Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/83—Notification aspects
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/49—Connection to several service providers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/80—Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
  • H04M15/8044—Least cost routing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04Q—SELECTING
  • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
  • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
  • H04Q3/0025—Provisions for signalling
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/24—Accounting or billing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2203/00—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M2203/25—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges related to user interface aspects of the telephonic communication service
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/20—Technology dependant metering
  • H04M2215/2026—Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/32—Involving wireless systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/42—Least cost routing, i.e. provision for selecting the lowest cost tariff
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/46—Connection to several service providers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/74—Rating aspects, e.g. rating parameters or tariff determination apects
  • H04M2215/745—Least cost routing, e.g. Automatic or manual, call by call or by preselection
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/82—Advice-of-Charge [AOC], i.e. notify subscriber of charges/cumulative charge; meter at the substation

Definitions

• the invention relates to a telecommunications system with a terminal device, in particular telephone apparatus, which is provided with an interface device for the digital data transmission to and from a switching device (Local Exchange LE) of a first network, with an access being enabled through the switching device to at least one further switching device belonging to a further network with a predeterminable network preselection (Network Access Code) and with the digital data transmission occurring through a signalling protocol.
• a switching device Local Exchange LE
• Network Access Code Network Access Code
• Preselection the possibility is offered in form of "preselection" that the customer determines to use only one telephone company for long-distance calls. All calls that start with a 0 are automatically re-routed through the network of the new company. It is no longer necessary to dial any network identifier. In order to use "preselection" the customer must register with the respective company so that the technical presets can be made .
• LCR Least Cost Routers
• the invention is thus based on the object of further developing a telecommunications system or a method for such a system in the respect that the user is provided with up-to-date information on the charges of the call to be performed prior to commencing the call.
• the signalling protocol and in particular the ISDN D-channel protocol or PSTN protocol, is provided with a charge rate information protocol range for the transmission of charge rate information on a call from the switching device to the terminal device, with the charge rate information considering the desired area code and, optionally, the network preselection of the desired further network.
• this object is achieved in such a way that the preselecting unit is provided with a comparator unit for comparing the stored values obtained for each network preselection.
• the invention is characterised in that the user is informed prior to performing the call about the applicable charge rates of the chosen network provider.
• the information on the charge rate is transmitted directly from the switching device belonging to the selected network to the terminal device. Accordingly, the user can obtain the applicable charge rate information both for the standard network (e.g. DeutscheInstitut) as well as for any of the "new networks” if the user desires to use any of the other network operators. Since this information on the costs for the call must already be present in the switching device for invoicing reasons, it can be assumed that the obtained charge rate information will always be up-to-date without the user having to take any measures by himself or herself to update the information.
• the display of the charge rate information can either occur by way of an acoustic display (standard telephone receiver) or an additional optical display unit which is usually present in modern convenient telephone receivers.
• the range of the signalling protocol is extended by a range in which the charge rate information is transmitted.
• this will usually occur through the extension of the ISDN D-channel protocol or the conventional PSTN signalling protocol.
• mobile radio devices this will occur through the signalling protocols used in the GSM standard or in other cellular networks.
• the invention can thus be realised independent of the terminal device used, be it for a fixed-line device or for a mobile phone.
• the implementation of the invention can occur both in the switching unit as well as in the terminal device as long as the same are provided with display devices for messages.
• the charge rate information can be displayed in a compressed format by using a compression apparatus so that the charge rate information can be displayed visually in a reduced manner.
• a particularly preferable embodiment of the invention can be obtained in that the terminal device is assigned a preselecting device with which the network preselections of different network operators can be predetermined successively and thus the most favourable charge rate can automatically be determined by comparisons for a specific selected area code.
• Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a telecommunications system in accordance with the invention with the respective devices.
• Table 1 shows a first variant of a method in accordance with the invention for operating a telecommunications system according to fig. 1.
• Table 2 shows a second variant for a method in accordance with the invention for operating a telecommunications system according to fig. 1.
• Fig. 1 shows the structure of an embodiment of a telecommunications system in accordance with the invention. It comprises a telecommunications terminal device, i.e. a telephone receiver which in the conventional manner is provided with a keypad and a display.
• the telephone terminal is in connection via an interface device Network Terminal NT for digital data transmission with the switching unit (local exchange) of the standard network, e.g. that of Irish Bengal. Digital data transmission is performed via a signalling protocol which is standardised.
• the switching device of the standard network provider is in connection with further switching devices of other network providers.
• Fig. 1 shows only one such further switching device (NOP Local Exchange) as an example.
• the signalling protocol is provided in accordance with the invention with a charge rate protocol range in addition to the conventional data range which is available for the transmission of charge rate information from the switching device to the display of the terminal device.
• the system works as follows:
• the user at first manually dials the network preselection of the desired network by entering the numbers on the keypad.
• the network preselection is transmitted to the switching device via the digital interface device of the terminal device (network terminal) . Thereupon the switching device switches over to the new switching device of the desired network.
• the user enters the area code of the desired subscriber and it will be transmitted. Thereupon the new switching device of the desired network will calculate the charge rate information for this desired connection by considering the desired dialled area code.
• the data according to the calculated charge rate are transmitted to the terminal device via the charge rate information protocol range available in the signalling protocol .
• the display of the charge rate information on the display will show the user the charge rate applicable for the planned call. If he or she chooses to accept this charge rate, the call can be started. If the user wishes to obtain information about another company, the aforementioned procedure is employed by entering the network preselection of the other network provider.
• a second variant for performing the method in accordance with the invention is illustrated in connection with table 2.
• the terminal device is provided with a preselecting device (not shown in fig. 1) with which successively all network preselections of all other connected networks can be automatically preseleted, the respective charge rate information for the desired area code can be calculated successively in the respective switching device and can be transmitted back to the terminal device and can be saved there as stored values assigned to the respective network. Thereafter a comparison of the respective stored values and a selection of the stored value with the lowest charge rate is performed. The network with the lowest charge rate can then be automatically dialled via the preselecting device .
• the area code of the desired regional district is at first entered by the user manually and transmitted to the switching device. Thereafter the user presses a key provided on the terminal device in order to active the preselecting device. Thereafter the preselecting device automatically dials a first network preselection of a third-party network, whereupon the switching device of said third-party network will switch over.
• the charge rate information will be calculated there by taking the desired area code into account and transmitted back to the terminal device via the predetermined protocol range in the signalling protocol.
• the pertinent charge rate information is saved in the terminal device as a stored value.
• a comparator device will compare the individual stored values with one another and will show the stored value with the lowest rate in the display, so that the call can be started by the user by using the thus obtained information via the network with the cheapest rate.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
• Meter Arrangements (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=7890915

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (8)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1998
  • 1998-12-12 DE DE1998157449 patent/DE19857449A1/de not_active Ceased
• 1999
  • 1999-12-10 AU AU19755/00A patent/AU1975500A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-12-10 WO PCT/EP1999/009725 patent/WO2000036814A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (8)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events