system in response to
the detection of the third trigger;
a call processing module in communication with the switch, the call processing
module for:
receiving the first communication from the telecommunications device via the switch;
receiving the second communication and a first message including the identifying
information from the telecommunications device via the switch; and
receiving the third communication from the operator services system with a second
message including information regarding a party requested by the telecommunications
user from the operator services system;
an enunciation module in communication with the call processing module, the enunciation
module for:
playing a first audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the first communication, the first audible message prompting the telecommunications
user to modify a communication services profile associated with the telecommunications user;
playing a second audible message for the telecommunications user in response
to receiving the second communication, the second audible message containing the
information regarding the prior calling party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
prior calling party;
playing a third audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the third communication, the third audible message containing the information
regarding the party; and
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the party;
an automatic speech recognition module in communication with the switch for:
recognizing a first predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the first audible message by digitizing the telecommunications user's
response and comparing the digitized response to a set of coded waveforms corresponding
to predefined keywords;
recognizing a second predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the second audible message;
recognizing a third predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the third audible message.
12. The network of claim 11, wherein the switch includes a switch of a central
office in communication with the telecommunications device via a subscriber line.
13. The network of claim 11, wherein the switch includes a switch of a mobile
switching center in communication with the telecommunications device via an air-interface
communication scheme.
14. The network of claim 11, wherein the switch is further for detecting an originating
trigger in response to a feature code entered by the telecommunications user from
the telecommunications device.
15. The network of claim 11, wherein the switch is further for detecting a terminating
trigger in response to an administration number entered by the telecommunications
user from the telecommunications device.
16. The network of claim 11, further comprising a service control point in communication
with the switch.
17. The network of claim 16, wherein:
the switch is further for sending a query message to the service control point
in response to detecting the first trigger; and
the service control point is for returning a third message to the switch to route
the first communication to the call processing module.
18. The network of claim 17, wherein the service control point is further for
returning the third message to the switch to route the first communication to the
call processing module based on a determination of whether the telecommunications
user is a subscriber of the first telecommunications service.
19. The network of claim 16, wherein the call processing module is further for
sending a fourth message to the service control point based on recognition of the
first predetermined keyword to modify the communication services profile of the
telecommunications user.
20. The network of claim 11, further comprising a DTMF decoder module in communication
with the switch for recognizing a predetermined DTMF character entered by the telecommunications
user in response to the audible message.
21. The network of claim 20, wherein the call processing module is further for
sending a fifth message to the service control point based on recognition of the
predetermined DTMF character by the DTMF decoder module to modify the communication
services profile of the telecommunications user.
22. An intelligent resource server for providing a telecommunications service
with automatic speech recognition for a telecommunications user, comprising:
a call processing module for:
receiving a first incoming communication from a switch, wherein the switch is
in communication with a telecommunications device associated with the telecommunications user;
generating and sending a modification message to a service control point in communication
with the switch to modify a communication services profile associated with the
telecommunications user, the service control point having a database associated
therewith for storing the communication services profile; and
receiving a second incoming communication from the telecommunication device and
a first message including identifying information regarding a prior calling party
device via the switch;
receiving a third incoming communication from an operator services system with
a second message including information regarding a party requested by the telecommunications
user from an operator services system;
an enunciation module in communication with the call processing module for:
playing a first audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the first communication, the first audible message further prompting
the telecommunications user to modify the communication services profile associated
with the telecommunications user;
playing a second audible message for the telecommunications user in response
to receiving the second communication the second audible message containing the
information regarding the prior calling party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
prior calling party;
playing a third audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the third communication, the third audible message containing the information
regarding the party; and
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the party;
an automatic speech recognition module in communication with the call processing
module for:
recognizing a first predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the first audible message by digitizing the telecommunications user's
response and comparing the digitized response to a set of coded waveforms corresponding
to predefined keywords;
recognizing a second predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the second audible message;
recognizing a third predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications user
in response to the third audible message.
23. The intelligent resource server of claim 22, wherein the call processing
module is further for generating and sending the modification message to the service
control point in communication with the switch based on recognition of the first
predetermined keyword by the automatic speech recognition module in response to
the first audible message to modify the communication services profile of the telecommunications user.
24. The intelligent resource server of claim 23, further comprising a DTMF decoder
module in communication with the switch for recognizing a predetermined DTMF character
entered by the telecommunications user in response to the audible message.
25. The network of claim 24, wherein the call processing module is further for
generating and sending the modification message to the service control point based
on recognition of the predetermined DTMF character by the DTMF decoder module to
modify the communication services profile of the telecommunications user.
26. A method for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech
recognition to a telecommunications user, comprising:
detecting a first communication from the telecommunications user;
detecting a first trigger specific to a first telecommunication service in response
to the first communication from the first telecommunications user;
storing identifying information regarding a prior calling party to the telecommunications
user in conjunction with a second telecommunications service;
detecting a second trigger specific to a second telecommunications service in
response to a second communication from the telecommunications device;
detecting a third trigger specific to a third telecommunications service in response
to a third communication from the telecommunications device; and
routing the third communication to an operator services system in response to
the detection of the third trigger;
playing a first audible message to the telecommunications user in response to
detection of the first communication, the first audible message prompting the telecommunications
user to modify a communication services profile of the telecommunications user;
automatically recognizing a first predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the first audible message; and
receiving the second communication and a first message including the identifying
information from the telecommunications device via the switch;
playing a second audible message for the telecommunications user in response
to receiving the second communication, the second audible message containing the
information regarding the prior calling party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
prior calling party;
automatically recognizing a second predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the second audible message;
placing an outgoing communication to a prior calling party based on recognition
of the second predetermined keyword;
receiving the third communication from the operator services system with a second
message including information regarding a party requested by the telecommunications
user from the operator services system;
playing a third audible message for the telecommunications user in response to
receiving the third communication, the third audible message containing the information
regarding the party;
prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication to the
party; and
automatically recognizing a third predetermined keyword spoken by the telecommunications
user in response to the third audible message.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein playing the first audible message includes
playing the first audible message when it is determined that the telecommunications
user is a subscriber of the first telecommunications service.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising modifying the communication services
profile based on recognition of the first predetermined keyword.
29. The method of claim 26, further comprising recognizing a predetermined DTMF
character entered by the telecommunications user in response to the first audible message.
30. The method claim 29, further comprising modifying the communication services
profile based on recognition of the predetermined DTMF character.
31. A network for providing a telecommunications service with automatic speech
recognition to a telecommunications user, comprising:
means for detecting a first communication from the telecommunications user;
means for detecting a first trigger specific to a first telecommunication service
in response to the communication from a first telecommunications user;
means for storing identifying information regarding a prior calling party to
the telecommunications user in conjunction with a second telecommunications service;
means for detecting a second trigger specific to the second telecommunications
service in response to a second communication from the telecommunications device;
means for detecting a third trigger specific to a third telecommunications service
in response to a third communication from the telecommunications device; and
means for routing the third communication to an operator services system in response
to the detection of the third trigger;
means for playing a first audible message to the telecommunications user in response
to detection of the first communication, the first audible message prompting the
telecommunications user to modify a communication services profile of the telecommunications user;
means for automatically recognizing a first predetermined keyword spoken by the
telecommunications user in response to the first audible message; and
means for receiving the second communication and a first message including the
identifying information from the telecommunications device via the switch;
means for playing a second audible message for the telecommunications user in
response to receiving the second communication, the second audible message containing
the information regarding the prior calling party;
means for prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication
to the prior calling party;
means for automatically recognizing a second predetermined keyword spoken by
the telecommunications user in response to the second audible message;
means for placing an outgoing communication to a prior calling party based on
recognition of the second predetermined keyword;
means for receiving the third communication from the operator services system
with a second message including information regarding a party requested by the
telecommunications user from the operator services system;
mean for playing a third audible message for the telecommunications user in response
to receiving the third communication, the third audible message containing the
information regarding the party;
means for prompting the telecommunications user to place an outgoing communication
to the party; and
means for automatically recognizing a third predetermined keyword spoken by the
telecommunications user in response to the third audible message.
32. The network of claim 31, further comprising means for modifying the communication
services profile based on recognition of the first predetermined keyword.
33. The network of claim 31, further comprising means for recognizing a predetermined
DTMF character entered by the telecommunications user in response to the first
audible message.
34. The network of claim 33, further comprising means for modifying the communication
services profile based on recognition of the predetermined DTMF character.
35. The network of claim 6, wherein the service control point is further for
modifying the communication services profile associated with the telecommunications
user in accordance with a modification message received thereto, the service control
point having a database associated therewith for storing the communication services profile.
36. The network of claim 35, wherein the intelligent resource server is further
for generating and sending the modification message to the service control point.
37. The network of claim 16, wherein the service control point is further for
modifying the communication services profile associated with the telecommunications
user in accordance with a modification message received thereto, the service control
point having a database associated therewith for storing the communication services profile.
38. The network of claim 37, wherein the call processing module is further for
generating and sending the modification message to the service control point.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
For the present invention to be clearly understood and readily practiced, the
present invention will be described in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) for integration
with a public switched telephone network;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the intelligent resource server of the AIN of FIG.
1 according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the communications network according to one embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a calling name
service with speech recognition with the network of FIG. 3 according to one embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a flexible call
forwarding service with speech recognition with the network of FIG. 3 according
to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing an automatic recall
service with speech recognition with the network of FIG. 3 according to one embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a call screening
service with speech recognition with the network of FIG. 3 according to one embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a name and number
delivery service with speech recognition with the network of FIG. 3 according to
one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a subscriber interface
for a simultaneous ring service with speech recognition with the network of FIG.
3 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention
have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding
of the present invention, while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements
of a communication network. For example, certain operating system details and modules
of certain of the intelligent platforms of the network are not described herein.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, however, that these and other
elements may be desirable in a typical communications network. However, because
such elements are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better
understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)
10
for integration with a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The AIN
10
may be employed by a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) servicing a Local Access and
Transport Area (LATA) of the PSTN, and may be utilized by the LEC to allow the
LEC to provide call processing features and services that are not embedded within
conventional switching circuits of the PSTN.
A typical LEC includes a number of central office (CO) switches for interconnecting
customer premises terminating equipment with the PSTN. For an LEC including the
AIN
10 as illustrated in FIG. 1, the central office switches may be provided
as Service Switching Points (SSP) switches
12. The dashed line
14
between the SSP switches
12 indicates that the number of SSP switches
12
in the AIN
10 may vary depending on the particular requirements of the AIN
10. The AIN
10 may also include a non-SSP switch
16. The difference
between the SSP switches
12 and the non-SSP switch
16 is that the
SSP switches
12 provide intelligent network functionality. Interconnecting
the SSP switches
12 and the non-SSP switch
16 are communication links
18, which may be, for example, trunk circuits.
Each SSP switch
12 and non-SSP switch
16 has a number of subscriber
lines
20 connected thereto. The subscriber lines
20 may be, for example,
conventional twisted pair loop circuits connected between the switches
12,
16 and the telephone drops for the customer premises, or the subscriber
lines
20 may be trunk circuits, such as T-1 trunk circuits. Typically, the
number of subscriber lines
20 connected to each switch
12,
16
is on the order of ten thousand to one hundred thousand lines. Each of the subscriber
lines
20 is connected to a terminating piece of customer premises equipment,
represented in FIG. 1 by the landline telephones
22. Alternatively, the
terminating equipment may be, for example, a telecopier, a personal computer, a
modem, or a private branch exchange (PBX) switching system.
For the AIN
10 illustrated in FIG. 1, each SSP switch
12 and the
non-SSP switch
16 is connected to a signal transfer point (STP)
24
via a communication link
26. The communication link
26 may employ,
for example, an SS7 switching protocol. The STP
24 may be a multi-port high
speed packet switch that is programmed to respond to the routing information in
the appropriate layer of the switching protocol, and route the data packets to
their intended destination.
One of the intended destinations of the data packets from the STP
24 is
a service control point (SCP)
28. The STP
24 is in communication
with the SCP
28 via a communication link
30, which may also employ
the SS7 switching protocol. The SCP
28 may be an intelligent database server
such as, for example, an Intelligent Network Service Control Point available from
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., and may have associated with it a
network database
32 for storing network data. The intelligent functionality
of the SCP
28 may be realized by application programs, such as Service Program
Applications (SPA), which are run by the SCP
28. The SCP
28 is normally
employed to implement high volume routing services, such as call forwarding and
800 number translation and routing. The SCP
28 may also be used for maintenance
of and providing access to the network databases for authorization of billing,
such as credit card validations. In addition, another of the functions of the SCP
28 is maintenance of the network database
32, which may store subscriber
information, such as subscriber call management profiles, used in providing enhanced
calling services. Such enhanced calling services may include call return, calling
name, call forwarding, call screening and blocking, in addition to many other such services.
The AIN
10 illustrated in FIG. 1 also includes an intelligent resource
server (IRS)
34. The IRS
34 may be, for example, a service node such
as a Compact Service Node (CSN) available from Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray
Hill, N.J., although the IRS available
34 may be any other AIN-compliant
IRS such as, for example, an AIN/IP (Intelligent Peripheral) IRS from Nortel Networks
Corp., Montreal, Quebec. The IRS
34 may be connected to one or more of the
SSP switches
12 via a communications link
36, which may be, for example,
an Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) including BRI (Basic Rate Interface)
or PRI (Primary Rate Interface) lines. According to other embodiments, the communications
link
36 may be, for example, a T-1 trunk circuit.
The IRS
34 may be used primarily when some enhanced feature or service
is needed that requires an audio connection to the call such as, for example, the
call return and calling name services, or when transfer of a significant amount
of data to a subscriber over a switched connection during or following a call is
required. Similar to the SCP
28, the intelligent functionality of the IRS
34 may be realized by program applications executable by the IRS
34,
as described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 2.
In order to keep the processing of data and calls as simple as possible at the
switches, such as at the SSP switches
12, a set of triggers may be defined
at the SSP switches
12 for each call. A trigger in an AIN is an event associated
with a particular subscriber line
20 that generates a data packet to be
sent from the SSP switch
12 servicing the particular subscriber line
20
to the SCP
28 via the STP
24. The triggers may be originating triggers
for calls originating from the subscriber premises or terminating triggers for
calls terminating at the subscriber premises. A trigger causes a message in the
form of a query to be sent from the SSP switch
12 to the SCP
28.
The SCP
28 in turn interrogates the database
32 to determine whether
some customized call feature or enhanced service should be implemented for the
particular call, or whether conventional dial-up telephone service should be provided.
The results of the database inquiry are sent back from the SCP
28 to the
SSP switch
12 via the STP
24. The return packet includes instructions
to the SSP switch
12 as to how to process the call. The instructions may
be to take some special action as result of a customized calling service or enhanced
feature. For example, for an enhanced calling feature requiring the capabilities
of the IRS
34, the return message from the SCP
28 may include instructions
for the SSP switch
12 to route the call to the IRS
34. In addition,
the return message from the SCP
28 may simply be an indication that there
is no entry in the database
32 that indicates anything other than conventional
telephone service should be provided for the call. The query and return messages
may be formatted, for example, according to conventional SS7 TCAP (Transaction
Capabilities Application Part) formats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,568, which is incorporated
herein by reference, discloses additional details regarding the functioning of
an AIN
10.
The AIN
10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes only one STP
24, one
SCP
28, one network database
32, and one IRS
34, although
the AIN
10 may further include an additional number of these components
as well as other network components which not are included in FIG. 1 for purposes
of clarity. For example, the AIN
10 may additionally include redundant STPs
and STPs to take over if the STP
24 or the SCP
28 should fail. In
addition, the AIN
10 may include an Automatic Electronic Switching System
(AESS) Network Access Point (NAP) in communication with the STP
24, which
may be programmed to detect the trigger conditions. Further, the AIN
10
may include regional STPs and regional SCPs in communication with, for example,
the local STP
24, for routing and servicing calls between different LECs.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the IRS
34 according to one embodiment of
the present invention. The IRS
34 includes a call processing module
40
for receiving call processing commands and performing conventional call processing
logic. The IRS
34 also includes a DTMF decoder module
42 for recognizing
the dialing of Dual Tone MultiFrequency (DTMF) characters from, for example, a
touch-tone telephone in communication with the IRS
34 via the AIN
10.
In addition, the IRS
34 may include an enunciation module
44 and
an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) module
46.
The enunciation module
44 may be programmed to enunciate voice output
over the network
10 to a party using the telephone
22 (or any other
telecommunications device in communication with the IRS
34). According to
one embodiment, the enunciation module
44 may include text-to-speech translation
capabilities to convert text into the voice output using speech synthesis techniques.
The speech synthesis conversion techniques may convert text to speech in real time
and without a predefined vocabulary. According to another embodiment, the enunciation
module
44 may be implemented using a recorded voice file.
The ASR module
46 may be programmed to recognize certain predetermined
keywords spoken by a party using the telephone
22 (or any other telecommunications
device in communication with the IRS
34). The ASR module
46 may first
digitize the spoken words and match them against a database of coded waveforms
corresponding to the predetermined keywords. The ASR module
46 may be, for
example, speaker-independent, and thus not require tuning and may be able recognize
limited vocabularies such as numeric digits and a handful of words. The DTMF decoder
module
42, the enunciation module
44, and the ASR module
46
permit the IRS
34 to mediate interaction between the caller and the applications
executed by the IRS
34 in providing enhanced calling features for a customer,
as described hereinbelow.
The modules
40,
42,
44,
46 may be implemented as
software code to be executed by the IRS
34 using any type of computer instruction
type suitable such as, for example, microcode, and can be stored in, for example,
an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or can be configured
into the logic of the IRS
34. According to another embodiment, the modules
40,
42,
44,
46 may be implemented as software code
to be executed by the IRS
34 using any suitable computer language such as,
for example, C or C++ using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques.
The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer
readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM),
a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such
as a CD-ROM. In addition, the modules
40,
42,
44,
46
may be implemented from commercially-available software such as, for example, TTS
and ASR software available from Lucent Technologies, Inc., Murray Hill, N.J.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a network
50 according to one embodiment
of the present invention. The network
50 includes the AIN
10 illustrated
in FIG. 1, including the SSP switch
12, the STP
24, the SCP
28,
and the IRS
34. For clarity, only one SSP switch
12, one STP
24,
one SCP
28, and one IRS
34 are shown in FIG. 3 although, as discussed
hereinbefore, the AIN
10 may include a multiple number of these components.
The network
50 also includes a wireless network
52 in communication
with the AIN
10 via a tandem office
54. The wireless network
52
includes a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
56, a Home Location Register (HLR)
58, a Visitor Location Register (VLR)
59, and a Service Control Point
(SCP)
60 with an associated database
62. The MSC
56, HLR
58,
VLR
59 and SCP
60 of the wireless network
52 may provide an
intelligent wireless network capable of providing enhanced calling services and
features for wireless subscribers, and which is the wireless complement to the
landline-based AIN
10. According to one embodiment, the intelligent wireless
network
52 may be a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN), such as used in
TDMA-based wireless networks, or a CAMEL network, such as used in CDMA-based wireless networks.
The tandem office
54 provides a switching interface between the PSTN and
the wireless network
52. The tandem office
54 is in communication
with the MSC
56 of the wireless network
52 via a communications link
64 employing, for example, an IS-41 signaling protocol. The tandem office
54 may be in communication with the SSP switch
12 of the AIN
10
via a communications link
66, such as a trunk circuit. The tandem office
54 may also be in communication with the STP
24 of the AIN
10
via a communications link
68 employing, for example, an SS7 signaling protocol.
The MSC
56 is in communication with wireless telecommunications devices,
such as the wireless telephone
70 via, for example, a base transceiver station
(BTS) (not shown). The BTS may communicate with wireless telecommunications devices,
such as the wireless telephone
70, according to an air-interface communication
scheme such as, for example, AMPS (ANSI-553), TDMA (IS-136), CDMA (IS-95), or GSM.
The BTS may be in communication with the MSC
56 via, for example, an ISDN
or SS7 communications link. The MSC
56 is an automatic switching system
in a wireless telecommunications network that acts as the interface for subscriber
traffic between the wireless network
52 and the PSTN or other MSCs in the
same or other wireless networks. The MSC
56 performs the same general function
as a central office switch in a landline based system, except that the MSC
56
provides for incoming calls through a radio telecommunications front-end. Accordingly,
the MSC
56 may include SSP switches (not shown) for detecting, for example,
originating and terminating triggers.
The MSC
56 is in communication with the HLR
58 and the VLR
59
via communications links
72 which may, for example, be SS7 signaling protocol
links. The HLR
58 and VLR
59 are location registers to which the
user identity of a wireless telecommunications device, such as the wireless telephone
70, is assigned for record purposes. If the wireless telephone
70
is within its home location, the HLR
58 is assigned for
