An intelligent network consists of a number of switching entities that combine to offer subscribers a specialised service, such as televoting. The switching entities contain processing software to process calls according to the required service or application. Typically, an intelligent network contains a number of service switching points (SSP) each connected to a public telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an integrated services digital network (ISDN), a packet switched public data network (PSPDN) or a mobile cellular network. Each of the SSPs are linked to a service control point (SCP) which contains service specific application software and customer or subscriber records. The SSP reacts to specific service triggers and initiates queries to the SCP over a common channel signalling network, such as the signalling system No 7 (SS7) network. The SCP acts upon the query from the SSP and returns a message containing the data and instructions required to complete the service. A service management system (SMS) is linked to the SCP and supports the administration of the customer records within the SCP.

One particular service offered by an intelligent network is televoting wherein callers may dial predetermined destination telephone numbers to register a vote or an answer in response to a choice or question initiated through a viewer or listener participation program conducted by a broadcaster, such as a television or radio network. The owner or broadcaster of the program will be hereinafter referred to as a "subscriber".

Each subscriber will generally be given a block of televoting number ranges to conduct a televoting event. Typically the blocks are no more than 100 numbers wherein the last two digits of a televoting number is used to identify a choice or an option where callers can register their votes or answers. Televoting events are run within a limited time frame and as such not all callers are able to register their votes or choices within the time interval over which the televoting event runs. This

requires each of the calls received to be handled by the intelligent network in three stages, namely before the start time of the televoting event, during the televoting event itself and after the finish time of the event. At present, the treatment of calls received to a televoting event has to be done separately for each block of numbers, so that three separate operations need to be sent to each SSP for each block of numbers.

One operation is required for the treatment of the numbers received before the event starts, another operation for the televoting event itself and a third operation for the treatment of numbers received after the televoting event has finished. Thus, a large amount of time and effort has to be utilised to set the appropriate operations in each SSP at various times which is also a time consuming process.

The present invention seeks to overcome the above identified problem by providing a system and method for blocking, at certain times, calls to a televoting event which is easier to manage and is more efficient than previous methods.

According to the present invention there is provided a method of processing calls to a televoting event using an intelligent network, said method comprising the steps of : receiving telephone calls from callers at a plurality of service switching points (SSP) of said intelligent network; blocking calls made to a range of televoting destination numbers when said televoting event is not in progress on the basis of parameters received in each one of said plurality of SSPs from a service control point (SCP) of said intelligent network; and activating one or more of said televoting destination numbers to receive said calls when said televoting event is in progress on the basis of said parameters.

The method may include receiving and storing a sequence of one or more digits representing the televoting destination numbers in said range, comparing these digits with corresponding digits of a telephone call from a caller to said televoting event, and if the televoting event is not in progress, blocking said call when the said sequence of one or more digits matches said corresponding digits of said telephone call. After blocking said call, an announcement may be transmitted to the blocked caller. The parameters may include said televoting destination numbers, the start

time and finish time of the televoting event and are transmitted from the SCP to each one of said plurality of SSPs.

Prior to the televoting event, the parameters may be transmitted from the SCP to each one of said plurality of SSPs via a service filter means and may further include the address of the SCP, filtering criteria to be applied to each caller to the event.

The transmission of the parameters, in the form of messages or signals, may use the Intelligent Network Application Protocol (INAP) and take place over a signalling network.

The present invention also provides a method of processing a call to a televoting event using an intelligent network, said method comprising the steps of : receiving a telephone call from a caller to one of a range of televoting destination numbers at a plurality of service switching points (SSPs) of said intelligent network; comparing said one of a range of televoting destination numbers with parameters stored in each of said SSPs received from a service control point (SCP); applying a blocking function to block said call on the basis of said comparing step when said televoting event is not in progress; and allowing said call to connect to said one of a range of televoting destination numbers when said televoting event is in progress.

The present invention also provides a system for processing calls to a televoting event using an intelligent network, said intelligent network including a service control point (SCP) and a plurality of service switching points (SSP), said system comprising: storing means associated with each one of said plurality of SSPs for storing parameters transmitted from said SCP; wherein one or more of said plurality of SSPs receive telephone calls from callers to a range of televoting destination numbers; each SSP further having means for comparing said received telephone calls with said parameters; wherein if the televoting event is not in progress said telephone calls are blocked on the basis of said parameters received by each one of said SSPs from said

SCP, and if the televoting event is in progress, said televoting destination numbers are activated to receive said telephone calls on the basis of said parameters.

The invention will now be described in a preferred embodiment, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system according to the present invention with its components; Figure 2 shows the signalling that takes place between an SSP and an SCP of an intelligent network.

Figure 3 is an example of a range of televoting destination numbers provided to a subscriber; and Figure 4 is a flow diagram showing processing of calls received for a televoting event.

With reference to Figure 1 there is shown a system 2 used for processing calls to any one of a number of televoting numbers at predetermined time intervals. The system 2 uses an intelligent network which includes a plurality of SSPs 4 each of which are connected to an SCP 6 through links 8. A service management system or SMS 10 is connected to the SCP 6 through link 12. Each SSP 4 is also linked to a telecommunications network 14 through links 16 while calls made to a televoting event, conducted by a subscriber, are made through normal telephone terminals 18 linked to the network 14.

When a subscriber, such as a television network or radio network, wishes to conduct a televoting service or event using an intelligent network, parameters defining the televoting service are input to the SMS 10. Such parameters would include the address of the SCP, the start time and finish time for the televoting event, the predefined televoting numbers, how the incoming calls are going to be processed or filtered and what the filtering criteria is, the maximum number of counters to be used in each of the SSPs and the contents of any recorded messages that will be delivered to callers during the event.

These parameters are transmitted to SCP 6 from SMS 10 over link 12. The parameters are in turn distributed from the SCP 6 to each SSP 4 in a manner to be described shortly.

Services in intelligent networks are executable service logic programs (SLP) that are defined in terms of functional components which are network call processing actions that direct internal network resources to perform specific actions. A service logic interpreter (SLI) executes SLPs and handles requests and responses exchanged between the various components of the intelligent network. A subscription to a televoting service by a television network or radio network is initiated by creating an instance of the SLP and connecting data to the service logic program instance (SLPI).

The SLPI is implemented in the SCP 6 and controls the SSPs 4 and is deployed and managed through the SMS 10. Each SSP 4 is controlled by sending signals or operations over the intelligent network application protocol (INAP) between each SSP 4 and the SCP 6. Through the INAP, calls routed from the communications network 14 to the SSPs 4 can be controlled by the SCP 6. The INAP supports any mapping of functional entities to physical entities for the following four functional entities: service switching function (SSF), service control function (SCF), service data function (SDF), and specialised resource function (SRF).

INAP defines the protocol architecture and physical scenario examples, the protocol operations transferred between entities such as the SSPs and the SCP, and the protocol procedures performed at each entity. The INAP protocol architecture is based on the open systems inter-connection (OSI) application layout structure to provide maximum flexibility in mapping functional entities to physical entities. The application-layer protocol operations and associated parameters and errors are specified using Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN. 1). Operations are grouped by function into application service elements (ASE) to allow for modular implementation and evolution of the INAP.

The service control function (SCF) comprises the IN service logic and attends to service-bound processing. The service data function (SDF) provides access to service-bound and network information and allows consistent checking of information. A call control function (CCF) refers to conventional call and connection establishment while the specialised resources function (SRF) provides specialised

resources needed for implementing IN services such as changes in protocol, speech detection and voice messages. The service switching function, SSF interconnects a CCF and a SCF by allowing the SCF to control the CCF.

The INAP is one layer of four that comprises an SS7 protocol pile, which is shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2 there is shown the signalling layers involved in the SSP 4 and SCP 6 that allow communication between the SSP and SCP over the signalling network 20. The INAP layer 22 is the uppermost layer and has beneath it a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) layer 24, a Signalling Connection Control Point (SCCP) layer 26 and a Message Transfer Part (MTP) layer 28. When a call is made to the intelligent network, there may be one or more INAP communications between the SSP 4 and SCP 6.

Shown in Figure 3 is a block of televoting numbers 30 that has been assigned by a network operator to a subscriber for their use in televoting events. Each ten digit number 32 represents a televoting destination number which a caller may call whereby each of the numbers 32 represent a choice or option for that caller to register their vote or to register an answer. Therefore each televoting number is identified by the last two digits 36. Prior to the start time of the televoting event that a subscriber wishes to initiate, certain parameters will be transmitted from the SCP 6 to each of the SSPs 4 so that each SSP 4 is programmed to handle incoming calls from callers to the televoting event in accordance with the parameters. Specifically, prior to the start time of the televoting event signals are transmitted using the INAP from the SCP 6 to each SSP 4 to the effect of blocking any incoming calls from prospective televoters.

This is done by loading a memory located within each SSP with for example the first four digits of the block 30 of the televoting number range or alternatively five or six of the first digits of each of the numbers 32. When an incoming call is placed from a prospective voter using one of the terminals 18 to be received by one of the SSPs 4, the SSP will compare the first four or five digits of the destination or B number with those already stored in a memory of that SSP 4. If the comparison matches prior to the start time of the televoting event, which is also stored in a clock for each SSP, then a message or announcement such as"the televoting event is not presently running"is sent to the caller.

When a televoting event is to run, the SCP 6 will send signals to each of the SSPs using the INAP to the effect of loading each of the SSPs with the parameters stored in the SCP mentioned previously. From the INAP layer, a televoting activation message is forwarded to a service filter means wherein the message comprises the following fields which are received from the SCP 6: Address of SCP The address of the SCP that has transmitted the activation message. This parameter helps to prevent activation requests sent by different SCPs from mixing within the service filter.

Processing of filtered call Functions relating to caller control and charging where this field contains information on which announcement should be given to the caller depending on the filtering criteria.

Maximum number of counters This field indicates the number of counters to be reserved for a televoting event.

FilteringMode This represents call processing information and provides details on how the SSPs 4 are to handle incoming calls to a televoting event. For example, if there are two televoting numbers available for the televoting event, these numbers will be activated and calls to each of these numbers counted in each SSP 4. The count value may be incremented by one for each call received to that number and where each counter is set with a predetermined value N so that only the Nth caller associated with the value N may be routed through to the SCP 6 over the links 8. Therefore only the Nth caller will be routed to the SCP 6 for further treatment whilst all other calls received at the SSP will be terminated with an announcement such as"Your vote has been registered. Unfortunately you have not been successful in reaching the next stage of the contest". This is where a televoting event has offered prizes to certain callers. It acts as a type of filter so that the telephone network is not congested within the short period of time that the televoting event is running.

TerminatingTime The time when the televote is terminated.

VotingNumber These are the destination televoting numbers.

StartingTime The time when the televote is activated. If the time is earlier than the present time, or if it has not been set at all, the televote is started immediately. Otherwise, the vote will be started at the defined time.

All of these parameters are loaded into the SSPs from the SCP as mentioned previously. A normal televote will run from the start time until the finish time in accordance with the filtering criteria set in the televoting event. The incoming calls are then treated in each SSP in the same manner as normal filtered televoting calls are treated as defined in the ETSI Core INAP CS-1 standard.

When a call is received by an SSP 4, the SSP 4 will determine if the televoting event is in progress from the start time, finish time and the televoting destination numbers. If the event is running then the incoming call to that destination number will be treated in accordance with the filtering criteria set in the SCP 6. If however the call is received prior to the start time or after the finish time, the call will be blocked in accordance with the comparison step in the SSP 4 mentioned previously. Therefore, by way of example, when the televoting event is finished, whereby each clock in each SSP 4 senses the finish time, calls to the televoting numbers will again be blocked. Therefore any incoming call to the televoting event after the finish time will have its first four or five digits sensed and decoded in each SSP 4 and compared in a comparitor with the stored digit string 34, as seen in Figure 3, and if the comparison matches, that call or calls will be blocked and issued with an announcement to the effect"The televoting event is not presently running."This will continue until the next televoting event is scheduled.

Therefore, the SSP 4 on receiving a call to one of the televoting destination numbers in the range of televoting numbers, will check whether or not the televoting event is running. If it is not presently running the call will be blocked and if it is running the call will be subject to the filtering criteria which overrides the blocking process.

In Figure 4 there is shown a flow diagram of the processes involved from when a caller dials a televoting service. At step 42 a caller will dial a predefined

televoting number of the type 32 shown in Figure 3 using telephone handset 18. The call is then received at one of the SSPs 4 at step 44 and a determination is made at step 46 as to whether the particular televoting event is running. This is done by comparing the first four or five digits in the televoting destination number with the first four or five digit string in the incoming call. Each SSP would be expecting a televoting number for example to have the first four digits as 1900. If this string is not sensed then it is recognised as not being a number directed to a televoting service and if there is a match then these particular calls will be blocked at step 48 if the televoting event is not running and an announcement issued to the caller at step 50 to the effect that the televoting event is not presently running. If the televoting event is running wherein each SSP has instructions for processing calls to the event during the time it is running, then each received call is counted in the SSPs at step 52 and any pre-arranged filtering criteria set in the SSPs is applied at step 54. Depending on the criteria a particular announcement may be issued to the caller at step 56 such as "Your call has been counted, thank you for calling this televoting service", or"Your vote has been registered and your call will be transferred to the next stage of processing in the contest". At step 58 all of the calls counted in each SSP is progressively transmitted to the SCP at step 58 wherein the SCP processes those results. At step 60 each of the counters in the SSPs may be reset to continue counting the calls received during the televoting process.

The present invention particularly has advantages to the network operators wherein they can define a large range of televoting numbers in one go and therefore make the management of the number range much easier. It also facilitates a service design since the service does not need to take care of calls received before and after the event is executed and no particular knowledge of the B-party number is required.