Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42229—Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location
  • H04M3/42263—Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
  • H04M3/42272—Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism whereby the subscriber registers to the terminals for personalised service provision
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
  • H04L51/21—Monitoring or handling of messages
  • H04L51/214—Monitoring or handling of messages using selective forwarding
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04Q—SELECTING
  • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
  • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
  • H04Q3/0029—Provisions for intelligent networking
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2203/00—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M2203/55—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges related to network data storage and management
  • H04M2203/557—Portable profiles

Definitions

• a telecommunication system having a centralized subscriber language selection register.
• An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described drawback and to provide a solution which ensures that a subscriber of a telecommunication system receives messages in a language which the subscriber understands
• Another object of the present invention is to provide a solution which makes it possible to take the language selection of a subscriber into account independently of the service and interface, such that messages originating from different services and transmitted via different interfaces can be transmitted to the subscriber in a language selected by the subscriber
• Still another object of the present invention is to provide a solution which makes the language selection as easy as possible for the subscriber
• the objects of the invention are achieved with a telecommunication system, comprising: at least two interfaces providing a subscriber terminal with access to services available in the telecommunication system, via which interfaces messages can be transmitted to said subscriber terminal, and a memory means containing subscriber- terminal-specific language selection information, said language selection information indicating a language which should be used in messages to the subscriber terminal.
• the telecommunication system of the invention is characterized in that said memory means is a centralized subscriber language selection register, which is independent of the interface and service used by said subscriber terminal, and which indicates the language that should be used in messages transmitted via said at least two interfaces to the subscriber terminal, and said at least two interfaces are responsive to said centralized subscriber language selection register for transmitting messages to the subscriber terminal in the language indicated by said centralized subscriber language selection register.
• said memory means is a centralized subscriber language selection register, which is independent of the interface and service used by said subscriber terminal, and which indicates the language that should be used in messages transmitted via said at least two interfaces to the subscriber terminal, and said at least two interfaces are responsive to said centralized subscriber language selection register for transmitting messages to the subscriber terminal in the language indicated by said centralized subscriber language selection register.
• an intelligent network of a telecommunication system comprising: a service control point, a service management point and a service switching point.
• the intelligent network of the invention is characterized in that said service management point has access to a centralized subscriber language selection register containing service-independent information that indicates a language which should be used in messages transmitted to a subscriber terminal, and said service control point comprises means for retrieving the language selection information of the subscriber terminal from the centralized subscriber language selection register and for activating the service switching point to transmit a message to the subscriber terminal in the selected language, when a triggering criterion for transmitting a message to the subscriber terminal has been met.
• the objects of the invention are achieved with a method of transmitting a message to a subscriber terminal of a telecommunication system, said method comprising the step of: receiving language selection information indicating a language which should be used in messages to the subscriber terminal.
• the method of the present invention is characterized in that said method further comprises the steps of: storing said language selection information in a centralized subscriber language selection register which is independent of interfaces and services provided by the network, defining at least one triggering criterion for interfaces providing access to services available in the telecommunication system, and retrieving said language selection information from the centralized subscriber language selection register and transmitting a message to the subscriber terminal in a language selected according to the retrieved language selection information via one of said interfaces when said at least one triggering criterion has been met.
• the invention is based on the idea that the use of a centralized subscriber language selection register, which is independent of services and interfaces, makes it possible to distribute the language selection information as widely as possible in the telecommunication system. Therefore, different network elements of the system can take the language selection into account when they provide services to the subscriber terminal.
• the invention also makes it easier to administrate the language selection of the subscriber since it is sufficient to store the language selection information in only one location. The language selection for the services and interfaces of the system can thus be changed at once via any of the available interfaces.
• the language selection information of a subscriber terminal needs to be stored only in one location from where it can be used by substantially any network element or software application providing services to the subscriber terminal, that the same language selection information can be taken into account in different types of interfaces, such as interfaces transmitting text messages, voice messages or messages in a graphical form to the subscriber terminal, and that the language selection information of a subscriber terminal needs to be changed only at one location when desired, in which case this change can affect a plurality of services and interfaces.
• Figure 1 is a block diagram of a first preferred embodiment of a telecommunication system according to the present invention
• Figure 2 is a block diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a telecommunication system according to the present invention
• Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention.
• Figure 1 is a block diagram of a first preferred embodiment of a telecommunication system according to the present invention.
• Figure 1 illustrates part of an intelligent network of a telecommunication system. Those parts of the intelligent network which are relevant for describing the invention are shown in Figure 1.
• a core IN platform 1 of Figure 1 includes an SMP (Service)
• a centralized subscriber language selection register with access to a centralized subscriber language selection register.
• This can be accomplished as in Figure 1 , where the centralized subscriber language selection register is included in the SMP, or alternatively, the centralized subscriber language selection register can be located in a separate network element to which the SMP has access.
• the centralized subscriber language selection register includes the language selection information of different subscriber terminals, such as a subscriber terminal MS.
• a subscriber terminal MS such as a subscriber terminal MS.
• the user of the subscriber terminal MS which might be, for instance, a mobile station of the GSM system (Global System for Mobile communications), has selected language A for his subscriber terminal.
• the register of the SMP has the information "language A" stored for the subscriber terminal MS.
• the core IN platform 1 further includes an SCP (Service Control Point) and an SSP (Service Switching Point) which are connected to each other over an SS7 signaling channel, for instance.
• SCP Service Control Point
• SSP Service Switching Point
• the SSP is a part of an MSC (Mobile Switching Center) of the telecommunication system, which in this case is a mobile communication system (for instance a GSM system).
• the subscriber terminal MS may have a prepaid account in which a predetermined amount of money has been stored in advance. If the user of the subscriber terminal MS wants to know the balance of the prepaid account he can call a predetermined service number by the subscriber terminal MS.
• the MSC detects this call and retrieves the balance of the account from the accounting function of the telecommunication system. At this stage, the MSC detects that there is a triggering criterion defined for a situation where a message needs to be transmitted to a subscriber terminal. Thus, the MSC informs the SCP that the triggering criterion has been met.
• the SCP retrieves the language selection information of the subscriber terminal MS from the centralized subscriber language selection register SMP and transmits the language information for the subscriber terminal MS to the MSC.
• the MSC uses the received language information for selecting a language (language A) for the message.
• This message can be transmitted as a voice message generated by a VANG (verbal announcement generator) included in the MSC, or alternatively the MSC may transmit the balance information to the subscriber terminal MS as a text message, in which case the message is transmitted as an SMS (Short Message Service) generated by an SMSC (Short Message Service Centre).
• SMS Short Message Service
• SMSC Short Message Service Centre
• a USSD message can include up to 182 characters.
• the core IN platform of figure 1 also includes an IP (Intelligent Peripheral) which can, for instance, be used for transmitting voice announcements to a subscriber station roaming in another network.
• IP Intelligent Peripheral
• the roaming subscriber is connected to the IP, which acts as the MSC in the example explained above, in other words it informs the SCP that that the triggering criterion has been met.
• the language selection of the roaming subscriber will be received by the IP and the IP will transmit the voice announcement to the roaming subscriber in the selected language.
• the core IN platform of Figure 1 has a language mapping function associated with the SMP. This language mapping will ensure that the subscriber will receive an appropriate language through different interfaces.
• language A is represented by a different code, for instance, in the IP transmitting voice announcements and the WAP interface transmitting messages in a text form or a graphical form.
• the language mapping function will ensure that the differences in the different interfaces are taken into account such that the subscriber will receive his messages in the right language.
• the system of Figure 1 also includes a subscriber management platform 2, which in Figure 2 has four different interfaces 3 to 6.
• Interface 3 is a SMAP Web interface. This interface can be used by the operator for management of the IN services.
• Interfaces 4 to 6 are all interfaces which offer the subscriber access to the services provided by the system.
• Interface 4 iSMAP is an internet-enabled services management access point. This iSMAP interface 4 offers the subscriber (and also the operator) access to the management of data in the system.
• Interface 5 is a SMAP VOICE interface providing an interactive voice response service and interface 6 is a WAP interface (Wireless Application Protocol).
• the user of the subscriber terminal can access the system via interfaces 5 or 6 in order to use the services provided by the system, or alternatively in order to change the user data of the subscriber terminal MS, such as to change the language selection.
• the WAP interface can be realized in the system also differently than shown in Figure 1.
• One alternative is to have a WAP interface communicating with the SMAP WEB over an WAP gateway.
• the WAP gateway converts messages from the telecommunication system to a format which can be used by a WAP browser, when such a solution is used.
• the user of the subscriber terminal receives messages from the WAP server 6 in the form of text messages.
• interface 6 detects that there exists a triggering criterion which has been met, since the interface 6 needs to transmit a message to the subscriber terminal MS.
• interface 6 retrieves the language selection information of the subscriber terminal MS from the SMP via an SMI (Subscriber Management Interface).
• SMI Subscriber Management Interface
• the access to the system via interface 5 is similar to that described in connection with the access via interface 6, but in the case of the access via interface 5, messages to the subscriber terminal are voice messages.
• the user of the subscriber terminal MS may access the system over any of interfaces 4 to 6 in order to change the language selection for the subscriber terminal MS.
• the subscriber is given languages B to E as alternatives to language A currently in use.
• the selected language is stored in the SMP and put into use from that moment. It is also possible for a subscriber to select several languages such that a specific language is selected for each interface type.
• the subscriber can, for instance, select English as the language for all text messages and Arabic as the language for receiving voice messages.
• the selected languages and information indicating the corresponding message type is also in this case stored in the centralized subscriber language selection register, from where the information can be retrieved when necessary.
• the information exchange between the elements of the core IN platform 1 in connection with giving announcements can be realized in several optional ways.
• three different solutions, all suitable for being used in a CAMEL/CAP environment (Customised Application for Mobile nework Enhanced Logic, CAMEL Application Part), will be given by way of example.
• a message id is included in a CAP message transmitted from the SCP to the SSP.
• the message id identifies a specific message in a specific language.
• the external IP or the SSP internal IP which is used for giving the announcement is able to select the message in the right language based on the message id given by the SCP.
• the table below illustrates a second alternative solution:
• the language identifier is configured in the coding of the message identifier.
• the first (or alternatively the last) digit of the announcement identifier (CAP Ann. id) is a language identifier and the three last digits are the actual announcement identifier.
• the IP or SSP is thus able to select the right message in the right language based on the id included in the CAP message from the SCP.
• the CAP message includes a separate announcement id field, which contains the id of the message, and a separate language id field which indicates the language that should be used.
• the IP or SSP is thus able to select the right message in the right language based on the information included in these two fields.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a telecommunication system according to the present invention.
• Figure 2 illustrates a situation where a subscriber terminal MS with the home location network 1 is roaming in a second network 2.
• the network 1 is the same network as shown in Figure 1 , in other words a GSM network with an associated intelligent network IN for providing intelligent network services to the subscribers.
• the language selection information of the subscriber terminal MS is thus stored in the centralized language selection register of the intelligent network IN.
• At least one triggering criterion for an intelligent network service has been defined in an MSC2. Said criteria is met if the MSC2 has a voice message which should be transmitted to the subscriber terminal MS.
• the message is not transmitted by the visited network 2, but by the home network 1 of the subscriber terminal MS instead.
• the MSC2 is able to identify the home network 1 of the subscriber terminal based on information stored in a VLR (Visitor Location Register).
• the message can be transmitted by the home network 1 of the subscriber terminal MS for instance such that the MSC2 transmits information to an MSC indicating the message which should be transmitted (or the actual message in text form) and the subscriber who should receive the message.
• the home network 1 transmits the voice message to the subscriber terminal as described in connection with Figure 1.
• the login is performed via a WAP interface of network 2.
• the login procedure is carried out in the default language of network 2.
• Network 2 is, however, able to identify the home network of the subscriber terminal MS after the login procedure, and thus the interaction with the subscriber terminal MS is continued between the WAP server of the home network 1 and the subscriber terminal MS after the login procedure.
• the WAP server of the home network 1 is able to select the right language for the subscriber terminal MS as described in connection with Figure 1.
• Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention.
• the flow diagram of Figure 3 can be used for instance in the system of Figure 1 in order to transmit messages to a subscriber terminal in a language selected by the user of the subscriber terminal.
• interfaces of a telecommunication system are provided with means for transmitting a message in one of several optional languages. If the interface in question is an interface transmitting text messages, for instance, said interface may be provided with a memory where each possible message is stored in all the optional languages. Thus, it is possible to retrieve the message in any selected language and to transmit it to a subscriber terminal.
• triggering criteria for activating the language selection according to the invention are defined.
• the language selection information of a subscriber terminal is received.
• the language selection can be entered into the telecommunication system by the operator, or alternatively by the subscriber terminal by the user.
• the received language selection information is stored in a centralized subscriber language selection register.
• the register should be independent of services and interfaces of the system such that the information stored therein can be used in connection with any service via any available interface.
• block E it is checked whether or not a defined triggering criterion has been met. In the following, it is assumed that a triggering criterion according to which a message should be transmitted to a subscriber terminal MS has been met.
• block F the language selection information for the subscriber terminal MS, which should received the message, is retrieved from the centralized language selection register.
• a language is selected for use in the interface in accordance with the retrieved language selection information.
• the message is transmitted in the selected language to the subscriber terminal via the interface.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8555787

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (2)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1999
  • 1999-12-21 FI FI992748A patent/FI19992748A/fi unknown
• 2000
  • 2000-06-26 EP EP00944059A patent/EP1240776A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-06-26 MX MXPA02006321A patent/MXPA02006321A/es unknown
  • 2000-06-26 AU AU58295/00A patent/AU5829500A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-06-26 WO PCT/FI2000/000574 patent/WO2001047226A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-06-26 JP JP2001547833A patent/JP2003518827A/ja active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events