PD009568IN
-
SC
FORM
2
THE
PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE
PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See
section
10,
rule
13)
1.
Title of the invention
:
PRIORITY CALL HANDLING IN COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS
2.
Applicant(s)
NAME
NATIONALITY
ADDRESS
ALCATEL LUCENT
French
3, avenue Octave Gréard 75007
Paris, France
3.
Preamble to the description
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it
is to be performed.
1
2
F
IELD OF
I
NVENTION
[0001]
The present subject matter relates
to communication networks and,
particularly but not exclusively, to handli
ng of priority calls in the communication
networks.
5
B
ACKGROUND
[0002]
Communication devices, such as phone
s, personal digital assistants,
portable computers, and deskt
op computers have seemingly become a ubiquitous part
of today’s human life. Comm
unication devices facilitate
the subscribers to have
access to various communication services, su
ch as to make and receive calls, and
10
send and receive texts or vi
deos. Communication
devices are used
for a variety of
purposes, including communicating with fam
ily members and friends and conducting
business. With the increasing use of such
communication devices, ca
lling or the call
service has become a pervasive mode of
communication, where it allows for a quick
communication between the subscribers, irre
spective of whether they are located in
15
the same geographical area or not.
S
UMMARY
[0003]
This summary is provided to introd
uce concepts related to handling of
priority calls by a network entity in a communication network. This summary is not
intended to identify essential features of th
e claimed subject matte
r nor is it intended
20
for use in determining or limiting the
scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0004]
In an implementation, a method for
handling of prior
ity calls by a
network entity in a comm
unication network is descri
bed. The method includes
identifying a calling subscriber
, the calling subscriber being an initiator of a call to a
called subscriber, to be a priority calli
ng subscriber based on a priority calling
25
subscribers list associated
with the called subscriber. The method also includes
3
recognizing a priority action sc
enario in response to the ca
ll from the priority calling
subscriber. The method further includes pe
rforming a priority
action based on the
recognizing of the prio
rity action scenario.
[0005]
In an implementation, a priority ca
ll handling system for handling of
priority calls by a network entity, the pr
iority call handling system comprises a
5
processor and a priority cal
l identification module couple
d to the processor, to
identify a calling subscriber, the calling subscriber being an initiator of a call to a
called subscriber, to be a priority calli
ng subscriber based on a priority calling
subscribers list associated with the calle
d subscriber. The priority call handling
system further comprises a priority call ha
ndling module coupled to
the processor, to
10
recognize a priority action scen
ario in response to the ca
ll from the priority calling
subscriber and perform a pr
iority action based on the re
cognizing of the priority
action scenario.
[0006]
In an implementation, a non-transito
ry computer readable medium
having a set of computer read
able instructions that, when executed, cause a network
15
entity to perform a process is described.
The process includes identifying a calling
subscriber, the calling subscriber being an in
itiator of a call to a called subscriber, to
be a priority calling subscriber based on a pr
iority calling subscribers list associated
with the called subscriber. The process al
so includes recognizing a priority action
scenario in response to the
call from the priority call
ing subscriber. The process
20
further includes performing a priority acti
on based on the recognizing of the priority
action scenario.
B
RIEF
D
ESCRIPTION OF THE
F
IGURES
[0007]
The detailed description is de
scribed with reference to the
accompanying figures. In the figures, the le
ft-most digit(s) of a reference number
25
identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers
are used throughout the figures
to reference like features and components. Some
4
implementations of system and/or methods
in accordance with implementations of the
present subject matter are now described, by
way of example, and with reference to
the accompanying figures, in which:
[0008]
Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a
communication network environment
implementing a priority call handling syst
em, in accordance with an implementation
5
of the present subject matter;
[0009]
Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a priority call handling system, in
accordance with an implementation
of the present subject matter;
[0010]
Fig. 3(a) illustrates a call flow diagram for handling of priority calls, in
accordance with an implementation
of the present subject matter;
10
[0011]
Fig. 3(b) illustrates a call flow diag
ram for handling of priority calls, in
accordance with an implementation of
the present subject matter;
[0012]
Fig. 3(c) illustrates a call flow diagram for handling of priority calls, in
accordance with an implementation of
the present subject matter; and
[0013]
Fig. 4 illustrates a method for handling
of priority calls, in accordance
15
with an implementation of the present subject matter.
[0014]
It should be appreciated by those
skilled in the art that any block
diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the
principles of the present subject matter. Sim
ilarly, it will be appreci
ated that any flow
charts, flow diagrams, state transition di
agrams, pseudo code, a
nd the like represent
20
various processes which may be substantia
lly represented in computer readable
medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer
or processor is explicitly shown.
D
ESCRIPTION
O
F
E
MBODIMENTS
[0015]
Systems and methods for handling of
priority calls by a network entity
25
are described. The systems and the methods can be implemented in a variety of
5
communication networks comprising co
mmunication devices. The communication
devices may include, but are not limited to, telephones, mobile phones, Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, personal computers, and the like. Although the
description herein is with
reference to certain networks
, the systems and methods may
be implemented in other networks and devices,
albeit with a few va
riations, as will be
5
understood by a person sk
illed in the art.
[0016]
Subscribers in a communication netw
ork may miss calls or may not be
able to attend calls from other subscribers
due to being busy in another task or a
meeting. Also, in today's dynamic world, as
the subscribers commonly travel from
one place to another for business/personal reasons with their communication devices,
10
the subscribers may travel outside the ge
ographical coverage area of their native
communication network where the service wa
s registered, also known as their home
communication network. The communication de
vices of the subscribers may receive
extension of connectivity se
rvice in a visited communica
tion network, i.e., a roaming
network, at higher service usag
e charges. In such situatio
ns, in order to avoid higher
15
charges, the subscribers may not attend cal
ls from other subscribers while in the
roaming network. In cases where the calls ar
e missed or not attended, the subscribers
may communicate back with the other subscrib
ers at a later point
in time in response
to the missed calls or the unattended calls.
Although, the subscribers may miss or not
attend calls from vari
ous other subscribers, however, th
ey generally wish to attend or
20
not to miss calls from a selected group of ca
lling subscribers, referr
ed to as priority
calling subscribers hereinafter. The priority calling subscribers may include, for
example, family members, relatives, clos
e friends, boss, specific friends, and such.
[0017]
A subscriber receiving a call, referre
d to as a called subscriber, while
in a roaming network, may reject the call fr
om another subscriber
, referred to as a
25
calling subscriber. The called subscriber may reject the call, even from a priority
calling subscriber, due to various reasons, su
ch as insufficient credit in his account.
The called subscriber may also have an
alternate subscription, with the visited
6
communication network as the home comm
unication network, from which he may
place a call to the calling subs
criber. Alternatively, the call
ed subscriber, while in the
roaming network, may attend the call from the calling subscriber and ask the calling
subscriber to call back on the alternat
e subscription. In one or more of the
abovementioned scenarios, where the called
subscriber is in the roaming network,
5
depending on the case as it may be, the calle
d subscriber, to save
higher charges,
either has to manually place a call to th
e calling subscriber from the alternate
subscription, or miss the call due to insu
fficient credits in hi
s subscription account.
[0018]
The subscriber, while going on a ro
aming network, may also use a call
forwarding option to forward his incoming calls to an alternate subscription. During
10
the call forwarding, the subs
criber may incur charges
for the incoming call on his
account, and also on the alternate number depending on whether roaming services are
being utilized by the altern
ate subscription. In case the
subscriber is frequently
moving between the home network and the visited networks, the subscriber may have
to modify the call forwarding settings t
oo often, which may be cumbersome and
15
increase the effort of the subscriber.
[0019]
Further, the subscriber, while
going on a roaming network, may
activate or use voice mail services. In such
cases, the calling subscriber may incur
charges when the call is diverted to a voi
ce mailbox of the called subscriber. Also, the
called subscriber may incur charges for accessing the voice mailbox at a later
20
instance. In addition, the called subscriber
may not wish to access the voice mailbox
for the message from a subscriber other
than the priority calling subscribers.
Furthermore, the facility of
voice mailbox has a limitation
on talk time of the message
which can be saved.
[0020]
Similarly, in situations of an unans
wered call, the calling subscriber
25
may receive a voice response from the comm
unication service providers. Typically,
the voice response messages are automated
and are provided by the service provider
in situations when the called subscriber is busy, or the called subscriber is not
7
reachable, or the called subscriber is not answering the call. Depending on the case,
the automated voice response may vary and
may be, for example, "Sorry, the number
you are calling is not reachable at the moment
", "The user is busy on some other call,
please try after sometime", "The number is
out of network coverage", and the like.
Such automated voice responses provide in
formation on as to why the call session
5
could not be established w
ith the called subscriber. The existing automated voice
responses do not facilitate effective es
tablishment of communication between the
calling subscriber and th
e called subscriber.
[0021]
Thus, as described, the conventional solutions are not effective in
providing a substantially good
experience to the called su
bscriber while receiving
10
calls from calling subscribers, especially fr
om the priority calling subscribers, as the
called subscriber may miss calls due to various
reasons, or put in efforts by himself to
establish communication late
r, or pay higher charges
for attending calls due to
utilization of the roaming services.
[0022]
The present subject matter describe
s systems and methods for handling
15
of priority calls in a communication netw
ork. The described methods and systems are
implemented in a network entity distri
buted in the communi
cation network to
facilitate provisioning of call services
between calling subs
cribers and called
subscribers. The systems and the methods,
implemented in the network entity, enable
in handling of calls from priority calling subscribers associated with a called
20
subscriber, so that the calls from the priority calling subscriber are not missed, or if
the calls are missed, communication with the priority calling subscribers can be
established efficiently. For the
sake of explanation, the calls
from the priority calling
subscribers are referred to as priority calls.
[0023]
In an implementation, a calling subscrib
er being initiato
r of a call to a
25
called subscriber is identified by the ne
twork entity, to be a priority calling
subscriber. The identification is based on a
priority calling subscr
ibers list set by the
called subscriber. The priority calling subs
cribers list may include identification
8
information associated with a group of s
ubscribers from whom the subscriber does
not wish to miss calls. The identificati
on information in the priority calling
subscribers list may include unique identifie
rs, such as phone numbers of the priority
calling subscribers.
[0024]
The call from a priority calling subscriber, i.e., the priority call, may
5
lead to a scenario where there is no esta
blishment of active call session between the
called subscriber and the priority calling subscriber. The scenario may include
situations, such as no answer from the calle
d subscriber, the called subscriber is busy,
and the called subscriber is not reachable. Such a scenario, in response to a priority
call, may lead to a priority action by the network entity for handling of the priority
10
call. For the sake of explanation, such scen
arios are referred to as priority action
scenarios hereinafter.
[0025]
In an implementation of the present subject matter, the priority call
may lead to few additional scenarios, which
may be specified by the subscribers, such
as the called subscriber bei
ng in roaming, the called subscriber having insufficient
15
credit, and custom scenarios associated with
the called subscriber, where the priority
action may be performed. The custom scenarios may include scenarios specified by
the called subscriber, such as a set of time dur
ations of a day, a set of days in a week,
and a call received from the priority calli
ng subscriber, i.e., all the priority calls
received from the priority calling subscriber. Based on identification of the priority
20
action scenario, the network entity may perf
orm the priority acti
on for handling of the
priority call.
[0026]
In an implementation, the priority action scenario, in response to the
priority call, is recognized by the networ
k entity. Based on the recognition of the
priority action scenario, a priority action may be performed by the network entity. The
25
priority action refers to an action initiat
ed by the network entity for handling of a
priority call in case of a priority action scen
ario. The priority action is associated with
the called subscriber, so that the calls from the priority calling subscriber are not
9
missed by the called subscriber, or if th
e calls are missed, communication with the
priority calling subscribers can
be established efficiently.
[0027]
In an implementation, the priority
action may include providing a call
notification to an alternate subscription associated with the called subscriber. In said
implementation, the alternate subscription
may be a different subscription of the
5
called subscriber, for example, an alternat
e phone number of the called subscriber. In
another implementation, the alternate s
ubscription may be a subscription of a
different subscriber associated with the called subscriber, for example, a subscription
of a secretary of the called subscriber. The call notification may include identification
information associated with the priority cal
ling subscriber. For example, if there is a
10
no answer from the called subscriber in response to a call from a priority calling
subscriber, the call notification is provided
to the alternate subscription associated
with the called subscriber. Upon receiving
of the call notification on the alternate
subscription, a call may be placed from the alternate subscription to the priority
calling subscriber. This facilitates the
establishment of communication with the
15
priority calling subscriber in cas
e of a priority action scenario.
[0028]
In an implementation, the priority
action may include providing an
alternate call notification to the calling subs
criber, in response to the priority action
scenario, for example, the called subscriber
being in a roaming network. The alternate
call notification may include identification information of the alternate subscription
20
associated with the called subscriber. Upon
receiving of the altern
ate call notification
by the calling subscriber, a call may be
placed by the calling subscriber to the
alternate subscription associated with th
e called subscriber. In case where the
alternate subscription is in its home networ
k, the called subscriber can save charges
which would otherwise have been incurr
ed by attending the call using roaming
25
services.
[0029]
In an implementation, the call notifi
cations and/or the alternate call
notifications may be provided at pr
edetermined time intervals and for a
10
predetermined number of times by the networ
k entity, until an active call session is
established with the priority calling subs
criber over the alternate subscription, or a
request is made to stop the notifications.
[0030]
In an implementation, the priority
action may include redirecting of
the priority call to the alternate subscripti
on associated with the called subscriber. For
5
example, if the called subscriber is busy,
the priority calls ar
e redirected to the
alternate subscription,
which may belong to the secret
ary of the called subscriber.
During the redirecting of the priority
calls to the alternate subscription,
communication channel between the calling s
ubscriber and the called subscriber will
be disconnected and a communication channe
l between the calling subscriber and the
10
alternate subscription associated with the
called subscriber will be established (if
accepted by corresponding subscriber). Further,
during the redirecting of the priority
calls to the alternate subscription the ne
twork entity may not induce any charges on
the called subscriber. Hence, due to di
sconnection of the co
mmunication channel
between the calling subscriber and the
called subscriber and the reduction in
15
computation of charges corresponding to th
e called subscriber dur
ing the redirecting
of the priority calls to the alternate su
bscription, the communication network overload
can be substantially reduced by redirecting
of the priority calls to the alternate
subscription as compared to the call forwarding.
[0031]
In an implementation, the priori
ty action may include providing a
20
personalized response, such as voice message
s, text messages, and video messages to
the calling subscriber. The personalized
response is associat
ed with the called
subscriber, which may be indicative of how
the called subscriber can be reached, or
why the called subscriber cannot be reached
at the moment, and the like, or any other
message from the called subscriber. For ex
ample, if the called subscriber is not
25
reachable, a personalized response associated
with the called subscriber, "I'm on a trip
to ABC, you can contact me on XYZ" is pr
ovided to the priority calling subscriber.
The personalized response provided in the ex
ample is more informative, as compared
CLIAMS:1. A method for handling of priority calls by a network entity (108), the method comprising:
identifying a calling subscriber (104-1), the calling subscriber (104-1) being an initiator of a call to a called subscriber (104-2), to be a priority calling subscriber (104-1) based on a priority calling subscribers list associated with the called subscriber (104-2);
recognizing a priority action scenario in response to the call from the priority calling subscriber (104-1); and
performing a priority action based on the recognizing of the priority action scenario.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the priority calling subscribers list is provided by the called subscriber (104-2) to the network entity (108).
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the priority action scenario is one of a busy response from the called subscriber (104-2), a no answer from the called subscriber (104-2), the called subscriber (104-2) being not reachable, the called subscriber (104-2) having insufficient credit, a custom scenario associated with the called subscriber (104-2), and the called subscriber (104-2) being in a roaming network.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the recognizing the priority action scenario is based on one of a default priority action scenario and a called subscriber selected priority action scenario.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the priority action is one of:
providing a call notification to an alternate subscription associated with the called subscriber (104-2) based on identification information associated with the calling subscriber (104-1);
providing an alternate call notification to the calling subscriber (104-1) based on identification information associated with the alternate subscription;
redirecting the call to the alternate subscription; and
transmitting a personalized response associated with the called subscriber (104-2) to the calling subscriber (104-1).
6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the alternate subscription is at least one of a different subscription of the called subscriber (104-2) and a subscription of a different subscriber (104-3).
7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the providing of the call notification is by one of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) message, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, a Digital Subscriber System No. 1 (DSS1) message, and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message.
8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the providing of the alternate call notification is by one of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) message, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, a Digital Subscriber System No. 1 (DSS1) message, and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message.
9. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the personalized response is one of a text response, a voice response, and a video response.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the priority action is one of a default priority action and a called subscriber selected priority action, corresponding to the priority action scenario.
11. A priority call handling system (110) for handling of priority calls by a network entity (108), the priority call handling system (110) comprising:
a processor (202);
a priority call identification module (214) coupled to the processor (202), to identify a calling subscriber (104-1), the calling subscriber (104-1) being an initiator of a call to a called subscriber (104-2), to be a priority calling subscriber based on a priority calling subscribers list associated with the called subscriber (104-2); and
a priority call handling module (112) coupled to the processor (202), to:
recognize a priority action scenario in response to the call from the priority calling subscriber (104-1); and
perform a priority action based on the recognizing of the priority action scenario.
12. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the priority calling subscribers list is provided by the called subscriber (104-2) to the network entity (108).
13. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the priority action scenario is one of a busy response from the called subscriber (104-2), a no answer from the called subscriber (104-2), the called subscriber (104-2) being not reachable, the called subscriber (104-2) has insufficient credit, a custom scenario associated with the called subscriber (104-2), and the called subscriber (104-2) being in a roaming network.
14. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the recognizing the priority action scenario is based on one of a default priority action scenario and a called subscriber selected priority action scenario.
15. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the priority action by priority call handling module (112) is one of:
providing a call notification to an alternate subscription associated with the called subscriber (104-2) based on identification information associated with the calling subscriber (104-1);
providing an alternate call notification to the calling subscriber (104-1) based on identification information associated with the alternate subscription;
redirecting the call to the alternate subscription; and
transmitting a personalized response associated with the called subscriber (104-2) to the calling subscriber (104-1).
16. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the providing of the call notification by the priority call handling module (112) is by one of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) message, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, a Digital Subscriber System No. 1 (DSS1) message, and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message.
17. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the providing of the alternate call notification by the priority call handling module (112) is by one of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) message, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, a Digital Subscriber System No. 1 (DSS1) message, and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message.
18. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the personalized response by priority call handling module (112) is one of a text response, a voice response, and a video response.
19. The priority call handling system (110) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the priority action by priority call handling module (112) is one of a default priority action and a called subscriber selected priority action, corresponding to the priority action scenario.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a network entity (108) to:
identify a calling subscriber (104-1), being initiator of a call to a called subscriber (104-2), to be a priority calling subscriber based on a priority calling subscribers list associated with the called subscriber (104-2);
recognize a priority action scenario in response to the call from the priority calling subscriber (104-2); and
perform a priority action based on the recognizing of the priority action scenario. ,TagSPECI:As Attached