| 摘要 |
<p>The network evolution as a result of the Telecommunication Act of 1996 has resulted in the need for specific procedures to support the ability of customers to change from one telecommunications service provider to another (hereafter referred to as Number Portability (NP)). Specific procedures and standards were developed by the telecommunications industry to support NP. The magnitude of these changes are significant and have created situations that can potentially stress network technology to the point of a catastrophic network event. A need has arisen for an improved technique to handle calls in a number portability environment. In accordance with the present invention, a system and method of performing forced default routing of calls are provided that substantially eliminate or reduce disadvantages and problems associated with conventional number portability call processing techniques. <??>A telecommunications network (2) includes a signal transfer point (10) that receives an initial address message from a service switching point (12). The signal transfer point (10) determines whether a Forward Call Identifier (FCI) "m" bit has been set indicating that a local number portability (LNP) query has been performed. If the FCI "m" bit has been set, then the signal transfer point (10) performs normal call processing. If the FCI "m" bit is not set, the signal transfer point (10) will set the FCI "m" bit to one prior to performing normal processing if a database interrogation is not activated. If database interrogation is activated, the signal transfer point (10) interrogates a LNP database 24 to determine whether the dialed subscriber has been ported and/or resides in a receiving network. The signal transfer point (10) will set the FCI "m" bit in response to either the dialed subscriber not being ported or not residing in the receiving network prior to normal processing. The FCI "m" bit will remain at a zero state if the dialed subscriber has been ported and resides in the receiving network. <IMAGE></p> |
