resporg
when you port a toll free number, the first part of the process is to change resporg (responsible organization) ownership for the number from one carrier to another. only the current resporg carrier has the ability to change, or release, a number from a resporg .
a resporg refers to companies that have access to the database that controls routing on all toll - free telephone numbers .
a resporg refers to companies that have access to the service management system (sms), the database that controls routing on all toll - free telephone numbers. resporgs were established in 1993 as part of the fcc order to institute toll - free number portability. every ten - digit toll - free telephone number is managed by a resporg. a resporg can be a telephone company, a very large enterprise, or an independent service provider that offers resporg services on behalf of an enterprise, such as atlc. com .
41. see toll free second report and order, 62 fr 20126 (april 25, 1997) (“we also may limit any resporg' s allocation of toll free numbers or possibly decertify it as a resporg under section 251 (e) (1) or section 4 (i) [ of the communications act ]. ” )
for all elected seats, no company can hold more than one seat; provided, however, that a company can hold a resporg - elected and a scp owner / operator - elected seat .
5) the sms database is configured by an authorized resporg. changes can be made in near real time and then it can take around 15 minutes for the changes to propagate to all the scps .
we direct sms / 800, inc. to modify the definition of “good standing” in its relevant corporate documents so that a resporg that does not currently have its service suspended will be deemed to be in good standing with sms / 800, inc. for purposes of being a board member. 90 according to the petition, any resporg that has not had its service suspended pursuant to the terms of the sms tariff and any scp owner / operator that is not in breach of its contract with sms / 800, inc. is considered to be in good standing with the company. 91 as described in the petition, a resporg that had service suspended at any time would not be in good standing, regardless of how substantive the violation was, how recently it occurred, or whether the same management of the resporg remains in place. we find that our modification of the definition of “good standing” will provide adequate assurance of fitness to serve, without unnecessarily eliminating a resporg from being a potential board member .
to provide the necessary outreach to the resporgs, through its tariff, web site, or otherwise, to advise them that: “the federal communications commission (fcc) has adopted a regulatory fee category for toll free numbers, assessed for each toll free number managed by a responsible organization (resporg). this regulatory fee, assessed on resporgs for toll free numbers managed by a resporg, is payable for all toll free numbers unless calls from only other countries can be completed using those toll free numbers. a resporg that fails to pay the regulatory fee assessed by the fcc will be subject to penalties. ”
34  in the petition, a resporg is considered to be in “good standing” if it has not ever had service suspended pursuant to the terms of the sms tariff. see sms / 800 petition at 5 n. 10. but see para. we direct sms / 800, inc. to modify the definition of “good standing” in its relevant corporate documents so that a resporg that does not currently have its service suspended will be deemed to be in good standing with sms / 800, inc. for purposes of being a board member. 90 according to the petition, any resporg that has not had its service suspended pursuant to the terms of the sms tariff and any scp owner / operator that is not in breach of its contract with sms / 800, inc. is considered to be in good standing with the company. 91 as described in the petition, a resporg that had service suspended at any time would not be in good standing, regardless of how substantive the violation was, how recently it occurred, or whether the same management of the resporg remains in place. we find that our modification of the definition of “good standing” will provide adequate assurance of fitness to serve, without unnecessarily eliminating a resporg from being a potential board member. , infra, for further discussion .
38  a “large” resporg is defined as one that controls more than the mean number of toll free numbers as of the most recent report preceding in a given nomination period. see id. at 5 n. 13 .
39  a “small” resporg is defined as one that controls fewer than the mean number of toll free numbers as of the most recent report preceding in a given nomination period. see id. at 5 n. 14 .
to transfer an existing toll free to callture, please complete the attached resporg transfer form and fax to one of the numbers below or email us. please note: you must also send a current bill copy (no older than 60 days). the toll free number you wish to transfer must appear on this bill copy. a resporg (or responsible organization) is a carrier company who handles the transferring and provisioning of your toll free number. callture will become your resporg, yet you retain ownership of your toll free number and are able to transfer it to another provider at anytime. please allow 7 to 14 business days (tentative due date) for your number to be transferred and activated in your account. to ensure the transfer process goes as smoothly as possible, please make sure that the account information you fill out on your resporg form matches exactly with the information your current provider has on file. your transfer request will be rejected if this information does not match and cannot be verified. click here to download transfer form or click here to download a completed sample form you can also fill and submit online resporg transfer form
34. a resporg is a company that manages toll free telephone numbers for subscribers. resporgs use the sms / 800 data base to verify the availability of specific numbers and to reserve the numbers for subscribers. see 47 cfr 52. 101 (b) .
additionally, it is advantageous to use multiple carriers to deliver toll - free calls. most enterprises use multiple isps for internet connectivity to increase reliability, disaster recovery, and control costs; the same model should apply for toll - free voice traffic. toll free providers do not actively promote the use of resporg, because they stand to lose some of their traffic and it also drives down their margins. being or using a resporg service provider is less risky and more convenient than porting toll - free numbers from one carrier to another .
17. any payments resporgs must pay sms / 800, inc. for toll free number management and administration are unrelated to regulatory fees assessed by the commission. payment of regulatory fees to the commission does not relieve a resporg from any payment obligations to sms / 800, inc .
43. hypercube telecom contends that the consumer end - users would be affected by our enforcement action against a resporg. hypercube telecom reply comments at 3 - 5. the notifications that are part of our delinquent bill collection process will give resporgs multiple opportunities to pay any delinquency before enforcement action .
when you decide to port your toll free number, all you’ll need to do is send us a letter of authorization signed by the authorized user on the account with service address information that matches what your carrier has on file, and we’ll work with your current carrier to change the resporg on your number to ours .
selection of board members. the petition provides that the nominating committee would announce the final slate of candidates at least 10 calendar days before the election, and voting would take place through an online application using an electronic ballot. for the resporg and scp owner / operator seats, each resporg and scp owner / operator member of sms / 800, inc. would have one vote. for the at - large seats, in the first two years, each resporg and scp owner / operator would also have one vote. 50 under the proposed plan, beginning in the third year of the proposed transition, the two at - large seats would be filled by proportional representation, with each entity receiving one vote for each toll free number it controlled. one existing board member, the sms / 800, inc. ceo, and the sms / 800, inc. general counsel would oversee the election process and tally the votes, announcing the results within seven calendar days of the close of the voting period. 51
when implementing toll - free sip trunking, an enterprise should use multiple sip trunking providers and become their own resporg. this is sip trunking best practice # 11. (for those of you interested in sip trunking best practices # 1 - 10, these were presented at voicecon in orlando in the
implementing sip trunking
session, and are shown below :
new board structure. the petition proposes a three - year phased implementation of a new board for sms / 800, inc. 36 the company’s board currently consists of one representative from each of the three bocs. 37 under the proposed plan, the new board would consist of 12 seats in its first year: one elected seat filled by a representative of a large resporg; 38 one elected seat filled by a representative of a small resporg; 39 one elected seat filled by a representative of an scp owner / operator; one elected at - large seat filled by a representative of any resporg or scp owner / operator; four seats filled by independent directors appointed by the rest of the board; one seat filled by the chief executive officer (ceo) of sms / 800, inc. ; and three seats filled by representatives from each of the bocs. 40 in its second year, the bocs would give up one seat, leaving two boc representatives on the board. 41 by the end of the third year, the remaining two boc seats would be eliminated and replaced with one at - large seat. thus, at the end of the three - year implementation period, there would be ten board members and no seats would be reserved specifically for a boc. each seat would have one vote on the board, and no single company would be allowed to hold more than one elected seat, unless that company held both a resporg seat and an scp owner / operator seat. 42
corporate membership. sms / 800, inc. is organized as a nonprofit membership corporation with the three bocs as the only members. 33 under the proposed plan, any resporg in good standing with sms / 800, inc. 34 and each of the eight scp owner / operators in good standing with sms / 800, inc. 35 would be eligible for membership in the corporation .
in order for an employee of an entity to obtain a position on the board, the employee of the entity must provide the bureau with the entity’s federal registration number (frn) prior to requesting membership. 88 the bureau will use this frn to review the status of any delinquent debts owed by any resporg and scp owner / operator requesting membership to the sms / 800, inc. board .
a “vanity” number is a toll - free telephone number, custom toll free number, or mnemonic is an alphanumeric equivalent of a telephone number that also spells a person’s or company’s name or spells a word or acronym that is chosen by the subscriber, such as 1 - 800 - flowers or 1 - 888 - new - cars. to find out whether a specific toll - free number is available, contact any resporg or toll - free service provider .
33. in addition to the data contained in the four (see above) u. s. census naics code categories that provide definitions of what services and functions the carrier and non - carrier resporgs provide, somos, the trade association that monitors resporg activities, compiled data showing that as of july 1, 2016 there were 23 resporgs operational in canada and 436 resporgs operational in the united states, for a total of 459 resporgs currently registered with somos .
once the new board is established, the petition provides for an election cycle with staggered terms and no term limits. in the first year, the two resporg seats and the scp seat would be filled by directors elected to three - year terms. the at - large seat would be filled by a director elected to a one - year term in both the first and second years. in the third year, the two at - large seats would be filled by directors elected to three - year terms. 43
to transfer an existing local number to callture, please download the local number transfer form here. once completed, please send the form, as well as your most recent bill copy from the current provider to resporg @ urltoken or fax them to one of the numbers below. confirmation will be emailed to you once we receive the documents, letting you know if further information will be needed or if the documents have been sent out for processing. click here to download loa transfer form you can also fill and submit online local number transfer form
since 1993, the bocs have offered access to the sms through the sms tariff filed with the commission. 58 this tariff sets forth the regulations, rates, and charges applicable to sms services, and describes the features and functions of the sms. it also establishes resporg responsibilities and eligibility criteria, and prohibits unlawful use of the system. 59 the sms tariff further sets forth the regulations, rates, and charges applicable to the toll free services offered to resporgs. 60 the tariff also lists both the monthly and non - recurring charges for database access and other sms services. 61
135  see letter from aaron m. panner, counsel to sms / 800, inc. , to marlene h. dortch, secretary, fcc, cc docket no. 95 - 155, wc docket no. 12 - 260 (filed apr. 4, 2013) (stating that “resporgs are a diverse group with diverse interests. moreover, at least one board member will be elected by scp owner / operators, and, even if the individual elected is affiliated with an entity that is also a resporg, that member would be expected to reflect scp owner / operators’ interests. ”) .
2. in this report and order, we eliminate two categories from the regulatory fee schedule: amateur radio vanity call signs and general mobile radio service (gmrs). we also include direct broadcast satellite (dbs) providers in the cable television and iptv regulatory fee category, as a subcategory. to aid in the implementation of new regulatory fees for responsible organizations (resporgs) adopted in the fiscal year 2014 proceeding, we direct the managing director to coordinate with sms / 800, inc. to ensure that all resporgs owing regulatory fees have sufficient information about this process and opportunity to pay the regulatory fee before the resporg is placed in red light status and enforcement procedures are initiated .
15. the imposition of a regulatory fee on resporgs is a new rule, adopted in the fy 2014 report and order, and non - common carriers may be unfamiliar with our regulatory fee process and unaware that delinquencies can result in penalties imposed by sms / 800, inc. , penalties imposed by the commission pursuant to the debt collection improvement act of 1996 (dcia), and / or enforcement action by the enforcement bureau, pursuant to delegated authority, or by the commission. [ 42 ] as a result, omd will coordinate with sms / 800, inc. to ensure that all resporgs owing regulatory fees have sufficient information about this process and opportunity to pay the regulatory fee before the resporg is placed in red light status and enforcement procedures are initiated. [ 43 ]
in 1993, the commission mandated that the bocs develop a centralized database system to allow toll free customers to change their service providers without having to change their numbers. 10 the commission also required the bocs to offer the service as a common carrier service, under tariff, to ensure that they offer it on a non - discriminatory basis and at reasonable rates. 11 in response, the bocs created the sms. since its creation in 1993, the sms has contained all toll free numbers in the nanp, along with electronic records for those numbers. 12 moreover, the bocs have offered access to the database through the sms tariff. 13 the tariff sets forth the regulations, rates, and charges applicable to sms services. it describes the features and functions of the sms, establishes resporg responsibilities and eligibility criteria, and prohibits unlawful use of the system. 14 the tariff also lists both the monthly and non - recurring charges for database access and other sms services. 15
second criterion: debt or revenues from a provider. we find that sms / 800, inc. satisfies the second neutrality criterion of section 52. 12. sms / 800, inc. argues that it will not “issue a majority of its debt to” or “derive a majority of its revenues from” any telecommunications service provider. 129 sms / 800, inc. further states that while the company will derive “revenues” in connection with the operation of sms from the user fees paid by resporgs and scp owner / operators, no individual resporg or scp owner / operator constitutes a majority of that customer segment. sms / 800, inc. asserts that the company does not issue debt, and we rely on that assertion. 130 moreover, we find that the company will not derive a majority of its revenues from any single telecommunications service provider. therefore, since sms / 800, inc. meets both of these requirements and is consistent with the commission’s application of the section 52. 12 neutrality criteria to dsmi in the toll free fifth report and order, we find that sms / 800, inc. satisfies the second neutrality criterion under section 52. 12 of our rules .
21. this report and order does not adopt any new reporting requirements. therefore no adverse economic impact on small entities will be sustained based on reporting requirements. there will be a regulatory fee increase on dbs providers, but these companies are not small entities. we are also advising sms / 800, inc. to provide information to responsible organizations, or resporgs, to ensure that they comply with their new previously adopted regulatory fee requirements. these entities may be small entities; however, the regulatory fee per toll free number is very small and could easily be paid and then passed on to the subscriber if the number is in use, in which case compliance would not be an issue. (we also note that there is a previously adopted de minimis threshold of $ 500, per year .) if the toll free number is not used by a subscriber, the resporg can either choose to pay the regulatory fee or return the toll free number to the 800 / sms, inc. database. the commission expends resources to address toll free issues, and so parties should either be responsible for the payment of the resources used or the toll free numbers should be returned for others to use .
13. toll free numbers, defined in section 52. 101 (f) of our rules, [ 31 ] allow callers to reach the called party without being charged for the call. instead, the charge for the call is paid by the called party (the toll free subscriber). [ 32 ] prior to the fy 2014 report and order, the commission did not assess regulatory fees on toll free numbers based on the assumption that the entities controlling the numbers—wireline and wireless common carriers—were paying regulatory fees based on either revenues or subscribers. [ 33 ] in the fy 2014 nprm, we observed this was no longer the case because many toll free numbers are now controlled or managed by resporgs [ 34 ] that are not common carriers. [ 35 ] in the fy 2014 report and order, we adopted a regulatory fee obligation for toll free numbers beginning in fy 2015, finding that the commission has both the legal authority and responsibility to assess regulatory fees on toll free numbers. [ 36 ] this regulatory fee assessed on resporgs for toll free numbers managed by a resporg, [ 37 ] is payable for all toll free numbers unless calls from only other countries can be completed using those toll free numbers. [ 38 ] this regulatory fee is assessed on resporgs for each working, assigned, reserved, in transit, or any other status of toll free number as defined in section 52. 103 of the commission' s rules. interstate telecommunications service providers (itsps) that are resporgs and resporgs that are not itsps will be responsible for this regulatory fee .
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this invention relates to communication call routing and particularly to a method for automatically processing telephone call data from a telephone system over ccis (common channel interoffice signaling) direct signaling facilities to a remote data base for translation into a call control message which is then sent to the telephone system for controlling the further completion of call connections to a destination in accordance with the control message .
the invention specifically pertains to procedures for processing an inward wats (wide area telephone service) call over the ccis facilities to a data base system for obtaining the number of an available station to which the call is to be completed .
inward wats is popularly known as inwats and is frequently referred to as the
800
number toll - free telephone service. it allows a customer to establish an area of the country from which he can receive calls without charge to the calling parties. in the united states, the service is currently available for both intrastate and interstate calls. tariff costs for the service are based on the number of customer lines, the band of rate states selected, the total monthly hours of usage, and the total number of calls completed .
over the last decade, the volume of inwats calls has increased to the extent that inwats traffic has become a substantial percentage of all toll calls served by existing telephone switching systems. the service has proven to be especially useful for business customers in obtaining travel and hotel reservations, purchase orders, and the like .
despite the commercial success of inwats, the ever expanding customer demands for the service and the projected extension of inwats for international calling has presented a number of problems for the telephone industry and its customers. prevalent among the problems are: (1) the rigid geographic bands for inwats, (2) the requirement for a multiplicity of inwats numbers, (3) routing and numbering inefficiencies due to service entitlement check operations of originating and terminating screening offices, (4) ineffective attempts due to all inwats customer lines busy conditions caused, for example, by mass calling to 800 numbers advertised, for example, on television, and (5) the absence of traffic statistics for inwats customers on the number of calls made from each area code .
to elaborate, in the united states, a customer purchases the service on intrastate and / or interstate bases and is supplied with one or more inwats numbers. such an arrangement is necessary because of state and federal tariffs. interstate inwats is currently offered for a maximum of seven geographic bands. band 1 generally involves all states bordering the customer home state; band 2 typically includes all of band 1 and additional states bordering band 1; band 5 presently covers the continental united states; band 6 adds hawaii and alaska; and band 7 includes puerto rico and the virgin islands. in some cases, multiple bands of intrastate service are also offered. customers purchase the various service bands on a 240 hours / month or a 10 hours / month basis .
the rigid band assignment heretofore has required a customer to purchase an entire band encompassing many different telephone area codes even though the customer may desire inwats service only in a portion of that band. a need has therefore existed for a procedure and equipment which fulfills customer requests for inwats service covering only desired telephone area codes .
a principal inwats problem has been the necessity for the purchaser in many instances to be assigned a multitude of different inwats numbers. illustratively, several airline reservation services with multiple regionalized answering points presently are provided with between 10 and 20 different inwats numbers to obtain reasonably economical inwats service throughout the united states. the different numbers are required by the customer because of geographical location, business hours and the designs and operations of existing switching equipment. such multiple number requirements have proven to result in customer and user confusion, errors in directory number listings and advertising, as well as complications in obtaining directory assistance for nonlocally published inwats numbers and in conformity with the call originating area codes. new call processing techniques and facilities are therefore needed to eliminate the plural numbers for each inwats customer .
an inwats number presently includes a special area code of 800, followed by a specific nnx code for the terminating npa (number plan area), followed by a four digit number xxxx .
n
in the code refers to any digit except 0 or 1 and
x
refers to any one of 10 digits. of the nnx codes, all nn2 codes are currently reserved for intrastate use. at the present time, each npa in the united states is assigned one nnx code with the exception of the npas 212, 312 and 213 each of which have two nnx codes .
inwats number usage is readily understood by considering an example of a typical inwats call. assume that a party in indianapolis wishes to place a call to an inwats customer with the assigned number 800 + 241 + 2312 in the atlanta, georgia area. after the caller dials the number, the call is routed to an originating screening office which utilizes the 800 + 241 to determine both the terminating city (atlanta) and the band of the calling party with respect to the terminating city. the screening office then sends a number 142 + 2312 to a terminating screening office for atlanta. the underlined
2
indicates that indianapolis is in band 2 with respect to atlanta and the
4
represents the 241 nxx code. on the basis of the received 142 + 2312, the terminating screening office ascertains whether or not the call originated from a permissible rate band purchased by the called custmer. if the call is entitled to be completed, the terminating screening office controls the establishment of call connections to the called customer .
a disadvantage of the foregoing inwats call processing arrangements is that inwats call screening, routing and service entitlement checking functions are performed by costly, complex and special inwats facilities integrated into many individual originating and terminating screening offices throughout the nation and without call rerouting capability in such offices in the event of call overload or equipment failure. another disadvantage is that no procedure is available for determining the busy condition of inwats customer lines before calls are switched through the toll network. present day switching systems determine that all inwats customer lines are busy only after the calls are routed through the originating and terminating screening offices to the local terminating office. as a consequence, the telephone network occasionally is overloaded, particularly during heavy traffic periods by mass calling to the all busy inwats customer lines. such overloads obviously are undesirable and prove to be a problem for telephone companies especially because no facilities are available for dynamically identifying inwats customer busy conditions and then precluding the toll switching of inwats calls to that customer .
another disadvantage is that existing telephone systems and call processing techniques have been unable to provide adequate traffic data to inwats customers on the number of calls received from a given geographic area. the data would aid in the determination of the numbers of inwats lines and stations as well as the personnel needed to serve the calls. it would also enable customers to determine whether the serivce is economically warranted for that area .
the foregoing problems are solved and a technical advance is achieved by a call processing method which automatically processes prescribed communication calls from a switching network to a data base system for deriving call service information and then returning the call to the network for completion in response to the information supplied by the data base. in embodiments of the method, the information provided by the data base is either a destination number, such as for a machine message announcement or a station, or a call completion authorization code .
the method is utilized for special service calls, such as inwats calls, served by a communication system, such as a local or toll originating screening office or a communication customer service system. it involves a process of sending a special service call data including a dialed number and a suffix code from the switching system to a data base system, translating the received message into a call control message at the data base, and returning the control message to the communication system to control the establishment of call connections in accordance with the control message. advantageously, the control message comprises the routing message including a number identifying either a subsystem, such as a voice storage facility, which supplies machine messages to the caller, or a called party station such as an inwats customer reservation bureau which furnishes operator services .
for inwats service, each inwats customer is assigned a single ten digit
800
number which is dialed by callers on all calls to that customer regardless of their place of origination. the number is used to control the establishment of connections through a telephone switching system to a centralized data base system for deriving all of the call routing, traffic measurement and network management data on calls to the inwats customer .
the data is utilized to screen calls for inwats service entitlement and for specifying a directory - unlisted pots (plain old telephone service) ddd (direct distance dialing) number to which entitled calls are preferably to be routed to the inwats customer on a toll - free basis to the caller. data is included in the data base for specifying the busy / idle status and open / closed station condition of the preferred number. an alternate unlisted number is also stored in the data base for routing calls to that number whenever the preferred number is busy or closed .
the data base comprises a first table in memory which includes a file of originating area codes (npas). each such code is correlated in the file with an individual pots number when inwats service is purchased by the customer for that area code. in response to a receipt of a dialed inwats number and the call originating area code from a telephone system, the data base examines its npa file of originating area codes for screening the call to check whether the inwats customer is entitled to receive calls from that area code on a toll - free basis to the caller. entitlement is identified by the presence of the pots number in the same memory file as the received area code. the npa file also comprises a counter which is incremented on each call attempt per originating area code .
a second memory table includes an individual file for each pots number that stores busy / idle data and open / closed hours information for that pots number. the busy / idle data is dynamically loaded under control of the call terminating office signaling the busy and idle status of the line (s), or line group, associated with the pots number. the data is advantageously used to reduce the probability of ineffective attempts to complete calls to all busy or closed stations and thereby reduces the unnecessary use and tie - up of toll telephone switching equipment. it also serves to signal when the station is idle and therefore available to serve calls .
each pots file in the second memory table also includes an alternate, or second choice, pots number to which an inwats call is routed when the preferred first choice pots number is either busy or closed. the file also comprises a counter which is incremented on each call involving the preferred pots number to accumulate a count of the total number of calls generated. the same file includes threshold and call inhibit time data for managing the number of calls that are directed to the pots number within a given interval of time .
the procedure for processing an inwats call comprises a calling party dialing the 800 - nxx - xxxx of the desired inwats customer. the local telephone office serving the calling station is responsive to the dialed number for routing the call to a toll office equipped with ccis (common channel interoffice signaling) facilities and sending to that office the dialed number. the toll office routinely identifies the area code from which the call originates and then sends it, as a suffix code, together with the dialed number over the ccis direct signaling system to the data base identified by the ccis system from the dialed 800 - nxx .
at the data base, the received inwats number is checked to ascertain that it is an active working number. next, the file of the originating area code is located in the first memory table and the entitlement of the call to be made from that originating area is verified by extracting the pots number of the inwats customer station preferably designated to serve the call. the npa file counter is then incremented to indicate a call attempt involving the originating area code .
thereafter, the file of the preferred pots number is located in the second memory table and the open / closed and busy / idle status of the destination station associated with that number is examined. upon determining that the station is open and idle, a ccis message containing the preferred pots number is sent from the data base over the ccis system to the toll office for enabling call connections to be established from that office through the toll switching network to the station associated with the pots number. at about the same time, the counter in the pots number file is incremented to accumulate data on traffic to that pots number and to control call routing to it during mass calling periods when the number of calls exceed a predetermined threshold .
busy and idle data for each inwats station is dynamically routed from an associated terminating telephone office over ccis facilities to the data base for updating records in the file of the station pots number in the second memory table. the busy data controls the processing of inwats cells selectively to alternate pots number (s) and to audible busy station messages .
the call processing procedure is arranged to return ccis messages from the data base to the toll office to identify the dialing of a nonworking inwats number, a call which is not authorized on a toll - free basis from that call originating area, and the busy or closed status of the inwats station designated to serve the call .
the method is advantageously useful for data base service on automated collect calling, toll call fowarding and other special service calls as hereinafter described .
the drawing illustrates a number of local telephone switching offices, such as offices 12, 38, 41 and 43 which serve associated telephone stations, such as stations 10, 22, 30 and 31. the drawing also discloses toll offices such as offices 15, 34 and 36 which form a toll switching network serving the local offices. the structural details of such local and toll offices form no part of the present invention and are only described herein to the extent necessary for an understanding of this invention. each of the local offices, by way of example, is suitably an electronic program controlled telephone system of the no. 1 ess (electronic switching system) type disclosed in the bell system technical journal (bstj), september 1964, volume xliii, number 5, parts 1 and 2; and in the r. w. downing - h. f. may - f. f. taylor - u. ulrich u. s. pat. no. 3, 570, 008 of mar. 9, 1971. those disclosures and the citations referred to therein may be consulted for a complete understanding of the construction and operations of a typical local switching office 12, 38, 41 and 43 .
each toll office is illustratively an electronic program controlled telephone system of the no. 4 ess design with ccis facilities as disclosed in the bell system technical journal (bstj), september 1977, volume 56, no. 7 .
ccis facilities utilized in conjunction with the local and toll offices and the data base system 11 are disclosed in the bstj, february 1978, volume 57, no. 2 and in w. b. smith - j. b. synnott, iii u. s. pat. no. 3, 624, 613 of nov. 30, 1971 .
in fig. 1, the processing of a call to an inwats customer is explained by assuming that it is originated from a calling station 10 in california. the inwats customer is assigned a single telephone number which is dialed by callers on all calls to that customer regardless of their place of origination. the number comprises ten digits including an 800 area code portion followed by seven digits nxx - xxxx. the nxx digits identify the data base, such as data base 11 in texas, which stores the inwats customer data utilized for processing the call to the appropriate destination. the nxx - xxxx digits identify the inwats customer within the data base. the
n
digit is any value 2 - 9 and each of the
x
digits is any value 0 - 9 .
for the exemplary embodiment, call processing is described by assuming that the call may be routed to any one of three destinations, namely, first, second and third choice numbers respectively identifying stations 22, 30 and 31. each such station is depicted as an individual telephone station for the purpose of illustration. it is to be understood that in many cases inwats call answering facilities commercially utilize automatic call distributor systems involving numerous groups of incoming telephone lines served by a local or toll telephone switching system. a typical distributor system is disclosed, for example, in s. f. dunning u. s. pat. no. 3, 111, 561 of nov. 19, 1963. the three destination stations will suffice to explain typical call situations encountering open / closed and busy / idle conditions and the likelihood of completing inwats calls in geographic areas with different local business hours .
after station 10 initiates a call and dials the inwats customer number, office 12 recognizes the 800 area code and routes the call illustratively over a trunk 14 to a toll office 15 equipped with ccis facilities. office 12 also forwards the dialed inwats number to office 15 for assembly in office 15 with the area code for that portion of california from which the call originates. office 15 determines the originating area code based on the serving of the call over trunk 14 in a known manner .
office 15 routinely translates the dialed 800 digits and determines that the call is to be routed to a data base for deriving call routing data. as a consequence, office 15 formulates an inwats ccis message including an identification of the special service call, the office 15 and the originating area code as well as the dialed number and sends that message over the ccis link 17 to a signal transfer point or system 18. the latter is responsive to the received message for translating the 800 - nxx digits to determine that the inwats customer data is stored in the data base system 11, which illustratively is located in dallas, texas. system 18 then forwards the ccis message to data base 11 over a ccis link 19. system 18 is essentially a data link, or packet, switching arrangement for ccis applications. packet data switching facilities are disclosed for example in a. g. fraser u. s. pat. nos. 3, 749, 845 of july 31, 1973 and 3, 979, 733 of sept. 7, 1976. structure and operations of ccis are described, by way of example, in the 57 bstj no. 2, page 230, et seq. thus, the call is processed from the toll telephone switching network to a data base for deriving call service information .
data base system 11 is, by way of example, a commercially available system, such as a western electric company, incorporated 1a processor (disclosed in 56 bell system technical journal no. 7, february 1977), equipped with disk storage and a system of programs to establish, edit and manage information stored in memory. it is equipped via a peripheral unit bus (disclosed in 57 bell system technical journal no. 2 february 1978) with ccis facilities for interface communication with the signal transfer system 18 and the toll network. system 11 is responsive to the received inwats number and originating area code for deriving all of the stored information needed for processing the call to an idle and available inwats customer station designed as the preferred called station to serve the call. the information includes data for the active - inactive status of the dialed inwats number, the storage files associated with the active number, the inband / out - band character of the call based on the received originating area code, and a directory - unlisted pots number of a destination subsystem or station .
for each active inwats number, data base system 11 is equipped with translator tables 20 and 21 of figs. 2 and 3. table 20 contains a list of originating area codes and a correlated list of pots ddd (plain ordinary telephone service direct distance dialing) numbers identifying one or more called stations primarily designated to serve calls from the respective originating areas. each listed area code is uniquely associated with an individual one of the listed pots numbers when the inwats customer is entitled to receive calls from that originating area on a toll - free basis to the calling party. a single such pots number may be shared by a plurality of different originating area codes. whenever table 20 contains a pots number for an originating area code, calls from that area are designated as being
in - band
. otherwise, in the absence of a pots number for the area code, (null entry) calls from that area are
out - of - band
for the inwats customer and calls are not completed on a toll free basis to the caller .
illustratively, on the call originating from station 10, the originating area code is 805 and table 20 lists a correlated pots number 919 - 658 - 3399, which is a called station 22 in north carolina, preferably designated as a first choice to serve the inwats calls. accordingly, such a call is
in - band
. if it were not, no pots number would be listed in table 20 for the area code 805 .
each originating area code in table 20 is furnished with a counter 27 which is incremented on each call attempt involving that area code. in this way, statistics are derived on calls by area codes regardless of whether the inwats customer purchases the serivce for that area .
the utilization of data in tables 20 and 21 and inwats information processing operations of the data base system 11 are now described for the call from station 10 of fig. 1 with reference to the flow diagram of fig. 4. after the tables 20 and 21 are loaded with the data as depicted in figs. 2 and 3, system 11 is responsive to the receipt of the ccis inwats message for checking its records (not shown) to determine whether the dialed inwats number is active or inactive. if it is not validly in use and therefore inactive, system 11 effects a return of a ccis vacant code message to the toll office 15 of fig. 1 via link 19, signal transfer system 18 and link 17. office 15 thereupon routinely causes an announcement to be returned to the caller for conveying dialing instructions and indicating that the dialed number is not a working number .
if the number is active, system 11 examines table 20 and its file 28 for translating the dialed inwats number and originating area code into a pots ddd number 919 - 658 - 3399 by a look - up operation in table 20. next, the area code counter 27 is incremented to indicate a call from a station in area code 805. had the look - up failed to find such a pots number (null entry) correlated with the originating area code in file 28, the dialed inwats number would be
out - of - band
to that call originating area. resultingly, system 11 then effects an incrementing of a counter 27 and a return of an out - of - band ccis message to toll office 15 of fig. 1 via the ccis links 19 and 17 and the signal transfer system 18. office 15 then routinely effects the transmission of a reorder message to the caller .
system 11 determines that the inwats call is
in - band
when its lock - up operation extracts a pots ddd number 919 - 658 - 3399 from file 28. that number is then used to locate the file, such as file 23, in table 21 which contains the eight data items needed for further call processing and traffic management. system 11 initially checks file 23 to ascertain whether the station associated with the pots number is indicated to be open. this is done by examining item 24 of file 23. if the station is open, system 11 next examines the busy / idle data, item 25. if the station is idle, then the pots number, 919 - 658 - 3399 will be returned to office 15 for normal call setup. if the station is closed or busy, then system 11 examines item 26 of file 23 to obtain an alternate pots number. the loop bit, item 49, is set to prevent looping between pots numbers. if an alternate pots number exists, such as 206 - 582 - 2044, and its loop bit is not set, then the process continues until either an open and idle station is found, no alternate pots number is found, or transfer is made to a pots number whose loop bit is set. the last two situations will cause system 11 to send a ccis message to office 15, via the ccis facilities, indicating an ineffective attempt. if the call results in an ineffective attempt and in the process of picking alternate pots numbers a busy condition is encountered, then the ccis message includes an indicator telling office 15 to return either a busy tone or audible message to the caller. if all encountered pots numbers had been closed, then the ccis message includes an indicator telling office 15 to transmit an audible message to the caller indicating the status of the called station.
in the north american numbering plan , a resporg ( a contraction for responsible organization ) is a company which maintains the registration for individual toll-free telephone numbers in the distributed service management system/800 database . their function in north american telephony is analogous to that of an individual registrar in the internet 's domain name system . resporgs were established in 1993 as part of a federal communications commission order instituting toll-free number portability . a resporg ( pronounced as though it were a single word , something like " ressporg " ) can be a long distance company , reseller , end user or an independent that offers an outsourced service . 
in the north american numbering plan, a resporg (a contraction for responsible organization) is a company which maintains the registration for individual toll-free telephone numbers in the distributed service management system/800 database. their function in north american telephony is analogous to that of an individual registrar in the internet's domain name system. resporgs were established in 1993 as part of a federal communications commission order instituting toll-free number portability. a resporg (pronounced as though it were a single word, something like " ressporg ") can be a long distance company, reseller, end user or an independent that offers an outsourced service.
in the north american numbering plan, a resporg (a contraction for responsible organization) is a company which maintains the registration for individual toll-free telephone numbers in the distributed service management system/800 database. their function in north american telephony is analogous to that of an individual registrar in the internet's domain name system. resporgs were established in 1993 as part of a federal communications commission order instituting toll-free number portability. a resporg (pronounced as though it were a single word, something like " ressporg ") can be a long distance company, reseller, end user or an independent that offers an outsourced service.