At&t Bell Laboratories

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Alcatel-lucent USA Inc.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co., At&t Bell Laboratories

Alcatel Lucent

American Telephone and Telegraph, Co.

Werner Ulrich

Jayant G Hemmady

Scott B Steele

William P Lidinsky

Yigang Cai

Chinmei Chen Lee

Milo Orsic

Ronald C Weddige

Roanld C Weddige

William Dale Bartter

Frederick W Padden

Scott Blair Steele

Ronald Clare Weddige

William Paul Lidinsky

Jayant Gurudatta Hemmady

This invention relates to an enhanced method and apparatus for providing notification to a telecommunications customer using prepaid service that his/her prepaid balance is below a pre-specified threshold. The number of notifications is limited to a specified number within a specified interval. Advantageously, the customer is spared the nuisance o receiving multiple notifications when he/she is already aware of the problem.

Control of prepaid balance status notification

A method and apparatus for establishing a connection to a customer telecommunications station, having Internet service, but not currently connected to the Internet. In response to receipt by the Internet of a call to that station, the station is located for the purpose of notifying the station of the call. If the called station is a wireless station, the paging message includes an indication that the page is for an Internet Protocol, (IP) telephone call. For wireline stations, other alerting techniques are used to indicate that a station is being called on an Internet call. In response to receiving the notification, the called station automatically logs on to the Internet, and is assigned a temporary Internet Protocol address, (IPA). A connection is then established between the access point of the caller on the Internet, and the access point of the called customer. Advantageously, an Internet subscriber need not be presently connected to the Internet to receive IP telephone calls.

Internet protocol telephony

An arrangement for obtaining directory assistance automatically and without the assistance of an operator. A customer requesting directory assistance is connected to an automatic speech recognition unit (ASRU) and is prompted to speak commands for identifying the requested directory number. The ASRU converts received speech signals from the customer into data signals for searching a directory number data base. If a directory listing is located, the number of that listing is announced to the customer and the customer is automatically prompted to speak a command indicating whether a call to that number should be automatically established. The telecommunications switching network responds to a positive command by automatically establishing such a connection. Advantageously, such an arrangement provides directory assistance service automatically without requiring special customer equipment.

Directory assistance systems

A high capacity metropolitan area network (MAN) is described. Data traffic from users is connected to data concentrators at the edge of the network, and is tranmitted over fiber optic data links to a hub where the data is switched. The hub includes a plurality of data switching modules, each having a control means, and each connected to a distributed control space division switch. Advantageously, the data switching modules, whose inputs are connected to the concentrators, perform all checking and routing functions, while the 1024.times.1024 maximum size space division switch, whose outputs are connected to the concentrators, provides a large fan-out distribution network for reaching many concentrators from each data switching module. Distributed control of the space division switch permits several million connection and disconnection actions to be performed each second, while the pipelined and parallel operation within the control means permits each of the 256 switching modules to process at least 50,000 transactions per second. The data switching modules chain groups of incoming packets destined for a common outlet of the space division switch so that only one connection in that switch is required for transmitting each group of chained packets from a data switching module to a concentrator. MAN provides security features including a port identification supplied by the data concentrators, and a check that each packet is from an authorized source user, transmitting on a port associated with that user, to an authorized desination user that is in the same group (virtual network) as the source user. This arrangement can also be used to switch voice packets, using a voice interface such as a digital switch and a digital voice signal to voice packet converter. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a packet switch is used for switching voice packet outputs of the data switching modules and a circuit switch, such as the space division switch, is used for switching data packet outputs.

Integrated packetized voice and data switching system

A high capacity metropolitan area network (MAN) is described. Data traffic from users is connected to data concentrators at the edge of the network, and is transmitted over fiber optic data links to a hub where the data is switched. The hub includes a plurality of data switching modules, each having a control means, and each connected to a distributed control space divisison switch. Advantageously, the data switching modules, whose inputs are connected to the concentrators, perform all checking and routing functions, while the 1024.times.1024 maximum size space division switch, whose outputs are connected to the concentrators, provides a large fan-out distribution network for reaching many concentrators from each data switching module. Distributed control of the space division switch permits several million connection and disconnection actions to be performed each second, while the pipelined and parallel operation within the control means permits each of the 256 switching modules to process at least 50,000 transactions per second. The data switching modules chain groups of incoming packets destined for a common outlet of the space division switch so that only one connection in that switch is required for transmitting each group of chained packets from a data switching module to a concentrator. MAN provides security features including a port identification supplied by the data concentrators, and a check that each packet is from an authorized source user, transmitting on a port associated with that user, to an authorized destination user that is in the same group (virtual network) as the source user. This arrangement can also be used to switch voice packets, using a voice interface such as a digital switch and a digital voice signal to voice packet converter. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a packet switch is used for switching voice packet outputs of the data switching modules and a circuit switch, such as the space division switch, is used for switching data packet outputs. In accordance with another embodiment, voice packets are switched from the data switching modules through the space division switch to a small group of data switching modules, which further switch the voice packets through the circuit switch to a destination concentrator.

A method is disclosed for automatically detecting a trunk that is likely to be defective even though it passes operational tests incident to switching it into service. In a telephone system, such a trunk might, for example, be so noisy or ineffective for transmission that customers cannot communicate over that trunk. Resultingly, the trunk is likely to handle a much higher than normal number of calls with short holding times since the customers quickly discover that they cannot communicate and terminate the calls. The method is implemented via telephone call processing, memory lists, and a program routine integrated into the call disconnect sequences. It allows such defective trunks to be identified by the steps of: detecting all calls with short holding times, successively processing trunk identities which have a repetition of such short holding-time calls, and alerting the maintenance force when such trunks have been processed through several memory lists.

Defective short holding-time trunk identifying method

Growing community of inventors

Glen Ellyn, IL, United States of America

Werner Ulrich