Method for advanced determination and display of caller geographic information in a PBX

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior U.S. application Ser. No. 10/225,549, filed Aug. 20, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,572.

[0002] The present invention relates generally to the science of telecommunications. In more detail, the present invention relates to a system for providing advanced geographic information to a called party about the calling party and/or call origination party.

[0003] Presently, telephone systems have evolved to include limited standard identification information about the calling phone (calling number and/or ANI) and the phone that was called (dialed number). This information is primarily obtained from the telephone number from which the phone call was placed and the telephone number that was dialed by the caller. The telephone system has recognized these two numbers as basic information sources (for routing calls and for billing purposes for example) and has developed a system of standards for the data character fields these numbers are to fill. The following background information will better explain these standards of limited phone identification used today by the telephone system of the United States and as it applies to the international standards as well.

Automatic Number Identification

[0004] Automatic Number Identification (ANI) is a basic element of telephone calls transported throughout the public and private telephone networks. For the North America Numbering Plan (NANP), it is currently 10 digits long. ANI is used extensively for: call routing, call billing, call tracking, and call identification.

[0005] The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) has 680 area codes available for use. Of these, currently over 40 area codes are used for other countries that participate in the NANP.

Call Routing Based on ANI

[0006] Area Code Routing based on the calling phone number is a common feature found in most long distance telephone networks. Based on the calling party number (ANI) the call can be routed and/or receive special treatment by telephone switches, the phone network, and equipment. Some Interexchange Carriers (IXC's) (such as AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc.) and Local Exchange Companies (LEC's) (such as Ameritech) provide many enhanced forms of call routing usually based on the first 3 or more ANI digit screening.

[0007] Call routing based on the first 3 ANI digits is usually referred to as Area Code Routing. For example, if the calling number ANI was 614/847-6161, then Area Code Routing would consider the “614” part of the ANI and route the Ohio originated call using the “614” as the broad geographic data element to start the routing routines and calculations, based on the routing rules and other factors (e.g., agents available, volume of calls, lines available, time of day, day of week, percent allocation, and other factors).

[0008] Call Routing based on more than the first 3 ANI digits allows for more geographic precision. Most ANI's have a geographic relationship. Bell Core publishes a LERG (Local Exchange Routing Guide) that gives the approximate longitude and latitude for the area code/exchange (as well as other data contained in the LERG) represented by the first 6 digits of the ANI. For example, for the calling number 614/847-6161 the “614-847” component has the geographic representation of Ohio and the metropolitan area of North Columbus/Worthington. The Area-Code-Exchange (NPA-NXX) Routing ability gives even greater routing definition for the calling party (ANI). If a caller to an 800 number with an ANI of “614/847-6161” was in need of being connected to a towing service, then the geographically closest towing service might be identified to handle the towing job (at a shorter travel time and possible lower cost).

Call Identification

[0009] One of the most wide spread and well-known uses of the caller's ANI is Caller ID (Caller Identification). The concept of Caller ID is to pass on to the recipient of the call the ANI of the caller before the call is answered. ANI has been a key component of ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) defined by the CCITT in the 1970's. The caller's ANI has traveled the phone network since the 1970's, if not earlier, in the form of two products:

[0010] 1. 1-800 Access Type Service;

[0011] 2. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN Service).

[0012] Many companies, business, and individuals use ISDN, digital access, and/or Call ID to get the data elements of the call—one of which is caller ANI.

[0013] The ANI of the caller is preserved and passed on as the call passes through the Public Telephone Network (and usually the Private Telephone Network, if possible). For example, the caller ANI may traverse through the LEC, IXC, CAP (Competitive Access Provider), PBX, ACD, Agent and so forth, so the final recipient receives the caller's ANI (i.e., caller ID).

[0014] A PBX (private branch exchange) is a telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost of requiring a line for each user to the telephone company's central office.

[0015] The PBX is owned and operated by the enterprise rather than the telephone company (which may be a supplier or service provider, however). Private branch exchanges used analog technology originally. Today, PBXs use digital technology (digital signals are converted to analog for outside calls on the local loop using plain old telephone service).

[0016] A PBX typically includes:

• • [0017] Telephone trunk (multiple phone) lines that terminate at the PBX
  • [0018] A computer with memory that manages the switching of the calls within the PBX and in and out of it
  • [0019] The network of lines within the PBX
  • [0020] Usually a console or switchboard for a human operator

[0021] In some instances, alternatives to a PBX include Centrex service (in which a pool of lines are rented at the phone company's central office), key telephone systems, and, for very small enterprises, primary rate integrated Service Digital Network.

[0022] Among the larger manufacturers of PBXs are Lucent Technologies, Northern Telecom (NORTEL), Rolm/Siemens, NEC, GTE, Intecom, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Mitel.

[0023] Many conventional caller ID devices display the incoming phone number, but very few people are able to geographically recognize every area code. In this respect, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,009,149, 6,137,870, and 6,298,122, which disclosures are hereby incorporated by this reference. Moreover, most caller ID users would not inherently know more than a few of the local exchanges and their corresponding cities.

[0024] With an ever-increasing number of new area codes being used, those skilled in the art have recognized a significant need for an improved system for decoding and processing advanced determination and display of city and state caller information. The present invention fulfills these needs.

[0025] The present invention provides an improved decoding and processing system for advanced determination and display of geographic information of a call origination party. The unique system comprises a receiving device to receive the calling number delivery (CND) message from a switching center; a central database server at the PBX for storage and retrieval of specific data from a library for selectively determining the corresponding geographic information of the call origination party; a transmission device for sending data from the server over the station-telephone connectivity plane; a receiving device in a telephone; and a readout device for displaying the geographic information of the incoming call. Accordingly, the improved system provides the user with convenient and efficient display of geographic information related to caller identification that is capable of determining an ever-increasing number of area code and local telephone exchange number.

[0026] Accordingly, the improved system provides the user with convenient and efficient display of geographic caller identification that is capable of determining an ever-increasing number of area code and local telephone exchange numbers.

[0030] An improved decoding, processing and delivery system in a PBX for the advanced determination and display of geographic information to a called party relating to the call origination party. The improved system comprises a receiving device to receive the calling number delivery (CND) message from a switching center; a central database server at the PBX for storage and retrieval of specific data from a library for selectively determining the corresponding geographic information of the call origination party; a transmission device for sending data from the server over the station-telephone connectivity plane; a receiving device in a telephone; and a readout device for displaying the geographic information of the incoming call. Accordingly, the improved system provides the user with convenient and efficient display of geographic information related to caller identification that is capable of determining an ever-increasing number of area code and local telephone exchange number.

[0031] Calling Number Delivery (CND), better known as Caller ID, is a telephone service intended for residential and small business customers. It allows the called Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) to receive a calling party's directory number.

[0032] Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown a PBX 21 that receives a CND from the PSTN or other private communications network. The NPA/NXX City and State database server 25 then compares the first three digits of the NPA to the look-up table in the city and state database. Once a match if found for the corresponding area code is found a match can be made to the NXX to read the city data. The city and state data are then transmitted 23, along with the CND, across the station-telephone connectivity plane 22. The link may be wired or wireless in nature.

[0033] FIG. 2 further shows the data is received 24 and prepared by the host microcontroller 26 for display 8 on the individual phone. Phones with full graphic displays may alternately or additionally display the geographic location information pictorially.

[0034] If the city and state information is not current, incoming call information may not match any of the entries in the memory. In the case of known area code but missing exchange, the state name will still be displayed.

[0035] The following is an illustrative embodiment of the inventive system in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

[0036] In another embodiment, rather than a traditional switched circuit PBX a VOIP PBX is used. The overall architecture is similar, however, the connectivity planes exploit the use of common IP networks.

[0037] VoIP (voice over IP—that is, a voice delivered using the Internet Protocol) is a term used in IP telephony for a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the Internet Protocol (IP). In general, this means sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A major advantage of VoIP and Internet telephony is that it avoids the tolls charged by ordinary telephone service.

[0038] VoIP, now used somewhat generally, derives from the VoIP Forum, an effort by major equipment providers, including Cisco, VocalTec, 3Com, and Netspeak to promote the use of ITU-T H.323, the standard for sending voice (audio) and video using IP on the public Internet and within an intranet. The Forum also promotes the user of directory service standards so that users can locate other users and the use of touch-tone signals for automatic call distribution and voice mail.

[0039] In addition to IP, VoIP uses the real-time protocol (RTP) to help ensure that packets get delivered in a timely way. Using public networks, it is currently difficult to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS). Better service is possible with private networks managed by an enterprise or by an Internet telephony service provider (ITSP).

[0040] Using VoIP, an enterprise positions a “VoIP device” at a gateway. The gateway receives packetized voice transmissions from users within the company and then routes them to other parts of its intranet (local area of wide area network) or, using a T-carrier system or E-carrier interface, sends them over the public switched telephone network.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, the database server 25 may contain the actual NPA/NXX city and state database or through external connectivity, such as the Internet, externally query the information to provide the result of the lookup.

[0042] In another embodiment, FIG. 4, it is known that VOIP telephone PBX systems can be setup entirely without a central PBX router/cabinet. In this case the individual telephone set contains all the necessary circuitry and software to perform the voice call. In this embodiment it is also realized that the database may be queried through an external connection, again such as the Internet, to gain the resulting city and/or state. These phones may be completely self-contained even deriving power over the Ethernet connection (PoE).

[0043] It also known that in the NANP even greater information in the CND can exist beyond the 10-digit NPA/NXX, such as will 1,000 block number pooling. In order to conserve the limited amount of possible phone number combinations 1,000 block number pooling allows smaller units of phone number blocks to be issued to a carrier. The traditional method was to issue an entire exchange. However, this method was inefficient so now and in the future greater levels granularity may exist be analyzing even more digits of resolution in the phone number.

[0044] Although the foregoing is illustrative of the NANP (North American Numbering Plan) those skilled in the art recognize that the inventive system may also be used with foreign numbering plans in this respect foreign countries have equivalent identifier Information that may be correlated geographically in the particular country.

[0045] For example, Mexico has recently completed a series of numbering plan changes which were supposedly implemented in stages. The first stage was to expand the local numbers to a standard 7 digits. Three cities—Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey—with high telephone density already had 8 digit local numbers and were not subject to this local numbering change. It was also recommended in the plan change that the term local number be changed to subscriber number (SN). It appears that the original local numbers, with some exceptions, were 5 digits in length. To make the change easier for consumers, the two extra digits were taken from the last digits of the existing area code and attached to the beginning of the local number. This made the area code only a single digit for an interim period.

[0046] Subsequent to the local number change, the national number was expanded from 8 to 10 digits. The national number is comprised of the country code (52), regional identification number (RIN) and the local number. The RIN is also referred to as the area code, but it has been recommended that it now be termed the national destination code (NDC).

[0047] Under this numbering plan change, which by all claims became effective in November 2001, each local service area was assigned a new regional identification number (i.e., 3-digit area code). Again, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey were the exceptions because of their existing 8-digit local numbers and were assigned two-digit area codes. Several sites have lists of the new RINs for at least the top 100 cities.

[0048] In recent years, Australia has also phased in number plan changes to achieve standardization and allow for expansion. Local numbers were standardized to 8 digits. Interestingly enough, the 54 area codes in place prior to the numbering plan changes have been reduced o a mere four area codes—02, 03, 08 and 07. Additionally, all mobile phone numbers, regardless of network, have an area code of 04. Here too, it looks like the old area codes were used to expand the local number by attaching them to the front of the existing local number.

[0049] The UK's National Numbering Scheme is a list of all their telephone numbers that are allocated, free, protected, reserved or not designated. The scheme provides the framework for the numbering plan and includes the United Kingdom's Specified Numbering Scheme (SNS) managed by Oftel. However, Oftel does not control all telephone numbers. There are Short Codes, for example, which are memorable 3- to 6-digit numbers not governed by Oftel, that provide access to telephony services for end users.

[0050] The National Significant Number (NSN) is part of the UK's numbering scheme. The NSN consists of the Geographic Area Code (formerly the National Destination Code) and the Subscriber Number. The UK is working to make 10-digit NSNs (not including the national code of ‘01’) the standard. This would consist of 3-digit area codes followed by 7-digit subscriber numbers, or 4-digit codes followed by 6-digit numbers. In the meantime, area codes today can range from 3–6 digits and subscriber numbers from 3–7 digits.

[0051] The area codes in Japan can be 1 to 5 digits in length. The subscriber number (i.e., local exchange number+subscriber number) can then be 4 to 8 digits in length. The trunk prefix for Japan is also ‘0’. Japan's National Significant Number is represented a ‘OABCDEFGHIJK’, so the phone number length, like the UK, will not exceed 11 digits. Phone numbers cannot start with ‘1’. Mobile phone numbers have a separate prefix from fixed lines.

With all foreign numbering plans and even greater resolution in the NANP beyond the NPA/NXX, such as 1,000 block number pooling, those skilled in the art will recognize ability to correlate different types of CND's with a geographical location.

[0052] Accordingly, the improved system provides the user with convenient and efficient display of geographic information related to caller identification that is capable of determining an ever-increasing number of area code and local telephone exchange numbers.