WO2012064990A1 - Smart dialer method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for mobile communications facilitated by a gateway that routes a subscriber's MO call to a called party through a local number. The subscriber may be present in either a home country or a roaming country, and the called party may be present in same or different country from the subscriber. The gateway stores the local number in either subscriber's mobile device or the gateway or both.

Description

Smart Dialer Method and System

Related Applications

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.

61/412,221 entitled "Smart Dialer Method and System," filed on November 10, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to mobile communication. More specifically, the invention relates to handling mobile communication while roaming.

Background of the Invention Roaming traffic contributes a significant percentage of an operator's revenue and even a better percentage of the operator's margin. With increasing competition and regulatory control, operators are being more pressured to increase their roaming revenue. Over the last few years, revenues to the network operators from home subscribers have consistently declined due to increased competition and resulting pricing pressures. Conversely, revenues from roamers have consistently grown in the same period due to increased mobile penetration in local markets and an increase in travel.

Network operators can maximize their margins if roamers use their mobile services while roaming in visited networks (VPMNs) outside their home network (HPMN). These margins significantly improve when the subscribers roam outside their home country, i.e., are on international roaming. Making international calls from either within the home country or from another country back to home country are extremely expensive.

Subscribers now have various cheaper alternative solutions to make these international calls, e.g., calling through VOIP solutions. However, one major drawback of these VOIP based solutions is that the mobiles suffer voice quality issue as the VOIP calls are not using voice circuits but they use the data circuits. Also, due to this the mobile subscriber suffers from poor data coverage issue as well as data roaming charges when making these international calls abroad. The other limitation of using VOIP calls is the unavailability of data circuits in certain areas within a mobile operator's network. In such cases the subscriber cannot avail these VOIP based calling solutions.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned challenges of VOIP based calling solutions, there are now some non-VOIP solutions being offered by a few operators. One such example is FoocalPs international dialing solution, which is non-VOIP based solution. A similar non-VOIP based solution is also being recently launched by Google, as Google Voice application. However, for Google Voice, a separate client application needs to be installed and the subscriber is only provided with a local US number that is mapped to some numbers within Google's infrastructure.

A major limitation of both these solutions is that they have a very limited geographic presence, up to North America only. Also, these solutions are only applicable while the subscriber is within the home country. Nether of these solutions works in the situation when the subscriber is roaming abroad and makes an international call, or when the subscriber changes his home country (i.e., the United States) SIM or device to a visiting country's SIM / device for making international calls.

In accordance with the foregoing, there is a need in the art of a system, a method, for creating a solution that gives an operator the ways to deal with above mentioned problems and should be able to allow the subscriber to make international calls at cheaper rates from anywhere in the world, irrespective of whether he uses his home country's or visiting country's SIM/device. Summary

The present invention is directed towards a method and system for mobile communication where a gateway facilitates routing of a subscriber's MO call to a called party through a local number. This routing is done by the gateway when the subscriber is present in either home country (i.e., the country of the subscriber's home network, for example) or a visited country and the called party is present in same or different country from the subscriber. In other words, the subscriber initiates either an international or national roaming call from either within his home network or any visiting network to a called party that may be in a network / country different from the subscriber. The gateway further stores the local number corresponding to the subscriber either at the gateway or at the subscriber's mobile device or both. The gateway routes the subscriber's MO call by forwarding the subscriber's MO call from the local number to the called party number.

The system and method of the present invention, in its various aspects facilitate via the gateway address book backup for the subscriber when a mobile bearer channel is available. The complete address entry associated with the called party's number in the address book is stored together with the mapping to the local number in the gateway. Also, in its various aspects, the gateway can facilitate restoring the address book, in cases where subscriber lost his handset or gets a new handset in visiting country but wants to dial from his old address book.

The system and method of the present invention, in its various aspects facilitate by the gateway automatic correction of the dialed called party number (either from the address book or dial pad) based on the country from where the subscriber initiated the MO call and the SIM he used to initiate this MO call.

Brief Description of Drawings In the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers identify similar elements or acts.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for implementing Smart Dialer services, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 represents a flowchart depicting method for enabling mobile communication using Smart Dialer services, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention; and Fig. 3 represents a few screenshots of user experience when using the Smart Dialer service, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one having ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified, so as not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, reference in the specification to "one aspect" or "an aspect" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic, described in connection with the aspect, is included in at least one aspect of the present invention. The appearance of the phrase "in an aspect," in various places in the specification, does not necessarily refer to the same aspect.

The present invention provides a system and a method for facilitating mobile communication for a subscriber of a Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN) roaming in a Visited Public Mobile Network (VPMN). In accordance with various aspects, the present invention provides a method and system routing a subscriber's MO call to a called party by a gateway, through a local number. This concept of routing MO call through a local number is hereinafter referred to as Smart Dialer. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the subscriber's MO call is an international call that is routed through a local number from the country where the subscriber initiated the MO call. In another aspect of the present invention, the subscriber initiates the MO call while roaming nationally within his home country. In this case, the MO call is routed by the gateway using a local number from within the network where the subscriber initiated the MO call. In both these aspects, the called party can be present either in subscriber's present country or a different country, thus making the MO call either a national roaming call or an international roaming call. For sake of clarity the present invention is explained with international roaming scenarios, however, it will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that this invention will be equally applicable while dealing with all national roaming scenarios.

The smart dialer service allows a subscriber to make cheap international calls from any country in world for any local subscriber. It allows home country roamers at a visited country to make international roaming calls at nearly local roaming rates. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, to implement Smart Dialer service, a client application is installed on subscriber's mobile handset that is preferably a smart phone or a feature phone. The smart dialer uses Roamware's Carrier Service (RCS) Infrastructure which consists of local numbers from many countries (up to potentially 120 countries) and long distance high quality non-internet based international terminations. The RCS consists of hubs at each partner international carrier and its associated local number presence at various countries. The Smart Dialer service does not require CAMEL partnerships between these networks.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for implementing Smart Dialer services, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. A subscriber 102 of HPMN 104 (from home country) is roaming in a VPMN 106 (from visiting country). The subscriber 102 is connected to a VPMN VLR 108, when it is roaming outside HPMN 102. In one aspect of the invention, VPMN VLR 108 is integrated with a VMSC in VPMN 106. Notwithstanding, both VPMN VLR and VMSC may have different logical addresses. Subscriber profile data corresponding to subscriber 102 is stored in HPMN HLR 110. The signaling corresponding to subscriber 102 is routed using an international STP 1 1 12 at VPMN 106 and international STP 2 1 14 at HPMN 104. The signaling between HPMN 104 and VPM 106 is carried using SS7 signaling architecture 116. The signals exchanged between HPMN 104 and VPMN 106 are MAP based signals. Other network elements of HPMN 104 (e.g., MSC/VLR) communicate with various other network elements of VPMN 106 (e.g., HLR, VLR etc.) via the SS7 link. It will also be apparent to a person skilled in the art that various components of HPMN 104 communicate with VPMN 106 using various signaling techniques including, but not limited to, SS7, SIP, IP, ISUP etc. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, VPMN VLR 108 interacts with international STP 1 112 via a switch 1 18. In one aspect of the invention, switch 118 is a Local POP (Point-Of-Presence) in VPMN 106. The Smart Dialer service is handled by a Smart Dialer Gateway 120 that resides in a carrier partner network 122. Hereinafter, Smart Dialer Gateway 120 is interchangeably referred to as gateway 120. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that gateway 120 is location independent and normally does not reside home country (HPMN 104) or visiting country (VPMN 106). However, the local POP (i.e., switch) 1 18 is country specific that is only a switching infrastructure that takes calls on certain DIDs (Direct Inward Dialing) that are local numbers specific to the country that is associated with that local POP. The gateway 120 may be located at a hub location that can cater to multiple networks' local POP for routing the subscriber's calls through smart dialer service. The representation of gateway 120 in carrier partner network 122 is only exemplary and not limiting. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that HPMN 104 and VPMN 106 may follow their own interconnect routes to route calls to any local POP in the world.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, several gateways (like gateway 120) can be used in RCS ecosystem that supports geographically redundant gateways around the world. Further several such ecosystems can form a meta-ecosystem. In various aspects of the present invention, the gateway 120 routes subscriber 102's MO international call to a called party (in destination network as shown in Fig. 1) through a local number (fetched from local POP 118), thereby turning subscriber 102's international call into a local call. This called party can be either in a destination network or in home network (HPMN 104) or visiting network (VPMN 106). The subscriber 102's caller ID and the called international number (called party) and subscriber's country (VPMN 104) from the MO call is initiated is mapped to a fixed local number in the gateway 120 where this mapping is stored both in subscriber's mobile device and at gateway 120. So if subscriber 102 directly dials the fixed local number at the country, the call will reach the called party's number. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, when for the first time subscriber 102 initiates a call through smart dialer service, and the dialed number or the dialer number is not found in local DNIS (Dialed Number Identification Service), the caller ID and dialed entry are sent via data channel to gateway 120. Gateway 120 selects a DNIS and stores the caller ID, dialed number (i.e., called party) and the DNIS mapping in gateway 120. The DNIS corresponds to the same country as the caller ID of subscriber 102. This mapping is also stored on subscriber 102's device so that the Smart Dialer application can access the local mapping and dials out on DNIS number for subsequent calls to the same called party number.

In one aspect of the present invention, whenever the Smart Dialer application detects a new number of a country that is different from those of the same country stored in gateway 120, the application prompts the user to add the number to gateway 120. Default action is adding to gateway 120. Thereafter, the DNIS mapping gets associated with both old caller ID and new caller ID of the same country. This mapping is stored on both subscriber's device and gateway 120. This stored entry in gateway 120 serves as an address book backup. The mapping can be dynamically established by gateway 120 as subscriber 102 makes the MO call via Smart Dialer application. Alternatively, the mapping can be built whenever subscriber 102 is having an available mobile bearer channel, i.e., free data connection in background like WiFi, 3G, GPRS, SMS, USSD etc. In one aspect of the present invention, the address book backup is done by gateway 120 whenever subscriber 102 requests for it.

In another aspect of the present invention, the local number assigned to subscriber 102 can be a number in another country that is different from the country where subscriber is currently present. To deal with this scenario, the Smart Dialer uses a regional local number if there is no local country number available. The regional call will still be cheaper than the original call by mobile operator. For example, if subscriber 102 goes to UAE and tries to call India, although there is no UAE number to call, gateway 120 will connect the call to a local number in Bahrain first before gateway 120 sends the call to subscriber 102's original India called party number. Calling through local Bahrain number will turn out cheaper as mobile operators' charges call to India is more expensive than a call to another GCC country while being in UAE.

FIG. 2 represents a flowchart depicting method for enabling mobile communication using Smart Dialer services, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. At step 202, gateway 120 facilitates routing of subscriber 102's MO call to a called party through a local number (i.e., DID number). At step 204, gateway 120 stores the mapping between caller ID of subscriber 102, called party number and the local number in either subscriber 102's mobile device or gateway 120 or both. Additionally, at step 206, gateway 120 facilitates storing of mapping of plurality of local numbers corresponding to plurality of numbers listed in subscriber 102's address book. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, the Smart Dialer service can be integrated with multiple Internet based address books of subscriber 102. For example, subscriber 102's address book from email service providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Rediff, Hotmail etc. Also, subscriber 102's social networking accounts on sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut etc. Similarly, the address book of subscriber 102 can also be extended to include his account on Internet based calling services like Skype, Google Talk, Google Voice etc. In yet another aspect of the present invention, the address book can also be integrated with Internet search results like restaurant contact number, doctor's contact number etc.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the Smart Dialer application can be implemented across multiple radio technologies, like but not limited to, CDMA, GSM, 3G, LTE, WiMax, WiFi etc. The Smart Dialer service can work on any phone. For example, in smart phones normal user dialing experience can be carried out except that menu choice will have a Smart Dialer option. Similarly, for non-smart phones, the Smart Dialer application will need to be interfaced to trigger the Smart Dialer call.

The Smart Dialer product and service can be implemented in a client-server architecture, where gateway 120 (Smart Dialer gateway) is the server and the client is Smart Dialer application installed on subscriber 102's mobile device. The subscriber 102 has an option to login into his account of Smart Dialer service either on worldwide web (www) or through the client installed on his mobile device. The login can be done using email and password or other generically known methods of login. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the default access of Smart dialer application from the handset requires no user name and password. In yet another aspect of the present invention, the login is configurable by subscriber 102 for configurable time (e.g., forever or 1 day etc.). In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, payment system for Smart Dialer is pre-paid system where a subscriber is prompted when creating his Smart Dialer account to add credit to his account in order to be able to make calling using Smart Dialer service. This pre-paid payment is similar to other known Internet based calling solutions like Skype etc. In another aspect of the present invention, subscriber 102 also has an option to check balance left in his Smart Dialer account and has the option to recharge it over any data channel (i.e., mobile bearer channel). Following text will describe the user experience when Smart Dialer services are implemented. Fig. 3 represents some screenshots of user experience when using the Smart Dialer service, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. When the Smart Dialer is selected (or touched on mobile's touch screen), the one of the screens as shown in Fig. 3 is opened. Recent call logs are selectable and scrollable and the keypad containing numbers and alphabets is available for inputting. As subscriber 102 types any matching entry with phone numbers is listed. The keypad input is the currently selected entry. Smart Dialer call is triggered when subscriber 102 presses the call key. In another aspect of the present invention, subscriber 102 can go to menu to select Smart Dialer call back on a currently selected entry. The subscriber 102 can also go to his mobile device's address book to select an entry for a Smart Dialer call or call back. In another aspect of the present invention, subscriber 102 can use normal dialing experience where while dialing a selected entry, subscriber 102 selects a smart dialer call through the menu.

The search space may consist of device address book, or any Internet linked space. The Internet linked space can be configured by subscriber 102. Some common ones are Facebook, Linkedin, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Skype that built into Smart Dialer application. It will be apparent to a person skilled in art that more such 3 party applications can be integrated as the Smart Dialer product upgrade happens. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the Smart Dialer application periodically checked for upgrade whenever there is a data connection available. Default selection of data channel, whether it is GPRS while subscriber is on move and Wi-Fi when the subscriber is at home, is chosen by subscriber. If there is a new version of the Smart Dialer application, the application is marked with upgradable sign. The user can choose to upgrade. The user proactively can also check for upgradable version of the application. The upgrade does not affect any local address book and local number mappings for the subscriber.

Following description will explain various use case scenarios for implementing the Smart Dialer services. Use Case 1: Subscriber 102 (say A) is in India and wants to call his friend B in the U.S (United States of America). In this case when A dials using Smart Dialer then the call first goes to local POP in India which provides a DID number (local number), and then gateway 120 (i.e., RCS hub) forwards this call from local Indian number to the dialed US number of B. This results in a cheaper call for subscriber A as compared to the charges mobile operator would have charged for this international call. In this case subscriber A only has to pay local call charges to the local Indian DID number plus some charges for using the Smart Dialing service.

Use Case 2: Subscriber 102 (i.e., A) travels to U.S. and calls back to his friend C in India. When A uses Smart Dialer service to call C, then he simply dials the Indian number for C from his address book, however, the call will go through a local POP in U.S. that assigns subscriber A a local U.S. number (DID) that is mapped to the Indian number of his friend C. Gateway 120 (i.e., RCS hub) then forwards this call from local U.S. number to the dialed number in India. This results in cheaper international call charges and subscriber A only has to pay local roaming charge call charge plus the non-roaming international long distance charge, which is often cheaper than roaming international call charge. Use Case 3: Subscriber 102 (i.e., A) travels to U.S and changes to a local U.S. SIM and then tries to call his friend C in India. In this case, since the SIM has changed, in order to use Smart Dialer service, A first has to login to his Smart Dialer account (using his India account credentials) to map the new U.S. SIM number to his old Indian SIM number. Then when the MO call is initiated through Smart Dialer, gateway 120 assigns the local U.S. number that was assigned to A's Indian number (in use case 2) against to the new U.S. SIM also. This means that same mapping that was done before can be used again. However, as an extension of this use case, if A travels to U.K. (United Kingdom) and then dials out his friend C's Indian number, then gateway 120 will assign a new local U.K. number to A before forwarding his call from U.K. number to Indian number of C.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that these three uses cases are only exemplary illustrations of implementing the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Many more different uses cases can be built using different call logics (like the subscriber travels to US and calls a local US number using Smart Dialer etc.) to implement various aspects of the present invention.

In accordance with various aspects of the invention, the address book backup done by gateway 120 also provides the subscriber 102 with an option to restore his address book in case his handset is lost or he changes to a new handset or SIM. The subscriber 102 can use his Smart Dialer login credentials either through web interface or client application installed on his mobile device to restore his address book backup that is stored in gateway 120.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, gateway 120 facilitates providing Virtual Home Environment (VHE) to automatically correct the dialed number based on the subscriber's country. The stored entry in gateway 120 automatically provides VHE (i.e., short code and call correction) when subscriber 102 is roaming either with his home SIM/device or a visited SIM/device. This eliminates the need to store device mapping for the corrected number. The gateway 120 is aware of subscriber's 102 home location from his account credentials and his visited location from the mapping entry. For example, if a US subscriber has an address entry + 19256161056, then when this subscriber moves to HongKong and dials the number directly it fails. However, if using Smart Dialer application, then gateway 120 will provide the correct number of +19256161056. In another example, if subscriber 102 is in a country that is different from the home country, e.g., subscriber 102 is in India, and the SIM IMSI indicates an U.S operator, then if the dialed number has an International Access Code (IAC) of the home country (i.e., the United States, which is 01 1), then gateway 120 replaces the IAC (i.e., 01 1) by the IAC of the current country if the dialed number does not have an IAC of the current country (i.e., India, which is 00 or +) nor an IAC of the home country (i.e., the United States, which is 01 1), then if the dialed number has home country code (i.e., 1 for the United States), add IAC (i.e., 00 or +) of the current country (i.e., India). This auto-correction is applied when subscriber 102 is in a country that is different from the home country of the SIM. The Smart Dialer client will store the IAC of various countries.

In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, the Smart Dialer application allows subscriber 102 to use multiple devices with multiple SIMs from different visiting countries. In first aspect, the subscriber is travelling to a visiting country with his home SIM/device. When a caller ID is at a country that is different to those stored on the subscriber's device and gateway 102, a new mapping process as described above takes place. This allows the subscriber 102 to use his home SIM at a visiting country with roaming local rate (plus a cheap IDD call) rather than expensive roaming international rate. In second aspect, the subscriber is travelling to a visiting country and uses the visited country SIM and device. When the caller ID is from a new country to those stored in gateway 120 and subscriber 102's device, a new mapping process as described above takes place. This allows the subscriber 102 to use a local SIM (from visiting country) and take benefit of roaming rates as well as international call rates. Further, in another aspect, when a new SIM is used, gateway 120 prompts a new MSISDN to be added to the smart dialer address book mapping with local numbers. An address book entry mapping with a local number of a country can be associated with multiple MSISDNs or phone numbers of the same country for different countries. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, subscriber 102 can receive calls on his home number (SIM / MSISDN) when he changes SIM at a visiting country. The subscriber 102 requests for a local number from home country and have the home number forwarded to the local number which then reaches the subscriber 102's new SIM/device via gateway 120. In one implementation mechanism, subscriber 102 will be prompted by gateway 120 when he swaps a visiting country SIM. For example, he will be asked if he wants to still receive calls on his home number. If yes, gateway 120 will allocate subscriber 102 a new home local number to have his old (original) home number forwarded to this new local number in order to receive calls on his device with local visiting country's SIM. This new home local number is hereinafter referred to as Home- Forward-To-N umber (HFTN). However, in order to activate this call forwarding, subscriber 102 will need to use his home country SIM or device. Also, he will not be able to receive SMS on the home number in a new SIM / device. For that subscriber 102 will have to put home SIM in another device for just receiving SMS (normally incoming roaming SMS are free).

In another aspect of the present invention, subscriber 102 uses a visiting country device with a local SIM while keeping his old (original) home device and old home SIM. Then, with the new device, he has Smart dialer installed and he can request a new home number to be forwarded to if subscriber 102 has not been assigned such a number. He can then perform call forwarding on the home number to the new home number, i.e., HFTN. The HFTN will be same for any country subscriber 102 visits and whenever he uses a local SIM from a visiting country, since they all come under single Smart Dialer login for subscriber 102.

In another aspect of the present invention, the HFTN is an alias number, as it is used locally or anywhere in the world to reach subscriber 102. When used locally or while roaming with the home SIM/device, the HFTN is mapped to the subscriber's home number. Alternatively, when used in a visiting country, the HFTN is mapped to the subscriber's visiting country number. This alias number allows subscriber 102 to screen calls and receive voicemail which can then be translated as texts to be delivered to subscriber 102's handset. The Smart Dialer has a configuration option for caller ID as an alias number or as the caller ID of the device/SIM. When the call reaches the Smart Dialer hub (i.e., gateway 102), the configuration is used to dictate which caller ID to call out.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, it is also possible to automate the call forwarding through the Smart Dialer gateway 120 when it is on a SS7 network (e.g., via the RCS hub). In this case, the Smart Dialer can automatically set call forwarding for subscriber 102's home number to his HFTN via SS7 signaling. This action can be triggered, whenever there is a local SIM at a visiting country being used via Smart Dialer, the first time he will be prompted if he wants to have his home number to be forwarded to the new SIM. If yes, and if no HFTN assigned yet, he will be given one HFTN; otherwise, the Smart Dialer will automatically sets the home number to the HFTN. In such case, subscriber 102 can cancel the call forwarding via Smart Dialer anytime he wants.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the Smart Dialer service deals with unknown caller ID issue. Due to limited resources of DNIS, DNIS mapping is indexed by caller ID. The Smart Dialer gateway 120 offers a separate pool of DNIS which is also shared by all subscribers but is not permanent for a particular subscriber. This pool will only allocate one DNIS at a time to one called number of one subscriber only on a per call basis that expires after a configurable time, e.g., in 5 minutes. In this case, subscriber 102 can request on-demand for a dialed number for a temporary DNIS. This request is then communicated via a data channel to gateway 120. The mapping is optionally stored on the device side since it is only a short time, e.g., 5 minutes. If it is stored locally for a short time, subscriber 102 can dial normally the called number without any need to remember the temporary DNIS number. The temporary DNIS mapping to called number however is always stored at gateway 120 (and/or its associated RCS hub) that also expires after a configurable time, e.g., 5 minutes. When the temporary DNIS is dialed, the call will reach the Smart Dialer related RCS hub, which can then reconstruct the originally intended called number.

In other words, the same DNIS might be used by other subscribers to map their own called number but they are distinguished by each subscriber's caller ID. Now this mapping may create problem if subscriber's caller ID is not sent. The known solutions (like Google Voice) deal with this situation by simply dropping such a call without caller ID. This problem may not be present for US subscribers as caller ID is always sent. However, this may be a bigger problem where some countries (e.g., Hong Kong) do not allow for sending caller ID. For example, in HK off-net calls for international inbound roamers do not transmit caller ID, i.e., calls made by inbound roamers at a network to an outside network local numbers will not send caller ID. However, such cases are extremely rate. Also, in cases where the caller ID blocked, it is still sent over network but not displayed to the recipient.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the Smart Dialer service allows for call back services. The request for call back is communicated to Smart Dailer hub (i.e., gateway 120) using data channel (like WiFi, GPRS, 3G etc.). When subscriber 102 is not roaming but is using a visiting country SIM, then since call back rate will be cheaper than call out rate, gateway 120 is used to call both calling party and the called party. One exemplary sequence of calling could be, gateway 120 first calls the subscriber 102 till he answers and then calls the called party. Other sequence could be gateway 120 calls both subscriber 102 and the called party simultaneously and bridges the call. In one aspect of the present invention, gateway 120 plays call charges announcement to subscriber 102 prior to routing his call through the local number. For example, the cost of the smart dialer call may be announced like "the cost of this call is 20c/min". The announcement is made by gateway 120, i.e., the Smart Dialer hub (or its associated RCS hub) when the call reaches gateway 120. This announcement call circuit is one way and is not answered to avoid introducing charging to subscriber 102. After the announcement, the call is directed to the called party. Alternatively, for a Smart Dialer Call Back service, the cost of the call is presented to the Smart Dialer client, like "the cost of this call is 20c/min".

In another aspect of the present invention, gateway 120 stores call logs for all Smart Dialer calls and all recent calls are logged on subscriber 102's mobile device. The subscriber has an option to retrieve historical call logs from the server (i.e., gateway 120). The logs generally indicate duration, call charge, called number, date and time of the call.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, some home operators charge a flat retail roaming rate. In such cases a roaming subscriber using Smart Dialer to call out with a local number will not save any money. In fact he may have paid more for the international call leg provided by Smart Dialer RCS. To overcome this issue, Smart Dialer gateway also maintains home operator and destination countries / operators to see if there are any arbitrage rate advantage between calling a local number and calling an international number when the home subscriber roaming in the destination, taking into account of the additional IDD leg of charge by Smart Dialer RCS. When a smart Dialer subscriber makes a smart dialer call as a roaming user at a visiting country where there is no arbitrage benefit for the call, the Smart Dialer gateway 120 does not generate a local number (DNIS) and its associated mapping. Instead it returns a message to subscriber like "Because the retail charge of your home operator may be the same for whatever roaming calls you make, it is advised to use Roaming call back or use a visiting country device or SIM to make the call. To continue please press 1.". If the user indeed continues the call by pressing 1, the call at least goes through Smart Dialer gateway 120 and shows the caller ID configured at gateway 120, which could be an alias or screening number of subscriber 102. Since gateway 120 cannot guarantee the accuracy of the home operator retail roaming rate information, the call might still be cheaper that a normal dialed international call.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, that the present invention can also be applied to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)/ American National Standards Institute # 41 D (ANSI-41D), and various other technologies such as, but not limited to, VoIP, WiFi, 3GSM and inter-standard roaming. In one exemplary case, a CDMA outbound roamer travels with an HPMN CDMA handset. In another exemplary case, the CDMA outbound roamer travels with an HPMN GSM SIM and a GSM handset. In yet another exemplary case, GSM outbound roamer travels with an HPMN CDMA RUIM and a CDMA handset. To support these variations, system 100 will have a separate SS7 and network interfaces, corresponding to both the HPMN and VPMN networks. It will also be apparent to a person skilled in the art that these two interfaces in different directions may not have to be the same technologies. Moreover, there could be multiple types of interface in both directions.

An exemplary list of the mapping between GSM MAP and ANSI-41D is described in the table below as a reference.

The present invention can take the form of an entirely hardware aspect, an entirely software aspect, or an aspect containing both hardware and software elements. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, software, including but not limited to, firmware, resident software, and microcode, implements the invention. Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer program product, accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by, or in connection with, a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk - read only memory (CDROM), compact disk - read/write (CD-R/W) and Digital Versatile Disk (DVD).

The components of present system described above include any combination of computing components and devices operating together. The components of the present system can also be components or subsystems within a larger computer system or network. The present system components can also be coupled with any number of other components (not shown), such as other buses, controllers, memory devices, and data input/output devices, in any number of combinations. In addition, any number or combination of other processor-based components may be carrying out the functions of the present system.

It should be noted that the various components disclosed herein may be described using computer aided design tools and/or expressed (or represented), as data and/or instructions embodied in various computer-readable media, in terms of their behavioral, register transfer, logic component, transistor, layout geometries, and/or other characteristics. Computer-readable media in which such formatted data and/or instructions may be embodied include, but are not limited to, non-volatile storage media in various forms (e.g., optical, magnetic or semiconductor storage media) and carrier waves that may be used to transfer such formatted data and/or instructions through wireless, optical, or wired signaling media or any combination thereof. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words "comprise," "comprising," and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in a sense of "including, but may not be limited to." Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words "herein," "hereunder," "above," "below," and words of similar import refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. When the word "or" is used in reference to a list of two or more items, it covers all of the following interpretations: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list and any combination of the items in the list.

The above description of illustrated aspects of the present system is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present system to the precise form disclosed. While specific aspects of, and examples for, the present system are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the present system, as those skilled in the art will recognize. The teachings of the present system provided herein can be applied to other processing systems and methods. They may not be limited to the systems and methods described above. The elements and acts of the various aspects described above can be combined to provide further aspects. These and other changes can be made in light of the above detailed description.

Other Variations

Provided above for the edification of those of ordinary skill in the art, and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention, are detailed illustrations of a scheme for proactive roaming tests, discoveries of roaming partner services and discoveries of frauds in roaming using simulated roaming traffic. Numerous variations and modifications within the spirit of the present invention will of course occur to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the aspects that have been disclosed. For example, the present invention is implemented primarily from the point of view of GSM mobile networks as described in the aspects. However, the present invention may also be effectively implemented on GPRS, 3G, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMax etc., or any other network of common carrier telecommunications in which end users are normally configured to operate within a "home" network to which they normally subscribe, but have the capability of also operating on other neighboring networks, which may even be across international borders.

The examples under the system of present invention detailed in the illustrative examples contained herein are described using terms and constructs drawn largely from GSM mobile telephony infrastructure. However, use of these examples should not be interpreted as limiting the invention to those media. The system and method can be of use and provided through any type of telecommunications medium, including without limitation: (i) any mobile telephony network including without limitation GSM, 3GSM, 3G, CDMA, WCDMA or GPRS, satellite phones or other mobile telephone networks or systems; (ii) any so-called WiFi apparatus normally used in a home or subscribed network, but also configured for use on a visited or non-home or non-accustomed network, including apparatus not dedicated to telecommunications such as personal computers, Palm-type or Windows Mobile devices; (iii) an entertainment console platform such as Sony Playstation, PSP or other apparatus that are capable of sending and receiving telecommunications over home or non-home networks, or even (iv) fixed-line devices made for receiving communications, but capable of deployment in numerous locations while preserving a persistent subscriber id such as the eye2eye devices from Dlink; or telecommunications equipment meant for voice over IP communications such as those provided by Vonage or Packet8.

In describing certain aspects of the system under the present invention, this specification follows the path of a telecommunications call, from a calling party to a called party. For the avoidance of doubt, such a call can be a normal voice call, in which the subscriber telecommunications equipment is also capable of visual, audiovisual or motion-picture display. Alternatively, those devices or calls can be for text, video, pictures or other communicated data.

In the foregoing specification, specific aspects of the present invention have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and the figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present invention. The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur, or to become more pronounced, are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all of the claims.

APPENDIX

CSI Camel Subscription Information

DPC Destination Point Code

DSD Delete Subscriber Data

DTMF Dual Tone Multi- Frequency

ERB CAP Event Report Basic call state model

EU European Union

FPMN Friendly Public Mobile Network

FTN Forward-To-Number

GLR Gateway Location Register

GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

GMSC Gateway MSC

GMSC-F GMSC in FPMN

GMSC-H GMSC in HPMN

GPRS General Packet Radio System

GSM Global System for Mobile

GSMA GSM Association

GSM SSF GSM Service Switching Function

GsmSCF GSM Service Control Function

GT Global Title

GTP GPRS Tunnel Protocol

HLR Home Location Register

HPMN Home Public Mobile Network

IN Intelligent Network

IOT Inter-Operator Tariff

GTT Global Title Translation

IAM Initial Address Message

IDP Initial DP IN/CAP message

IDD International Direct Dial

IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

IMSI-H HPMN IMSI

IN Intelligent Network

INAP Intelligent Network Application Part

INE Interrogating Network Entity

IP Internet Protocol

IREG International Roaming Expert Group

IRS International Revenue Share

ISC International Service Carrier

ISD MAP Insert Subscriber Data

ISG International Signal Gateway

1ST Immediate Service Termination

ISTP International STP

ISTP-F ISTP connected to FPMN STP

ISTP-H ISTP connected to HPMN STP

ISUP ISDN User Part ITPT Inbound Test Profile Initiation

ITR Inbound Traffic Redirection

IVR Interactive Voice Response

LU Location Update

LUP MAP Location Update

MAP Mobile Application Part

MCC Mobile Country Code

MCC Mobile Country Code

MD Missing Data

ME Mobile Equipment

MGT Mobile Global Title

MMS Multimedia Message Service

MMSC Multimedia Message Service Center

MMSC-F FPMN MMSC

MMSC-H HPMN MMSC

MNC Mobile Network Code

MNP Mobile Number Portability

MO Mobile Originated

MOS Mean Opinion Score

MS Mobile Station

MSC Mobile Switching Center

MSISDN Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number

MSISDN-F FPMN MSISDN

MSISDN-H HPMN MSISDN

MSRN Mobile Station Roaming Number

MSRN-F FPMN MSRN

MSRN-H HPMN MSRN

MT Mobile Terminated

MTP Message Transfer Part

NDC National Dialing Code

NP Numbering Plan

NPI Numbering Plan Indicator

NRTRDE Near Real Time Roaming Data Exchange

O-CSI Originating CAMEL Subscription Information

OCN Original Called Number

ODB Operator Determined Barring

OPC Origination Point Code

OR Optimal Routing

ORLCF Optimal Routing for Late Call Forwarding

OTA Over The Air

OTPI Outbound Test Profile Initiation

PDP Protocol Data Packet

PDN Packet Data Network

PDU Packet Data Unit PRN MAP Provide Roaming Number

PSI MAP Provide Subscriber Information

QoS Quality of Service

RAEX Roaming Agreement EXchange

RI Routing Indicator

RIS Roaming Intelligence System

RDN Redirecting Number

RNA Roaming Not Allowed

RR Roaming Restricted due to unsupported feature

RRB CAP Request Report Basic call state model

RSD Restore Data

RTP Real-Time Transport Protocol

SAI Send Authentication Info

SC Short Code

SCA Smart Call Assistant

SCCP Signal Connection Control part

SCP Signaling Control Point

SF System Failure

SG Signaling Gateway

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

SGSN-F FPMN SGSN

SIM Subscriber Identity Module

SIGTRAN Signaling Transport Protocol

SME Short Message Entity

SM-RP-UI Short Message Relay Protocol User Information

SMS Short Message Service

SMSC Short Message Service Center

SMSC-F FPMN SMSC

SMSC-H HPMN SMSC

SoR Steering of Roaming

SPC Signal Point Code

SRI MAP Send Routing Information

SRI-SM MAP Send Routing Information For Short Message

SS Supplementary Services

SS7 Signaling System #7

SSN Sub System Number

SSP Service Switch Point

STK SIM Tool Kit Application

STP Signal Transfer Point

STP-F FPMN STP

STP-H HPMN STP

TADIG Transferred Account Data Interchange Group

TAP Transferred Account Procedure

TCAP Transaction Capabilities Application Part VT-CSI Visited Terminating CAMEL Service Information

TP SMS Transport Protocol

TR Traffic Redirection

TS Traffic Steering

TT Translation Type

UD User Data

UDH User Data Header

UDHI User Data Header Indicator

USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

VAS Value Added Service

VIP Very Important Person

VLR Visited Location Register

VLR-F FPMN VLR

VLR-H HPMN VLR

VLR-V VPMN VLR

VMSC Visited Mobile Switching Center

VoIP Voice over IP

VPMN Visited Public Mobile Network

ATI Access Transport Information

UDV Unexpected Data Value

USI User Service Information

WAP Wireless Access Protocol

Technical references, the entirety of each of which is incorporated by reference herein:

GSM 902 on MAP specification

Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+)

Mobile Application Part (MAP) Specification

(3 GPP TS 09.02 version 7.9.0 Release 1998)

GSM 340 on SMS

Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+)

Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS)

(GSM 03.40 version 7.4.0 Release 1998)

GSM 378 on CAMEL, GSM 978 on CAMEL Application Protocol,

GSM 379 on CAMEL Support of Optimal Routing (SOR),

GSM 318 on CAMEL Basic Call Handling ITU-T Recommendation Q.1214 (1995), Distributed functional plane for intelligent network CS-1,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.1218 (1995), Interface Recommendation for intelligent network CS-1,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.762 (1999), Signaling system No. 7 - ISDN user part general functions of messages and signals,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.763 (1999), Signaling system No. 7 - ISDN user part formats and codes,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.764 (1999), Signaling system No. 7 - ISDN user part signaling procedures,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.765 (1998), Signaling system No. 7 - Application transport mechanism,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.766 (1993), Performance objectives in the integrated services digital network application,

ITU-T Recommendation Q.769.1 (1999), Signaling system No. 7 - ISDN user part enhancements for the support of Number Portability

Claims

Claims:

1. A method for mobile communications, the method comprising:

facilitating, via a gateway, routing of a subscriber's mobile originated (MO) call to a called party, through a local number, wherein the subscriber is present in one of a home country and a roaming country, and wherein the called party is present in a same or a different country from the subscriber; and

storing the local number in one of a mobile device of the subscriber and the gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway routes the subscriber's MO call by forwarding the subscriber's MO call from the local number to the called party number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the local number is a number allocated by the gateway corresponding to the country from which the MO call originated, and is mapped to the called party number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber's MO call is an international or national call.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the local number relates to storing the mapping between the subscriber's number, the local number that is allocated corresponding to the country from which the MO call originated and the called number, in one of the subscriber's mobile device and the gateway.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the local number is a number from the country from which the MO call originated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the local number is a number from a country different from the country from which the MO call originated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway is a central hub serving multiple countries' local numbers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing mapping of a plurality of local numbers corresponding to a plurality of numbers listed in a subscriber's address book, either when a mobile bearer is available or based on a demand of the subscriber.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway routes the MO call to the called party through a new local number corresponding to the roaming country, wherein the MO call is initiated by the subscriber using a local Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of the roaming country.

1 1. The method of claim 10, wherein the gateway stores mapping between subscriber's new Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) corresponding to the local SIM, the called party and the new local number, in one of the subscriber's mobile device and the gateway.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the subscriber receiving all Mobile Terminated (MT) calls and Short

Message Service (SMS) on a Home Forward To Number (HFTN) assigned by the gateway, wherein the HFTN corresponds to a home number of the subscriber.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the gateway forwards the MT calls and SMS received on the subscriber's home number to the HFTN.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the HFTN is mapped to the subscriber's local

SIM when the subscriber is in the roaming country or the HFTN is mapped to subscriber's home number when the subscriber is in the home country.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway assigns the local number to the subscriber for a configurable time period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the gateway uses the same local number for a second subscriber's MO call to a different called party.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway creates a backup of the subscriber's address book.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the backup of subscriber's address book is restorable by the subscriber using the subscriber's Smart Dialer login credentials.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway further facilitates providing a Virtual Home Environment (VHE) to automatically correct the dialed number based on the subscriber's country.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway plays call charges announcement to the subscriber prior to routing of the MO call to the called party.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising: requesting the subscriber to avail a Smart Dialer application prior to the subscriber initiating the MO call.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the gateways upgrades the Smart Dialer application whenever a mobile bearer is available on the subscriber's mobile device.

23. A system for mobile communication, the system comprising:

a gateway that facilitates routing of a subscriber's mobile originated (MO) call to a called party, through a local number, wherein the subscriber is present in one of a home country and a roaming country, and wherein the called party is present in a same or a different country from the subscriber; and

the gateway further stores the local number in one of a mobile device of the subscriber and the gateway.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway routes the subscriber's MO call by forwarding the subscriber's MO call from the local number to the called party number.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the local number is a number allocated by the gateway corresponding to the country from which the MO call originated, and is mapped to the called party number.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway is a central hub serving multiple countries' local numbers.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the subscriber's MO call is one of an international and national call.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway stores the mapping between the subscriber's number, the local number that is allocated corresponding to the country from which the MO call originated and the called number, in the subscriber's mobile device.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the local number is a number from the country from which the MO call originated.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the local number is a number from a country different from the country from which the MO call originated.

31. The system of claim 23 wherein the gateway stores mapping of a plurality of local numbers corresponding to a plurality of numbers listed in a subscriber's address book, either when a mobile bearer is available or based on a demand of the subscriber.

32. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway routes the MO call to the called party through a new local number corresponding to the roaming country, wherein the MO call is initiated by the subscriber using a local Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of the roaming country.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the gateway stores mapping between subscriber's new Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) corresponding to the local SIM, the called party and the new local number, in the subscriber's mobile device.

34. The system claim 23, wherein the gateway assigns a Home Forward To Number (HFTN) to the subscriber for receiving all Mobile Terminated (MT) calls and Short Message Service (SMS), wherein the HFTN corresponds to a home number of the subscriber.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the gateway forwards the MT calls and SMS received on the subscriber's home number to the HFTN.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the HFTN is mapped to the subscriber's local SIM when the subscriber is in the roaming country or the HFTN is mapped to subscriber's home number when the subscriber is in the home country.

37. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway assigns the local number to the subscriber for a configurable time period.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the gateway uses the same local number for a second subscriber's MO call to a different called party.

39. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway plays call charges announcement to the subscriber prior to routing of the MO call to the called party.

40. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway requests the subscriber to avail a Smart Dialer application prior to the subscriber initiating the MO call.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the gateways upgrades the Smart Dialer application whenever a mobile bearer is available on the subscriber's mobile device.

42. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway creates a backup of the subscriber's address book.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the backup of subscriber's address book is restorable by the subscriber using the subscriber's Smart Dialer login credentials.

44. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway further facilitates providing a Virtual Home Environment (VHE) to automatically correct the dialed number based on the subscriber's country.

45. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to facilitate mobile communications, the control logic comprising:

means for facilitating, via a gateway, routing of a subscriber's mobile originated (MO) call to a called party, through a local number, wherein the subscriber is present in one of a home country and a roaming country, and wherein the called party is present in a same or a different country from the subscriber; and

means for storing the local number in one of a mobile device of the subscriber and the gateway.