AU658068B2 - Remote telephone information system - Google Patents

Description

R /gulau1n 3.2(2 Regulation 3.2(2)

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 658068

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT r Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: REMOTE TELEPHONE INFORMATION SYSTEM The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to :-US REMOTE TELEPHONE INFORMATION SYSTEM Field of Invention This invention relates to a method for remotely obtaining telephone call information for a local network, such as a PABX, and processing the data to produce management reports and summary data.

Background Art It is desirable in a PABX network to be able to determine in summary form the activities of the network, and to hence gain an understanding of hardware requirements, preferred carriers, network usage, and the like.

PABXs in some case enable automatic collection of so-called TIMS data, relating to telephone usage. However, such systems are in general more o..expensive than PABX systems without such features. Moreover, a separate piece of hardware must be provided for each PABX, which makes it difficult on a multi-site network to compare and collate data. A member of staff must be trained to operate the system to produce the desired reports.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement capable of remotely collecting TIMS type data and processing it, without the requirement for local processing hardware and software.

•co• Disclosure of Invention According to one aspect the present invention provides a system for providing telephone call information, comprising; a plurality of remote data collection units, each arranged so as to collect telephone call information from an associated PABX network; said data collection units being in communication with a central processor and sending call data to said central processor, said call data being derived from said telephone call information; C said central processor receiving said call data and processing saidjdata so as to produce management reports in a selected format based on data from one or more of said data collection units.

Preferably, the central processor is adapted to provide cost estimates for calls made based upon carrier costing information. Preferably the processor is adapted to provide comparison costings based upon routing through different 1 carriers, networks, or routes, Preferably the system is adapted to transfer data and/or reports to one or more remote sites so as to provide on-line data for network managers.

Preferably, the data is further processed do as to provide routing tables adapted for use in a least cost routing facility of a PABX system.

Brief Description of Drawings One embodiment of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating the general scheme of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the arrangement at a sample site of the inventive system.

Detailed Description :i One embodiment of the invention will now be described. This is, however, not to be construed as limitative of the general scope of the invention.

S• Referring to figure 1, the PABX Telephone System 1, has as part of its operation a method of logging telephone call details called Call Detail Records (CDRs) via 2 to a device forming part of the present invention, called a Data 2 Collector 3. Most commercially available PABX include some type of CDR facility.

The CDRs may comprise information about incoming, outgoing and S internal calls originating from or terminating at an extension handset connected to the PABX Telephone System. The data contained within each CDR may consist of some or all of the following information:- 1) The date and time of the call.

2) The duration of the call in seconds, minutes and hours dependant upon the PABX software.

3) The terminal equipment used to switch the call.

4) The extension or extensions or switchboard operator involved in the telephone call.

The telephone destination number dialled by the extension or operator.

6) The route the call took. The route may consist of one or more ports.

7) Call metering information for outgoing exchange calls generated by either the PABX Telephone System or the network carrier.

The data collector 3, collects and stores all CDRs in a format which is acceptable to the data processing computer 8.

Data processing computer 8 accesses the data collector 3, via modems 7 and 4 via network connections 6 and 5 using, for example, the PSTN.

10 Preferably, computer 8 down loads the CDRs from the data collector 3 oO.o automatically, preferably at programmed intervals, and processes the information under direction of software modules 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 to generate relative structured reports.

:i This information may then be output via computer 8, modem 7, network services 6 and 15 and modem 16 to the clients computer at the clients premises.

Alternatively, a printed report may be generated either at the data processing premises, or the client's premises. Computer 8 may be a conventional PC preferably a '486 type device.

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This information is issued to the Call Detail Report Port 2 and is stored in the Data Collector 3. The computer 8 at predetermined intervals automatically P. dials via a modem 7 each Client's modem 4, via the telephone network 6 in turn and down loads the data stored in each Data Collector 3.

In the event that a Data Collector cannot be contacted an computer operator at the Data Processing Premises may be notified, for example by an error message, so that remedial action can be carried out to restore the Data Collector to full operation.

SOFTWARE MODULES CLIENT DATA BASE Details on each Client are preferably held on a data base 14 within computer 8. This data base is a conglomerate of a number of smaller data bases. The main components of this data base are preferably:- 1. Site Details PABX Telephone System make and model for each site.

Data Collector telephone number for each site.

The area code for each site.

The number of routes, their destination, and the number of trunks on each route.

2. Least Cost Routing Tables for each site (if used).

3. Tenant, Extension and staff details for each site.

4. Divisions and Departments for each client.

5. Reporting Details Type of reports required.

Periodicity of reports Method of delivery 6. Authority Codes for each site.

7. Authorisation Codes for each site 8. Exchange line numbers for exception reports for each site.

TELEPHONE DISTRICT ZONE DATA BASE Within this data base details will be held on each telephone carrier's method of determining the location of where calls terminate. This is used to S" determine the cost of calls.

The information contained in this data base preferably includes:- 1) The name of the telephone district, its latitude and longitude.

2) The adjoining telephone districts 3) The name of the telephone zone, its latitude and longitude and the district it belongs to.

4) The telephone numbers associated with each Telephone Zone.

The adjoining Telephone Zones.

6) If there is community access from each Telephone Zone 7) The name of the Telephone Precinct and the Telephone Zone it belongs to.

8) The telephone numbers associated with the Precinct.

International Country Codes, tie Country Name and pricing categories are also included within this data base.

CARRIER TARIFF DATA BASE This data base contains tables of fees levied by each Telephone Carrier and details on the method of costing calls. The fees cover both National and International Call costs.

ANALYSIS OF CALL RECORDS 10 Each client's call records are analysed by the computer 8. Details coo• extracted typically include:- 1) Route and trunk data.

2) Extension number 3) Time and duration of calls.

4) The number dialled.

Account Codes if present.

6) Authority Codes if present 7) Call answer delays if present.

S.8) Equipment switching information if present.

9) Preposed and actual routes switched by the call.

10 The call cost information if present.

The called number (if an external exchange line number) is analysed in conjunction with the Telephone District and Zone Data Base 13 to produce the Telephone District, Zone and Precinct details. The called distance is then calculated based on the latitude and longitude of the calling and called locations.

The call is then costed using the Carrier Tariff Data Base 12 and the Least Cost Routing details held in the Client data base 14.

The calculated call cost is then compared to the call cost data supplied by the PABX telephone System (if present). If there is a marked difference between the two costs an error is logged. It-will be appreciated that this process can readily calculate estimated call costs if an alternative carrier had been used for the call.

Invalid Call Detail Records and invalid telephone numbers are logged for further attention by the Data Processing Operator.

Dependant upon the reports stipulated in the Client Data Base 14, the call data is then processed to produce the required reports. These may detail, for example, a time profile of calls to a particular destination, total call costs for each of local, trunk and international calls for a particular site, or the information arranged as desired for any particular customer. Techniques for performing such reports are well known to persons skilled in databases.

Least Cost Routing Many PABX and similar exchanges incorporate least cost routing, or LCR.

LCR is usually effected by storing tables of particular numbers to be sent on :i particular routes, all calls to XXX should be routed via private tie line no.

The tables allow for, in some cases, extension-specific tables, and the number of tables available varies from 1 to 256 in commercially available machines.

However, the tables must be manually entered, or at best entered as a standard set.

Figure 2 shows firstly a typical PABX system 1. The system is only shown as including functional blocks relevant to this aspect of the present invention.

PABX 1 is controlled by processor 25, and may be controlled via customer administration port (CAT) 16. Extensions 27 within the customer's environment access each other and/or external lines 50 via PABX 1. A variety of external connections 50 are available, which may include a plurality of PSTN connections, ISDN connections, private lines, or links to different carriers.

When routing given calls, processor 25 may refer to the LCR unit 22, which includes LCR software 21 and a set of one or more possible LCR tables.

An LCR table may be set up (for example) so that all calls to number 047 XXX XXX are routed via ISDN, or so that all calls from extensions 10 to 25 to a given number are routed via a private line, or however is appropriate or desired for a given user. The alternatives, however, are limited by memory capacity, the number of separate tables available, and the trunk connections 50 made to the system.

CDR data may be collected by collector 3 as previously described, and after or instead of generating reports as previously described, may be used to generate LCR tables based upon the stored data and analysis for each client Optimised least cost routing, or OLCR, works by determining comparative call costings for each call made from each extension. It defines "groups" of extensions having similar characteristics, bearing in mind that table numbers are limited. An ideal system would require a PABX with at least as many LCR tables as users, and this is rarely the case. Preferably, the system defines tables for the most complex case, and works from there. Preferably, call charges are estimated (for optimisation purposes) using the median call hold-time for each o extension. For each call group local, particular trunk zones having equal cost, etc.) calculation is made of relative cost effectiveness for each trunk type for :i that extension. Then, for each call group, averaging over all extensions provides the most effective, second most effective, etc trunk type. This would be used as the basis for routing for the first table for that call group subsequent S tables may have a different most effective carrier.

The input for OLCR is essentially the output of modules 10 and/or 11 as previously described.

LCR tables have somewhat similar formats, but the software for their insertion is in general proprietary to each manufacturer. Hence, outputs may be direct data for transfer into PABX memory if suitable interfaces are available, or hard copy for manual input.

The tables generally list, for a defined set of extensions, the preferred and alternative call routes for each of a listed set of numbers. Preferably, this table would cover all possible called numbers from the PABX 1.

It is emphasised that an important part of OLCR is that calling routes should be optimised for extensions based an actual usage, not merely for locations based on a "guess" as to call costing. With the advent of ISDN, call duration is an important parameter, even for local calls.

It will be appreciated that it may be convenient to integrate the data 8 collector 3 within a PABX unit, so as to more readily enable service provision.

Variations and additions will be apparent within the gen&ral scope of the invention.

Claims (4)

1. A system for providing telephone call information, comprising; a plurality of remote data collection units, each arranged so as to collect telephone call information from an associated PABX network; said data collection units being in communication with a central processor and sending call data to said central processor, said call data being derived from said telephone call information; said central processor receiving said call data and processing said call data so as to produce management reports in a selected format based on data from one or more of said data collection units.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said central processor is adapted to provide cost estimates for calls made based upon carrier costing information.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said central processor e"i is adapted to provide comparison costings based upon routing through different carriers, networks, or routes.

4. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, where the system is further adapted to transfer data and/or reports to one or more remote sites so •as to provide on-line data for network managers. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said "central processor further processes the data so as to provide routing tables adapted for use in a least cost routing facility of said or a different PABX network. PNF:HP DOC 12 AU41596/93.WPC 'f t 11 ABSTRACT A system is disclosed for remote provision of TIMS type data and management reports from a PABX network or the like. A data collector 3 is arranged so as to collect call information and relay it to a central processor 8. Central processor performs the processing for multiple sites or customers. The reports for each site can be generated in a desired format, or several sites may be combined. A method for generating least cost routing tables is also disclosed. C .:C.C f, e °qQ oo: