EP0983680A1

EP0983680A1 - Method for discounting telecommunications services

Info

Publication number: EP0983680A1
Application number: EP98930712A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Carlos Huyghe; Sonja De Bois; Jan Hamann
Original assignee: Siemens AG; Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1997-05-22
Filing date: 1998-05-20
Publication date: 2000-03-08
Also published as: WO1998053596A1

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to provide a method of supporting on-line or off-line discounting and/or on-line administration of discounting. To this end, a call is evaluated as a discount call at the exchange.

Description

description

Procedure for discounting telecommunications services

The rapidly expanding telecommunications markets and the associated, intensifying competition in these markets are forcing network / service providers to fight prices. A price warfare agent is the discounting of telecommunication services.

Up to now, telecommunications services have been discounted in such a way that the charge data records (AMA records) created by the switching centers are subjected to postprocessing (post processing) for ticket generation in a computer system external to the switching center (such as billing center, clearing house).

The above-mentioned post-processing of the data records created by the switching centers for fee tickets (such as, for example, proof of individual fees) takes place in such a way that either

• to all telecommunications services used by any subscriber, or

• on selected, individual telecommunications services used by a subscriber, or • on selected telecommunications services of selected ones

Discounts are granted to participants in this post-processing.

Such a discount is known e.g. on long distances

(Long Distance Traffic) by the second largest US telephone company MCI Communications in this sector, whose base discount is 25% for certain business customers.

The disadvantages of such a solution are:

• The need to integrate an external computer system • Effort for administration of the discount on the external computer system

• no possibility of determining the discounted fees during the call • no availability of discounted fees for further processing in the exchange for e.g.

* Fee distribution to the participant (such as advice of charge, announcement of charges for analog / ISDN participants, subscriber metering for analog participants)

* Monitoring of predetermined, individual participant or other credit limits

The invention is based on the object of specifying a method by which the disadvantages mentioned are avoided.

The method according to the invention already detects a call as a discount call in the exchange. This enables online or offline discounting and / or online administration of the discounting to be supported.

An embodiment of the invention according to claim 2 realizes an online administration of the discount by the

Attendees. Since the provider no longer has to do this type of administration, his costs for managing discounted destinations decrease accordingly. In addition, the participant is no longer dependent on a potentially cumbersome provider administration.

An embodiment of the invention according to claim 4 frees an offline discount for AMA charging from the assessment of whether it is an F&F call or not. An embodiment of the invention according to claim 5 realizes online charging. The need to use an external offline charging system for calculating the discounts is therefore eliminated.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, the drawing comprising FIGS. 1 to 7.

The "discount" feature is also expressed below by the abbreviation "F&F" (Friends and Family).

1 shows the control structure of a switching center and the handling of a call for a subscriber who makes use of the F&F feature.

The control structure of the exchange comprises a coordination processor CP and a plurality of group processors GP, the coordination processor CP coordinating the call handling of the group processors GP.

2 shows the actions to be carried out in the call handling with regard to the F&F feature, namely:

- Use the A-subscriber number to check whether it is a subscriber with the performance feature F&F,

- if yes, check whether this participant's F&F list is active, - if yes, check whether the dialed digits already supplied to the CP are included in the A participant's F&F list,

- if yes, a "F&F candidate" flag via command C: SET_UP

("F&F possible") and send a list of the F&F phone numbers (F&F: DNx, DNy, DNz in FIG. 1) that completely or partially match the dialed digits to the GP (Note: Even such phone numbers of the F&F list be sent to the GP that completely match the digits received. This is necessary because at this point it is not yet clear whether the A-subscriber will dial additional digits. An additional check in the GP is always necessary at the moment when it is clear that all dialed digits have been received. This is the only way to ensure that the dialed digits match exactly and completely with an entry in the F&F list).

If the GP has received the information via the command C: SET_UP that the call has been recognized as an "F&F candidate", the GP saves the supplied F&F list until all B digits are available (ie report R: ACM has been received). From this point on, the GP can search the F&F list for a list member's correspondence with the dialed digits. If a match has been found, a "F&F call" flag is set.

At the end of the call (or during the call if a so-called intermediate time IT 20 has expired), the group processor GP-A sends the message M: CALL_DATA, which contains billing information (tariff, call duration, etc.) for charging the call . The message M: CALL_DATA contains in particular the information of the "F&F call" flag, ie whether the call is an F&F call. The information mentioned is then stored on a hard disk in a so-called AMA record, which is later used for a post-processing process serves to generate invoices.

The call processing activities initiated by an SCI in the coordination processor CP are described below.

As already mentioned, telephone subscribers who have subscribed to the F&F service feature have a list of B subscribers (more precisely the subscriber number) for whom they have a certain number Get discount. This F&F list can be set up or changed not only by the operator, but also by the subscriber himself, ie via Subscriber Controlled Input SCI. The following SCI are possible:

- deactivation of the F&F list,

- editing the F&F list,

- activation of the F&F list,

- Querying the status of the F&F list,

- Query the data contained in the F&F list.

To prevent abuse of the administrability of the F&F list by SCI, a limit is set for the number of changes in the F&F list. Changing the F&F list using SCI is only possible if the list has been deactivated beforehand. After the list has been deactivated by SCI, the A-subscriber can make his changes. When the new F&F list is complete (and checked), the A participant can reactivate the list. This deactivation is only possible once a month. An attempt to deactivate within the blocking time is rejected with a corresponding tone and / or a corresponding announcement.

The SCI entries can be protected with a password. Protection can be administered using an access code. The password itself can be administered by the participant.

3 shows the processes taking place in the call processing of the coordination processor CP when a subscriber deactivates his F&F list using SCI. In FIG. 3, the “activation date” contains the month and year on which the F&F list was last activated, and the “actual date” contains the date on which the SCI was carried out. If the deactivation has been successfully completed, the participant receives a positive confirmation and can then edit the list. 4 shows the processes taking place in the call processing of the coordination processor CP when a subscriber wants to edit his F&F list using SCI.

With the query "Acceptable place?" The call processing checks whether the number of the entered place in the list is valid, i.e. within the permitted dimensions of an F&F list.

With the query "DN acceptable?" The call processing checks whether the entered DN is valid. For example, the entered DN is not valid if:

- the entered DN is the same as your own DN, - the entered DN has a length that exceeds the maximum DN length that can be saved in an F&F list,

- the digits entered define an SCI string or an access code necessary for the use of a feature,

- the DN entered does not exist,

- the DN entered is an international number and the maximum number of permitted determinations is exceeded as a result, - the DN entered leads to a destination that belongs to a restrected traffic class,

- the DN entered is excluded from F&F membership.

5 shows the processes taking place in the call processing of the coordination processor CP when an A-subscriber activates his F&F list with the help of an SCI procedure.

As already mentioned, the F&F list can be administered not only by the participant via SCI, but also by the provider via Machine-Man-Language (MML). There is for the administration of the F&F list by the operator MML commands for entering, changing and deleting numbers in the list and for displaying the entire list of an A subscriber as well as for activating and deactivating the list and finally for displaying the status of the feature.

Finally, there are also MML commands that are used to assign one or more variants of the F&F feature to an A subscriber. Finally, the authorization to administer the F&F list via SCI is also assigned via MML.

6 shows the processes involved in handling an F&F call, in which discount information is sent to the subscriber terminal.

Before the call is actually connected, i.e. Before the report R: ANSWER has been sent to the group processor GP-A, the following displays appear:

- The subscriber (analog / ISDN) receives a short information tone, which indicates that the call has been recognized as an F&F call and / or

- The ISDN subscriber receives an optical display (display) which shows that the call has been recognized as an F&F call.

With the information mentioned, the participant knows that he will receive a discount. This advertisement is not bound to an online charge, but can also be made with an offline discount.

In the case of online billing with a discount, the switching center must know what type of discount is provided by the network operator. The reduced fees can be displayed either via an announcement (acoustic information) or a display (optical information). The prerequisite for the last-mentioned online fee information is, of course, that the call be discounted online.

7 shows the handling of a call for a TLN, in which an online charging with discounting and advice of charge during the call (abbreviated: AOC-D) is carried out.

To ensure interworking with various functions, such as, for example, the announcement of charges after the call for analog subscribers, display of charges for ISDN subscribers or credit limit monitoring, e.g. IN calls, after the call to be discounted has been identified, an “online discounting” of the currently active call may be necessary.

The implementation of the discount indicator can be based on the in a switching system, e.g. the switching system EWSD, pulse method used.

Excursus on the pulse procedure:

Pulses are also called units. They represent an amount of currency units. The units are determined internally by EWSD over time: Sum_Units = (unit / time unit) * (time units). However, it can also happen that the entire call is billed with a single number of units.

If the units have been calculated internally for the respective call, they can be converted into currency units using a "currency unit per unit" factor. The calculated currency amount is discounted using a "currency discount factor". An example of a percentage discount follows:

Discount amount in currency units (Currency Unit per Unit * Sum_Units) - ((Currency Unit per Unit * Sum_Units) * Currency Discount Factor / 100)

The Currency Discount Factor is a percentage from 1% to 100% in 1% increments. (This value must be available in EWSD, provided via MML by the operator or a higher-level network management system.)

FIG. 8 shows a possible program sequence in which the discounted currency amount is used to display the charges during the call. In this case, the subscriber is an ISDN subscriber with the "Advice of Charge during the Call (AOC-D)" feature, ie after the start of the call by lifting the B subscriber ("ANSWER"), the subscriber is informed at regular intervals ( Expiry of a timer - T3AG / CT115) sent a fee message.

The following is a list of the abbreviations used above:

AMA Automatic Message Accounting F&F Friends and Family SCI Subscriber Controlled Input UI User Interface DN Directory Number (phone number)

Claims

claims

1. A method for discounting services in a communication network, characterized in that when a call for a service in a switching node of the communication network is evaluated whether or not it is a discounting call.

2. A method of discounting according to claim 1, characterized in that said assessment is carried out on the basis of a list which can be set up and administered by SCI.

3. A method of discounting according to claim 2, characterized in that the SCI inputs are supported by a UI dialog.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a discount call is registered when charging according to the AMA method by entering in each case in an AMA record whether it is a discount call or Not.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the discounting of a call is carried out in a switching node if the said evaluation shows that it is a discounting call.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the subscriber is sent a discount information during the call if the said evaluation shows that it is a discount call.