IP Library Granted Patent US 11,522,921
Granted Patent B1
US 11,522,921 · App. 17/888,897 · Granted Dec 6, 2022

Core network bypass for toll-free calling

Inventors: William Gentry (Raleigh, NC); Julie Barghouthi (St. Johns, FL); Scott Mullen (Holly Springs, NC)
Assignee: Bandwidth Inc.
H04L65/1046H04L65/1096H04M7/0084H04Q3/0025
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,522,921
App. No.
17/888,897
Granted
Dec 6, 2022
Kind
B1
Abstract

Techniques are described for determining when and how to re-route toll-free calls around a core telephony network experiencing significant disruptions. A core telephony network of a telephony service provider is monitored for anomalies. Upon detecting an anomaly, it is determined whether the anomaly is significant enough to warrant re-routing inbound toll-free calls around the core telephony network. The re-routing process comprises accessing an industry registry database including a plurality of toll-free numbers (TFNs) associated with a routing template comprising the instructions for routing toll-free calls. The routing template instructions may be switched to re-direct toll-free calls associated with one or more specific TFNs to a particular carrier. Within that particular carrier, the routing instructions may be switched to re-direct the toll-free calls away from the service provider's core telephony network to a network bypass cloud platform. The network bypass cloud platform may be configured to receive toll-free calls, determine a customer telephony network to which to route the received toll-free calls based on the TFN of the toll-free call, and route the toll-free call to the customer telephony network.

Claims (53)

1. A method, comprising;

monitoring a core telephony network of a first telephony service provider for anomalies, the anomalies causing a failure or a delay of a telephone call routing;

upon detecting an anomaly, determining whether the anomaly has caused a service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating a re-routing process configured to re-route inbound toll-free calls to one or more toll-free numbers (TFNs) away from the core telephony network to a network bypass cloud platform; and

when the detected anomaly has caused the service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating the re-routing process:

accessing an industry registry database, the industry registry database including a plurality of TFNs, each TFN associated with a routing template, the routing template for each TFN comprising network carrier routing instructions for routing toll-free calls to a designated network carrier;

switching the network carrier routing instructions to re-direct toll-free calls associated with a TFN from the designated network carrier to an alternate network carrier, the alternate network carrier including toll-free routing instructions for the TFN;

switching the toll-free routing instructions within the alternate network carrier to re-direct toll-free calls to the TFN away from the core telephony network to the network bypass cloud platform, the network bypass cloud platform configured to:

receive toll-free calls;

determine a customer telephony network to which to route the received toll-free calls based on the TFN of the toll-free call; and

route the toll-free call to the customer telephony network, wherein the customer telephony network is configured to receive the toll-free call from the network bypass cloud platform and route the toll-free call to one of a plurality of telephony endpoints.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using a network carrier dashboard portal interface.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using a dashboard portal interface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

6. The method of claim 1 , the monitoring of the core telephony network being continuous real-time monitoring.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each TFN is further associated with a local access and transport area (LATA) code, further comprising:

selecting one or more TFNs to be re-routed based on the LATA code.

8. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors spread across one or more computers; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium to store a set of instructions executable by the one or more processors spread across one or more computers, the set of instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

monitor a core telephony network of a first telephony service provider for anomalies, the anomalies causing a failure or a delay of a telephone call routing;

upon detecting an anomaly, determine whether the anomaly has caused a service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating a re-routing process configured to re-route inbound toll-free calls to one or more toll-free numbers (TFNs) away from the core telephony network to a network bypass cloud platform; and

when the detected anomaly has caused the service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating the re-routing process:

access an industry registry database, the industry registry database including a plurality of TFNs, each TFN associated with a routing template, the routing template for each TFN comprising network carrier routing instructions for routing toll-free calls to a designated network carrier;

switch the network carrier routing instructions to re-direct toll-free calls associated with a TFN from its designated network carrier to an alternate network carrier, the alternate network carrier including toll-free routing instructions for the TFN;

switch the toll-free routing instructions within the alternate network carrier to re-direct toll-free calls to the TFN away from the core telephony network to the network bypass cloud platform, the network bypass cloud platform configured to:

receive toll-free calls;

determine a customer telephony network to which to route the received toll-free calls based on the TFN of the toll-free call; and

route the toll-free call to the customer telephony network, wherein the customer telephony network is configured to receive the toll-free call from the network bypass cloud platform and route the toll-free call to one of a plurality of telephony endpoints.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using a network carrier dashboard portal interface.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

11. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using a dashboard portal interface.

12. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

13. The computer system of claim 8 , the monitoring of the core telephony network being continuous real-time monitoring.

14. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein each TFN is further associated with a local access and transport area (LATA) code, the set of instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

select one or more TFNs to be re-routed based on the LATA code.

15. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a set of instructions executable on at least one computing device to cause the at least one computing device to re-route toll-free calls around a core telephony network, the set of instructions to:

monitor a core telephony network of a first telephony service provider for anomalies, the anomalies causing a failure or a delay of a telephone call routing;

upon detecting an anomaly, determine whether the anomaly has caused a service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating a re-routing process configured to re-route inbound toll-free calls to one or more toll-free numbers (TFNs) away from the core telephony network to a network bypass cloud platform; and

when the detected anomaly has caused the service disruption to the core telephony network to warrant initiating the re-routing process:

access an industry registry database, the industry registry database including a plurality of TFNs, each TFN associated with a routing template, the routing template for each TFN comprising network carrier routing instructions for routing toll-free calls to a designated network carrier;

switch the network carrier routing instructions to re-direct toll-free calls associated with a TFN from its designated network carrier to an alternate network carrier, the alternate network carrier including toll-free routing instructions for the TFN;

switch the toll-free routing instructions within the alternate network carrier to re-direct toll-free calls to the TFN away from the core telephony network to the network bypass cloud platform, the network bypass cloud platform configured to:

receive toll-free calls;

determine a customer telephony network to which to route the received toll-free calls based on the TFN of the toll-free call; and

route the toll-free call to the customer telephony network, wherein the customer telephony network is configured to receive the toll-free call from the network bypass cloud platform and route the toll-free call to one of a plurality of telephony endpoints.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using a network carrier dashboard portal interface.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the routing instructions within the particular network carrier are accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using a dashboard portal interface.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the industry registry database is accessed and edited using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , the monitoring of the core telephony network being continuous real-time monitoring.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein each TFN is further associated with a local access and transport area (LATA) code, the set of instructions to:

select one or more TFNs to be re-routed based on the LATA code.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 6, 2023
From: BANDWIDTH INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 064807/0346 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 16, 2022
From: MULLEN, SCOTT; GENTRY, WILLIAM; BARGHOUTHI, JULIE
To: BANDWIDTH INC.
Reel/Frame 060821/0281 →