Margaret M Shepard

US Patent:

20020025809, Feb 28, 2002

Filed:

Apr 18, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/836469

Inventors:

Dara Ung - Odenton MD, US
Mark Titus - Arnold MD, US
Robert Calabrese - Naperville IL, US
Margaret Shepard - Annapolis MD, US
Karl Lebedda - Baltimore MD, US
Carle Johnson - Annapolis MD, US

International Classification:

H04Q007/20

US Classification:

455/432000, 455/435000

Abstract:

A technique and architecture that enables a Service Provider (SP) to hot-line a roaming WIN subscriber (e.g., a prepaid subscriber) to a closest WIN platform via a Least Cost Network (LCN), depending on the location, and optionally, on the time of a call from a roaming subscriber. Importantly, the present invention allows a service provider to significantly reduce the cost of routing a long distance call when the subscriber roams outside the service provider's network. A service provider may automatically provide one of a plurality of hot-line numbers to a roaming subscriber (e.g., a prepaid subscriber) of a wireless network (e.g., a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN)) associated with a desired wireless network platform (e.g., a closest WIN platform, e.g., service node (SN), service control point (SCP), etc.) via a LCN. The LCN can be, e.g., an SSnetwork, a PSTN, a TCP/IP (Internet), or dedicated trunks.