WO2009010966A1

WO2009010966A1 - Method and system for processing telecommunication traffic

Info

Publication number: WO2009010966A1
Application number: PCT/IL2008/000975
Authority: WO
Inventors: Daniel Mattes; Roman Scharf; Shuky Barbash; Amichay Oren
Original assignee: Jajah, Inc.
Priority date: 2007-07-18
Filing date: 2008-07-14
Publication date: 2009-01-22
Also published as: JP2010534024A; BRPI0812674A2; EP2174515A1; MX2010000570A

Abstract

Method for processing data through a telecommunication network, such as between a caller and a callee, the network including a plurality of junctions interconnecting a variety of communication routes, at-least some of the routes being monitored to pick-up certain parameters reflecting the quality of service with regard to the data transfer therethrough. The method includes the steps of setting a selection of said parameters, allocating a quantitative grade to each parameter, storing the graded parameters in a database, comparing the picked-up parameters along two or more routes through which communication is available against the said stored parameters, determining by a designated software the route yielding the most favorable combination of said parameters, and routing the data transfer through the said determined route. The monitoring may be conducted constantly while the sampling of parameters is intermittent.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING TELECOMMUNICATION TRAFFIC

FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention generally relates to telecommunication and more particularly to the exchange of telephone and other data messages (hereinafter collectively referred to as "calls") between remotely located parties. Still more specifically, the invention concerns the control over the quality (in its widest meaning) of telephone messages transfer over more than one type of routes e.g. satellite communication, Internet protocols, cellular network, and land-line communication.

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CGC - Carrier Grade Controller

PBX - Private Branch Exchange Gateway - means for enabling and/or controlling access to or transfer from one type of network to another VOIP - Voice over Internet Protocol

Callback - a communication routine wherein a caller is called back by the service provider at a stage prior to completing the call Load Balance - a technique to spread work between two or more resources in order to get optimal utilization, throughput, or response time. Using multiple components with load balancing, instead of a single component, may increase reliability through redundancy.

QoS - Quality of Service, meaning one or more measurable parameters (e.g. load balance, mean opinion score, average success rate, etc.) used for determining the best quality of data transfer between two or more communication route junctions.

MOS - Mean Opinion Score. A numerical indication of the perceived quality of received media after compression and/or transmission. The MOS is expressed by a scale between 1 to 5, where 1 is lowest perceived quality, and 5 is the highest perceived quality.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As presently well known, voice as well as all sorts of digital information can be processed from one point to the other via a variety of routes. These routes may be composed of more than a single kind of media, in series.

For example, a telephone call connection can start at one end as land-line (copper wire or fiber optics), continue through wireless transceivers including satellite communication, Wi-Fi, and/or cellular network, and finally received at the other end again via land-line; and vice-versa with respect to the answering call.

All these routes co-exist in parallel at any given time, and the initiating party has no control over selecting one or the other. The actual routing is a matter for the telecommunication entities to decide, according to their preferences, which may not necessarily always match the interests of the served public.

Generally speaking, the interests of the individual user are to get his/her call or other data processed at the most reliable way, best quality of transformation, and at minimum costs. Obviously, should a compromise be made amongst these three factors, different users may apply different scales of preferences, at different times and under different conditions.

In view of the severe competition between the so many telecommunication service providers, those who shall offer dynamic optimization of these factors will gain better chances to survive.

In view of the above, it is the major object of the invention to provide a system for optimizing the combination of possible available junctions and routes through which data, such as telephone calls, can be processed at any given time. It is a further object of the invention to use current results of ongoing calls as parameters for directing calls via alternative, co-existing routes and junctions. It is a further still object of the invention to monitor sent packets over packet network for receiving real-time parameters on network status, enabling to direct a call via alternative, co-existing routes and junctions.

It is still a further object of the invention to tailor the system to internet based, CALLBACK method telephony service providers (e.g. JAJAH^®).

It is still further object of the invention to provide a method for processing telephone calls through a system that will enable a VoIP service provider to select the optimal route channeled through several junctions for a given call, and to direct the call via such route. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a method of processing data through a telecommunication network, such as between a caller and a callee, the network including a plurality of junctions interconnecting a variety of communication routes, at-least some of the routes being monitored to pick-

; up certain parameters reflecting the quality of service with regard to the data transfer therethrough. The method includes the steps of setting a selection of said parameters, allocating a quantitative grade to each parameter, storing the graded parameters in a database, comparing the picked-up parameters along two or more routes through which communication is available against the said

) stored parameters, determining by a designated software the route yielding the most favorable combination of said parameters, and routing the data transfer through the said determined route. The monitoring may be conducted constantly while the sampling of parameters is intermittent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and additional features and advantages of the invention will 5 become more clearly understood in the light of the following description of several preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein -

FIG. 1 is an overall flow-chart of a method for routing a call through a CGC and several junctions, such as PBX, a Provider and a Gateway; o FIG. 2 is a flow-chart illustrating various options available for starting a call;

FIG. 3 is a block-diagram of a CGC applicable to the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block-diagram of the process of analyzing data retrieved5 from the database of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a matrix exemplifying database structure and entries as picked-up from any given PBX, PROVIDER and GATEWAY along the call route; . and

FIG. 6 is a flow-chart of the process after a particular route has been o selected and communication established. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a triggering call is initiated, whether direct or using the CALLBACK routine.

Essentially, every call is ultimately relayed through one or more junctions, such as Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) 105, a service provider 108 and a Gateway 109.

In the most simple case, where there are no alternative junctions or routes and nothing to apply optimization to, the call is directly forwarded to the destination (called party). In case that the caller is a subscriber of a web-activated telephony service company such as JAJAH^®, then, according to the present invention, the path will includes a Carrier Grade Controller (CGC) 104 to be described in greater detail below in conjunction with FIGs 3 and 4.

In case that the caller's Service Provider detects an option to channel the call packets over the packet network through several routes and junctions, optimizing the packets route, then, according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the path will includes a Carrier Grade Controller (CGC) 104 to be described in greater detail below in conjunction with FIGs 3 and 4.

The CGC is a decision making unit regarding the selection of the optimal route according to criteriae programmed thereinto, in response to . information retrieved from database 106 (see further below with reference to FIG. 5).

The PBX 105 will transfer the CGC decision to the service provider 108 enabling the service provider to contact the caller and callee using the 5 callback method through the gateway 109 applying the CGC decision and routing the call through several junctions and routes.

As shown in FIG. 2, the triggering call may be initiated by any of the devices 201 [Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)]; cellular phone 202; Personal Computer (PC) 203; or land-line phone 204 using the respective protocols or o technologies for transferring the data over the network.

Typically and for the sake of the present example, the call may be initiated by any of the following protocols: WAP 205; SMS 206; HTTP 207; VOIP 208; or voice 209 (as shown in FIG. 1), from which the call reaches PBX 211 or website 210 of the CALLBACK service provider.

3 As already mentioned, the CGC functions to choose the most effective route channeled through several junctions for the processed call in response to data retrieved from the database.

As already mentioned, the CGC functions to determine the most preferable route channeled through several junctions for sending call packets ) over packet network in response to data received from feedback legs, such as MOS, Load Balance and QOS. Turning now to FIGs. 3 and 4, the CGC is programmed to process the call in the following manner.

Should the called party be connectable through land-line (copper cable or fiber optics) only, such connection can be made directly via provider 5 108 and gateway 109 (see first option in the flow-chart of FIG. 3) as shown in FIG. 1.

Otherwise, a process of selection among a number of alternative routes will take place.

In the example in FIG. 4, the caller initiates a call request through LO his/hers Provider. The provider will enable transmission of the call through a Hardwired route or through the CGC in order to choose the preferred route for the call.

While various additional criteriae may play a roll, it is proposed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 L5 to take into account three parameters: Performance; Cost-per-minute; and/or Quality of Service. Quantitive real-time information concerning these parameters is constantly monitored with respect to actual, on-going calls, whether on continuous or sampling basis (see feedback line 600 in FIG. 6).

The matrix of FIG. 5 exemplifies one technique of storing the -0 accumulated information in the database 106 as picked-up from any given junction (PBX, PROVIDER and GATEWAY) deployed along potentially available routes between the calling and the called parties over the network. The designations XXXl, YYY2, etc., refer to the IP address of the relevant components (PBX, PROVIDER or GATEWAY, as the case may be).

By the expression "PERFORMANCE" (first feedback leg) it is meant to include disturbances or even complete blocking of the network, e.g. by over- 5 loading of a PBX along the line that will cause physical cut-off of communication.

The expression "QUALITY" refers to clarity of transmission (which mainly depends on the orderly multiplexing of the packets when VOIP is used). o "COST-PER-MINUTE" means the applicable charges by the various entities involved; the cost-per-minutes usually change from country to country and depend also on the time and/or day of the week in which the transmission takes place.

Data regarding these variants are stored by the database where the5 fields are ordered by headers (e.g. PBX, Service Provider, Gateway) supplied and fed by the feedback legs (example of FIG. 5) in a predetermined order by grading values (i.e. Priority, Quality and Cost-per-minute) for the system.

The feedback legs will contain information, Boolean or any other data, regarding the performance of the packet network and node. Thus, aso exemplified in FIG. 5, the feedback legs may be MOS, network capacity, average success rate, average call duration etc., reflecting a detailed image of the general network status. Information received by the feedback legs flows into the database. The CGC comprises a designated software enabling inspection and processing the accumulated data to produce an output sorted according to the programmed grades. The results of this analysis will lead the CGC to "decide" which of the available junctions and routes best matches the interests of the subscriber under the given conditions.

Once a particular route has been selected, the call is completed as shown in FIG. 6 when the sent packets-header will contain datagram of the determined route channeling the packet through all the selected junctions until arriving at its destination.

As will be readily understood by the learnt reader, the above description refers to but one out of vast number of combinations and permutations, depending on the complexity of the available routes that can concurrently be used to connect the caller to the callee, and vice-versa, under the ever-changing conditions that may prevail at any given time.

Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will readily appreciate that numerous changes, variations and modifications can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined in and by the appendent claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of processing data through a telecommunication network, such as between a caller and a callee, the network including a plurality of junctions interconnecting a variety of communication routes, at-least some of the routes being monitored to pick-up certain parameters reflecting the quality of service with regard to the data transfer therethrough, the method being characterized by the steps of - a. setting a selection of said parameters; b. allocating a quantitative grade to each parameter; c. storing the graded parameters in a database; d. comparing the picked-up parameters along two or more routes through which communication is available with the said stored parameters; e. determining by a designated software the route yielding the most favourable combination of said parameters; and f. routing the data transfer through the said determined route.

2. The method as claimed in Claim 1 further characterized in that steps (e) and (f) are repeated from time to time during the period of said data transfer in order to assess whether an alternative route should be determined and used.

3. The method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein one or more of said junctions comprises gateway(s).

4. The method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein one or more of said junctions comprises PBX(s).

5. The method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein one or more of said junctions comprises Service Provider(s).

6. The method as claimed in any of Claims 3 - 5 wherein said network parameters are being picked-up from at-least any of said junctions.

7. The method as claimed in Claim 1 further characterized in that one of said parameters is the cost-per-minute of the data transfer.

8. The method as claimed in Claim 1 further characterized in that one of said parameters is the Quality of Service of the data transfer.

9. The method as claimed in Claim 8 further characterized in that the Quality of service may comprise variant real-time data such as Mean Opinion Score, Average Call Duration and Average Success Rate.