IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,407,739
Granted Patent B2
US 12,407,739 · App. 17/962,173 · Granted Sep 2, 2025

Interconnection border control function and home subscriber server interface for managing voice calls

Inventors: Chandrashekhar Bhandari (Bellevue, WA); Homer Nicolas Filart (Bellevue, WA)
Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.
H04L65/1016H04L65/1069H04W8/04
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,407,739
App. No.
17/962,173
Granted
Sep 2, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An internet protocol (IP) multimedia core subsystem (IMS) of a telecommunications network includes an interconnection border control function (IBCF). The system can receive a request to connect a particular voice call or messaging over a voice over IP (VoIP) network. In response to the request, the IBCF can send a location information request (LIR) to a home subscriber server (HSS) of the telecommunications network. The HSS and the IBCF can be in direct communication with each other via an HSS/IBCF interface. The LIR can include a request for a subscriber status associated with a user associated with a terminating device. The IBCF can receive a location information answer (LIA) from the HSS. The LIA can indicate whether the user is a subscriber of the telecommunications network. In response to receiving the LIA, the system can determine whether to allow the IMS to establish a session for the particular voice call.

Claims (92)

1. A system including an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core subsystem (IMS) of a telecommunications network having an interconnection border control function (IBCF), the system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the system to:

receive, via a network-to-network interface (NNI) subsystem, a request to connect a particular voice call or messaging over a voice over IP (VoIP) network,

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is received over a peering VoIP network from a device associated with a first user,

wherein the request to connect the particular voice call is received by the IBCF of the system from a peering IBCF associated with the peering VoIP network, and

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is to be connected to a terminating device;

in response to the request, send, by the IBCF, a location information request (LIR) to a home subscriber server (HSS) of the telecommunications network,

wherein the HSS and the IBCF are in direct communication with each other via an HSS/IBCF interface,

wherein the HSS/IBCF interface includes a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP),

wherein the HSS stores subscriber status information for multiple subscribers of the telecommunications network, and

wherein the LIR includes a request for a subscriber status associated with a second user associated with the terminating device;

receive, by the IBCF, a location information answer (LIA) from the HSS,

wherein the LIA indicates, based on the subscriber status associated with the second user, whether the second user is a subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

in response to receiving the LIA, determine whether to allow the IMS to establish a session for the particular voice call or messaging.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to determine whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises causing the system to:

determine that the second user is the subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

select a voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) Call Session Control Function (CSCF) of the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein to determine whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises causing the system to:

determine that the second user is the subscriber of the telecommunications network;

select a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) of the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging; and

cause the CSCF to select a terminating Telephony Application Server (TAS) for the particular voice call or messaging.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein to determine whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises causing the system to:

determine that the second user is not the subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

disallow the IMS from establishing the session for the particular voice call or messaging.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein to determine whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises causing the system to:

determine an overload status of the IMS;

wherein the IMS is allowed to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging when the overload status indicates that the IMS is not overloaded, and

wherein the IMS is disallowed from establishing the session for the particular voice call or messaging when the overload status indicates that the IMS is overloaded.

6. The system of claim 1 further caused to:

determine that the IMS is at risk of overloading; and

allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging when the LIA indicates that the second user is the subscriber of the telecommunications network despite the risk of overloading; or

disallow the IMS from establishing the session for the particular voice call or messaging when the LIA indicates that the second user is not the subscriber of the telecommunications network.

7. The system of claim 1 further caused to:

perform a verification on the request to connect the particular voice call or messaging to determine whether the particular voice call or messaging is a fraudulent call,

wherein whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging is further determined based on the verification.

8. The system of claim 1 , further caused to:

perform a domain name server (DNS) query to determine an IP address of a call session control function (CSCF) associated with the terminating device of the particular voice call or messaging,

wherein the system includes multiple CSCF modules and each of the multiple CSCF modules is associated with multiple devices, and

wherein allowing the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging includes sending the request to connect the particular voice call or messaging to the particular CSCF based on the IP address.

9. The system of claim 1 , further caused to:

in response to the IMS being allowed to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging,

allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging by forwarding the request to connect the particular voice call or messaging to a particular call session control function (CSCF) that is associated with the terminating device of the particular voice call or messaging.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein allowing the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises causing the system to:

connect the particular voice call or messaging to the terminating device via a telephony application server (TAS) of the system,

wherein the TAS is configured to provide supplementary multimedia services to the terminating device.

11. The system of claim 1 further caused to:

in response to sending the LIR to the HSS,

cause the HSS to perform a lookup at a subscriber status information database to determine whether the second user associated with the terminating device is the subscriber of the telecommunications network, and

cause the HSS to generate the LIA based on the performed lookup.

12. A computer-implemented method for connecting voice call or messaging requests from devices received via a voice over IP (VoIP) network to an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core subsystem (IMS) of a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

receiving, via a network-to-network interface (NNI) subsystem, a request to connect a particular voice call or messaging over a voice over IP (VoIP) network,

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is received from an originating device associated with a first user over a peering VoIP network,

wherein the request to connect the particular voice call is received by an interconnection border control function (IBCF) associated with the IMS of the telecommunications network from a peering IBCF associated with the peering VoIP network, and

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is to be connected to a terminating device;

in response to the request, sending, by the IBCF, a location information request (LIR) to a home subscriber server (HSS) of the telecommunications network,

wherein the HSS and the IBCF are in direct communication with each other via an HSS/IBCF interface, and

wherein the HSS/IBCF interface includes a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP),

wherein the LIR includes a request for a subscriber status associated with a second user associated with the terminating device;

receiving, by the IBCF, a location information answer (LIA) from the HSS,

wherein the LIA indicates, based on the subscriber status associated with the particular user, whether the second user is a subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

in response to receiving the LIA, determine, by the IBCF, whether to allow the IMS to establish a session for the particular voice call or messaging.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein to determine whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises:

determining that the second user is the subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

selecting a VoLTE CSCF of the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises:

determining that the second user is the subscriber of the telecommunications network;

selecting a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) of the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging; and

causing the CSCF to select a terminating Telephony Application Server (TAS) for the particular voice call or messaging.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining whether to allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging comprises:

determining that the second user is not the subscriber of the telecommunications network; and

disallowing the IMS from establishing the session for the particular voice call or messaging.

16. A system including a home subscriber server (HSS) of a telecommunications network and an interconnection border control function (IBCF) coupled to an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core subsystem (IMS), the system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the system to:

receive, via a network-to-network interface (NNI) subsystem, a request to connect a particular voice call or messaging over a voice over IP (VoIP) network,

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is received over a peering VoIP network from an originating device, and

wherein the request to connect the particular voice call is received by the IBCF of the system from a peering IBCF associated with the peering VoIP network, and

wherein the particular voice call or messaging is to be connected to a terminating device;

send, by the IBCF to the HSS via an HSS/IBCF interface, a location information request (LIR) in response to receiving the request,

wherein the HSS and the IBCF are in direct communication with each other via the HSS/IBCF interface,

wherein the HSS/IBCF interface includes a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and

wherein the LIR includes a request for a subscriber status associated with the terminating device;

receive, by the IBCF from the HSS via the HSS/IBCF interface, a location information answer (LIA),

wherein the LIA indicates, based on the subscriber status associated with the terminating device, whether voice call or messaging the particular voice call or messaging is authorized; and

in response to receiving the LIA, determine whether to allow the IMS to establish a session for the particular voice call or messaging.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein:

the HSS stores subscriber status information for multiple subscribers of the telecommunications network, and

the multiple subscribers include a subscriber associated with the terminating device.

18. The system of claim 16 further caused to:

in response to the IMS being allowed to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging,

allow the IMS to establish the session for the particular voice call or messaging by forwarding the request to connect the particular voice call or messaging to a particular call session control function (CSCF) that is associated with the terminating device of the particular voice call or messaging.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 12, 2022
From: BHANDARI, CHANDRASHEKHAR; FILART, HOMER NICOLAS
To: T-MOBILE USA, INC.
Reel/Frame 061392/0575 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240121277A1 · Apr 11, 2024
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