The present invention relates generally to communications systems and, more particularly, to an operational support system that allows for communication service attributes to be updated in substantially real time.
Telecommunications service providers continually increase the number of services and products they offer to customers. A recent trend, for example, is a desire to offer broadband, wireless, and Internet services. As competition increases, service providers must provide an increased level of support for these advanced data services while keeping costs down.
Service providers also desire the ability to allow users (e.g., system administrators, engineers, and customers) to modify attributes associated with these advanced data services and to implement these modifications in substantially real time. By way of example, an attribute may relate to how Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls are routed to a customer Conventionally, changes to telecommunication services required human intervention and could take days or weeks before the changes took effect.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an operational support system that allows users to modify service attributes associated with an IP communications network such that the modifications are available in substantially real time.
Systems consistent with the principles of this invention address this and other needs by providing systems and methods that allow users to make changes to telecommunication services in substantially real time.
In an implementation consistent with the present invention, a system that updates service attributes associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) communications network is provided. The system includes a network interface, an operational data store, and a redirect server. The network interface receives at least one update to one of the service attributes from a user via a data network and forwards the update to the operational data store. The operational data store stores the update and forwards the update to the redirect server. The redirect server stores the update so as to make the update available in substantially real time.
In another implementation consistent with the present invention, a method for providing IP communications network services is disclosed. The method includes providing a web-based interface to a user, where the web-based interface allows the user to update service attributes associated with the IP communications network. The method further includes receiving a change to a service attribute from the user, transferring the service attribute change from the operational data store to a redirect server that is associated with the IP communications network, storing the service attribute change at the redirect server so that the change is made available in substantially real time, and processing at least one call to the user based on the service attribute change.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, explain the invention. In the drawings,
The following detailed description of implementations consistent with the present invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents.
Implementations consistent with the present invention provide an operational support system that allows users to modify service attributes associated with an IP communications network via a web-based interface. The modifications made by the user are made available in substantially real time.
The network 110 may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and/or some other similar type of network. In fact, the network 110 may include any type of network or combination of networks that permits routing of information from a particular source to a particular destination.
The user devices 120 may include a type of computer system, such as a mainframe, minicomputer, or personal computer, a type of telephone system, such as a POTS telephone or a session initiation protocol (SIP) telephone, and/or some other similar type of device that is capable of transmitting and receiving information to/from the network 110. The user device 120 may connect to the network via any conventional technique, such as a wired, wireless, or optical connection.
The processor 220 may include any type of conventional processor or microprocessor that interprets and executes instructions. In one implementation consistent with the present invention, the processor 220 executes the instructions to cause a web browser to be displayed to an operator of the user device 120. As will be described in more detail below, the operator may access and modify attributes associated with the services provided by the OSS 130 via this web browser.
The memory 230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that stores information and instructions for execution by the processor 220. The memory 230 may also be used to store temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor 220.
The ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device and/or another type of static storage device that stores static information and instructions for the processor 220. The storage device 250 may include a magnetic disk or optical disk and its corresponding drive and/or some other type of magnetic or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive for storing information and/or instructions.
The input device 260 may include any conventional mechanism or combination of mechanisms that permits an operator to input information to the user device 120, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a pen, a biometric input device, such as voice recognition device, etc. The output device 270 may include any conventional mechanism or combination of mechanisms that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc.
The communication interface 280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enables the user device 120 to communicate with other devices and/or systems, such as OSS 130. For example, the communication interface 280 may include a modem or an Ethernet interface to a network.
Returning to
The process management system 310 acts as the backbone to the OSS 130 by providing graphical process automation, data transformation, event management, and flexible connectors for interfacing with OSS components. In one implementation consistent with the present invention, the process management system 310 uses a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) based publish-and-subscribe messaging middleware to integrate the different components of the OSS 130. Other techniques for integrating the different components of the OSS 130 may alternatively be used, such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML) or Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). The process management system 310 may, for example, be implemented using Vitria Technology Inc.'s BusinessWare software system.
The network interface 320 provides a graphical user interface that allows users (e.g., customers, engineers, account teams, and the like) to access the components of the OSS 130. The network interface 320 may include commercial off the shelf (COTS) software or hardware packages, such as Siteminder® by Netegrity, Inc. and/or iPlanet™ by Sun Microsystems, Inc., custom software or hardware, or a combination of custom software/hardware and COTS software/hardware.
Via the network interface 320, customers may, for example, request that service be connected or disconnected, monitor or change network or user settings, obtain reports, and perform e-billing, account management, and trouble reporting and tracking functions in a real time manner. The network interface 320 may, for example, allow engineers to submit transactions to control and configure network elements and services in a real time manner. The network interface 320 may, for example, allow account teams to manage account creations and cancellations, generate sub-accounts from master accounts, access current account data, and access historical account data. As will be described in additional detail below, the network interface 320 allows the service attributes associated with the IPCOM unit 370 to be configured and controlled remotely, such as over the Internet.
The network interface 320 authenticates users and controls actions that authenticated users are allowed to execute in the OSS 130. In one implementation consistent with the present invention, the network interface 320 allows users access to the components of the OSS 130 via a single sign-on technique. This single sign-on eliminates the need for users to sign in (or authenticate themselves) in order to access different components of the OSS 130. Once authenticated, users may access those components of the OSS 130 to which they have been provided authorization.
The integrated applications 330 may include, for example, a database 331, a fault management unit 332, a data collection unit 333, a billing unit 334, a reporting unit 335, and an IPCom Provisioning unit 336. The database 331 may include one or more separate databases for storing data. In one implementation, the database 331 includes a data warehouse, an operational data store, and a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) directory server. The data warehouse acts as a repository for service order, account, usage, and performance data. In one implementation, the data warehouse may be implemented as a relational database management system (RDBMS) based system.
The operational data store temporarily the most recent version of service and engineering attributes/parameters that should be acted upon in the OSS 130. The operational data store also stores authentication and authorization data. This data defines user's roles and privileges. Like the data warehouse, the operational data store may be a RDBMS based system.
The LDAP directory server stores similar information to that described above with respect to the operational data store, however, the LDAP directory server stores entries in a hierarchical, tree-like structure. As a result, the LDAP directory server provides a quick response to high volume lookup and/or search operations. Additional information regarding LDAP can be found in W. Yeong et al., “Lightweight Directory Access Protocol,” RFC 1777, March 1995, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The fault management unit 332 monitors and manages the overall operation of the OSS 130. The fault management unit 332 receives information from every device, computer and application in the OSS 130 via the process management system 310 and, in situations where a fault has been detected, may transmit trouble tickets identifying the fault to the appropriate system administrator.
The data collection unit 333 collects customer usage and performance data for the devices supported by the OSS 130, transforms the data, if necessary, and passes the data on to the appropriate device, such as the billing unit 334, the database 331, etc. In one implementation, the data collection unit 333 utilizes a hierarchical architecture, having a centralized manager that defines and manages collection and data transformation schemas. Individual, lower level gatherers interface with source targets.
The billing unit 334 receives customer usage and performance data from the data collection unit 333 and generates bills in a well-known manner based thereon. The billing unit 334 may be configured with a variety of rating rules and plans and may provide mechanisms to manage and create rating plans, as well as mechanisms for building revenue reports and generating billing reports. The rating rules may be customized based on a particular customer's requirements or generalized. The rating rules may include traditional telephony styled rating rules that include time-of-day, day-of-week, distance-based, flat rate, non-recurring, and recurring on a definably regular basis, such as weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc., ratings. In an exemplary implementation of the present invention, the billing unit 334 may also provide bonus points, airline miles, and other incentive items as part of the rules-based rating and billing service.
Billing unit 334 may provide revenue and billing reports to authorized parties. Billing unit 334 may allow customers to access previous invoices and view current charges not yet billed. In an exemplary implementation consistent with the present invention, billing unit 334 may transfer rated events and summary records into other billing and revenue systems. For example, billing unit 334 may receive and transfer billing information or event information to a legacy billing system (i.e., an existing billing system) that generates the actual bill. In alternative implementations, billing unit 334 may provide hard copy bills and/or provide electronic bills to a customer. In this implementation, billing unit 334 may be configured to perform electronic payment handling.
As customer orders and accounts are created or modified through normal business functions, the OSS 130 keeps the billing unit 334 up to date in a real time manner via the process management system 310. Authorized parties may also extract real time data from the billing unit 334.
The reporting unit 335 may interact with various components of the OSS 130, such as the database 331 and billing unit 334, to provide users (i.e., customers, engineers, and accountants) with the ability to obtain reports based on real time data. The reports may include, for example, billing reports, reports regarding the usage and/or performance of the network, etc.
The IPCom provisioning unit 336 allows for attributes associated with the IPCOM unit 370 to be updated. As will be described in detail below, the IPCom provisioning unit 336 may provide graphical user interface screens to a user via the network interface 320 to allow the user to add, delete, or update IP communications network service attributes.
The traditional telephony systems 340 may include one or more components that are typically used in a telecommunications network. In one implementation, the traditional telephony systems 340 include one or more legacy systems, such as an order entry system, provisioning system, billing system, and the like.
The voice portal unit 350 provides a variety of information services to subscribers. These services may include, for example, banking, brokerage, and financial services, travel and entertainment services, distribution and shipping services, insurance services, health and pharmaceutical services, manufacturing services, and the like. The voice portal unit 350 may store subscriber profiles to determine a subscriber's device preference (e.g., a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, a paging device, and the like) and may also track a subscriber's access to the services for billing purposes.
The web center 360 acts as a virtual call center by queuing, routing, and distributing communications from any first location to an appropriate agent at any second location. The web center 360 allows agents to handle multiple mediums (e.g., inbound telephone calls, faxes, e-mails, voicemail, VoIP transactions, etc.) via a single browser-based interface.
The IPCOM unit 370 may include one or more devices that provide VoIP services to subscribers. The subscribers may make and receive calls via an IP communications network using, for example, session initiation protocol (SIP) telephones. The IPCOM unit 370 may support the following exemplary services: follow me, call blocking, call forwarding, voice mail, conference calling, single line extension, call screening, quality of service, class of service, dial-plan restrictions, dynamic registration, secondary directory number, and call transfer. As described above, customers may set or change attributes associated with these features via the network interface 320.
The vBNS+ unit 380 provides the IP infrastructure for the IP communications network. The vBNS+ unit 380 may include a group of routers that route packets in the network. The non-integrated applications 390 may include, for example, a security unit, a trouble ticketing unit, and a fault manager. The security unit may include one or more firewalls for securing the network interface 320, telephone equipment (e.g., PBX, switch, and redirect server), and network operations. The trouble ticketing unit manages the issuance and resolution of trouble tickets. The fault manager monitors the hardware components of the OSS 130.
The processor 420 may include any type of conventional processor or microprocessor that interprets and executes instructions. The memory 430 may include a RAM or another type of dynamic storage device that stores information and instructions for execution by the processor 420; a ROM or another type of static storage device that stores static information and instructions for use by the processor 420; and/or some type of magnetic or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.
The input device 440 may include any conventional mechanism or combination of mechanisms that permits an operator to input information to the process management system 310, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a biometric mechanism, and the like. The output device 450 may include any conventional mechanism or combination of mechanisms that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. The communication interface 460 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enables the process management system 310 to communicate with other devices and/or systems, such as the network interface 320, integrated applications 330, traditional telephony systems 340, etc. via a wired, wireless, or optical connection.
Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 430, causes processor 420 to implement the functional operations described below. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
The processor automator 510 includes a modeling tool that allows event processing to be visually modeled by engineers and product development analysts. The process automator 510 can then execute these models to create an automated business process. The analyzer 520 provides on-going and real time monitoring of the components of the OSS 130. The analyzer 520 delivers reports, history, and trending on events processed through the process management system 310.
The connectors 530 include a group of customized rules that allows the components of the OSS 130 to interact and communicate with the process management system 310. A unique connector 530 may be established for each component in the OSS 130. As new components are added to the OSS 130, new connectors 530 are established to allow the new components to communicate with the existing components of the OSS 130. Once the connectors 530 have been established, the OSS components may communicate with the process management system 310 via standard messaging or through full publish/subscribe processing. The transformer 540 inspects data received by the connectors 530. The transformer 540 may also transform the data received by the connectors 530, if necessary, prior to the data being transferred on to its destination.
The voice portal application servers 620 may include one or more servers that interact with the XPM unit 610 to provide, for example, banking, brokerage, and financial services, travel and entertainment services, distribution and shipping services, insurance services, health and pharmaceutical services, manufacturing services, and the like. Voice portal application servers 620 may also provide data collection unit 333 with information regarding what services are accessed and by whom. The data collection unit 333 may then pass this information on to the billing unit 334 for billing purposes. The voice portal application servers 620 may be located at the OSS 130 or distributed throughout the network 110. The customer directories 630 may store information relating to the services provided by the voice portal application servers 620. For example, the customer directories 630 may store stock quotes, current weather forecasts, real time sports scores, etc.
The CPE enterprise gateways 820 may include one or more gateways for linking customer systems to the IP communications network. The CPE enterprise gateways 820 may, for example, connect to a customer's PBX and convert time division multiplexed (TDM) voice data into VoIP packets and voice signaling into SIP messages. The network gateways 830 include one or more gateways for linking the IP communications network to the PSTN in a well-known manner. The CPE enterprise gateways 820 and network gateways 830 track customer access and transmit this customer access data to the data collection unit 333 for billing purposes.
The foregoing description of the OSS 130 provides an overview of the configuration of the OSS 130. A more detailed description of the present invention is provided below.
Some of the products and services supported by the OSS 130 enable various users (e.g., customers, engineers, accounting personnel, order entry personnel, internal support staff members, etc.) to submit modifications to attributes associated with services provided by the OSS 130. It is important that these changes be available in substantially real time. The present invention is directed to systems and methods for configuring and controlling service attributes associated with the IP communications network via the network interface 320.
The user may enter an ID and password in a well-known manner via the user device 120. The user device 120 may then transmit the user ID and password to the network interface 320. The network interface 320 may authenticate the user by, for example, comparing the user's ID and password to authorized identifiers and passwords [act 1020].
Once authenticated, the network interface 320 may optionally determine the level of authorization with which the user is associated [act 1030]. The OSS 130 may, for example, grant engineers a higher level of authorization (i.e., permit access to a greater number of components of the OSS 130) than customers.
It is assumed hereafter that the user wishes to make changes to service attributes associated with the IP communications network, such as attributes associated with the following exemplary services: follow me, call blocking, call forwarding, voice mail, conference calling, single line extension, call screening, quality of service, class of service, dial-plan restrictions, dynamic registration, secondary directory number, and call transfer. The network interface 320 may transmit service management screen(s) to the user device 120 to allow the user to modify service attributes associated with the IP communications network [act 1040]. As described above, the service management screen(s) may be provided to the network interface 320 via the IPCom provisioning unit 336.
The Enterprise Configuration category 1210 provides the user with links for setting the private translation type (i.e., the way in which private calls are to be routed for the customer, such as via the network servers/redirect servers 810 or via traditional data access protocol routing) and performing prefix plan management, location management, call blocking management, feature blocking management, gateway management, and dial plan management functions. The Network Configuration category 1220 provides the user with links for performing SIP domain management and remote access configuration functions. The Subscriber Configuration category 1230 provides the user with links for performing subscriber management and alias management functions. The Reference Information category 1240 provides the user with IP phone setup instructions.
Upon selecting one of the links provided for the above-described categories, the network interface 320 provides the user with one or more screens for performing the desired function(s).
The user name may be any unique name associated with the user. The profile type may indicate the user's profile (e.g., customer administrator, engineer, customer, etc.). The call blocking, feature blocking, and prefix plans indicate the currently active call blocking, feature blocking, and prefix plans, respectively, that have been established by the user.
The user may edit, copy, or delete an existing list by selecting the list from block 1420 and selecting the appropriate button. Assume that the user selects the “Break The Bank” list from block 1420. The network interface 320 may provide the user with the exemplary screen illustrated in
To add a new rule to the Break The Bank list, the user may select the ADD button 1520 by, for example, clicking on it.
In the exemplary screen illustrated in
As illustrated, the management screen 1900 allows the user to enter a group of addresses (numbers) 1910 in order of preference that the user wishes the system to use in routing calls to the user. Five addresses are provided for simplicity. A typical find-me list management screen may provide more or fewer number of addresses. With each address entry 1910, the user must specify the type of destination device with which the address corresponds. For example, the first entry (i.e., joe-sip@sipworld.com) corresponds to a SIP telephone number. The user may also enter an address in block 1920 to which calls are to be routed in the event that an attempt to reach one of the addresses listed in block 1910 results in a busy signal. In the example illustrated in
As noted above with respect to
To edit a call acceptance list, the user may select the Selective Call Acceptance List link 2040. The network interface 320 may then provide the user with the exemplary screen 2100 illustrated in
The screens illustrated in
Returning to
The network server/redirect server 810 may direct calls to the appropriate gateway 820 or 830 based on this data. In this manner, changes made by a user to IP communications network service attributes are made available to the user in substantially real time.
Implementations consistent with the present invention provide an operational support system that allows users to update attributes associated with IP communications network services, such as VoIP services, via a web-based interface. The operational support system makes changes to the service attributes available in substantially real time.
The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. For example, it will be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
Moreover, while a series of acts has been described with respect to
No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used.
The scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/276,923, 60/276,953, 60/276,954, and 60/276,955, all filed Mar. 20, 2001, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60276923 | Mar 2001 | US | |
60276953 | Mar 2001 | US | |
60276954 | Mar 2001 | US | |
60276955 | Mar 2001 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10097865 | Mar 2002 | US |
Child | 13856199 | US |