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EP0556515A2
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Telecommunication switching system having adaptive routing switching nodes
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1992-12-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-12-10
Abstract
Abstract A telecommunication switching system having switching nodes that perform adaptive routing by utilizing the fact that the switching nodes are arranged in a first and a second hierarchy. In addition, each switching node maintains routing information based on telephone and switching node numbers which identify the switching nodes. A destination switching node transfers its routing information back to an originating switching node which combines that routing information with its own in order to determine shorter call paths for subsequent call routing. The first hierarchy is a dialing plan hierarchy having groups of switching nodes at each dialing plan level. The second hierarchy is a switching node hierarchy based on the switching node number of each switching node with at least one switching node of the switching node hierarchy being at a different level in the dialing plan hierarchy. In order to route a call, a switching node first routes through levels of switching nodes in the dialing plan hierarchy until a second switching node is encountered which can determine the identification of the destination switching node based on a dialed telephone number. The second switching node then routes the call through the node hierarchy using the identified node number until a path is determined to the destination switching node.
Inventors
- 👤 Bruce Merrill Bales
- 👤 Robert Louis Crumpley
- 👤 Sandra Sue North
- 👤 Stephen Max Thieler
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 20:19
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04Q; H04Q3/00; H04Q3/0016; H04Q3/0062; H04Q3/64; H04Q3/66; H04Q2213/00; H04Q2213/13097; H04Q2213/13107; H04Q2213/13138; H04Q2213/13141; H04Q2213/13176; H04Q2213/13352; H04Q2213/13353; H04Q2213/1338; H04Q2213/13383; H04Q2213/13541
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim
172 words
A method for routing calls in a telecommunication switching system having a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a plurality of links with each switching node connected to a plurality of telephone station sets, comprising the steps of: arranging each of the switching nodes into a first and a second hierarchies with each hierarchy having a plurality of levels whereby at least one of the switching nodes does not appear at the same level in both hierarchies; routing a call by a first switching node in response to a connected telephone station set placing the call through higher levels of switching nodes in the first hierarchy until a second switching node is encountered which can determine the identification of a third switching node that is to terminate the call based on call information; and routing the call in response to the identification of the third switching node through the second hierarchy until a fourth switching node is encountered that can route the call over a determined path to the third switching node.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
172 words
A method for routing calls in a telecommunication switching system having a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a plurality of links with each switching node connected to a plurality of telephone station sets, comprising the steps of: arranging each of the switching nodes into a first and a second hierarchies with each hierarchy having a plurality of levels whereby at least one of the switching nodes does not appear at the same level in both hierarchies; routing a call by a first switching node in response to a connected telephone station set placing the call through higher levels of switching nodes in the first hierarchy until a second switching node is encountered which can determine the identification of a third switching node that is to terminate the call based on call information; and routing the call in response to the identification of the third switching node through the second hierarchy until a fourth switching node is encountered that can route the call over a determined path to the third switching node.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of routing through the second hierarchy comprise the steps of routing the call up through the second hierarchy until a fifth switching node is encountered that can route the call back down the second hierarchy to the fourth switching node.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 1 further comprises the step of routing down through the first hierarchy upon the third switching node being determined to be in a direct hierarchical path in the first hierarchy below the first switching node.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
55 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the first hierarchy is a dialing plan hierarchy having a group of switching nodes at each dialing plan hierarchical level and each switching node of a lower dialing plan hierarchical group having only one direct hierarchical path to a switching node in the next higher dialing plan hierarchical group;
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 4 wherein each of the switching nodes has an unique switching node number and the second hierarchy is a switching node hierarchy based on the switching node numbers and having a group of switching nodes at each switching node hierarchical level and each switching node of a lower switching node hierarchical group having only one direct hierarchical path to a switching node in the next higher switching node hierarchical group.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 5 wherein the call information is the telephone number of another telephone station set.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 6 wherein the step of routing through the first hierarchy comprises the step of using the telephone number of the other telephone station set.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 7 wherein the identification of the third switching node is based on the switching node number of the third switching node.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 8 wherein the the step of routing through the second hierarchy comprises the the step of using the switching node number of the third switching node.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 1 further comprises the steps of communicating the call to the other telephone station set by third switching node; and acknowledging the receipt of the call by transmission of a message back to the first switching node via the third switching node, fourth switching node, and second switching node.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
77 words
The method of claim 10 wherein each switching node maintains information for routing based on telephone numbers and node numbers and the method further comprises the steps of inserting the routing information of the third, fourth, and second switching nodes into the acknowledge message by each of the third, fourth, and second switching nodes; and internally storing the routing information of of the third, fourth, and second switching nodes by the first switching node for routing purposes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
88 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the first hierarchy is dialing plan hierarchy having a group of switching nodes at each dialing plan level and the dialing plan is distributed in blocks of telephone numbers to each switching node with the dialing plan hierarchical group of each switching node is determined by the number of blocks of the telephone numbers owned by each switching node and the position information of each switching node being the identity of the blocks of the telephone numbers owned by each switching node.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
163 words
An apparatus for routing calls in a telecommunication switching system having a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a plurality of links with each switching node connected to a plurality of telephone station sets, comprising: means for arranging each of the switching nodes into a first and a second hierarchies with each hierarchy having a plurality of levels whereby at least one of the switching nodes does not appear at the same level in both hierarchies; means in a first switching node for routing a call in response to a connected telephone station set placing the call through levels of switching nodes in the first hierarchy until a second switching node is encountered which can determine the identification of a third switching node that is to terminate the call based on call information; and means in the second switching node for routing the call through levels of switching nodes in the second hierarchy until a path is determined to the third switching node.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
163 words
An apparatus for routing calls in a telecommunication switching system having a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a plurality of links with each switching node connected to a plurality of telephone station sets, comprising: means for arranging each of the switching nodes into a first and a second hierarchies with each hierarchy having a plurality of levels whereby at least one of the switching nodes does not appear at the same level in both hierarchies; means in a first switching node for routing a call in response to a connected telephone station set placing the call through levels of switching nodes in the first hierarchy until a second switching node is encountered which can determine the identification of a third switching node that is to terminate the call based on call information; and means in the second switching node for routing the call through levels of switching nodes in the second hierarchy until a path is determined to the third switching node.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
74 words
The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the means for routing through the first hierarchy comprises means for routing through higher levels of the first hierarchy until the second switching node is encountered; and the means for routing through the second hierarchy comprise means for rousing the call up through the second hierarchy until a fourth switching node is encountered that can route the call back down the second hierarchy to the third switching node.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
38 words
The apparatus of claim 13 further comprises means for routing down through the first hierarchy upon the third switching node being determined to be in a direct hierarchical path in the first hierarchy below the first switching node.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
51 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the first hierarchy is a dialing plan hierarchy having group of switching nodes at each dialing plan level and each switching node of a lower dialing plan level having only one direct hierarchical path to a switching node in the next higher dialing plan level.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
70 words
The apparatus of claim 16 wherein each of the switching nodes has an unique switching node number and the second hierarchy is a switching node hierarchy based on the switching node numbers and having switching node hierarchical groups of switching nodes and each switching node of a lower switching node hierarchical group having only one direct hierarchical path to a switching node in the next higher switching node hierarchical group.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the call information is the telephone number of another telephone station set.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the means for routing through the first hierarchy comprises means for using the telephone number of the other telephone station set.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the identification of the third switching node is based on the switching node number of the third switching node.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the means for routing through the second hierarchy comprises further means for using the switching node number of the third switching node.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
58 words
The apparatus of claim 13 further comprises means in the third switching node for communicating the call to another telephone station set; and means in the other telephone station set for acknowledging the receipt of the call by transmission of an acknowledge message back to the first switching node via the third switching node and second switching node.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
75 words
The apparatus of claim 22 wherein each switching node maintains information for routing based on telephone numbers and node numbers and the apparatus further comprises means in each of the third and second switching nodes for inserting the routing information of the third and second switching nodes into the acknowledge message; and means in the first switching node for internally storing the routing information of of the third and second switching nodes for routing purposes.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
74 words
The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the first hierarchy is dialing plan hierarchy having the dialing plan distributed in blocks of telephone numbers to each switching node with the dialing plan level of each switching node determined by the number of blocks of the telephone numbers owned by each switching node and the position information of each switching node being the identity of the blocks of the telephone numbers owned by each switching node.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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