MXPA96005634A - Advanced intelligent network interface mediation through compart execution environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for traffic mediation through a particular interface between the Intelligent Advanced Network operated by a local exchange agent and an external service provider. The particular interface is defined between an application by a local exchange agent service provider for some form of enhanced telephone service that requires the use of the Intelligent Advanced Network and a runtime environment interpreter on the other side of the interface. The mediation is conducted by the shared execution interpreter that runs at a service control point operated by the local exchange agent. The shared execution interpreter enforces sufficient rules so that the local exchange agent does not require knowledge of the implementation details of the service provider's application. The methodology defines a unique transaction identifier that is defined and known on the side of the local exchange agent interface. A table is created that carries the unique transaction identifiers with the service process identifiers generated by various applications of the service provider. In this way, the shared execution environment interpreter can pass messages and instructions through the interface to the service provider's application that only refers to the internally generated service process identification of the application. This isolates the service provider's application from unnecessary information about the operation of the network and the operation of other services from the service providers. The mediation rules include testing the tables to determine if an abandonment number referenced in a message request from an application of the service provider is a customer of the service provider, if routing requests from the link group are valid for the providers of the service and if any access to, or particular levels of access to, certain elements of the network are authorized for the service provider who requested it

Description

ADVANCED INTELLIGENT NETWORK INTERFACE MEDIATION THROUGH SHARED EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT ECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of switching telephony and in particular, it is a method of mediating the content of the message and the impact on the network that will be allowed by providing access to the network.

- Intelligent advanced - associated with modern telephone switching systems for a wide range of agencies in addition to a telephone service provider.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In just over a century of having telephone service available in the United States, the public telephone switching system has constantly 'evolved and grown in complexity, size and capabilities. From the days when calls were routed by a human operator working on a pin switch to switch and complete calls, the capacity of the system in both traffic volume and service options has expanded greatly. The central telephone company or the central switch is a device to which multiple subscriber lines are connected, each one P1336 / 96 X S * «> they are terminated by a customer's telephone device. For conventional residential telephone service, one or more telephone sets will be connected to the subscriber line. In addition, the plant has multiple link circuits that connect it to other exchanges. Customers are provided with other link circuits such as link lines that feed a PBX in a business office. Some initial developments in improved telephone service include the introduction in the early 1960s of direct long-distance dialing. Prior to this time, all long distance interurban calls had to be handled by one or more human operators that established the call circuit and activated the billing equipment. An important feature of "the technology that allows direct long-distance dialing is the ability of the switches to collect, store and send data that identifies the dialed digits, that is, the number called." These were transmitted through the network, As the call was being established by a well-known signaling scheme known as multifrequency (MF) signaling, MF signaling is a kind of in-band signaling in which information signals (identification) P1336 / 96MX ^ - "^ The called number was transmitted by signals within the voice frequency band, on the same link circuits that carried the voice signal once the call was completed. much greater long-distance traffic volume and helped significantly improve telephone service and meet the demand for more and more service in the United States of America during the 1960s and 1970s The main drawback of in-band signaling techniques was that they occupied the capacity of the voice channel during the establishment of the call.In addition, if the call could not be completed for some reason, such as that the number called across the country was busy, the ability to link across the country was occupied while the established call was migrating through the network and the busy report was returning again over the voice lines to the party that lamaba.Five to ten seconds, thousands and thousands of calls per day are translated into an important use of the link capacity. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT &T) developed the first common channel inter-channel signaling species (CCIS). The CCIS is essentially a network architecture for a telephone switching network P1336 / 96MX _ / - in which information about a telephone call is transmitted over high-speed data links that are separated from the voice circuits that are used to transmit the signals of the same call. Soon in the development of common channel inter-channel signaling, it was recognized that inter-center data signaling links could be designed to provide high-speed digital data that could first determine whether a call could be completed or not before assigning the link capability to establish the voice link. Thus, with inter-channel common-channel signaling, if a caller in Atlanta is dialing a number in Seattle, the identity of the called number can be transmitted over inter-station signaling data links from the originating exchange in Atlanta to the Central terminal in Seattle. The terminal is the central that answers the called number. If the called number is busy, the data that provides this information is transmitted back over the inter-city signaling link to the originating exchange in Atlanta that locally provides the caller with an audible busy signal. Therefore, the long-distance link capacity and the voice circuits between Atlanta and Seattle that had previously been used to try P1336 / 96MX complete the call remain free for other uses. If the number called in Seattle is not busy, several devices in the network respond to the information about this call to assign inter-station links to establish a communication for the call and this is then completed. The public telephone switching network has evolved in the 1980s into a complex and very versatile system, most of which supports and is controlled by a common channel inter-channel signaling form. The basics of this network was designed by AT & T. The development of the network by the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) as well as other independent providers of local telephone service has continued since the judicially ordered detachment of the agents of local power station by AT & T in 1984. The basic architecture of The telephone network of commutation in significant parts, is identical in all the United States of America and in the developed world that includes to Western Europe and Japan. The specifications of the normal network described in this specification are those used by the RBOCs and other local exchange agents operating in the United States of America. This network architecture is used by all modern telephone switching systems in the United States of America and is P1336 / 96MX * -, virtually identical to modern systems in Western Europe and Japan. The modern inter-center signaling takes place on digital links using a protocol 5 referred to as a signaling system 7 (SS7), which will be referred to in more detail later. The advanced intelligent network can be tensed as a superset of the existing inter-center signage as it has the following characteristics. First, it also uses the SS7 protocol. Basically, the advanced intelligent network is the collection of resources and interconnections that cause AIN messages known as triggers that will be generated and provide the appropriate responses. An activator is a particular event that generates a new sequence of messages AIN. The clients of the local exchange agents can pay a fee to have activators provided for the AIN in connection with particular activating events. For example, specialized services that are related to incoming calls with a normal number that requires the customer of that subscriber number to subscribe to an attempt to terminate. This generates an AIN message every time the network detects that some party has attempted to place a call on that particular subscriber number. The service control points then consult their databases P1336 / 96MX to determine that the non-standard response may be appropriate for the handling of the call assuming that an activator has been received. The need of the present invention results from the fact that many people familiar with the telephone business in the United States of America believe that in the near future it will arrive: the provision to third parties of access to Advanced Intelligent Networks operated by local exchange agents so that can provide competitive services related to the telephone to subscribers of local exchange agents. In other words, it is believed that probably either voluntarily or by mandatory mandate, local exchange agents (LECs) (ie, local telephone service providers) will require that others be allowed access to the Intelligent Advanced Network. that controls many features and modern services offered by telephone companies, including the establishment and demolition of voice connections. In the modern public intelligent switching telephone network, the same signaling path described above that was used for the establishment, demolition and basic routing of the call is also used to provide improved call features of the client and to control the operation of the equipment of the customer. billing and to maintainP1336 / 96MX ~. billing records. Thus, it will be appreciated that allowing access to this network to other parties in addition to the local exchange agent is a proposition that is fraught with risk. Neglected or ill-intentioned parties with access to the digital network that controls the telephone system and • access to the information stored in it can seriously impede the proper operation of the public telephone switching network, alter the data stored in the network. same, including billing data or to obtain surreptitiously private information stored within the network unless appropriate precautions are taken as long as access is provided to third parties. Therefore, the present invention has been developed in advance of open access to the intelligent network of the public telephone switching system. In order to understand both the need for the present invention and its implementation, it is first necessary to understand the fundamental architecture of the modern advanced intelligent network and the points at which an interface to third parties can be provided. Figure 1 of this specification is a block diagram representing at least part of the AIN of a typical local exchange agent. While the diagram is simple, the components of it are well known to those P1336 / 96MX, * ~ .experienced in the art. In a typical public switched telephony network a plurality of exchange switches are provided.A service switching point (SSP) is the AIN component of a modern exchange switch.These are indicated as SSP switches 15-15 'in Figure 1. The dashed line between them indicates that the number is arbitrary Also within the network are non-SSP switches, such as switch 16. The difference between an SSP exchange switch and a PBX switch is not SSP is that the first includes intelligent network functionality.This is an indication that the switch is equipped with appropriate hardware and software, so that when a set of predetermined conditions is detected, the switch will initiate an activator for a state / "Default of a call on the subscriber's line, it will generate the trigger as an appropriate message that will be sent over the AIN, it will suspend the handling of a call until it receives a response from the network instructing it to take some action. The switch will have a default task to execute if a timeout occurs and no response is provided by the network to the query made by the switch In summary, the SSP switches are those that are P1336 / 96MX /• "- fully equipped to deal with the advanced intelligent network described here and to take advantage of it.The non-SSP 16 switch is an electronic switch that can generate certain rudimentary packets and provide them to the network , but that must depend on other equipment, described in more detail below, to provide subscriber lines G connected to this switch with more complex features and services available in the intelligent network. The exchanges 15-15 'and 16, each have a plurality of subscriber lines commonly designated 17-17' connected to them. Normally, the number of subscriber lines will be in the order of 10,000 to 70,000 lines. Each of the subscriber lines 17-17 'is connected to a piece of terminal equipment of the customer's office, which is represented by an equivalent plurality of telephone sets 18-18' for each of the switches. The switches 15 and 16 that interconnect exchanges are a plurality of link or link circuits indicated as 19a and 19b in Figure 1. These are the lines of voice paths that interconnect the exchange and over which the calls are connected when they are connected. complete. It should be understood that the linking of P1336 / 96MX central in a typical urban environment is not limited to a rosary arrangement implied by Figure 1. In other words, in a typical network, there will be link circuits between the exchange switch 15 'and the exchange switch 16. Therefore, when a local call is made between two exchanges, if there is a direct link connection between the exchanges, and it is not busy, the network will assign that link to complete that particular call. r- If there is no direct link between the two exchanges or, all direct links are in use, the call routed along links from the originating exchange to at least one other exchange and through subsequent link connections to the exchange of destiny. This general architecture is increased when a wider geographic area is considered that includes multiple local exchange agents. In that case, the only significant difference is that certain inter-agent switches of the agent are included that commute nothing less than long-distance link circuits. Most of the intelligence of the intelligent switching telephone network resides in the remaining components shown in Figure 1. These are the computers and switches that incorporate the present version of the common channel inter-channel signaling scheme mentioned above. Each of the P1336 / 96MX: '. switches 15 to 16 are connected to a local signal transfer point (STP) 20 by the respective data links 21a, 21b and 21c. Currently, these data links are bidirectional data links of 56 ilobits per second that use a signaling protocol referred to as signaling system 7 (SS7). The SS7 protocol is well known to those skilled in the art and is described in a specification issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The SS7 protocol is a stratified protocol in which each stratum provides services for the strata above it and depends on the strata below to provide them with services. The protocol uses packets that include the normal start and end flags and a check bit. Additionally, a signal information field is provided that includes variable-length user specific buses and a routing tag. An octet of service information is provided that identifies the priority of the message, the national network of destination of the message and the name of the user that identifies the organism that created the message. Certain control and sequence numbers are also included within the package, whose uses and designations are known to those skilled in the art and are described in the foregoing.

P1336 / 96MX '* -' referred to specification ANSI. All SS7 data packets from the switches go to a signal transfer point (STP) 20. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the signal transfer point 20 is simply a high-speed multi-port packet switch that is programmed to respond to the routing information in the appropriate layer of the SS7 protocol and route the packet to its intended destination. The signal transfer point is not, per se, the destination of a packet, but only directs the traffic between the other organisms in the network that generate and respond to these data packets. It should be noted that signal transfer point devices such as STP 20 are conventionally installed in redundant pairs within the network so that if a device fails, its partner takes over until the first STP can return to service . In practice, there are redundant data links between each of the central switches 15 to 16 for improved reliability. For reasons of simplicity of the drawings, the redundant devices have not been illustrated in the drawings of the figures of this specification. Also connected to the signal transfer point 20 on the data link SS7 25 is a point of P1336 / 96MX r- - access to the 1AESS network (NAP) 22. The access point to the network 22 is a computing device programmed to detect triggering conditions. Requires the support of an SSP switch to notify the 5 AIN network systems of these trigger detection events. An SSP can support multiple NAP switches. Logically, this SSP is designated as the destination address for many of the packets generated by the network that would otherwise be routed to the NAP 1AESS if there was a 0 switch equipped with SSP. Much of the intelligence and, the basis for many of the improved new features of the network, resides at the local service control point (SSP) 26 which is connected to a signal transfer point 20 via the SS7 data link. 27. As is known to those skilled in the art, the control points of f, - service are physically implemented by computers tolerant to relatively powerful faults. Typical implementation devices include the Star 0 Server FT Model 3200 or the Star Server FT Model 3300, both sold by American Telephone & Telegraph Company. The architectures of these computers are based respectively on Tandem Integrity S2 and Integrity SI platforms. In most implementations of a 5 public telephone switching network, the points of P1336 / 96MX "- service control are also provided in redundant paired pairs to ensure the reliability and continuous operation of the network.Computer devices that implement service control points typically house from 1 to 27 disk units that vary from 300 megabytes to 1.2 gigabytes per unit and have a main memory in the order of 24 to 192 megabytes.This way, it will be appreciated that these are large and powerful computer machines.From among the functions performed by the service control points are the maintenance of the network databases used to provide enhanced services Computers that incorporate SCPs can run at a rate of about 17 million instructions per second Using the SS7 protocol, this translates into approximately 50 to 100 transactions (Query / response pairs) of network messages per second. io were initially introduced into the network to handle the translations and billing transactions necessary for the implementation of the 800-number service, that is, free long distance service (for the caller). A subscriber of the number 800 has at least one dial-line number which will be called when a call is placed to that 800 number of the P1336 / 96MX subscriber. There is no central or physical area of the country that corresponds to the area code 800. It is significantly cheaper to provide a few exchanges in which the search for the subscriber number for a call 800 can be made which redundantly provide translation information to many switchboards. Currently, service control points also include databases for credit card call transactions. Also, service control points include databases that identify particular service customers. In order to keep data and call processing as simple and generic as possible in the switches, such as the switches 15-15 ', for each call in the switches a relatively small set of triggers is defined. An activator in the network is an event associated with a particular subscriber line that generates a packet that will be sent to a service control point. The trigger causes the service control point to query its database to determine if any custom call feature or enhanced service should be implemented for this particular call, or if the conventional dial-up telephone service should be provided for the call. The results of the P1336 / 96MX queries to the database are sent back to the SCP 26 switch through the STP 20. The return packet includes instructions for the switch as well as how to process the call. It may be that the instruction takes some special action as a result of a personalized call service or an enhanced particularity, or it may simply be an indication that there is no entry in your database that < indicate that it must be provided for the particular call or any other simple telephone service. In response to receiving the last type message, the switch will move through its call states, collect the called digits and generate additional packets that will be used to establish and route the call, as described above. Similar devices to route calls from 'between several local exchange agents are provided by the regional signal transfer point 28 and the regional service control point 29. The regional STP 28 is 0 connected to a local STP 20 via a data link SS7 30. The STP 28 is connected to the regional SCP 29 via a data link 31 which is physically and functionally the same as the data link 27 between the corresponding local devices. As in the case of local devices, for the purposes of P1336 / 96MX - Reliability, regional STPs and STCs are provided with redundant pairs coupled. The two service control points 26 and 29, the local and the regional, are connected through the respective data links 35 and 36 to a service management system (SMS) 37. The service management system is also implemented through a large digital computer for general use and is interconnected through an interface with the central office agent's business offices and inter-agency agents. The service management system transfers information to the databases of service control points 26 and 29 when the subscribers modify their set of AIN services. Similarly, the service management system transfers on a non-real time basis, the billing information that is necessary to properly bill subscribers of the telephone company for the services provided. The modern advanced intelligent network also includes service nodes (SNs) such as the service node 39 shown in Figure 1. Those skilled in the art will be familiar with the service nodes, which are physically implemented by the same types of computers as incorporate the service control points 26 and 29. In addition to the computing capacity and the particularities of P1336 / 96MX f "- maintenance of the database, the service node 39 also includes DTMF speech and signal recognition devices and speech synthesis devices.The service node 39 is connected to the service management system 37 by a data link 40 serving the service node essentially in the same way as it serves SCPs 26 and 29. While the service node 39 is physically very similar to SCP 26, there are some important differences in the uses to The service control points such as SCP 26 usually implement high volume routing services, such as call forwarding and 800 number routing and routing. These are also used for the maintenance of the bases of data and to provide access to high-volume databases for billing authorization, such as validations of the credit card number.In most networks of local exchange agents, the service control points are used only for the database search and routing services that take place before the logical completeness of the call, that is, the provision of a call signal to the called subscriber line and the callback for the calling subscriber. In contrast, service nodes, such as P1336 / 96MX ,, - "--- the service node 39, are mainly used when an enhanced feature or service is required that requires an audio connection for the call or to transfer a significant amount of data to a subscriber over a connection switch during or after a call As shown in Figure 1, the service node 39 is normally connected to one or more (but usually only a few) switches through the Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) links shown as 41. In this way, the services that are implemented during a call (ie, after the call termination or the reception of the called subscriber) normally use the equipment of a service node such as the service node 39. To provide the reader with an example, the voice announcement of a calling party is a particularity of the client that is implemented by the service node 39. Assume that a subscriber is To the number of another subscriber, Ms. Jones, subscribes to a service to provide the voice announcement of incoming calls. One of the call progress states for a switch equipped with SSP is shown after the collection of the dialed digits when the switch generates a terminating request trigger. The activator consists of an SS7 data packet that was routed to P1336 / 96MX, ** -. through STP 20 to SCP 26 and identify the particular number of the called party. The SCP searches for the registration for the subscriber number associated with Mrs. Jones' phone line and detects that she is a subscriber to the service that provides voice announcements that identify incoming calls. The SCP 26 then sends the return packets on the data link 27 to the STP 20 which are routed to both the exchange associated with the subscriber line of the calling party and that of Ms. Jones. The calling party's exchange is instructed to wait or to place a call signal on the subscriber line of the calling party. Another packet is routed to the switch 15 '. It includes the identity of the subscriber number of Mrs. Jones, the number of the calling party and a request for access to a voice synthesizer channel in the service node 37. The switch 15 'establishes a voice and speech circuit. data on the ISDN links 41 with the service node and passes a packet (in an appropriate ISDN format) to the service node. The service node then consults its database to determine if there is an entry in Ms. Jones' record (actually the record of her subscriber number) for the particular number that she calls. Meanwhile, between the central 15 'and the central P1336 / 96MX "" * .- that serves the telephone line of Mrs. Jones have connected the necessary voice links and, thus, there is a voice path between the synthesizer of the service node 39 and Ms. Jones when the response monitoring returns on your subscriber line, the synthesizer will then announce the identity of the calling party and the person answering Mrs. Jones' phone can take the appropriate action (such as pressing a particular number on The DTMF number is recognized by a DTMF acknowledgment circuit in the service node that is bridged in the same way in the voice circuit.The service node then generates the packets to indicate whether or not it wishes to receive the call. appropriate indicating whether the call has been accepted or rejected and traveling over the ISDN link 41 to the switch 15 'On the switch, the protocol translation takes place so that the information in these packets it is formatted in appropriate SS7 protocol packets which then pass to the signal transfer point 20 and are routed to the appropriate exchanges either to establish the voice link between the calling party and the subscriber line of the subscriber. Jones, or, provide the calling party with the appropriate audible indication (such as a busy tone or a renewal tone).

P1336 / 96MX / -., The above description is a basic overview along with some examples of the operation of the Intelligent Advanced Network which is a modern public telephone switching system. As will be apparent to both those skilled in the art and the casual but interested reader of this specification, the integrity of the data packets passing through the network is crucial to their operation. The integrity of the ./. Packages must be maintained in order for the system to function properly, so that calls can be completed. Additionally, since the SS7 data packets control the voice circuit capacity distribution, it is critical to the proper operation of the network that spurious or unnecessary requests for the link capacity are not generated within the network. The inventor of the present invention believes that the "opening of SS7 data links from the network to third parties so that they can provide personalized services over the telephone network, will be regulated so that third party providers are not required to provide broad information to the local exchange agent about the nature of the Thus, the project of opening the network to third-party providers of enhanced call services, is one that requires careful mediation at the interface between the network agent's network P1336 / 96MX local and third, and monitor the activity and messages of data packets to protect both the integrity and operation of the network and the privacy of the subscribers of the providers of the entire service. Also, much of the information maintained in the databases within the network can constitute sensitive business information of the customers of the local exchange carriers. The information at the rate at which a business receives telephone calls, the traffic of the 800 number experiences or even the temporary characteristics of calls to particular businesses can constitute information that can be useful for a competitor in the business of a LEC client. Therefore, if the network is opened, there is a need to carefully verify and restrict the type of information to which non-LEC clients will be given access. The normal use of separate SS7 signal packets to control the routing of the call was, in an important part, motivated by the need to re-route calls in order to provide enhanced customer call services or services. The simplest example is, of course, the sending of an attempt to call from one subscriber line to another. However, the ability to re-route beam calls from one subscriber line to another that associated with the dialed number P1336 / 96MX "- also leads to a potential for business damage as long as the network is open to third-party data packet generators. For example, if it is not controlled, the competitor of a business that uses incoming telephone calls as a significant source of new customers could generate a packet on the network that instructs a service control point computer to send a call from a competitor to the telephone of the business entity that generated the network message. This could be done periodically, leaving the shipping order in place only for short periods of time, so that a certain percentage of the incoming calls are extracted or drained in this way. Thus, in the event that the network is opened to third parties, there is a need to protect the integrity of the call routing process against unauthorized or improper attempts to redirect calls or to interfere with calls to which the agency third party has access so that the network is not affected. In summary, the advanced intelligent network is a complex high-traffic, high-speed packet-switching messaging arrangement that provides great versatility in the handling of telephone calls. Most elements of the network and, in particular, the SSP switches, are designed P1336 / 96MX so that in certain events a relatively simple format of a query message is generated and the switch will wait for the response of the network before proceeding with the processing of the call. These procedures employ a watchdog timer to wait for a time in the event that a response to the query is not received. However, in circumstances where the progress of the call was controlled by the occurrence of waiting times, as opposed to a valid response, for a large percentage of the calls that are being processed, there would be a significant deterioration in the performance of the call. net. This would cause customers to experience undue delays in the processing of calls or the inability to make improved features appropriate. Fundamentally, it is the versatility of the network that leads to its vulnerability to inappropriate network messages. Therefore, as long as the network is opened so that access to the advanced intelligent network is available to third-party enhanced service providers, there is a need to provide mediation of message traffic through the interface between the local exchange agent and the third-party service provider and, to protect the network from harm, human error and equipment failure on the interface side of the P1336 / 96MX third party service provider. In "Open Access to the Intelligent Network: The road to more flexible and responsive series", Telephony, vol. 226, no. 18, May 2, 1994, USA, pages 68-72, Theus et al., Mediated access is described as the access of the third-party service provider to create and deploy services without compromising the reliability or security of the network . As described in Theus et al., Mediated access to an intelligent network would allow third parties to participate in the development and deployment of new telecommunications services. In "Open AIN Operations Strategies," 1994 IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium, vol. 1, February 14, 1994, Kissimmee, Florida, E.U.A., pages 140-152, J.C. Chen, is a general description of the provision of access to an Intelligent Advanced Network (AIN) telecommunications system to other service providers (OSPs). Providing access to the OSPs is referred to as an Open AIN. With the Open AIN, multiple service providers are provided with access to the AIN activators for use with the services of the OSPs. The architecture of the open AIN service can have three logical layers: a public network transport stratum, a mediation layer of the AIN service and a control layer of the OSP AIN service. The stratum P1336 / 9 X s; - mediation of the AIN service can collect the billing information for the OSPs or provide the default treatments to the end users when the OSP is not available. A model of the architecture of the Open AIN contemplates the provision of security and authentication of the accesses of OSP.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent telephone network that includes a plurality of digital data communications channels from among a plurality of Intelligent Advanced Network (AIN) elements that includes a plurality of service switching points in an equivalent plurality of exchanges and at least one service control point comprising the steps of causing a first element of the plurality of AIN elements that originates a new message sequence from the Party of Application of Transactional Capabilities (TCAP) to generate a transaction number for each new TCAP message sequence, causing the first element of the plurality of elements of the AIN to store the transaction number in a first transaction identifier table, the invention is characterized by the service control point which is a control point from P1336 / 96MX and -mediated service that includes an SCP computer running a Shared Execution Environment (SEE) interpreter for the processing of the local exchange agent applications and the Service Provider applications, the method comprises the steps of include the transaction number and a first message identifier in a first TCAP message of the TCAP message sequence and transmit the first TCAP message to a second element of the plurality of the elements of the AIN, causing the second of the elements of the plurality of elements of the AIN create a unique transaction identifier associated with the new sequence of TCAP messages by concatenating the unique transaction number with a source point code and a subsystem number and storing the unique identifier of transaction in a second transaction identifier table in response to the first message identifier in the first message of TCAP; causing the first and second network elements, after which they include the unique transaction identifier in the TCAP messages by making the particular transaction associated with the TCAP message sequence if to reject other TCAP messages that do not contain the transaction identifier listed in the first and second transaction identifier tables and, P1336 / 96MX ^ - causing a particular element of the first and second elements of the plurality of elements of the AIN originating a last message in the TCAP message sequence to delete the unique transaction identifier from its associated transaction identifier table and including the last identifier of the message in a last message, thereby causing another of the first and second elements of the plurality of elements of the AIN, _, to delete the unique transaction identifier from its associated transaction identifier table in response to the last message identifier in the last message. The present invention is a method for mediating message traffic of the AIN in an open AIN environment by using an instruction language interpreter in a shared execution environment. More particularly, the preferred form of the present invention is achieved by using an instruction interpreter in a service control point computer that interprets instructions from multiple services of the service provider (i.e. non-local exchange agent providers) in where the same computer is running the service control point applications on behalf of the local exchange agent. An important aspect of the present invention is the use of unique transaction IDs in messages of P1336 / 96MX ^ conversation. The transaction and process IDs have already been used within the advanced intelligent network (AIN). The methodology of the present invention defines the mediated interface between the service provider of the non-local exchange agent and the local exchange agent as the interface between the application program of the service provider and the runtime environment interpreter (SEE) . The SEE interpreter accepts the instructions of the?, ^ Program language of the service provider application and generates executable calls for the operating system for a service control point computer to generate AIN message packets. An important aspect of the present invention is an increase of existing interpreter languages to mediate traffic across the border between the interpreter and the application of the service provider. The opening of the AIN to non-local exchange agent service providers creates tension between the need to make each element in the system, that is, both the local exchange agent (LEC) applications and the provider's applications. service, unambiguously detect the destination of AIN messages and the appropriate destination of a response on the one hand, and the need to ensure that the service provider can not use access to the AIN to obtain access P1336 / 96MX - ~ -and inappropriate to information about its competitors or in any way sabotage the operation of the network or the operation of an application of a particular competitor in the system. To implement this, the present invention employs an SEE interpreter to keep the transaction identifier tables a shared runtime environment service control point. The tables include a list of unique transaction identifiers r ^ ~ (transaction IDs) for currently active transactions. Each of these IDs is correlated with a process ID for an application on the service provider's interface side. Every time that an incoming packet is received at the mediated service control point and this message is not a query message (that is, it is not the first message in a message conversation sequence), the ID table is queried of transaction. If an entry is not found, the message is rejected. If an entry is found, the SEE interpreter removes or removes at least the code information from the message origin point and passes the message through the mediated interface to the service provider application with the process identifier attached so that the application can unambiguously determine the process with which the message is related. This isolates the service provider's process from the information that identifies the P1336 / 96 X - • addresses of the specific point code for the destination of a reply message. In general, the method of the present invention causes the AIN element that originates a new message conversation sequence to generate a unique transaction number for the new sequence. In the prior art configurations, the AIN elements that originate query messages already generate the - ^ transaction numbers. However, separate SSPs can generate identical transaction numbers since the transaction number is a sequential number generated by the SSP to identify an SSP transaction. In this way, existing service control points can deal with conversation message sequences for different SSPs that have identical transaction numbers. In order to provide a unique transaction identifier that in unambiguous form is unique throughout the advanced intelligent network, the present invention employs a novel unique transaction identifier. A unique transaction identifier as used in this specification refers to a transaction identifier that is unique across the entire AIN network. In the preferred forms of the present invention, most conversation message sequences are generated by an activating message or inquiry message that originates with a point P1336 / 96MX service switching (SSP). The unique transaction identifier of the preferred mode or message sequence initiated by an SSP trigger is a concatenation of the SSP transaction number that is generated by the service switching point and an SSP point code is associated with the service switching point and identifies it. In addition to this, a subsystem number is included in the unique transaction identifier to ensure its uniqueness if the transaction identifier crosses the border between local exchange agents. There is a small class of message sequences that originate at the service control point (SCP). With this type of message, the unique transaction identifier is a random number not currently used. The statement that the numbers not currently used refer to the fact that the SCP keeps track of the particular random numbers that have been assigned to the transactions that are in process and when a random number is requested from a generator of pseudorandom numbers, it verifies a ready to make sure that the random number of a transaction that is in process is not duplicated. The use of random or pseudo-random numbers as transaction identifiers increases the security of each transaction in this case.

P1336 / 96MX • ~ - ~ Effectively avoids the possibility of an organism with access to the AIN detecting a pattern in the assignment of transaction identifiers for the messages originated in SCP and that subsequently exploits this pattern. The AIN elements that receive a first message, such as when a query message is transmitted to the service control point, the concatenation of the elements of the unique transaction ID, then add the transaction ID ^ - .. to the table of valid transaction IDs then in effect. Subsequently, all AIN messages that are not the first messages in a conversation sequence that is received in the mediated interface cause the table to be verified for the transaction IDs of the message. If they are not present in the table, the message will be rejected by the SCP or by another AIN element. When a query message is received at the service control point and the SCP database indicates that it is intended by an application of the service provider, the message is routed to the interpreter of the shared execution environment. The SEE interpreter then selects a process ID for a new process. This process ID is placed in an entry in the transaction identifier table SCP along with the transaction identifier that was used on the interface side of the P1 33f? / 96 X -? - local exchange agent. Subsequently, when the application of the service provider is going to send an outgoing message that affects this transaction, it includes its process ID in the request for the creation of the message that will be passed from the application to the SEE interpreter. Assuming that the message passes other criteria described below, the SEE interpreter verifies the transaction ID table and ._ finds the unique transaction identifier on the LEC side that corresponds to the process identifier for this particular application and includes the transaction number associated with the unique transaction identifier in the output response message. Therefore, the service provider's applications can not access the details of the unique transaction identifier that can include meaningful information * "" about how the LEC network is operating. However, the integrity of the process is maintained because the SEE interpreter will never pass the message through the mediated interface to the service provider's application unless the transaction identifier in the input message is valid. There are other important aspects of the mediation conducted at the frontier of the SEE interpreter / application of the present invention. In the databases, they are maintained P1336 / 96MX or several lists and tables stored on disks connected to the service control point computer at a mediated access service control point executing the method of the present invention. In particular, the tables of the subscriber numbers that are customers of each service provider are kept in the SCP computer. Also, a list of addresses of network elements authorized for each application is also maintained in _ an address table comparing the applications of the service provider with authorized address pools of the network. The addresses of the authorized element of the network specify the elements of the network that can be legally directed by each application. Legality is related to the contractual arrangement between the service provider that creates and operates the application and the local exchange agent. If, for example, the provider "/" Of the service wants to use part of the capacity of a service node to provide that service, it needs to make an appropriate contractual arrangement with the local exchange agent, this will be reflected in an entry in a address table maintained in the mediated SCP that indicates that this particular application is an authorized user of the service node.There will thus be a table entry identifying the application and matching it with the address of the network element for the nodes of service that can P1336 / 96MX - 'to be used under contract. The table of customer subscriber numbers is used to validate any request that an AIN message has been generated which will somehow re-route or otherwise provide non-standard handling of a call to a particular subscriber number . The entries in the table are also used to select the application of the service provider for a particular pair of activator / subscriber number. The SEE interpreter enforces the requirement that the confirmation of the subscriber number status according to an application client that causes the request to be made before causing the SCP computer to generate the AIN message required by the service provider's application . In connection with the list of authorized network addresses, it should be understood that authorized access to a customer's subscriber number implies authorized access to the SSP associated with the switch that handles that subscriber number. The separate table of authorized addresses of the network element is specifically designed, but not limited to, addresses for non-switch elements such as service nodes and other service control points. Of course, it is contemplated that the mediation process can be used to provide access between databases located in P1336 / 96MX - • i.multiple service control points that are operated by agents of non-local exchange agents. In other words, a service provider could have information in a database and contractually provide access to that database to another service provider whose application is running in a different SCP. This generates the opportunity for the local exchange agent to obtain income by providing the -. mediation service to protect the integrity of the database and enforce the appropriate rules so that others do not obtain similar access to the database without making the payment for it. Some service providers will have access to a link capacity and rented union lines. Therefore, in order to provide customers with the full advantage of an opportunity to select low-cost call routing, in a shared execution environment, a request to route a call from the service provider's application must be supported,, whose request has a link group parameter that specifies one or more path or path indexes of the link group. As is known to those skilled in the art, these indices specify, usually in an order of preference, the link group through which a call should be routed. Since a P1336 / 96MX ^ organism (the application program of the service provider) over which the LEC has no control can request routings of the particular link group, the interpreter SEE measured these requests verifying to make sure that the service provider whose application carries out a request with a link group parameter is contractually authorized to use the requested link group. This avoids the opportunity for an unscrupulous provider of the service in order to reduce their costs and effectively steal the services of the agency that leases the link request the routing of the link through union lines and the like which are rented by another agency. Additionally, the mediation process of the present invention monitors requests from the particular service provider's applications for relatively scarce network resources. The preferred way is to ask the service provider to specify a maximum number of resources of one or more classes that it can occupy simultaneously. A list of the resource occupancy numbers allowed for the classes of network resources is kept and the service control point computers enforce this limit while maintaining an up-down count. If a request is made above the allowed limit P1336 / 96MX "-. For an additional resource within a class, the interpreter SEE shall refuse to generate the AIN message that makes this request until the number of resources occupied by the service provider falls below the occupation number allowed for that service. resource class A further aspect of the present invention is a method for maintaining an intelligent switching telephone network in the network shared access environment • Intelligent advanced that controls it. The possibilities of trigger loops and unpredictable performance based on the invocation sequence are clearly possible if the multiple services of different service providers are invoked by the same activator of a particular subscriber number. For example, a subscriber to an AIN call that he sends from a service provider and an AIN call classification from another will get a different result depending on which service was invoked first. In accordance with the present method of operation and maintenance of an intelligent switching telephone network, only one service can be invoked with the generation of any activator for a particular subscriber number. Therefore, the service control point maintains a table of subscriber numbers and activators, such that each pair of subscriber number / activator of the table (is P1336 / 96MX "', each one served by a particular SCP), only a single service can be called in. If an AIN message is received, for example, from a service management center requesting the entry of a new element in the table which indicates that an activated trigger must invoke a second service, this entry is rejected and an error message is returned to the network element that sent the request, therefore, only one service can be invoked for any part of any activator for a given subscriber number It should be understood that the judicious selection of instructions available in the programming language interpreted by the SEE interpreter is an important part of the mediation of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the manner in which a set of instructions for the interpreter SEE is selected, as well as the limits on certain parameters for valid instructions, which avoid the excess not auto ried to third-party information or unauthorized manipulation of data, such as billing information, within the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a diagram of an existing intelligent switching telephone network of the prior art P133 < Í / 9GMX - ~ * that includes the advanced intelligent network that controls it. Figure 2 is a block diagram of some typical elements in the advanced intelligent network and a block diagram of a mediated service control point that performs the method of the preferred embodiment. Figure 3 is a flow diagram for the action of the SEE interpreter of the preferred modality , -, receiving an input message showing the manner in which the transaction identifier / service process identifier table is used in the preferred embodiment. Figure 4 is a logical flow diagram of the process of creating a transaction ID with respect to a transaction initiated by a service control point mediated in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a flow chart of the steps executed by the interpreter of the shared execution environment that controls a service control point computer to mediate the AIN messages generated by an application of the service provider in the preferred mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY Turning now to the figures of the drawings in the P1336 / 96MX '"- which like numbers refer to like parts and steps, the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below: Figure 2 shows a subset of typical AIN network elements that were shown in Figure 1, which was discussed in relation to the previous background section of the invention In particular, two service switching points 15 and 15 'are shown with their associated switches which are - - interconnected through links 19b. The service node 39 is connected to the SSP 15 'and to the voice circuits of its associated switch through the ISDN links 41.. The signal transfer point 20 is connected via the SS7 circuit line 27 to the mediated service control point 50. The elements within the mediated service control point 50 practicing the method of the present invention include the computer r 51. of the service control point whose main operating elements are represented by block 52 for the processor and the operating system and disk storage 55 containing the databases, tables and lists used in the operation of the intelligent network advanced and executing the method of the preferred modality. Logically represented as connected to the SCP 52 computer, there are a plurality of applications P1336 / 96MX - '• written in an improvement of a language originally developed by AT &T, Decision Graph Editor. This is a language used for program applications for service control points. The improvements to this language described herein are part of the implementation of the method of the preferred embodiment. The exemplary applications of the service provider are represented as applications 56a to 56m. An additional set -... of local exchange agent applications are shown as 57a to 57n. It should be understood that myn in Figure 2 refer to suggesting generalized integers, which indicates that there may be an arbitrary number of applications from the service provider and from the central office agent provider applications running on the SCP 51 computer. A logical structure The application for 56a r is explicitly shown in Figure 2. In particular, the application includes the instructions of the application of the service provider, indicated in 58 and, the runtime environment interpreter indicated in 59. The interface between these two is the mediated interface 60 between the application 58 controlled by a non-LEC service provider and the LEC controlled side of the Intelligent Advanced Network, which includes the hardware at the 50-mediated service control point. It should be understood that P1336 / 96MX > ** Any request for the generation of an AIN message that is made by application 58, is first verified by the SEE 59 interpreter to determine if it requires mediation. If so, the appropriate instructions, discussed below, are generated by the SEE interpreter to cause the processor and the operating system 52 to read the required information from the storage disk 55 and determine if the AIN message -. "Requested by application 58 must be generated. If the mediation process does not indicate any illegal or unauthorized request, the interpreter generates calls to the processor and operating system 52 to cause the SCP 51 computer to generate the requested message. The reference to the blocks shown in Figure 2 will be made in connection with the descriptions of the flow chart of the method to be followed of the present invention. It should be understood that most of the normal traffic flow in the AIN consists of conversation messages between the service switching points such as 15 and 15 'and a mediated service control point 50 implementing the present invention. These pass through the signal transfer point 20 which is simply a powerful packet switch that can determine which one of a plurality of SSPs served by P1336 / 96 X "the 50-mediated service control point are the destinations for the packets sent from the SCP 50 to the SSPs." In the particular topology shown in the Figure 2, communications between the mediated SCP 50 and the service node 39 are routed through the signal transfer point 20, of the SSP 15 'and then translated into messages in a protocol for the ISDN to pass through the ISDN link 41 to the service node 39.

"" Of course, direct connections can be made between a signal transfer point and a service node in the systems practicing the present invention. While there are a variety of possibilities discussed here, most of the conversation message sequences in the AIN are in the class of TCAP messages that are transaction capability messages. These are sequences of conversation messages since a sequence of messages will go back and forth between an exemplary SSP, such as an SSP and a 50 mediated SCP. Those experienced with the technique know that the first message of a message sequence is referred to as a query. A query is identifiable in the Signaling System 7 protocol as a first message in a transaction or in a new message sequence. This alerts the receiving element of the network of P1336 / 96MX • * - that any transaction ID information contained in this must not necessarily be in a table. The triggers generated by these service switching points 15 and 15 'are the most common form of inquiry messages. Upon receipt, the SCP computer 51 determines which of the applications 56 and 57 should be the recipient of the message based on a table of subscriber numbers and triggers stored in the disk unit. 55 of the database. Using the example of this which is intended for the application 58 of the service provider within the application 56a, the message is routed to the SEE interpreter 59. Upon receipt of a query message, the SEE interpreter selects a new process ID, a request through interface 60 with application 58 requesting that it initiate a new process. When this is received, the interpreter SEE 59 passes this back to the processor and the operating system 52 which then concatenate the transaction number associated with the trigger that was generated by the SSP with the point code for the originating SSP and its number of system to create the complete transaction unique ID and, add an entry to a transaction ID table / service process ID, maintained on disk 55. Handling of messages received by the mediated service control point 50 It is illustrated in the Figure P133G / 96MX, -'- 3. As indicated above, the use of the unique transaction identifiers is an important aspect of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. A typical sequence for initiating and conducting a sequence of conversation TCAP messages will be described in connection with Figure 3. Assuming the typical situation in which a telephone line connected to the switch associated with SSP 15 has been off-hooked and a particular number was dialed. . While several triggers may be activated during this process, a termination attempt activator will usually be provided when dialing is complete. This termination attempt activator will be activated by the non-LEC service provider when the subscriber of the dialed number is a subscriber to one of the specialized services of the service provider. For example, a special service for sending calls and messaging can be provided and will normally be invoked by an attempt to terminate when the customer's subscriber number is dialed. This trigger is an AIN message that passes over the SS7 link 21, through the signal transfer point 20 and on the link 27 to the mediated SCP 50 (Figure 2). The termination attempt activator is P1336 / 96MX --- .. received by the SCP computer 51 which performs an investigation in a database on disk 55 and determines that the dialed subscriber number is a customer of the application service provider 56a and that this application must be notified to a termination attempt activator. Therefore, the message (which has its address information that was routed to SCP 50) is passed to the SEE 59 interpreter. The operation by the SEE 59 interpreter is shown in Figure 3. The routine is introduced in block 65 labeled as received message. The first interpreter executes the decision step 66 in which it determines whether the input message is a query message, that is, if this is the first message in a new sequence of conversation messages. Assuming first that it is not a query message and that from step 66 the branch 67 leading to step 68 is taken, in which a unique transaction ID is created by concatenating the transaction number generated by the SSP, the code of the point of origin for the SSP that generated the message and the system number. This creates the unique full transaction ID used by the preferred embodiment of the present invention. When this has been done, decision step 69 is executed in which the SCP computer 51 (Figure 2) determines whether the identifier of P1336 / 96MX transaction is already in the active transaction table stored in disk drive 55 (Figure 2). If not, it means that a non-query conversation message has been received from an AIN element that uses an invalid transaction number. Therefore, from branch 69 the branch NO 70 is taken and the message is rejected in step 71. After the rejection of the message the routine is exited at point 72. If the transaction ID already exists in the table, the step 69 the branch 75 SI is taken and the routine indicated in block 76 is executed. Since the transaction ID already appears in the table, it follows that an associated service process ID is matched with the transaction ID in the entry of the table. The SCP computer 51 removes the address information from the message, adds the service process identifier to the message and passes it through the mediated interface 60 (Figure 2) to the application 58 of the service provider which then responds in accordance with the instructions written by the service provider in the application. The program then drifts to the exit point 77 since the handling of this entry message has been completed. Next, consider the situation in which the message received in step 65 is a query message, that is, it is the first message of a new one P1336 / 96MX "" sequence of TCAP messages, that is, an activating message. When this occurs, from the decision step 66 the branch IS IS taken. The first step is to find the particular application that handles the particular trigger for the particular subscriber number identified in the message. This is indicated in step 79. As noted above, a restriction of the present invention is that for each subscriber number, each activator can invoke one and only one service. Thus, it should be understood that the search results indicated in step 79 could be that this particular trigger for this particular subscriber number is served either by one of the applications 56 of the service provider or by the applications 57 of the agent of local exchange indicated in Figure 2. Continuing with the example that this particular combination of subscriber / activator number is served by application 58 of the service provider shown in Figure 2, the SCP computer 51 passes an instruction to the interpreter SEE 59 that tells you to assign a new service process identifier for application 58 of the service provider. This is indicated in step 80 of Figure 3. The new service process identifier that is unique to the current active processes is then executed by the 50-mediated SCP.

P1336 / 96MX - "When this is received by the SEE interpreter, step 81, it is executed.In step 81, the unique transaction identifier is generated by a concatenation of the transaction number, the origin point code and a number of subsystem as described in connection with step 68. This unique transaction identifier is coupled with the service process ID obtained in step 80 in a transaction identifier pair / transaction ID. ,,, -. service process and, this pair is added to the transaction identifier table of the SCP computer stored in the disk unit 55 (Figure 2). Finally, the substance of the message, that is, the identification of the trigger and the subscriber number associated therewith, passes from the SEE interpreter 59 through the interface 60 to the application 58 of the service provider.

This is indicated in step 82 of Figure 3. According to ^ "• - shown in step 82, the point code for the originating SSP is removed before passing the message across the border.Thus, the application of the service provider is simply told that this message is the message that started the new process for which a new identifier of the service process was just requested, and the application of the service provider then generates instructions for the SEE interpreter to implement the service provided to this client P1336 / 96MX < "- particular with the occurrence of this particular trigger. When this has been done, the routine is exited in step 77. Turning now to Figure 4, a process flow diagram is shown to create a unique transaction ID for sequences of messages that originate with a first message from a service control point These steps are executed by the SEE interpreter for cases where the initial message in a TCAP message sequence originates with the service control point. normally occurs in applications of the preferred embodiment, when an application of the service provider wishes to initiate a sequence of conversation messages Initially, the interpreter detects a valid request for an initial TCAP message of the application, as indicated in step 85. In step 86, the generator * ~ pseudorandom numbers provided by the SEE interpreter a pseudorandom number is requested. Routines for the generation of long sequences of pseudorandom numbers are well known to those skilled in the art. In step 87, the returned pseudo-random number N is checked against the transaction numbers in the transaction table of the currently active transactions that are being handled by the SCP. At P1336 / 96MX unlikely event that the number N is identical to a transaction number for a current table entry, branch 88 SI is taken back to step 86, in which another pseudorandom number is obtained. If the number N is not identical to an existing transaction number in the transaction table, branch 89 NO is taken to step 90, where the TCAP message is generated using the pseudo-random number N as the transaction number. Then, the entire transaction ID is stored as part of a transaction ID / service process number pair in the transaction table in step 91. The service process number is initially obtained from the SEE interpreter, when it is detected the request for a TCAP message in step 85. In step 92, the interpreter determines whether the access affecting a particular subscriber number (i.e. a number of > Subscriber subscriber or an AIN non-switch element) is requested by the message requested by the application.

If so, the subscriber number table stored in the disk unit 55 is verified to determine whether the application of the service provider originating the request is authorized to affect a call or to communicate with this particular subscriber number. If not, an error message is generated in step 91 that informs the interpreter that made an invalid request and the P1336 / 96MX - ^ message is not sent. In step 95, the message is sent and this portion of the controller code is output in point 96. An SSP response message sent to the SCP as a result of a message originating in the SCP simply returns to the transaction ID in the message originated in the SCP. Since the response messages are a different class of messages (in contrast to the query messages) in the preferred embodiment, the concatenation of the transaction ID with the SSP point code is not necessary or used. The uniqueness of the transaction ID in the mediation of the service control point is ensured when it is selected by the SEE interpreter. Turning now to Figure 5, the process executed by the preferred mode for mediating requests from the service provider's applications for particular types of AIN messages is illustrated. It should be understood that the steps illustrated therein are executed by the SEE interpreter. Investigations regarding the authorized activities are stored in several tables of the tables and lists of the database stored in the disk unit 55 (Figure 2). This portion of the mediation process is introduced in step 110 where the SEE interpreter receives a request for an AIN message from an application of the service provider. In step 111, the transaction table is P1336 / 96MX, / ^ queried for an entry that compares or collates the process ID that accompanied the request generated in step 110. The necessary transaction ID information is then obtained from the transaction ID that is coupled with the transaction ID. process of service in the table entry, whose information is used to direct and route if the request for the message passes the mediation tests illustrated in Figure 5. ", ^ The first mediation test is decision step 112 in which is determined if the handling of a call to a particular subscriber number is affected by the message requested by the application. If this is not the case, take the branch 115 NO that skips the mediation test 117. If a subscriber number is affected, the branch 116 IS is taken to step 117, where the table of the subscriber number stored in the unit Disk 55 is consulted to see if that particular subscriber number is a customer of the service provider that owns the application that is making the request. If the answer is yes, from step 117 the branch 118 SI is taken as the request for the message has passed this first test of mediation. If the subscriber number affected by the request is not a customer of this particular service provider, from step 117 the branch 119 NO will be taken. Which leads to steps 120 and 121 that are executed if a request P1336 / 96MX «_-, for an AIN message fails any mediation test illustrated in Figure 5. In step 120, the message is rejected and in step 121 an appropriate error message is used to notify the provider's application of the service of the fact of the rejection of the message and, preferably, of the reason for this. When this is finished, point 122 leaves the mediation process. Returning to the subsequent steps of the mediation process, the following verification by the SEE interpreter is illustrated in step 125. This verifies if there is any request for a particular link group that routes the request for an AIN message generated by the application of the service provider. If a link group was not requested, the 126 NO branch that skips the test for a valid link group request is taken. If one or more link groups are requested, step 127 IS is taken from step 127 to step 128. In step 128, the SEE interpreter verifies a table of legal link group route indices for the particular application of the provider of the service that generated the message request. As indicated in the figure, this test is conducted for each link group that is specified in the request since multiple link groups, which can be used in the alternative, can be P1336 / 96MX - _. specified in a request for routing the link group. If a link group any of the requested link groups is not authorized to be used by this application of the service provider, 5 of step 128 takes branch 129 NO. This leads to the rejection sequence that begins with step 120. If the service provider application is authorized to use each link group contained in the request __ ", - for a link group routing, step 128 is 0 * takes the branch 130 SI and the message request has passed the measurement tests in this way. It should be noted that the preferred mode rejects the message in the event that any request for possible use of an unauthorized link group is detected. It is also possible to make the SEE interpreter reconstruct the message requested by the application of the "" "" service provider to delete the unauthorized link group, but includes one or more link groups that the application of the service provider is authorized to use. However, it is considered preferable to place the burden of making the appropriate requests for link group routing at the service provider that is responsible for the particular application. 5 Next, step 131 tests the P1336 / 96MX - ^ message request to see if access to a non-switch AIN item is requested. As noted above, authorization to affect a call to a particular subscriber number involves authorization to communicate with the SSP associated with the switch that handles that subscriber number. However, a separate test is included for the message requesting access to non-switch AIN items such as others. service control points or service nodes. It should be noted that strictly speaking, a service node is not an AIN element under the currently installed versions of the advanced intelligent network. This is because the service nodes are normally not directly connected to the AIN, but rather through a switch and ISDN links as illustrated in Figure 1. However, this is logically an AIN element and it is also known that future improvements already specified in the software that AIN controls will host messages formatted in SS7 that will be sent to the service nodes. According to the previous tests, if a non-commutator AIN element is not requested, the 132 NO branch that takes the authorization test is taken. If the message request contains a request for access to an AIN non-switch element, the branch 135 SI is taken to step 136, in which a table of P1336 / 96MX '< Subscriber number to determine if the subscriber number for, the non-commutator AIN element is included in a list of authorized subscriber numbers for this particular application of the service provider. It should be noted that it is preferable to store designations of non-commutator elements by their subscriber numbers, which have been conventionally assigned to the non-commutator AIN elements. The subscriber number is the preferred form ", to designate the non-commutator element. In this case, "it should be noted that the subscriber number is not a subscriber number associated with a particular subscriber line or with rented or leased subscriber links as is the case with the subscriber number that was tested in step 112. As before, if the application of the service provider is not authorized to access the requested non-switch AIN element, the 137 branch leading to the rejection of the message is taken, if the application of the service provider is authorized, it is taken the branch 138 SI to step 139 beginning the last mediation test shown in Figure 5. The last test determines whether the message request seeks to use a limited resource.The preferred mode defines a limited resource as at least one class of network resources of which there are some limited number and a need to strictly control the time that P1336 / 9GMX are occupied by any particular service provider. While the conforming concept used in this specification is not limited in this way, a limited resource will usually be a device that is involved in an audio connection with a real-time call to process some form of audio signal provided either by the party calling or sending a calling party. The common feature of these devices is that they are used for relatively long periods of time each time they are invoked. In the preferred embodiment, the digit receiver of the switch and the voice announcement devices are classified as limited resources. However, other embodiments of the present invention may classify other devices as limited resources and, of course, there may be multiple hierarchical classes of resources defined for an implementation of the present invention. If a limited resource is not requested, branch 140 NO is taken, which indicates that the mediation tests have been successfully passed. If this occurs, with the appropriate transaction number and address information obtained in step 111 the message AIN is generated and, in step 142, the message is sent. In step 122 the routine is then exited. If a limited resource is requested, the Pl 336 / 96t1X "- .state 145 YES to step 146. This test if the application of the service provider is authorized to use this resource or this kind of resources.If the request fails this test, branch 147 is taken NO to rejection of the message sequence If the application of the service provider is authorized to use the resource, branch 148 SI is taken to step 149 which proves an important mediation function of the preferred modality. Network resources defined as resources limited by the preferred embodiment are devices that are normally occupied for long periods of time each time they are used, the method of the preferred embodiment places a limitation on the number of these devices that can be simultaneously occupied by an application from the particular service provider or from a particular service provider, this upper limit is referred to as an occupancy number resource and it is simply a predetermined number of limited resource devices that can be handled simultaneously by a service provider or by its application. It is believed that it is preferable to select the occupation number of the resource not only for a maximum tolerable number, given the number of service providers that are housed, but to scale to the compliance number P1336 / 96MX with a fee. In this way, service providers will anticipate that making use of a high volume of voice announcement equipment will need to pay a higher fee to the local exchange agent for the provision of access to these resources, so that the service provider can occupy a relatively large number of them simultaneously. There is an alternative way to define the occupation number of the resource that can be used instead of or in addition to a total number of limited resources or a resource class. In particular, it is important to limit not only the total number of limited resources occupied by a service, but the total number of limited resources in a given owner of the resource, that is, in a given switch or in a given service node. For example, if there are five voice announcement circuits in a particular service node that can be accessed by a service application, it is important to ensure that a single application from the service provider can not occupy all five circuits. at the same time to avoid supplying the voice circuits to other applications that run on the network. This may be the specific definition of a resource occupancy number in the embodiments of the present invention. Additionally, it can be specified as an additional limitation even if to the application of the P1336 / 96MX; - * service is allowed to occupy more than that number of limited resources among several resource owners on the network. Regardless of how exactly it is determined, the method of the present invention defines a resource occupancy number which is a predetermined maximum limit on the number of limited resources that can be simultaneously occupied by an application of the service provider. The system maintains a limited resource account as an ascending / descending account for each application of the service provider. If step 149 is reached, the SEE interpreter tests whether the limited resource account for this particular application of the service provider actually exceeds the resource occupancy number for that application. If this test is true, the 150 SI branch is taken to reject the message sequence. This is the responsibility of the service provider - writing the application to direct the emissions of the attempts to retry and the like in order to provide the service to their client that requires the use of the limited resource, for which only the request in step 149. If the limited resource account is still less than the occupation number of the resource, branch 151 NO is taken to step 152 in which the limited resource account is increased. When this has been achieved, all P1 336 / 9f > X, - * mediation tests have been passed and the message is generated and sent in steps 141 and 142, respectively, as previously described. It should be noted that other routines to handle termination of conversations, which are not illustrated in the figures of the drawings, are responsible for decreasing the limited resource account each time the user of a limited resource as requested by the application, particular of the service provider has been completed. The implementation of this ascending / descending count scheme is simple and well known to those skilled in the art. From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the methods described herein provide effective mediation through the mediated interface between the service provider's applications and a shared execution environment interpreter that runs at a service control point operated by LEC , the use of unique transaction identifiers in the transaction identifier / service process number table, effectively isolates service providers from access to sensitive information concerning the operation of the local exchange agent network as well as of potential access to information about the competitors of the service provider. The steps of P1336 / 96MX < • - mediation illustrated in Figure 5 ensure the integrity of the messages generated by the service provider's applications, in addition, they enforce the valuation of certain privileges of the local exchange agent within the AIN that is granted to the providers of the service. This means that local service brokers do not spend money to support these privileges, which prevents any particular service provider from immobilizing an unordered percentage of certain types of resources on the network to the detriment of customers of other service providers. to the detriment of the local exchange agent From the above description of the preferred embodiment, other embodiments of the present invention will be suggested by themselves to those skilled in the art and therefore the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.

P1336 / 96MX

Claims (16)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, the content of the following CLAIMS is claimed as property: 1. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in a telephony network of intelligent switching that includes a plurality of digital data communications channels between a plurality of Intelligent Advanced Network (AIN) elements that includes a plurality of service switching points to an equivalent number of exchanges and at least one service control point (SCP) characterized in that it comprises the steps of, causing a first element of the plurality of AIN elements that originates a new message sequence of the transactional capabilities application part (TCAP) to generate a transaction number for each new sequence of TCAP messages, which causes the first element of the plurality of AIN elements to store the transaction number n in a first transaction identifier table, characterized in that: the at least one service control point is a control point of service includes a mediated SCP computer running an interpreter environment
2. P1336 / 96MX r '- shared execution for the processing of the applications of the local exchange agent and the applications of the service provider; and the method comprises the additional steps of: including the transaction number and a first message identifier in a first TCAP message of the TCAP message sequence and transmitting the first TCAP message to the second element of the plurality of AIN elements; causing the second element of the plurality of AIN elements to generate a unique transaction identifier associated with the new TCAP message sequence by concatenating the unique transaction number with a source code of _. and a subsystem number and storing the transaction unique identifier in a second transaction identifier table in response to the first identifier of the message in a first TCAP message; make the first and second network elements after which they include the unique transaction identifier in the TCAP messages that affect the particular transaction associated with the TCAP message sequence and reject other TCAP messages that do not contain a listed transaction identifier in the first and second transaction identifier tables; and P1336 / 96MX causing a particular element of the first and second elements of the plurality of AIN elements that originates a last message in the TCAP message sequence to delete the unique transaction identifier of its associated transaction identifier table and include the latter identifier of the message in a last message and cause the other element of the first and second elements of the plurality of AIN elements to delete the unique transaction identifier of its associated transaction identifier table in response to the last message identifier in the last message . 2. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network according to claim 1, characterized by: the SCP computer maintains a table of subscriber number of the subscriber numbers for the subscribers and a table of Address of the addresses of the network element authorized for each application of the service provider processed by the SEE interpreter; and the SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to verify the table of the subscriber number for a particular application of the service provider's applications in response to each request for access to a subscriber number of the particular subscriber of the particular application of the applications of the subscriber. provider of
3. P1336 / 96MX service. 3. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 2, further characterized by: the SEE interpreter which causes the SCP computer to generate a TCAP message to effect the request for access to a subscriber number of the particular subscriber of the particular application of the service provider's applications only if the subscriber number of the subscriber Subscriber is included in the subscriber number table for the particular application of the Service Provider applications. 4. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 2, further characterized by: each address table of the authorized addresses of the network element is a table of subscriber numbers associated with the authorized addresses of the network element. 5. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 2, further characterized by:
4. P1336 / 96MX The SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to verify the address table for a particular application of the Service Provider's applications in response to each request for access to a particular element of the non-switch network of the particular application of the applications of the Service Provider. 6. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 5, further characterized by: the SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to generate an AIN message to effect the request for access to a particular element of the non-switch network of the particular application of the Service Provider applications if and only if the address of the network element associated with the particular non-switch network element is included in the address table for the particular application of the Service Provider's applications. 7. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 1, characterized by: the first element of the plurality of AIN elements is a service switching point and the first message is an activator;
5. P1336 / 96 X The unique transaction identifier includes an SSP transaction number generated by the service switching point and an SSP source code point associated with the service switching point. the second element of the plurality of elements
6. AIN is a mediated service control point; the mediated service control point maintains the second transaction identifier table with an SEE Service Process Identifier associated with the unique transaction identifier; and the SEE interpreter transmits information identifying the particular transaction associated with the sequence of TCAP messages to a particular application of the service provider only by transmitting to the SEE service process identifier from the second transaction identifier table. 8. A method for mediating packet message traffic in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 7, further characterized by: the unique transaction identifier further includes a subsystem number. 9. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 1, characterized
7. P1336 / 96MX further because: the first element of the plurality of AIN elements is a service switching point and the first message is an activator; ___ the unique transaction identifier includes an SSP transaction number generated by the service switching point, an SSP source point code associated with the service switching point and a subsystem number; and the second element of the plurality of elements
8. AIN is the mediated service control point; the SEE interpreter transmits information identifying the particular transaction associated with the sequence of TCAP messages for a particular application of the service provider with an SSP origin point code associated with the service switching point removed from the unique transaction identifier. 10. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network, according to claim 1, further characterized in that: the first element of the plurality of AIN elements is a mediated service control point; the unique transaction identifier is a random number generated by the SEE interpreter; Y
9. P1336 / 96MX the mediated service control point maintains the first transaction identifier table with an SEE Service Process Identifier associated with each unique transaction identifier. 11. A method for mediating traffic in packet messages in an intelligent switching telephony network that includes a plurality of digital data communication channels among a plurality of Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) elements that includes a plurality of data points. service switching to an equivalent plurality of exchanges and at least one service control point (SCP), characterized by: the at least one service control point is a mediated service control point including an SCP computer running a Interpreter of Environment
10. Shared Execution (SEE) to process the applications of the local exchange agent and the applications of the
11. Service Provider; the method comprises the steps of: having the SCP computer maintain a table of legal Link Group Route indexes for each of the plurality of Service Provider applications processed by the SEE interpreter; and the SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to verify the table for an entry that defines the Link Group's Legal Indexes for an application
12. P1336 / 96MX particular of the Service Provider applications in response to each request for an AIN message of the particular application of the Service Provider applications that contains a link group parameter and generate the AIN message only if the group parameter The link in the application corresponds to one of the legal indexes of the Link Group Route included in the table for the particular application of the Service Provider applications. 12. A method for mediating packet message traffic in an intelligent switching telephony network that includes a plurality of digital data communication channels among a plurality of Intelligent Advanced Network (AIN) elements that includes a plurality of data points. service switching to an equivalent plurality of exchanges and at least one service control point (SCP), characterized by: the at least one service control point is a mediated service control point that includes a SCP computer running a interpreter of Shared Execution Environment (SEE) to process the applications of the local exchange agent and the applications of the Service Provider; The method includes the steps of: making the SCP computer maintain a table of addresses of legal destination addresses for each
13. P1336 / 96MX one of the plurality of Service Provider applications processed by the SEE interpreter; and the SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to verify the address table for a particular application of the Service Provider applications in response to each request for an AIN message from the particular application of the service provider's applications and generate an AIN message only if a destination address in the request corresponds to one of the legal destination addresses included in the address table for the particular application of the Service Provider applications. 13. A method for mediating packet message traffic in an intelligent switching telephony network that includes a plurality of digital data communication channels among a plurality of Intelligent Advanced Network (AIN) elements that includes a plurality of data points. service switching to an equivalent plurality of exchanges and at least one service control point (SCP), characterized by: .the at least one service control point is a mediated service control point including a SCP computer running a Shared Execution Environment (SEE) interpreter to process the applications of the local exchange agent and the applications of the
14. P1336 / 96MX Service Provider; the method comprises the steps of: causing the SCP computer to maintain a list of allowed resource occupation numbers for at least one class of network resources for each of the plurality of applications of the Service Provider processed by the SEE interpreter; making the SCP computer maintain a current account of the numbers of devices within a class of network resources in use for each of the applications of the plurality of applications of the service provider processed by the SEE interpreter; and the SEE interpreter causes the SCP computer to verify the list for an entry that defies the allowed resource occupancy numbers for a class of network resources for a particular application of the service provider's applications in response to each request for a AIN message from the particular application of the Service Provider applications that contains a request to use a device from a class of network resources and, in response thereto, generate the AIN message only if the current account is less than the occupation number of the resource allowed for a class of network resources for the particular application of the service provider's applications. 14. A method to mediate message traffic
15. P1336 / 96MX "- packet in a telephony network intelligent switching according to claim 13, characterized by a class of network resources including switch digit receivers 15. A method of mediating traffic in packet messages. an intelligent switching telephony network according to claim 13, wherein a class of network resources includes audio, __ announcement devices
16. 16. A method for maintaining an intelligent switching telephony network including a plurality of radio channels. digital data communications between a plurality of Intelligent Network Advanced (AIN) including a plurality of switching points of service at a similar plurality of stations and at least one point of service control (SCP), characterized by: the minus a service control point is a mediated service control point that includes an SCP computer running an environment interpreter shared execution to process applications of the local exchange agent and applications of the Service Provider; the method comprises the steps of: making the SCP computer maintain a table of subscriber numbers and activators, in such a way that, P1336 / 96MX - "< - for each number of 'subscriber in the table, each asset activator is associated with one and only one of agent applications local exchange and application service provider processed by interpret SEE, have the SCP computer verify the table in response to each maintenance message from the AIN network requesting the creation of a new entry in the table to determine if the new entry specifies a particular subscriber number and a trigger type particular for which an existing entry is present and execute the maintenance message of the AIN network only if this existing entry is not found. P1336 / 96MX SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method for mediating traffic through a particular interface between the Intelligent Advanced Network operated by a local exchange agent and an external service provider is presented. The particular interface is defined between an application by a local exchange agent service provider for some form of enhanced telephone service that requires the use of the Intelligent Advanced Network and a shared runtime interpreter on the other side of the interface. The mediation is conducted by the shared execution interpreter that runs at a service control point operated by the local exchange agent. The shared execution interpreter enforces sufficient rules so that the local exchange agent does not require knowledge of the implementation details of the service provider's application. The methodology defines a unique transaction identifier that is defined and known on the side of the local exchange agent interface. A table is created that carries the unique transaction identifiers with the service process identifiers generated by various applications of the service provider. In this way, the execution environment interpreter. Shared can pass messages and instructions through the interface to the provider's application. P1336 / 96MX - service that only refers to the internally generated service process identifier of the application. This isolates the service provider's application from unnecessary information about the operation of the network and the operation of other services from the service providers. The mediation rules include testing the tables to determine if a subscriber number referred to in a message request from a provider application _. of the service is a customer of the service provider, if the routing requests of the link group are valid for the service providers and if any access to, or particular access levels to, certain elements of the network are authorized for the provider of the service. service that requests it. P1336 / 96MX