IES20020700A2 - Shared services in telephone systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A telephony system has private, public, and shared service elements. A subscriber unit includes private service units for each subscriber, and each subscriber unit also includes a shared service unit comprising a set of units for respective groups and a membership number pool containing a list of dialable numbers. The system assigns, for each member of the group, a membership number from that member's membership number pool; and determines from that message with a shared service group number and the originating subscriber's number, which group the message is intended for. The system sends the message to the subscriber unit of all members of the group as from, for each member, the respective membership number. <Figure 6>

Description

Lelephone Systems The present invention relates to telephone systems, and more specifically to the provision of shared services therein.

In an environment of intense competition and device innovation, telephony service elements are growing more complex. Operators (ie the organizations providing the services and the systems providing and implementing those services) wish to enhance their offerings with innovative service elements that take advantage of the capabilities of modem phones (such as the ability to store numbers in user-friendly address books (phone books)) on the subscriber side, and the storage capabilities of large databases on the operator/system side. The ideal is that service elements should become as varied and useful as the scope of services available from the Internet. In this scenario, users should be able to avail themselves of services such as e-mail, chat, directory, group notification, newsgroups, newsletters, calendars, and other functions.

Service elements fall into three types: public, private, and shared. A public 0 service element provides the same service to any subscriber; it is maintained and configured by the operator/system (e.g. Emergency Services). A private service element provides a different service to each user; it is configured by the user, and is inaccessible to anyone except the user (e.g. Voice Mail). A shared service element provides a different service to each user; it is configured by the user, but can be shared at will with other users (e.g. Personal Chat Groups).

As will become evident from the following descriptions of addressing schemes for public and private services, it is straightforward to provide users with a means of addressing public and private service elements. However,jtJs neither straiphtforward A r ............

I OPEN TO PUBLIC INSPECTION UNDER SECTION 28 AND RULE 23 JNLNaj3.6i___________OF.iiM'i? ¢02070° nor easy to provide a useable and efficient way of addressing shared service elements, which typically require a very large number of addresses.

The deployment of personal chat group services today is complex and nonintuitive. A chat group, say “Golf Buddies”, is set up by a subscriber, say SI; for this, SI is issued with a unique group identifier, such as a number (3572847381) or a name (“SI Golf Buddies”). Because a personal chat service employs a many-to-many relationship, the system requires a large number of unique identifiers. SI then informs the other intended members of Golf Buddies of the chat group identifier. Then, whenever a member wants to send a message to the SI Golf Buddies chat group, they must dial a service number, and include the code (unique group identifier) and a command telling the service to transmit to the specified group. (It should be understood that references to dialling or calling include both voice and data services.) This procedure requires the embedding of commands in SMS messages in order to achieve the flexibility of addressing different groups. It should be noted that it is not possible to save the group identifier in a phone’s address book, since it is not a valid dialing number. Each subscriber must remember the codes for every chat group of which they are a member.

A potential solution to this would be to allocate a separate number to each group. However, this is impractical with a large user population.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved technique for dealing with shared service elements.

According to the present invention there is provided a telephony system having private, public, and shared service elements, and a subscriber unit including private service units for each subscriber, characterized in that each subscriber unit also includes a shared service unit comprising a set of units for respective groups and a membership number pool containing a list of diallable numbers; and by means for assigning, for each member of the group, a membership number from that member’s membership number pool; means for determining, from a message with a shared service group number and the originating subscriber’s number, which group the message is intended for; and means for sending the message to the subscriber units of all members of the group as from, for each member, the respective membership number.

Preferably the system includes, for adding a member to a group, means for finding a free membership number for the member, means for linking the membership number with the group, and means for creating a mapping from the subscriber and the membership number to the group.

The present system thus provides a technique that facilitates subscriber management of membership of shared service elements, incorporating user benefits such as the use of real line numbers as membership IDs, and operator/system benefits such as requiring only a small number pool. An example application is subscriber-managed personal chat groups for text messaging. The system achieves the effect of having a unique number for each group member, but without requiring an unreasonably large number allocation. This, and the way in which the present system handles automatic allocation of numbers as members are added to groups, is the core functionality of the present system.

A system embodying the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figs. 1 and 2 are flow diagrams of conventional message sending; Figs. 3 and 4 are flow diagrams of message sending in the present system; Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of adding a group member; and 02&1 Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the logical structure of the system in abstract form.

Before discussing how shared service elements are dealt with, the implementation of public and private service elements will be reviewed. As noted above, these service elements are conventional.

Public Service Elements A public service element is typically deployed using a simple, easy-to-remember identifier, such as 112 (Emergency Services). The same service is provided to all subscribers (many to one relationship). The identifier is all the operator/system needs to identify and provide the service to the requesting subscriber. Table 1 shows a simple example of this, for two subscribers: Table 1 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service . Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: SI 432 5178 Emergency Services 112 112 Emergency Services S2 284 9105 Emergency Services 112 112 Emergency Services In this and the other tables, the first two columns identify the subscriber, by a name or identifier (S1, etc) and their telephone number. The next two columns identify the service being considered (“Emergency Services” in this table) and the service number, ie the number dialled by the subscriber (112 for emergency services). The next column gives the number which is used by the operator/system; in this table, this number is the same as the number dialled by the subscriber, but in other instances, the operator/system expands and/or changes the number dialled. The final column summarizes the service which the system provides to the subscriber. ΙΕ ο 2 ο 7 0 Ο A slightly more complex example of a public service is provided by a public chat number. In this example, a number is set up as a chat line for “Friends of U2”, 287 1234: Table 2 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator . Uses: Subscriber Gets: SI 432 5178 Friends ofU2 287 1234 287 1234 Text message sent to all members of Friends of U2 S2 284 9105 Friends of U2 287 1234 287 1234 Text message sent to all members of Friends of U2 Fig. 6 shows the logical organization of the system which accomplishes these functions. The system has a receiver 10 which receives calls from the subscribers. The initial part of a call includes the number being called (obviously) and also the subscriber’s number (as part of the CLI, calling line identification, system). These numbers are fed to an analysis unit 11, which analyses the called number; the call is also coupled to a switching unit which routes its progress from the receiver 10.

A normal call to another subscriber is routed through the switching unit 12 to a normal call path 13. For the emergency number “112”, this is recognized by the unit 11 and the call is routed to the emergency line 14; this is very similar to the way that calls to ordinary subscribers are dealt with. Line 14 in effect has the telephone number 112.

For the “Friends of U2” chat line number 287 1234, the call is routed to a public chat line 15 which is coupled to a public chat number unit 16. That unit includes a variety of chat memories such as the “Friends of U2” chat memory 17 plus means (not shown) for coupling incoming calls to the appropriate memory. (Thus a large number of different called numbers get routed to the chat memory unit 16, and are then coupled to the appropriate chat memory inside unit 16.) Any messages in the “friends of U2” |E 0 2 0 7 0 0 6' memory 17 are then sent to the subscriber as text messages. Line 15 in effect has the whole set of telephone numbers of the public chat lines.

In this last instance, the caller’s number is fed onto line 15 so that public chat unit 16 knows who to send the messages to. (The caller’s number will also be included on line 13 for a normal call, as part of the standard CLI service, unless the caller withholds their number. It will also normally be included on line 15 for an emergency call, so that the emergency service can identify the caller.) Private Service Elements A private service element can be deployed in a similar fashion. Again, an easy-to-remember identifier, such as 171 (Voice Mail), is used to access the service. An individual service is provided to subscribers (one-to-one relationship) - for example, every subscriber has their own voice mail service. To identify this subscriber-unique resource, the operator/system uses the subscriber line number in conjunction with the service identifier, as shown: Table 3 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: SI 432 5178 Voice Mail 171 432 5178 + 171 Si’s Voice Mail S2 284 9105 Voice Mail 171 284 9105 + 171 S2’s Voice Mail In this situation, the analysis unit 11 receives and recognizes the voice mail code 171 and routes the call through the switching unit 12 to line 20, which is coupled to a set of subscriber units 21. It also includes the caller’s number on line 20, so that a switching unit (not shown) in the units 21 can couple the call to the correct subscriber unit for subscriber SI. The subscriber unit recognizes the service number 171 as a voicemail identifier, and couples the call to a voicemail unit 22 in the selected subscriber unit. Line 20 in effect has the whole set of voicemail telephone numbers for all subscribers (ie the telephone numbers of the subscribers, each expanded by the addition of “171” on the end). Ί A more complex example is the deployment of personal text messaging distribution lists. These consist of a number of test messaging distribution lists which can be customized on a per subscriber basis. For example, a subscriber could have up to 10 personal distribution lists (“My Family”, “Sales Colleagues”, “Golf Buddies”, etc.). It should be possible for the subscriber to send text messages to each of these groups using a valid dialing number.

It is necessary for the operator/system to locate and provide this resource using a unique identifier. To deploy the service, the operator/system allocates an ownership number pool of 10 dialing numbers, e.g. 250 000X, where X ranges from 0 to 9. It is relatively easy for subscribers to remember, say, “250 0001 is My Family, 250 0002 is Sales Colleagues”, etc. These numbers can also be saved into an easy-to-use address book. Let us assume that for SI, 250 0001 is assigned to “My Family” and for S2, 250 0001 is assigned to “Fishing Buddies”. It is important to note that if, for example, one of Si’s “My Family” replies to the text message, the reply is routed to the message originator (SI), and not to the group. This is therefore a private service element (distribution list) rather than a shared service element (personal chat group).

Table 4 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: SI 432 5178 My Family 250 0001 432 5178+250 0001 Text sent to Si’s “My Family” S2 284 9105 Fishing Buddies 250 0001 284 9105 + 250 0001 Text sent to S2’s “Fishing Buddies” In this situation, the analysis unit 11 receives and recognizes the service code 250 OOOx and routes the call through the switching unit 12 to line 20, which is coupled to the set of subscriber units 21. It also includes the caller’s number on line 20, so that a switching unit (not shown) in the units 21 can couple the call to the correct subscriber unit for subscriber S1. The subscriber unit recognizes the service number 250 OOOx as a IE Ο 2 Ο Ί Ο β distribution list identifier, and couples the call to a distribution list unit 26 in the selected subscriber unit.

The unit 26 includes a set of 10 separate distribution list memories, plus 5 switching means (not shown) for coupling the incoming call to the appropriate one of the distribution list memories in dependence on the final digit in the incoming number 250 OOOx. Line 25 in effect has the whole set of distribution list telephone numbers for all subscribers (ie the telephone numbers of the subscribers, each expanded by the addition of “250 OOOx” on the end). The distribution list unit 26 also includes a list of the members of that list. The system includes a transfer unit 35 coupled to all subscriber units 21, which passes the messages in the distribution list memories to the other subscribers on the distribution lists.

SI can be regarded as the owner of the distribution list, and stands in a different relation to it from the members; the list is in S1 ’s subscriber unit, where as the members of the list are merely numbers stored in that unit (in fact, in the particular list in that unit). The message from SI is sent to each member of the distribution list separately. Each member of the list can reply to the message, as noted above, but the reply message necessarily goes to SI.

Shared Service Elements A shared service element is unique to individual subscribers but can be shared with other subscribers. The concept of a shared service element can be applied to many applications, such as games, newsgroups, shared directories (e.g. corporate directories), group notification services, shared calendars, and personal chat groups. For convenience, the management of personal chat groups will be considered here. A personal chat group is best understood by regarding it as extending personal distribution list functionality so that when a member of the chat group replies, the message is sent to all members of the group.

Figs. 1 and 2 are flow diagrams showing the conventional process flow of sending a message to a group. SI creates a message (block 1.1), and inserts instructions into the message identifying the group, say G (block 1.2). S1 then sends the message to the service number SN; this service number is used for all messages. The system receives the message (block 1.4), examines the message, and extracts the identifier for the group G. Then, for each member M of the group G, the system copies the message (block 2.1), and may also insert the group name, and sends the copy to group member M (block 2.2) from the service number SN. The member M, on receiving the message, must then examine the message to determine the group associated with the message. If M wants to reply to the message, he must prepare a new message with instructions identifying the group embedded in the reply message, and so on, repeating the procedure of Fig. 1.

There are several points to note in this procedure. First, SI needs to correctly embed instructions when calling a single dedicated service number. Second, before a message can be replied to, the group it came from must be identified from the message. And third,, the instructions also need to be correctly embedded in replies to the group.

Turning now to the present system, a membership number pool (a set of reply numbers) is set up by the operator/system. This can be quite modest in size - 100 numbers will allow any subscriber to be a member of up to 100 personal chat groups owned by other subscribers. It is important to note that while the size of the pool constrains the number of services which any one user can be a member of, it does not constrain the number of users that can be in a given service, nor is the number of pools or groups constrained.

When a subscriber, say S2, is added to another subscriber Si’s personal chat group, a number from the membership number pool - one that is not already used by S2 - is allocated to the relationship. When a message is sent to the group, the message for S2 is sent from this number. When S2 replies to this message, this number is used in ΙΕΟ207 0β combination with S2’s own phone number to uniquely identify the chat group to which the reply should be sent. S2 can also save the number in an address book, and use it subsequently to send text messages to S1 ’s group.

Figs. 3 and 4 are flow diagrams for the present system. To send a message for a particular group G, the subscriber SI creates the message (block 3.1). SI then selects the number NI from their phone book, using the descriptive name of the group G to look up NI (block 3.2), and then (block 3.3) sends the message to the selected number NI. The system receives the message with the number NI (block 3.4) and combines the number NI with the subscriber’s phone number to determine which group (ie group G) the message is intended for. For each member M of the group G, the system then (Fig. 4) prepares a copy of the message (block 4.1) and addresses the copy to the member M (block 4.2). The system then (block 4.3) determines the membership number allocated to member M in group G and sends the message from that number. The member M finally (block 4.4) receives the message. If M wants to reply, they simply prepare the reply message and send it back to the number from which it came (ie the number G assigned by M).

There are several points to note in this procedure. First, SI has a range of numbers to select from, which the address book easily identifies as the groups SI uses. Second, M sees messages as coming from a number which (in association with M’s own number) uniquely identifies M’s membership of the group. Third, it is also easy to store this number in an address book for subsequent use.

Considering the number assignment in more detail, let us say the membership number pool consists of line numbers 888 88XX, where XX consists ofthe numbers 00 through 99 inclusive.

To deploy the service (as with the previous distribution list example), the operator/system allocates 10 service dialing numbers, e.g. 250 110X, where X ranges from 0 to 9. This is publicized to subscribers, who can allocate personal chat groups to these numbers. Let us say that SI allocates 250 1101 to the chat group “Fishing Buddies”. This results in the following number assignment: Table 5 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: SI 432 5178 Fishing Buddies 250 1101 432 5178 + 250 1101 Text sent to Si’s “Fishing Buddies” In this situation, the analysis unit 11 receives and recognizes the service number 250 1101 and routes the call through the switching unit 12 to line 20, which is coupled to the set of subscriber units 21. It also includes the caller’s number on line 20, so that a switching unit (not shown) in the units 21 can couple the call to the correct subscriber unit for subscriber S1. The subscriber unit recognizes the service number 250 1101 as a distribution list identifier, and couples the call to a chat group unit 30 in the selected subscriber unit. Thus far, the procedure is similar to that shown in Table 4.

Now, let us say that SI adds S2 (284 9105) to “Fishing Buddies”. The system detects that S2 has been added to the group and allocates a membership number, let us say 888 8814, to S2’s membership of Si’s “Fishing Buddies”. This number will not be issued to S2 in any other context. When SI sends a message to the group, the message is then sent to S2, from the number 888 8814, by the transfer unit 35.

When S2 replies to this number, the following mapping operation is performed: Table 6 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: S2 284 9105 Fishing Buddies 888 8814 284 9105 + 888 8814 Text sent to Si’s “Fishing Buddies” ¢0207 00 To illustrate the power and flexibility of this solution, let us envisage a scenario in which the numbers 250 1101 and 888 8814 are used in a different context. Let us say that S3 (230 8601) allocates 250 1101 to the chat group “Book Club” as follows: Table 7 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: S3 230 8601 Book Club 250 1101 230 8601 + 250 1101 Text sent to S3’s “Book Club” Now, let us say that S3 adds S4 (477 5987) to “Book Club”. The system detects that S4 is being added to the group. Let us say that by chance, the same membership number used in the previous example, 888 8814, is allocated to S4’s membership of S3’s “Book Club”. This number will not be issued to S4 in any other context. When a “Book Club” message is then to be sent to S4, it is sent from the number 888 8814. When S4 replies to this number, the situation shown in Table 8 occurs. Thus the same service numbers provide a unique, personalized experience for each subscriber.

Table 8 Subscriber Subscriber Number Service Service Number Operator Uses: Subscriber Gets: S4 477 5987 Book Club 888 8814 477 5987 + 888 8814 Text sent to S3’s “Book Club” It was stated above that a personal chat group is best understood by regarding it as extending personal distribution list functionality so that when a member of the chat group replies, the message is sent to all members of the group. The present system also preserves the feature that the “reply to” number is a valid phone number, which can be saved in an address book.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram showing the process flow of adding a member to a group with the present system. In block 5.1, member SI initiates the process of adding subscriber S2 to group Gl. The system examines the membership allocations for S2 (block 5.2) and tries to find a free membership number MN for S2 (block 5.3).

Each subscriber unit 21 includes a membership number pool list 31, which contains the 100 membership numbers available for that subscriber. As each number in this list is assigned to a chat group, the chat group identification (ie the subscriber owning that chat group, and the number of the chat group in the owner subscriber’s subscriber unit) is entered and linked to the membership number. The membership numbers with no linked chat group entries are thus free, and the transfer unit 35 finds a free number (if any).

If the system cannot find a free membership number, then S2 has used their full number of allocations; the system proceeds to block 5.4, to inform SI that S2 cannot be added to the group Gl, and then to block 5.5, to inform S2 (by a text message) that SI has tried to add them (S2) to the group Gl but that S2 has already used their full allocation of groups (ie S2 is already a member of 100 groups). This allows S2 to review their membership of different groups and decide whether or not they wish to 0 leave one of their existing groups in order to become a member of the chat group in question.

If the system finds a free membership number MN for S2, it proceeds (block 5.6) to create a mapping from S2’s phone number and the membership number MN to group Gl. The transfer unit 35 copies S2’s membership number just found and S2’s phone number and writes them into a section 32 of SI’s chat group Gl.

In block 5.7, the system prepares a notification message to S2, and sends that message (block 5.8) from MN to S2. In block 5.9, S2 adds the membership number 0 MN to their phone book, together with a descriptive name for the group Gl. If S2 then IE° 207 D® 14 wants to send a message, they prepare the message and send it to the number MN as described above. This is facilitated by the fact that MN is in S2’s address book, together with group Gl’s descriptive name.

There are several points to note about this procedure. First, the number of groups that each user can join is limited only by the size of the number pool; for example, if the operator allocates 100 numbers, each user can be a member of 100 groups. This principle applies irrespective of the number of subscribers. Second, as membership of a group is issued to a subscriber, it is easy to store the associated number in an address book for subsequent use; the address book will usually be stored in electronic form in the subscriber’s telephone, so that numbers in it can be recalled by name and then dialled automatically.

It will of course be realized that many variations are possible in the precise maimer in which a group is established and maintained, ie the precise manner in which a group is created and members are added to it and deleted from it. Thus as described, a group has a single “owner” who controls the addition and deletion of members, but the system could be arranged such that any member of the group could delete themselves from the group and/or add new members. Similarly, in the system as described, a group is accessed by its owner using one type of number and by all other members using a different type of number, but this is not significant; it is merely an effect of the particular implementation. Again, in the system as described, a message sent to the group is sent to all members of the group apart from the member sending the message, but the message could instead be sent to all members including its originator.

In the system as described above, the group ownership tables are included in individual subscriber units. It is alternatively possible to use a global membership table which records centrally the membership for each group in the system, regardless of the group owner. For each member of each group, the table will record, amongst other things, the service number used by the member to access the group, the member’s own number, and the member’s nickname or alias for the group.

For each subscriber, the System will maintain a subscriber profile. Within each profile, there will be a group owner table, a group member table, and owner number pool and a member number pool. The group owner table contains a record for each chat group owned by the subscriber in question. Each record includes, amongst other things, the name of the chat group, the service number called by the subscriber to access the chat group, and a reference to the global membership table entry for the group. The group member table contains a record for each chat group (owned by another subscriber) of which the current Subscriber is a member. Each record includes, among other things, the service number used by the subscriber to access the group and a reference to the global membership table entry for the group.

The owner number pool records the group owner service numbers as yet unused by the subscriber. Each time a subscriber creates or deletes a group, this pool is updated with the number that has been allocated/ released. The member number pool records the group member service numbers as yet unused by the subscriber. Each time a subscriber joins or leaves a group, this pool is updated with the number that has been allocated/released.

The sequence of events involved in processing a message will thus involve the following. The service receives the message, and uses the “From” number to locate the subscriber profile. The service checks the “To” number against the profile’s group owner table and group member table to locate the group addressed by the subscriber. The service then retrieves the membership list for the group from the global membership table and forwards the message to each member of the group (excluding the originator).

The present system thus provides an easy to use mechanism for subscriber management of membership of shared service elements. The benefits for subscribers are: that a simple reply goes to the group, without the need for codes or embedded commands; and that the number replied to can be stored and easily accessed in the recipient’s address book. The benefits for operators are: that subscribers can manage their own shared services, saving operators from substantial call center overheads; that it is only necessary to allocate a small pool of line numbers to support a complex, manyto-many service; and that a user-friendly personal chat service results in a substantial increase in text message traffic and associated revenues.

The present system makes highly efficient use of small number pools while 10 providing the flexibility to address the very large number sets required by many-to-many services. At the same time, the subscriber experience is simple and powerful. In the example given, up to 100 unique relationships can be added to the subscriber address book - this number is operator configurable and readily extensible. The system is therefore highly beneficial to operators and subscribers.

Claims (5)

Claims:

1. A telephony system having private, public, and shared service elements, and a subscriber unit including private service units for each subscriber, characterized in that 5 each subscriber unit also includes a shared service unit comprising a set of units for respective groups and a membership number pool containing a list of diallable numbers; and by means for assigning, for each member of the group, a membership number from that member’s membership number pool; 10 means for determining, from a message with a shared service group number and the originating subscriber’s number, which group the message is intended for; and means for sending the message to the subscriber units of all members of the group as from, for each member, the respective membership number. 15

2. A telephony system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the system includes, for adding a member to a group, means for finding a free membership number for the member, means for linking the membership number with the group, and means for creating a mapping from the subscriber and the membership number to the group. 20

3. A telephony system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said groups are subscribermanaged personal chat groups for text messaging.

4. A telephony system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said membership numbers and said subscriber numbers are real telephone line numbers.

5. A telephony system as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.