WO2001006754A1

WO2001006754A1 - Method for developing phone traffic pattern

Info

Publication number: WO2001006754A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/003445
Authority: WO
Inventors: Terrence M. Burke; Clifford A. Kohler
Original assignee: Insors Integrated Communications
Priority date: 1999-07-16
Filing date: 2000-02-10
Publication date: 2001-01-25
Also published as: AU2877400A

Abstract

A reverse call traffic pattern is developed for a company to analyze reverse charge call traffic by geographic region of origination (steps 200, 202, 204, 208, 210). The reverse charge call traffic pattern is used to determine which regions are high volume generation regions (steps 200, 202, 204, 208, 210).

Description

METHOD FOR DEVELOPING PHONE TRAFFIC PATTERN

Cross Reference: The present application claims priority of U.S. Application No. 09/484,094 filed

January 18, 2000; and of U.S. Application No. 09/432,521 filed November 3, 1999; and of U.S. Application No. 09/356,287 filed July 19, 1999.

Field of the Invention: The present invention is related to methods for determining call traffic pattern usage.

In particular, the present application is related to methods for determining patterns of long distance service usage by a user.

Background of the Invention: As is generally known, telephone calls are routed from an originating phone to a termination phone through a network of switches over a public switched telephone network (PSTN). In the United States, phones are assigned a ten-digit NPA-NXX-XXXX phone number. The "NPA" portion of the phone number refers to a Numbering Plan Area, which is more commonly known as an area code. The "NXX" portion of the number refers to a local switch, and is sometimes refeπed to as an "exchange" or "local" code. N can be equal to any number except for 0 or 1, and X equal to any number from 0-9. The XXXX extension of the number is referred to as a subscriber code. It is also generally known that the United States has been subdivided into Local Access and Transport Areas (LATA's), with each LATA including a contiguous grouping of NPA's. Calls between LATA's are routed via inter-exchange carriers (IXC's).

Number plans and schemes for countries other than the United States are generally similar, but may have a different number of digits. A first portion of a phone number coπesponds to a general region (analogous to an NPA), with a second portion coπesponding to a more specific region (analogous to an NXX). Accordingly, as used herein, when applied to countries not having the number plans of the U.S., the term NPA is intended to refer to the first portion of a phone number that specifies a regional identity, and the term NXX is intended to refer to the second identifier portion of a phone number that specifies a more specific region. Likewise, the term LATA is intended to refer to a substantially continuous geographic region having a plurality of NPA's. Phone calls made from a phone are typically charged to that originating phone. For instance, a call from an originating phone to a terminating phone will be billed to the originating phone's NPA-NXX-XXXX account. The charge billed will generally depend on the number of earners used to switch the call and the call duration. Calls made within an NPA are less expensive than calls made from one NPA to another. Also, calls from one NPA to a second NPA within a single LATA are achieved at a lesser rate than calls made between NPA's of differing LATA's.

The PSTN's (including LEC's, LDC's, and IXC's) known heretofore may generally be characterized as "switch based". That is, the carriers complete a call between an originating phone and a terminating phone through a series of switches. The switches operate to open a dedicated line between the originating and terminating phones. In recent times, however, alternatives to the traditional switch based PSTN services have begun to emerge for two way telephony voice communication. In particular, digital "packet based" technologies have become practical and available. Generally, these technologies translate voice data into digital data packets and deliver the packets over a data network. These technologies provide much less expensive transmission than traditional switch based transmission, as expensive switches are not required and as transmission capacity is much higher. An example of such technology is described in the International Telephony Union's H.323 standard, herein incorporated by reference. As an example of application of these packet based technologies, methods have recently been developed for providing intra-company voice telephony communication over a data network between remote facilities. To provide such capabilities to a company for intra-company communication, however, an accurate model of the company's intra- company phone traffic must be obtained. Heretofore, methods for developing such an intra-company call traffic pattern are not known.

In addition to directly billed phone calls, business users often utilize so-called "reverse charge" services. These services provide an effective way in which companies may offer phone contact with customers, suppliers, and others at no cost to the caller. As a common example, "800 number" phone calls are available through which a customer can call a company with a phone number having an 800 NPA code and be connected to the company at no charge to the caller. Instead of the origination number owner being billed, charges associated with the call are billed to the owner of the 800 NPA number. As a particular example, a company located in Oklahoma City may offer an 800 number for customer support. A customer in Seattle who is using a company product and requires support may call the 800 number and be connected to a company support representative. Charges for the call will not be billed to the customer in Seattle, but will instead be charged to the company. Such an arrangement offers enticement to customers to use the company product. The charges for the call will generally depend on the duration of the call, the location from which the call is made, and the rates the company may have negotiated with a long distance caπier.

It is generally known in the art to reduce costs associated with 800 numbers by channeling 800 number traffic through dedicated links to a company. The company can generally realize cost savings by negotiating a volume discount through such an arrangement. Further, recent developments have suggested that substantial savings in telephony charges are available by taking advantage of packet based call transmission as discussed generally above. In particular,- co-pending U.S. Application No. 09/484,094 discloses a method for providing reverse charge phone service to a customer.

In order to effectively design a reverse charge phone delivery system, however, a model of reverse charge use must be developed for the customer. Heretofore, the development of such a model has been unknown.

Objects of the Invention:

It is an object of the invention to provide a method for developing an intra-company phone traffic pattern.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for developing a reverse charge phone traffic pattern.

Summary of the Invention:

The present invention comprises a method for developing a phone traffic pattern, with the steps of obtaining a user phone usage archive for a period of time having a plurality of individual call records each having an NPA, creating a plurality of call record subsets each having at least an NPA; examining each of the call records and placing each into a regional grouping having a matching NPA. The method further comprises the steps of totaling call volume traffic within each subset, and assembling a phone traffic pattern from the totaled subsets, with the phone traffic pattern thereby comprising a listing of call traffic volume by subset. Preferably, the user phone usage archive comprises a phone bill from an LDC.

In an intra-company call traffic pattern example embodiment of the method of the invention, the user comprises a company having a plurality of remote geographical facilities. The intra-company call traffic to be developed through the method of the invention generally comprises an analysis of calls made between company facilities (i.e., "intra-company"). The method of the invention in this intra-company call traffic pattern further comprises a step of examining the plurality of call records and creating a group of intra-company call records prior to the step of placing the call records into the subsets. The subsets coπespond to individual of the company facilities, with call records for calls originating from a particular facility placed into that facility subset. The call traffic pattern in this example embodiment thereby comprises an analysis of intra-company calls placed between company facilities. Such a traffic pattern will be of critical importance in designing an intra-company digital telecommunication solution. In this intra-company call traffic pattern example, the plurality of call records preferably comprise an originating and terminating number, each having an NPA-NXX portion. The originating number identifies the number from which the call originated, while the terminating number identifies the number at which the call terminated. A prefeπed method for creating the group of intra-company calls comprises comparing the NPA-NXX portion for each record with the NPA-NXX portion for all other records. A match indicates that both the originating and terminating phone were company phones, and that the call was thus an intra-company call.

A second example embodiment of the method of the invention comprises a method for creating a reverse charge call traffic pattern. In this embodiment, the plurality of call records comprise reverse charge call records billed to the user, each having an originating number from which the call originated. The subsets created in this embodiment comprise substantially continuous geographic regions of reverse charge call origin, with each subset having at least an NPA. Each of the reverse charge call records is examined and placed into the subset having an NPA matching the particular call record originating number NPA. The reveres charge call traffic pattern thereby comprises totaled reverse charge call traffic charged to the user organized by geographic region. Such a traffic pattern has proven to be most useful in designing a reverse charge telecommunications solution for a user.

The above brief description sets forth rather broadly the more important features of the present disclosure so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood, and so that the present contributions to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. In this respect, before explaining the several embodiments of the disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and the arrangements set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The present invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for description and not limitation.

Brief Description of the Figures:

Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating in brief the general method of the intra-company example embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the intra-company call traffic pattern embodiment of the method of the invention in greater detail than the flow chart of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the preferred steps required to convert the subset of intra-company calls into an intra-company call traffic pattern within the intra-company example embodiment of Figs. 1-2.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the intra-company example embodiment of the invention for consideration of foreign terminating calls.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example reverse charge call traffic pattern determination embodiment of the method of the invention.

Detailed Description of Example Embodiments:

A. Intra-company Call Traffic Pattern:

In order to best describe the intra-company embodiment of the method of the invention, a general overview of the example embodiment of the invention will be helpful. Accordingly, Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating in brief the general method of the intra- company call traffic pattern embodiment of the invention. At 2, a phone bill is obtained for a company having a plurality of remotely located facilities. The phone bill may be issued by a LDC, and preferably summarizes phone usage and charges for a period of time. It contains a plurality of individual call records. It is noted that the method of the invention is not limited to use of a phone bill, but instead requires only a phone usage archive. Such an archive is generally a history of phone calls transmitted. The archive may comprise, by way of example, recorded output available from a switch, tracking device, or recording device that comprises such information as originating number, terminating number, duration, and time of occurrence. As will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art, such an archive is available from a variety of sources. An LDC phone bill is prefeπed, as it has been discovered they provide a convenient and thorough source of information useful for practice of the method of the invention. A subset of call records is extracted from the phone bill at 4, coπesponding to intra company phone calls (i.e., calls made from one facility to another). A plurality of smaller facility subsets are compiled at 6 from the intra company subset extracted at 4. The smaller groupings correspond to intra-company calls originating from each individual facility, such as grouping 8 representing all intra-company phone calls originating from Facility A. A call traffic pattern is developed from the groupings at 10. The call traffic pattern comprises a data set organized in a facility specific manner, and preferably comprises at least total intra- company phone charges billed for each individual facility.

Table 1 presents an example phone bill that may be obtained within the method of the invention. Table 1 is intended to illustrate a small portion of a corporate phone bill, which may in fact comprise of the order of from thousands to millions of individual phone call records. Accordingly, it will be noted that Table 1 contains records for the time period of 9:04 AM to 9:22 AM on July 1, 1999, and is intended to be an example only. Because the phone bill may be extremely large, it is preferably provided in a computer readable, digital format. Several industry formats for such bills are known, and may generally be referred to as "call detail records". Accordingly, the format of Table 1 is intended to be for example purposes only; actual call detail records may differ in format.

Table 1:

As illustrated in Table 1 , a call detail record may comprise a listing for each call record of a "bill to" phone number (i.e. phone number charged), an originating phone number (i.e., phone extension from which call originated), a terminating phone number (i.e., the number dialed and to which the call terminated at, may also be referred to as "destination number"), a call duration time (i.e., length of the phone call), a call occuπence time (i.e., time at which call began), and a call charge. It is noted that the bill to number and the originating number may differ for a given call due to switchboards that may control several individual lines. For example, a call may be originated in an office on an extension, but be billed to the number of the company switchboard that the call goes through. Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the intra-company call traffic pattern embodiment of the method of the invention in greater detail than the flow chart of Fig. 1. It is noted that as illustrated in Fig. 2, the method is preferably performed on a computer. As a call detail record may be extremely large, use of a computer in practicing the method of the invention has been found to be very useful. At 20, a digital call detail record is input to the computer. The individual call records are examined at 22 to filter out all records without a direct dial termination number, and to filter out calls with an 800 or other prefix indicating a reverse charge call. These calls represent toll free calls or calling card calls that are not intra- company phone calls. Referring to Table 1 for illustration, phone record 10, which has an 800 prefix termination number, would be filtered out at node 22 of Fig. 2. Remaining records are then examined to separate international calls from domestic calls by the computer at node 24 of Fig. 2. Referring once again to Table 1 by way of example, record 1 1 , which has an international termination number, would be separated and placed in an international terminating record data set 26, while the remaining domestic records would be placed in set 28. It has been found that it is practical to deal with domestic call records separate from international call records for a variety of reasons. Primary among these reasons is that companies having a multinational presence are typically organized into separate companies in separate nations. As a particular intended purpose of the present method is to provide a tool for designing an intra-company digital telephony network, it is most practical to focus on company facilities only, which are typically within a single country. It will be noted, however, that the method of the invention as claimed is not limited to consideration of only domestic intra-company calls. In particular, it will be appreciated that the method may readily be practiced with international intra-company calls in addition to domestic intra- company calls. At node 30 of Fig. 2, the computer subdivides individual originating and terminating numbers into various portions, as discussed generally above. These portions comprise a three digit NPA portion coπesponding to an area code, a three digit NXX portion corresponding to the second three digits of a number (also known as a "switch"), and a four digit EXT portion corresponding to an "extension". At node 30, the EXT portion of each originating number and terminating number is eliminated, with the resultant NPA-NXX number portions stored in newly created data fields.

It is noted that number plans and schemes for countries other than the United States are generally similar, but may comprise a different number of digits. Regardless of the number of digits, a first portion of a phone number from any country coπesponds to a general region (analogous to the United States' NPA), with a second portion corresponding to a more specific region (analogous to the United States' NXX). It will be appreciated that the method of the present invention may be practiced using phone numbers having different numbers of digits as the United States, -which are used herein for example purposes. Accordingly, as used herein, with reference to number plans other than the U.S.', the identifier NPA is intended to refer to the first portion of a phone number that specifies a regional identity, and the term NXX is intended to refer to the second identifier portion of a phone number that specifies a more specific region. The terms as used are thus not limited to a number of digits, or to a "number plan area" or other United States specific definition. Originating and terminating number data strings are preferably reduced to NPA-

NXX portions for a few reasons. For one, the smaller strings are easier to work with. When analyzing hundreds of thousands or even millions of records, the savings in processor time realized by the string reduction can be significant. Further, the elimination of the EXT portion of the numbers increases the accuracy of determining intra-company calls in the subsequent comparison step, where each terminating number will be compared with all originating numbers to determine intra-company calls. By eliminating the EXT portion of calls, the subsequent comparison will not be limited to particular extensions, but will instead have an identifier associated with a switchboard and a number of extensions. Thus a termination extension within a company facility that does not show up on the phone bill as an originating number (i.e., phone calls made to that extension but not made from that extension during the billing period) will be correctly flagged.

Reducing, or "parsing", numbers to NPA-NXX portions assumes that each facility has an NPA-NXX portion unique to one another. Should this not be the case, the method of the invention may of course compare complete numbers, or may use NPA-NXX and at least a portion of the EXT portion for comparison. It is also noted that the preferred parsing to only an NPA-NXX portion may result in some extra-company calls being identified as intra-company. In particular, if an intra-company call coincidental ly has the same NPA- NXX string as an extra-company call, the extra-company call will be identified as being intra-company. It has been found, however, that the expected occuπence of such eπors is so low as to be negligible.

Referring once again to the sample phone bill for the Acme Corp. shown in Table 1 , operation of node 30 by the computer will result in additional data fields being created for each record as illustrated in Table 2. Note that records 10 and 1 1 are not present in Table 2 as they have been previously filtered out.

Table 2

The computer next performs a comparison at node 32 between the termination number for each record with the origination number from all records, with the goal of creating a subset of records coπesponding to intra-company calls. The logic underlying the comparison is simply that a call made from a company phone to a company phone is an intra-company call. It will be appreciated that there are many other potential methods for determining intra-company calls. As an example, the company may supply a listing of company phone numbers. A comparison could then be made between terminating numbers and the company provided listing. The prefeπed method described herein, however, has been found to be most effective as all required information is conveniently contained within the call detail record.

It is further noted that some LDC digital call detail records do not report all information directly. As an example, call detail records from the Sprint LDC do not include originating numbers by phone number. Instead, originating phone numbers are identified by a code. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, it is a straightforward matter to convert the code to a phone number once a key to the code is provided. The present invention further comprises methods by which a coded bill to, originating, or terminating number may be converted using a code key supplied by the company or by the LDC to an actual phone number. As generally described above, Fig. 2 illustrates at node 34 the matching decision to be made upon comparison of a terminating number with all originating numbers. If no match occurs, the call record is determined to be extra-company and discarded at 36. If a match occurs, the call record is determined to be an intra-company call and is added to an intra-company call record subset at 38. It is noted that other sorting and comparison methods may of course be applied as are known by those knowledgeable

Referring once again to the sample data fields shown in Table 2, examination will indicate that terminating numbers from records 1, 4, 5, 7-9, 13, and 16-19 do not match any originating numbers. These call records are thus concluded to be extra-company and are discarded. Records 2, 3, 6, 12, 14, 15, and 20-21, on the other hand, have terminating numbers that match originating numbers and are thus determined to be intra-company calls. A subset of call records consisting of these records results, as is illustrated in Table 3.

Table 3:

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the prefeπed steps required to convert the subset of intra-company calls into an intra-company call traffic pattern. It is again noted that the prefeπed embodiment of the method of the invention utilizes a computer to carry out the steps as illustrated in Fig. 3.

At node 50, the intra-company call group compiled at node 38 of Fig. 2 (also illustrated in Fig. 3 for clarity) is sorted to create a plurality of facility subsets of call records coπesponding to intra-company calls originating at each facility. Sorting is preferably performed using the parsed NPA-NXX originating numbers. Using the sample intra-company call record data set shown in Table 3, four facility subsets 52, 54, 56, and 58 are created. Facility subset 52 contains call records for calls originating from a Los Angeles facility (213-222 parsed originating number), facility subset 54 to call records for calls originating at a Portland facility (503-555 parsed originating number), facility subset 56 to call records for calls originating at a Minneapolis facility (612-666 parsed originating number), and facility subset 58 to call records for calls originating from a Chicago facility (312-333 parsed originating number). These subsets are illustrated in Table 4.

In node 60 of Fig. 3, a call traffic pattern is developed from the subsets illustrated in Table 4. A resulting prefeπed intra-company call traffic pattern is illustrated in Table

5.

Table 4:

en

Table 5:

As illustrated, the intra-company call traffic pattern totals call volume for the individual facilities in several categories. This provides for convenient and organized review of intra-company telephony characteristics, which is particularly useful for applications such as designing and/or managing an intra-company digital data telephony solution. It will be understood that the call traffic pattern illustrated is in the nature of an example only and uses only the brief call record as presented in Table 1 as input. In practice, the call record could more typically comprise of the order of from thousands to millions of call records, and from a few to several hundred facilities; with the resultant data reported in the call traffic pattern of Table 5 would be of much larger magnitude.

The various categories reported in the prefeπed call traffic pattern of Table 5 include:

• Total Charges for Intra-company Calls Originating at Facility: This column presents the total amount billed to the company by the LDC for intra-company calls that originated at the respective facility.

• Total Number of Intra-company Calls Originating at Facility: This column presents the total number of intra-company calls that originated at the respective facility.

• Total Time Duration for Intra-company Calls Originating at Facility: This column presents the total time duration of all intra-company calls that originated at the respective facility.

• Peak Usage for Intra-company Calls Originating at Facility: This column presents the peak number of simultaneous intra-company calls that originated at the respective facility; e.g. the peak number of calls that were being caπied at any one time.

• Peak Time of Occuπence for Intra-company Calls Originating at Facility: This column presents the time of day during which the peak usage occuπed for the respective facility.

• Total Duration of Intra-company Calls Terminating at Facility: This column presents the total duration in minutes of intra-company calls that terminated at the facility. The call traffic pattern may of course comprise additional categories of totaled volume. As an example, traffic between individual of the facilities (e.g., total traffic from facility 1 to 4, 1 to 3, and 1 to 2) may be presented. Also, it is noted that in dealing with time data values, it may be of use to convert time to a non traditional clock standard, as is generally known in the art. For instance, traditional clock time may be converted to seconds or minutes past a start time. Military time is a general example of this type of conversion.

It is also noted that the method of the invention preferably comprises considering phone usage data for a period of at least 3 months, more preferably 6 months, and most preferably a year. It has been discovered that such periods of time allow for greatest accuracy in traffic pattern determination, as seasonal, cyclical, and other unusual periods of use are averaged out. As will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art, under such circumstances it may be desirable to report the call traffic pattern in a monthly basis by dividing summed totals to calculate average monthly values. Further, summed totals may be divided or multiplied as desired to calculate totals in any desired time unit.

The intra-company call traffic pattern can be critical to designing an intra- company digital telephony solution. Through such a solution, intra-company telephone calls can be caπied over a digital data network with no associated LDC charges. The total charges billed, total number of calls, and total time duration for a facility as reported in the call traffic pattern therefore are indicative of the value to the company of connecting that facility to a digital telephony network. The peak usage data can be used to estimate the maximum bandwidth of data network that will be required to carry the digital telephony signals. The peak time of usage is also useful for required network bandwidth estimation, as well as for digital data traffic management issues.

The total duration of incoming calls may be useful to supplement the decision making regarding whether a given facility is worth connecting to the data network. For example, it may be that a minimal number of calls originate at a given facility. In a preliminary analysis, it could therefore be concluded that cost benefits to be realized by connecting that facility to a digital telephony network would be minimal. Should it be shown, however, that a relatively large amount of calls were terminating at that facility, the value of connecting it to a digital telephony network would presumably be increased. It will be appreciated that the method of the invention will prove valuable in numerous other contexts in addition to its application as a tool in the designing of an intra-company digital telephony network solution.

As described herein, the most prefeπed method of the invention will be caπied out by a computer, as the various steps of the method require the examination, sorting, parsing, comparison, and assembling of large amounts of data. In practice, it has been discovered that spreadsheet and database application software such as the Excel and Access programs, respectively, available from the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond Washington lend themselves well to being programmed to carry out the method of the invention. Most preferably, a combination of the two programs are used. Other examples of application spreadsheet and database software are well known and widely available.

Further, as noted above, the term^" "computer" as used herein is intended to comprise a variety of machines having a processing unit, including, but not limited to, a personal computer, a workstation, a mainframe, a handheld computer, a pre-programmed handheld device, and the like, as are known by those in the art.

In an additional embodiment of the method of the invention, a computer programmed to carry out the steps of the method is connected to a worldwide computer network such as is widely known as the internet for remote access and operation. As noted above, a primary application of the method of the invention is use as a tool in providing digital data network telephony solutions to companies having a plurality of remotely located facilities. These companies are located virtually around the world; providing an interface with the method of the invention over the internet realizes significant time and travel related savings. It also provides an important business advantage as easy access encourages use by potential customers.

When assembling the intra-company call traffic pattern, it may also be beneficial to take into consideration a pre-existing data network connecting some of the plurality of company facilities. In particular, a company may have a plurality of facilities, some of which are connected to an intra-company data network for carrying digital data, while other of the facilities are not connected to the network. Focusing the call traffic pattern on only those facilities that are connected to the data network may result in easier decision making and analysis.

An additional embodiment of the method of the invention therefore includes an additional step of identifying intra-company call records originating from facilities that are connected to the data network. Only these call records will be considered when assembling the call traffic pattern. Mechanically, the sorting of intra-company calls originating from a connected facility from those originating from an un-connected facility can only be done with additional input. Specifically, a list of phone numbers, or at least NPA and/or NXX portions thereof, will need to be supplied by the company in addition to the phone. Alternatively, the locations of un-connected facilities could be supplied from which the NPA portion of a phone number could be determined.

As mentioned above, it has been found that most corporations, even if they have multi-national presence, are organized as domestic companies for various tax and accounting reasons. Taking a hypothetical "Acme" corporation as an example, it may be that an Acme America Corporation exists, a separate Acme Germany Corporation, and a separate Acme Hong Kong Corporation. While all individual corporations may have a common owner and/or a close relationship to one another, it has been found that they tend to operate independently with respect to telephony billing and contracting activities. For this reason, the prefeπed method of the invention focuses on developing a call traffic pattern analyzing domestic intra-company calls only.

An additional embodiment of the invention, however, comprises a method in which the international calls as determined at node 26 of Fig. 2 will be utilized in formulating a call traffic pattern. In the additional steps of this embodiment, more focus will be placed on terminating call numbers than originating numbers. This is due to the consideration that the only benefit to a domestic corporation in connecting a foreign facility to an intra-company digital data telephony network will be the elimination of outgoing phone charges. This follows from the assumption that the foreign facility is billed separately for its phone usage; thus the domestic corporation will not benefit in a reduction of the charges to the foreign facility.

If it can be shown, however, that a significant cost is being caπied by the domestic corporation for placing calls to the foreign facility, the domestic corporation may be able to realize a cost benefit by connecting the foreign facility to a data network for carrying telephony. Thus this embodiment of the method of the invention will show the total cost associated with calls billed to the domestic corporation that terminate at the foreign facility.

As the phone bill does not include charges to the foreign facility, no listing of foreign originating numbers is available from the prefeπed phone bill. Thus there is not sufficient information in the phone bill in and of itself to conclusively determine whether a phone record having an international terminating number was made to a foreign intra- company facility or was extra-company. Two general approaches are offered for solving this problem. As a first, data may of course be provided by a source other than an LDC phone bill. In particular, the company may provide phone numbers for foreign intra- company facilities. These numbers could then be compared to the international terminating numbers collected at node 26 to determine which were intra-company.

The second approach to determining which international phone calls are intra- company takes a probabilistic approach. Generally, the international phone calls are grouped and examined to determine terminating numbers in the phone bill of high frequency. It has been found that such numbers very frequently coπespond to intra- company calls. Confirmation of the assumption that a frequently called international number is indeed an intra-company call can of course be obtained from the company.

The flow chart of Fig. 4 illustrates the second approach. The international terminating number set at node 26 coπesponds to the node 26 of Fig. 2. At node 100, the international country code, which is typically a two or three digit prefix to a phone number identifying the" destination country, is extracted from the terminating number. The call records are then grouped by terminating number country code at node 102.

Each individual country grouping is then examined at node 104 for terminating numbers of high frequency of occuπence. It is prefeπed that such an examination is not performed using the entire terminating number string for reasons as explained above. Generally, such a comparison is inefficient in that required processor time is high, and that intra-company numbers are "missed" as different extensions may mask a company facility. Examination preferably therefore occurs based on an NPA-NXX type comparison as discussed above. As also discussed above, different countries may have different numbers of digits coπesponding for instance to area codes and city codes, so that as will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art the analysis within the method of the invention may vary slightly from country to country.

Total charges for frequently called terminating numbers for each respective country grouping are then summed at node 104. The resulting data at 106 indicates totaled charges for calls originating at any domestic facility and terminating in each individual country. This data will be incorporated in the call traffic pattern of this embodiment of the method of the invention.

B. Reverse Charge Call Traffic Pattern Example Embodiment

A second example embodiment of the method of the invention generally comprises developing a reverse charge call traffic pattern. In a basic form, the reverse call traffic pattern comprises an analysis by geographic region of reverse charge call traffic origination. That is, it generally comprises an analysis of where reverse charge calls to a user are originating from. Such a pattern has been discovered to be a critical tool in the designing of a reverse charge call solution for a user. In particular, this example embodiment of the invention has proven to be most advantageous for determining where points of presence ("POP") should be located for routing digital based reverse charge calls to the user, and for generally determining the required functionality of a digital data network required to transmit reverse charge calls from originating phones to the destination user. This example embodiment of the invention will also of course prove to be advantageous for other uses.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the prefeπed method for determining a reverse charge call traffic pattern. A company phone bill is obtained at 200. The phone bill will be for a period of time, and preferably comprises a period of at least three months so that an accurate average reverse charge usage can be developed. Most preferably, a period of a year will be covered so that seasonal or cyclical usage will be accounted for. A subset of reverse charge call traffic records is extracted from the bill at 202. It is noted that in many instances, reverse charge call bills are submitted to a corporate customer separate from other call charges, in which case extracting the set reverse charge traffic is not required. It is also noted that the reverse charge call traffic pattern example embodiment of the method of the invention, like the intra-company call traffic pattern embodiment described above, may be practiced without a phone bill. What is required for practice of the invention is a phone usage archive comprising a record of reverse charge calls billed to the user. Such an archive may comprise, by way of example, recorded output available from a switch, tracking device, or recording device that preferably comprises such information as originating number, terminating number, duration, and time of occuπence. As will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art, such an archive is available from a variety of sources. An LDC phone bill with reverse charge call records is prefeπed as it has been discovered they provide a convenient and thorough source of information useful for practice of the method of the invention.

At 204 the reverse charge phone call records are then further divided into a plurality of regional groups 206. Each of the regional groupings 296 preferably contains call records with originating numbers from a substantially contiguous geographic region. The groupings are preferably assembled by examining NPA extensions of originating phone numbers and grouped together accordingly. For instance, reverse charge calls having an originating number with a 312 NPA extension are grouped together, and calls with an originating number with a 212 NPA extension are grouped together. Each of the respective groupings may correspond to single NPA numbers, or to a plurality of NPA extensions from a substantially contiguous region. As an example, the Chicago metropolitan area may comprise one grouping with NPA extensions of 312, 773, 708, 847, and 630.

In one embodiment of the groupings, each group will coπespond to records having originating number NPA extensions from a LATA or a plurality of LATA's. Further, the geographical regions may comprise general geographic regions, such as the "midwest", or the "southwest", in which case the regions may comprises NPA's from several states. In the chart illustrated in Fig. 5, the groupings 206 have been generally presented as coπesponding to several U.S. major metropolitan areas.

The user phone bill may comprise a multiplicity of individual call records numbering in the tens or even hundreds of thousands, and may be available in a computer readable format. The practice of this example embodiment of the method of the invention thereby preferably further comprises the programming of a computer to accept the computer readable phone bill as input, and to perform the various steps of the invention. In addition, the computer may be connected to a computer network, such as the internet, for convenient access.

When practicing the prefeπed computer aided embodiment of this reverse charge invention embodiment, examination of the individual records may further comprise the step of creating a new data field comprising only the call record NPA extension. This will advantageously save processor time in dealing with the multiplicity of records.

The next step of the prefeπed method for developing a reverse charge call traffic pattern comprises totaling reverse charge traffic at 208 for each of the geographical region groupings 206. This is preferably accomplished by totaling volume in minutes of traffic, cost of traffic in dollars, or both. Finally, the reverse charge call traffic pattern is assembled at 210. The reverse charge call traffic pattern of the invention thus comprises a region-by-region analysis of reverse charge calls made to the company. It is a tool with which a company can analyze the cost of its reverse charge phone service by region. Table 6 below illustrates an example Reverse Charge Call Traffic Pattern:

Table 6: Reverse Charge Call Traffic Pattern

As illustrated in Table 6, a prefeπed reverse charge call traffic pattern comprises a ranked listing of regional groupings with reported totals for call volume in minutes, call costs in dollars, peak usage in simultaneous number of calls, and time of occuπence of peak usage. Peak usage will be useful in determining the required bandwidth for a given data connection to carry required peak call traffic. As an example, after examining the reverse charge traffic pattern, it may be determined that a particular portion of the company data network requires additional bandwidth to carry the anticipated reverse charge call traffic. This data will also be of use in specifying the required equipment for a particular POP. Time of occuπence of peak usage can be useful for overall network traffic management issues. Corporate phone bills are often presented in digital format. A prefeπed method of developing a reverse charge call traffic pattern comprises the additional step of programming a computer to accept the digital phone bill as input, and to perform the various steps of the method of developing the reverse charge call traffic pattern.

It is noted that like the intra-company call traffic pattern example invention embodiment, the reverse charge example of the invention is not limited to application within the United States or any other single country. Indeed, as will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art, the method of the invention as claimed is capable of being practiced wherever reverse charge calls may be generated from.

The advantages of the disclosed invention are thus attained in an economical, practical, and facile manner. While prefeπed embodiments and example configurations have been shown and described, it is to be understood that various further modifications and additional configurations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is intended that the specific embodiments and configurations herein disclosed are illustrative of the prefeπed and best modes for practicing the invention, and should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

As an example, it will be obvious to those knowledgeable in the art that the specific order or number of method steps as disclosed herein may be altered without change to the underlying spirit and scope of the invention. As an example, the two steps in the intra-company traffic pattern example of extracting a subset of intra-company calls and the subsequent step of assembling secondary facility specific groups from the subset could conceivably be reversed in order, or could be combined into a single step. Further, the present invention is not limited to any particular methods of sorting, comparing, storing, and other programming steps as disclosed herein. As will be appreciated by those knowledgeable in the art, many equal variations of these may exist, and are intended to fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

Claims:

What is claimed is:

1 ) A method for developing a call traffic pattern, comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a user phone usage archive for a period of time, said record having a plurality of individual call records each having an NPA; b) creating a plurality of call record subsets, each of said subsets having at least an NPA; c) examining each of said plurality of call records and placing each into one of said plurality of call record subsets having a matching NPA; and d) totaling call traffic volume for each of said call record subsets; and e) assembling a phone traffic pattern from said totaled call record subsets, said traffic pattern comprising a list of call traffic volume for each individual subset.

2) A method as in claim 1 , wherein said call records comprise call duration, time of occuπence, and charge; and wherein said call traffic pattern comprises total duration, peak time of occuπence, and total charge for each of said subsets.

3) A method as in claim 1 , wherein said period of time comprises at least six months.

4) A method as in claim 1, wherein said user phone usage archive is in digital format, and wherein said method further comprises the step of programming a computer to accept said phone bill and to determine said call traffic pattern.

5) A method as in claim 4, further comprising the step of connecting said computer to a data network and inputting said phone bill to said computer over said data network and outputting said traffic pattern over said network.

6) A method as in claim 5, wherein said data network comprises the internet.

7) A method as in claim 1, wherein said user phone use archive comprises a phone bill. 8) A method as in claim 1 ; wherein said user comprises a company having a plurality of facilities; wherein said method further comprises the steps of: a) examining said plurality of call records and creating a group of intra-company call records prior to said step of placing said call records in said subsets; and wherein said call record subsets comprise call records originating from one of said company facilities; b) examining each of said call records in said group of intra-company call records, and placing each of said call records in a respective of said facility subsets coπesponding to a facility of call origination; c) and wherein said call traffic pattern comprises an intra-company call traffic pattern listing call volume for each of said plurality of facility groupings.

9) A method as in claim 8, wherein said phone bill comprises a multiplicity of call records, each of said records having an originating number and a terminating number, and wherein said step of examining said call records and creating a group of intra- company call records comprises: a) comparing each of said terminating numbers with said originating numbers; b) placing all records having a terminating number matching an originating number in said group of intra-company calls.

10) A method as in claim 9, wherein each of said originating numbers has an NPA-NXX portion, and wherein said step of comparing said terminating numbers with said originating numbers comprises comparing said NPA-NXX portion from said originating numbers with said NPA-NXX portion from said terminating numbers, and determining a match between an originating number NPA-NXX portion with a terminating number NPA-NXX portion to be an intra-company call.

11) A method as in claim 10, wherein each of said facility subsets has at least a coπesponding NPA-NXX portion, and wherein said step of examining each of said call records in said group of intra-company call records, and placing each of said call records in a respective of said facility subsets coπesponding to a facility of call origination comprises examining each of said intra-company call records NPA-NXX portions and placing said intra-company call records into a facility subset having a matching NPA-NXX portion.

12) A method as in claim 8, wherein said call traffic pattern comprises a summation of total number of originating calls, total time duration of originating calls, and peak simultaneous originating call occuπence, for each of said facility subsets.

13) A method as in claim 12, wherein said call traffic pattern further comprises a summation of total number of terminating calls, total time duration of terminating calls, and peak simultaneous terminating call occuπence, for each of said facility subsets.

14) A method as in claim 8, wherein at least a portion of said plurality of company facilities are connected by a company data network, and wherein said call traffic pattern comprises an analysis of intra-company calls made from said portion of facilities connected by said company data network to another of the facilities connected by said company data network; said analysis comprising at least total calls made, and total charges for calls made.

15) A method as in claim 8, wherein said phone bill comprises domestic and international calls, and wherein said group of intra-company calls is further subdivided into domestic and international call records prior to dividing said group into said facility subsets.

16) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said individual call records comprise reverse charge call records, said reverse charge call records comprising at least originating numbers, and wherein at least a portion of said subsets coπespond to geographical regions of reverse charge call origination. 7) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 1 , wherein said individual call records comprise reverse charge call records having an originating number; wherein said call record subsets comprise reverse charge call record origination regional groupings, with said step of examining said reverse charge call records and placing each of said records into one of said origination regional groupings comprises placing each of said reverse charge call record into one of said origination regional groupings; and wherein said traffic pattern comprises a reverse charge call traffic pattern having an analysis of reverse charge call traffic received by said user, said analysis comprising totals of reverse charge call traffic organized by said regional groupings.

18) A method for determining a phone traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein said originating numbers each have an NPA,^' said regional groupings each have at least a coπesponding NPA, and wherein said call records are placed into a regional grouping having an NPA matching said call record originating number NPA.

19) A method for determining a call traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein at least a portion of said reverse charge call records comprise foreign reverse charge calls; and wherein at least a portion of said reverse charge regional origination subsets comprise foreign regions.

20) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein each of said geographical regions comprise at least one LATA.

21) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein said plurality of reverse charge call records each have an amount billed to said user coπesponding to the reverse charge call, and wherein said step of totaling call traffic volume comprises totaling charges billed to said user for each of said reverse charge calls in each of said regional groupings. 22) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein said step of assembling a reverse charge phone traffic pattern further comprises the step of ranking said geographical regions by said totaled reverse charge call traffic volume.

23) A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 17, wherein said reverse charge call records each further comprise a time of occuπence, a duration, a charge; and wherein said step of totaling reverse charge call traffic volume for each of said geographic regions further comprises totaling overall region call duration, overall region charge, number of calls, and determining peak simultaneous reverse charge call occuπence.

24) A method for determining a reverse charge phone traffic pattern; comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a phone bill from a user, said phone bill having a plurality of records coπesponding to reverse charge phone calls billed to the company for a period of time; said records having an originating phone number with an NPA, a time of occuπence, a call duration, a call charge; b) creating a plurality of geographic region groups, each of said region groups coπesponding to a substantially contiguous geographical region having at least a coπesponding NPA; c) placing each of said reverse charge call records into respective of said region groups having an NPA matching respective of said reverse call record NPA; d) summing totals for reverse charge traffic volume for each of said geographical region groups; said totals comprising total reverse charge call duration, total number of calls, peak simultaneous number of calls, and total charges; e) assembling a reverse charge call traffic pattern from said regional groups' total volumes; with said reverse charge call traffic pattern comprising ranked volume totals for said regional groups.

25) A method for determining a reverse charge call traffic pattern as in claim 24, wherein said phone bill is in computer readable format, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of programming a computer to accept said phone bill as input, and to determine said reverse charge call traffic pattern; and further comprising the step of connecting said computer to a computer network whereby said phone bill may be input over said network and said reverse charge call traffic pattern may be output over said network.

26) A method for developing an intra-company phone traffic pattern for a company having a plurality of remotely located facilities, the method comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a phone bill from said company for a period of at least three months; said phone bill having a multiplicity of individual call records, said records comprising a call originating number, a terminating number, a duration, and a charge; said originating and terminating numbers each having at least an NPA- NXX portion; b) extracting an intra-company group of call records coπesponding to intra-company calls from said phone bill; said extracting comprising the steps of: i) comparing said NPA-NXX portion of said terminating numbers from each of said records with said NPA-NXX portion of said originating numbers from others of said records; ii) placing records having a terminating number NPA-NXX portion that matches an originating number NPA-NXX portion from other of said records in said intra-company group; c) creating a plurality of facility subsets each having at least an NPA-NXX; d) placing each of said intra-company call records into a respective of said facility subsets having an NPA-NXX portion matching said intra-company call record NPA-NXX portion; e) totaling call traffic volume for each of said facility subsets; said totaled volume comprising totaled call duration, totaled number of calls, and totaled call charges; f) assembling a call traffic pattern from said totaled facility subsets; said call traffic pattern comprising at least totaled call traffic volume categorized by facility of origin.

7. A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 26, wherein said phone bill is in computer readable format, and further comprising the steps of: connecting a computer to a computer network; programming said computer to accept said phone bill as input over the network; and programming said computer to determine said phone traffic pattern and to output said traffic pattern over said computer network.

AMENDED CLAIMS

[ received by the International Bureau on 11 August 2000 (11.08.00); original claims 1, 9, 12, 14-15 and 24 amended; original claims 2, 8, 16-23 and 25 cancelled; new claim 28 added; remaining claims unchanged (6 pages)]

1) [Amended] A method for developing an intra-company call traffic pattern for a company having a plurality of facilities; the method comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a company phone usage archive for a period of time, said record having a plurality of individual call records each having an NPA; b) examining said plurality of call records and creating a group of intra-company call records; c) creating a plurality of call record subsets, wherein said call record subsets comprise call records originating from one of the company facilities; each of said subsets having at least an NPA; d) examining each of said intra-company call records and placing each into one of said plurality of call record subsets having a matching NPA; e) totaling call traffic volume for each of said call record subsets; and f) assembling an intra-company phone traffic pattern from said totaled call record subsets, said traffic pattern comprising a list of call traffic volume for each individual subset.

2) [Cancelled]

3) A method as in claim 1, wherein said period of time comprises at least six months.

6) A method as in claim 5, wherein said data network comprises the internet. 7) A method as in claim 1, wherein said user phone use archive comprises a phone bill.

8) [Cancelled]

9) [Amended] A method as in claim 1, wherein said phone usage archive comprises a multiplicity of call records, each of said records having an originating number and a terminating number, and wherein said step of examining said call records and creating a group of intra-company call records comprises: a) comparing each of said terminating numbers with said originating numbers; b) placing all records having a terminating number matching an originating number in said group of intra-company calls.

12) [Amended] A method as in claim 1, wherein said call traffic pattern comprises a summation of total number of originating calls, total time duration of originating calls, and peak simultaneous originating call occuπence, for each of said facility subsets. 13)A method as in claim 12, wherein said call traffic pattern further comprises a summation of total number of terminating calls, total time duration of terminating calls, and peak simultaneous terminating call occuπence, for each of said facility subsets.

14) [Amended] A method as in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said plurality of company facilities are connected by a company data network, and wherein said call traffic pattern comprises an analysis of intra-company calls made from said portion of facilities connected by said company data network to another of the facilities connected by said company data network; said analysis comprising at least total calls made, and total charges for calls made.

15) [Amended] A method as in claim 1, wherein said phone bill comprises domestic and international calls, and wherein said group of intra-company calls is further subdivided into domestic and international call records prior to dividing said group into said facility subsets.

16) [Cancelled]

17) [Cancelled]

18) [Cancelled]

19) [Cancelled]

20) [Cancelled]

21) [Cancelled]

22) [Cancelled]

23) [Cancelled] 4) [Amended] A method for determining a reverse charge phone traffic pattern; comprising the steps of: a) programming a computer to accept a computer readable phone bill as input; connecting said computer to a network; b) inputting said computer readable phone bill from a user over said network, said phone bill having a plurality of records coπesponding to reverse charge phone calls billed to the company for a period of time; said records having an originating phone number with an NPA, a time of occuπence, a call duration, a call charge; c) programming said computer to: i) create a plurality of geographic region groups, each of said region groups coπesponding to a substantially contiguous geographical region having at least a coπesponding NPA; ii) place each of said reverse charge call records into respective of said region groups having an NPA matching respective of said reverse call record NPA; iii) sum totals for reverse charge traffic volume for each of said geographical region groups; said totals comprising total reverse charge call duration, total number of calls, peak simultaneous number of calls, and total charges; iv) assemble a reverse charge call traffic pattern from said regional groups' total volumes; with said reverse charge call traffic pattern comprising ranked volume totals for said regional groups; and v) output said reverse charge call traffic pattern over said network.

25) [Cancelled]

26) A method for developing an intra-company phone traffic pattern for a company having a plurality of remotely located facilities, the method comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a phone bill from said company for a period of at least three months; said phone bill having a multiplicity of individual call records, said records comprising a call originating number, a terminating number, a duration, and a charge; said originating and terminating numbers each having at least an NPA-NXX portion; b) extracting an intra-company group of call records coπesponding to intra-company calls from said phone bill; said extracting comprising the steps of: i) comparing said NPA-NXX portion of said terminating numbers from each of said records with said NPA-NXX portion of said originating numbers from others of said records; ii) placing records having a terminating number NPA-NXX portion that matches an originating number NPA-NXX portion from other of said records in said intra-company group; c) creating a plurality of facility subsets each having at least an NPA-NXX; d) placing each of said intra-company call records into a respective of said facility subsets having an NPA-NXX portion matching said intra-company call record NPA-NXX portion; e) totaling call traffic volume for each of said facility subsets; said totaled volume comprising totaled call duration, totaled number of calls, and totaled call charges; f) assembling a call traffic pattern from said totaled facility subsets; said call traffic pattern comprising at least totaled call traffic volume categorized by facility of origin.

27. A method for developing a phone traffic pattern as in claim 26, wherein said phone bill is in computer readable format, and further comprising the steps of: connecting a computer to a computer network; programming said computer to accept said phone bill as input over the network; and programming said computer to determine said phone traffic pattern and to output said traffic pattern over said computer network.

28. [New] A method for developing an intra-company phone traffic pattern for a company having a plurality of remotely located facilities, the method comprising the steps a) obtaining a phone bill from said company for a period of at least three months; said phone bill having a multiplicity of individual call records, said records comprising a call originating number, a terminating number, a duration, and a charge; said originating and terminating numbers each having at least an NPA-NXX portion; b) sorting said multiplicity of individual call records into a domestic set and an international set; said domestic set containing individual call records having a domestic terminating number and said international set containing call records having an international terminating number; c) extracting an intra-company group of call records from said domestic set coπesponding to intra-company calls; said extracting comprising the steps of: i) comparing said NPA-NXX portion of said terminating numbers from each of said records with said NPA-NXX portion of said originating numbers from others of said records; ii) placing records having a terminating number NPA-NXX portion that matches an originating number NPA-NXX portion from other of said records in said intra-company group; d) creating a plurality of facility subsets each having at least an NPA-NXX; e) placing each of said intra-company call records into a respective of said facility subsets having an NPA-NXX portion matching said intra-company call record NPA-NXX portion; f) totaling call traffic volume for each of said facility subsets; said totaling comprising totaling call duration, totaling number of calls, and totaling call charges; g) extracting from said international set into a ranked plurality of country groups; said extracting comprising: i) assigning each of said individual call records in said international set to a country group according to a country code prefix of said terminating number; ii) totaling call traffic volume for each of said country groups; said totaling comprising totaling call duration, totaling number of calls, and totaling call charges; iii) ranking said country groups in order of traffic volume; and h) assembling a call traffic pattern from said totaled facility subsets and said ranked country groups; said call traffic pattern comprising at least totaled call traffic volume categorized by facility of origin and said ranked country group traffic volume.

STATEMENT UNDER ARTICLE 19(1)

In response to the 13 July 2000 International Search Report, Applicant submits the attached 6 replacement sheets replacing original pages 27-33. The replacement sheets clarify the present invention by amending and canceling several of the original claims. The claims as amended are novel and not obvious over the three references cited in the Search Report: U.S. 6,011,838 ("Cox"); U.S. 5,687,223 ("Elliott"); and U.S. 5,359,649 ("Rosu").

Summary of Amendments:

Claim 1 has been amended to include the limitations of original dependent claim 8.

Original claims 2 and 8 have been cancelled. Original claims 12, 14 and 15, which depended from cancelled claim 8, have been amended to depend from claim 1.

Claims 16-23 have been cancelled.

Amended claim 24 includes the limitations of original claim 25, which was dependent on claim 24 but stands cancelled.

New claim 28 is presented for consideration.