Method for processing an incoming call in a telecommunications network and TAS server implementing same

Abstract

A method for processing an incoming call to a called terminal in a telecommunications network, implemented by a TAS server in an IMS network. The method includes: interrogating an SDM entity to determine whether the service profile of the user associated with the called terminal contains IN terminating service information; interrogating an SDM entity to determine whether the routing domain to be used to route the call to the called terminal is a circuit or packet type; if the routing domain is a packet type, determining whether the called terminal is effectively reachable in packet mode, and if applicable, via which type of access network; if the service profile contains IN terminating information, allowing the IN terminating service provided for the user of the called terminal to be distinguished according to the type of access network of the called terminal; and routing the call to the called terminal.

Claims

1. A handling method comprising: handling an incoming call intended for a called terminal in a telecommunications network, by a Telephony Application Server (TAS) server in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the handling including: interrogating a Service Data Management (SDM) entity to determine whether a service profile associated with said called terminal has Terminating Intelligent Network (IN) service marks; interrogating an SDM entity to determine whether a routing domain to be used to route the call towards the called terminal is of a circuit or packet type; and routing the call towards said called terminal; in response to said routing domain being of the packet type, determining whether said called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode, and if so, via which type of access network; and in response to the service profile having Terminating IN marks, differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on the type of access network of the called terminal.

2. The handling method according to claim 1, wherein said differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on said type of access network comprises triggering or not said Terminating IN service depending on said type of access network.

3. The handling method according to claim 1, wherein said differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on said type of access network includes systematically triggering the Terminating IN service by sending to an IN service execution platform the type of access network of the called terminal, the platform being configured to implement a differentiated service logic depending on said type of access network.

4. The handling method according to claim 1, wherein said determining whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode and if so, via which type of access, includes: sending a SIP message to the called terminal; waiting for a response, for a waiting period, to determine whether said called terminal is reachable; and in case of a response: determining said type of access network from a SIP PANI field comprised in said response.

5. The handling method according to claim 4, wherein in order to differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal, when said called terminal is reachable under cellular coverage, a country code, an operator code or a standardized cell identifier comprised in said SIP PANI field, are also taken into account.

6. The handling method according to claim 4, wherein, in order to differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal, when said called terminal is reachable in VoWiFi, a location of a WiFi access point to which said called terminal is connected is also taken into account, said location being obtained from an IP address and/or from a MAC address of said access point.

7. The handling method according to claim 4, wherein said SIP message sent to the called terminal is a SIP-type message OPTIONS.

8. A Telephony Application Server (TAS) server configured to handle an incoming call intended for a called terminal in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, said server including: a processor: and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor configure the TAS server to: interrogate a Service Data Management (SDM) entity to determine whether a service profile associated with said called terminal has Terminating Intelligent Network (IN) service marks; interrogate an SDM entity to determine whether a routing domain to be used to route the call towards the called terminal is of a circuit or packet type; and route the call towards said terminal; determine, in response to said routing domain being of packet type, whether said called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode, and if so, via which type of access network; differentiate a Terminating IN service configured, in the case where said service profile has Terminating IN service marks, to allow differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to the called terminal depending on the type of access network of the called terminal.

9. The TAS server according to claim 8, the differentiating a Terminating IN service triggers or not said Terminating IN service depending on said type of access network.

10. The TAS server according to claim 8, wherein the differentiating a Terminating IN service systematically triggers the Terminating IN service by sending to an IN service processing platform the type of access network of the called terminal, the platform being configured to implement a differentiated service logic depending on said type of access network.

11. A system including: the TAS server according to claim 10; and an IN platform configured to implement a logic of said terminating IN service depending on the type of access network received from said TAS server.

12. The TAS server according to claim 8, wherein said determining whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode and if so, via which type of access, includes: sending a SIP message to the called terminal; waiting for a response, for a waiting period, to determine whether said called terminal is reachable; and in case of a response: determining said type of access network from a SIP PANI field comprised in said response.

13. The TAS server according to claim 12, wherein in order to differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal, when said called terminal is reachable under cellular coverage, a country code, an operator code or a standardized cell identifier comprised in said SIP PANI field, are also taken into account.

14. The TAS server according to claim 12, wherein, in order to differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal, when said called terminal is reachable in VoWiFi, a location of a WiFi access point to which said called terminal is connected is also taken into account, said location being obtained from an IP address and/or from a MAC address of said access point.

15. The TAS server according to claim 12, wherein said SIP message sent to the called terminal is a SIP-type message OPTIONS.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium on which a computer program is recorded comprising instructions for executing a method for handling an incoming call intended for a called terminal in a telecommunications network, when the instructions are executed by a processor of a Telephony Application Server (TAS) server in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, wherein the instructions configure the TAS server to: interrogate a Service Data Management (SDM) entity to determine whether a service profile associated with said called terminal has Terminating Intelligent Network (IN) service marks; interrogate an SDM entity to determine whether a routing domain to be used to route the call towards the called terminal is of a circuit or packet type; and route the call towards said called terminal; in response to said routing domain being of the packet type, determine whether said called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode, and if so, via which type of access network; and in response to the service profile having Terminating IN marks, differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on the type of access network of the called terminal.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 16, wherein said differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on said type of access network comprises triggering or not said Terminating IN service depending on said type of access network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 16, wherein said differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal depending on said type of access network includes systematically triggering the Terminating IN service by sending to an IN service execution platform the type of access network of the called terminal, the platform being configured to implement a differentiated service logic depending on said type of access network.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 16, wherein said determining whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode and if so, via which type of access, includes: sending a SIP message to the called terminal; waiting for a response, for a waiting period, to determine whether said called terminal is reachable; and in case of a response: determining said type of access network from a SIP PANI field comprised in said response.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 19, wherein in order to differentiate the Terminating IN service provided to said called terminal, when said called terminal is reachable under cellular coverage, a country code, an operator code or a standardized cell identifier comprised in said SIP PANI field, are also taken into account.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description given below, with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate an exemplary embodiment thereof devoid of any limiting character. In the figures:

(2) FIG. 1 already described presents the handling of an incoming call intended for a user benefiting from a service in prepaid mode in accordance with the current state of the art, when the called terminal is under 2G/3G cellular coverage and is not registered at the SIP;

(3) FIG. 2 already described presents the routing of an incoming call towards a called terminal when the called terminal is connected in packet mode and under 2G/3G cellular coverage, in accordance with the state of the art;

(4) FIG. 3 already described illustrates the handling of the incoming call when the called terminal, previously registered at the core of the IMS network, has lost the packet coverage; in accordance with the state of the art;

(5) FIG. 4 represents schematically a TAS server according to a particular embodiment of the invention;

(6) FIG. 5 illustrates the hardware architecture of a TAS server according to a particular embodiment of the invention;

(7) FIG. 6 represents in flowchart the main steps of a method for handling an incoming call according to the invention;

(8) FIGS. 7 and 12 represent two mechanisms for differentiating a Terminating IN service according to the invention;

(9) FIG. 8 represents a mechanism for determining whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode and if so, via what type of access, according to the invention;

(10) FIG. 9 illustrates an example of implementation of the invention when the called terminal is under WiFi coverage;

(11) FIG. 10 illustrates an example of implementation of the invention when the called terminal is attached to a 4G UTRAN network of a foreign country; and

(12) FIG. 11 illustrates an example of implementation of the invention when the called terminal has lost the 4G or WiFi network coverage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A FIRST VARIANT OF THE INVENTION

(13) FIG. 4 represents a TAS server 10 according to a particular embodiment of the invention. In the first embodiment described here, this TAS server has the architecture of a computer, as illustrated in FIG. 5. It comprises in particular a processor 7, a random access memory 8, a read-only memory 9, a non-volatile flash memory 15 as well as communication means 11. Such means are known per se and are not described in more detail here.

(14) The read-only memory 9 of the device of the entity 10 for managing user profiles constitutes a recording medium according to the invention, readable by the processor 7 and on which a computer program PROG is recorded here according to the invention.

(15) The computer program PROG defines functional and software modules here, configured to implement the steps of a method for handling an incoming call. These functional modules are based on and/or control the hardware elements 7-11 and 15 of the entity 10 mentioned above. They comprise in particular here, as illustrated in FIG. 4: a unit 2A configured to interrogate an SDM entity to determine whether the service profile of a user has Terminating IN service marks; a unit 2B configured to interrogate an SDM entity to determine whether the routing domain to be used to route a call is of the circuit or packet type; a unit 2C for checking the reachability of the called terminal configured to determine, when said routing domain is of the packet type, whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode, and if so, via which type of access network; a unit 2D for differentiating a Terminating IN service configured, in the case where the user of the called terminal has Terminating IN service marks, in order to allow differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to the user of the called terminal depending on the type of access network of the called terminal; and a unit 2E for routing the call towards said called terminal.

(16) In one embodiment of the invention, the unit 2D for differentiating the Terminating IN service is configured to trigger or not said Terminating IN service depending on the type of access network.

(17) In another embodiment of the invention, the unit 2D for differentiating the Terminating IN service is configured to systematically trigger the Terminating IN service by sending to the IN service processing platform the type of access network of the called terminal. In this embodiment, the Terminating IN service processing platform is configured to implement a differentiated service logic depending on the type of access network of the called terminal.

(18) FIG. 6 represents in the form of a flowchart the main steps of a method for handling an incoming call according to the invention.

(19) This method can be implemented by the TAS server in FIG. 4.

(20) This method includes a step E10 during which the TAS server interrogates the SDM entity to determine whether the service profile of the user associated with said called terminal has Terminating IN service marks. The result of this interrogation is recorded in a variable V.sub.RI stored in the memory 15. This variable V.sub.RI is initialized to “Y” if the service profile of the user has Terminating IN service marks and to “N” otherwise.

(21) During a step E20, the TAS server interrogates an SDM entity to determine the circuit or packet routing domain to be used to route the call towards said called terminal. The PS/CS result of this interrogation is recorded in a variable V.sub.DR stored in the memory 15.

(22) If said routing domain is of the packet type, step E20 is followed by a step E30 during which the TAS server determines whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode, and if so, via which type of access network. The type of access network is recorded in a variable V.sub.RA stored in the memory 15.

(23) During a step E35, the TAS server checks whether the service profile of the user has Terminating IN service marks depending on the content of the variable V.sub.RI initialized in step E10.

(24) If this is the case, the Terminating IN service is differentiated during a step E40 depending on the type of access network of the called terminal stored in the variable V.sub.RA.

(25) Then the call is routed towards the called terminal during a step E50.

(26) In the first variant of the invention, and as illustrated in FIG. 7, step E40 for differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to the user of the called terminal depending on the type of access network consists in: triggering (step E42) or not (E43) the Terminating IN service depending on the type of access network (variable V.sub.RA).

(27) In a particular embodiment, and as illustrated in FIG. 8, step E30 to determine whether the called terminal is actually reachable in packet mode and if so, via which type of access, includes: sending E31 a SIP message to the called terminal; waiting E33 for a response, for a predetermined period, to determine whether said called terminal is reachable; and in case of response: determining E35 said type of access network (variable V.sub.RA) and possibly: (i) the country code, the operator code or the cell identifier from a SIP PANI field comprised in the response in the case where the called terminal is reachable under cellular coverage; and (ii) the IP address and the MAC address of the WiFi access point in the case where the called terminal is reachable in VoWiFI. In the latter case, the TAS can in a known manner consult an IP address and/or MAC address geolocation base to find the location (country) of the WiFi access point.

(28) FIG. 9 presents an example of implementation of the invention when the called terminal is actually under WiFi coverage.

(29) According to the invention, before triggering the Terminating IN Prepaid service, the TAS server sends (step (13)) a SIP message OPTIONS to the called terminal. If the called terminal replies to this message (typically with a response 200 OK), the TAS server determines:

(30) (i) with certainty that the called terminal is always reachable via a packet-type routing domain (PS for Packet Switch); and

(31) (ii) the type of access network of the called terminal by analysis of the PANI field comprised in the response 200 OK.

(32) In the example of FIG. 9, the TAS server according to the invention decides not to trigger the intelligent network Terminating service if it determines that the called terminal is in VoWiFi.

(33) This embodiment is particularly advantageous because it allows the operator not to reduce the communication credits of a user in prepaid mode when he receives a call in roaming abroad while his terminal is in VoWiFI.

(34) In the embodiment described here, the conventional algorithm for selecting the call termination domain conventionally applies in steps (15) and (16). These steps will confirm that the terminal is reachable via the PS packet domain but the call will not be supervised by the Terminating IN network logic. The conventional algorithm for selecting the call termination domain could equally well be executed before step (13) of determining the reachability of the called terminal via the packet mode. Likewise, the algorithm for selecting the call termination domain might as well not be applied, for example when the called terminal is detected as registered and reachable in VoWiFi.

(35) FIG. 10 illustrates the case where the TAS server determines in step E30, by analysis of the SIP PANI field received in the response 200 OK to the SIP message OPTIONS, that the called terminal is attached to a 4G UTRAN network of a foreign country via the standardized cell country identifier MCC (Mobile Country Code).

(36) In the example of implementation of FIG. 10, the TAS server according to the invention decides (steps (15) and (16)) to trigger the Terminating intelligent network service via its IM-SSF function.

(37) The TAS server can also decide to trigger the Terminating intelligent network service if it receives, in response to the SIP message OPTIONS sent to the called terminal in step (13), a response 200 OK/486 Busy Here mentioning a SIP PANI field with GERAN (2G) or UTRAN (3G) access representative of the fact that the called terminal is attached to a cellular network.

(38) FIG. 11 falls within the scope in which the called terminal is still registered at the core of the IMS network but has lost the 4G or WiFi network coverage when the TAS server sends the SIP message OPTIONS thereto in step (13).

(39) In this case, the TAS server does not receive a response to the sending of this SIP message OPTIONS because the called terminal is no longer reachable. In the embodiment described here, the TAS server triggers the Terminating IN services (steps (14), (15)) and the routing is done conventionally by default via the 2G, 3G network in circuit mode.

(40) Description of a Second Variant of the Invention

(41) In a second variant of the invention, and as illustrated in FIG. 12, step E40 for differentiating the Terminating IN service provided to the user of the called terminal according to said type of access network includes the systematic triggering (step E48) of the Terminating IN service by sending (step E46) to the execution platform of the IN service the type of access network of the called terminal (variable V.sub.RA), the platform being configured to implement a logic of said service differentiated depending on said type of access network.

Other Embodiments of the Invention

(42) In the embodiments described above, the TAS server determines the access network of the called terminal after having determined that the service profile of the user associated with the called terminal has Terminating IN service marks. These steps can be reversed, but it is preferable to determine the access network of the called terminal only when the latter benefits from Terminating IN services so as not to overload the network.

(43) In the embodiments described above, the case of an incoming call arriving from a caller in circuit mode has been described. The invention applies in the same way in the case of a caller from the same IMS network core or from another IMS core via an interconnection mechanism in VoIP.

(44) In the embodiments described above, the anchoring procedure in the IMS network is carried out when the called terminal is registered in SIP in the IMS network core. The invention applies in the same way if the anchoring procedure is carried out systematically, in other words whether the called terminal is registered or not in SIP at the core of the IMS network.

(45) In the embodiments described above, the anchoring procedure in the IMS network is carried out by intelligent network mark CAMEL. It can also be done by deploying the ICS (IMS Centralized Service) mode via a standardized interface I2/I3 from the MSC/GMSC to the IMS core.

(46) These different variants are known to those skilled in the art and standardized.

(47) The called terminal does not have to be registered in SIP at the core of the IMS network for the invention to be implemented. Indeed, as soon as an incoming call is held by the IMS network core, if the called terminal is not registered in SIP at the S-CSCF server, this S-CSCF server downloads on itself the profile of the triggering of the TAS server in the HSS/HLR/SDM, this profile defining the systematic routing of all incoming and outgoing SIP messages INVITE towards the TAS server.