Unified Wireless Number Routing Across Separate Carrier Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Challenges exist in facilitating single-number contact capabilities for multiple devices associated with different wireless communications networks due to separate provisioning and billing systems, making it difficult for users to maintain a unified contact identifier across devices.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a unified wireless communications framework that includes an identifier association component and call detail processing system to map device identifiers to telephone numbers and manage billing data, enabling seamless communication routing and separate billing for devices using a single number.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate provisioning and billing systems are used for different wireless networks, then each network can independently manage its devices and billing, but it becomes difficult to provide single-number contact capabilities across multiple devices from different networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an identifier association component as an intermediary between the existing separate provisioning/billing systems and the communication routing system. This component maintains mappings between device identifiers and telephone numbers, enabling single-number contact across different networks without requiring integration of the underlying provisioning and billing systems. The intermediary layer resolves the contradiction by providing cross-network single-number capability while preserving the independence and simplicity of existing network systems.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a unified provisioning system is implemented across multiple wireless networks to enable single-number contact, then single-number contact capability improves, but system complexity and difficulty of implementation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the provisioning functionality into a separate identifier association component that operates independently from the core provisioning and billing systems of each wireless network. This segmentation allows the single-number contact capability to be implemented without modifying or unifying the underlying provisioning systems. Each network maintains its independent provisioning processes while the identifier association component provides the unified contact experience, thereby maintaining ease of implementation.
3Ease of operation
If communication routing is simplified to use a single telephone number for multiple devices, then ease of operation improves, but billing accuracy across different networks may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The identifier association component acts as an intermediary that receives communication requests using a single telephone number, determines the target device through identifier mapping, routes the communication appropriately, and ensures accurate billing information is captured and transmitted to the correct billing systems. This intermediary layer maintains both ease of operation for users and reliability for billing by decoupling the simplified user interface from the complex backend billing processes.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple device identifiers are mapped to a single telephone number, then single-number contact capability is enabled, but difficulty of detecting and measuring device-billing relationships increases
Solution Approach 1:
The identifier association component maintains and manages the mappings between device identifiers and telephone numbers, serving as an intermediary that simplifies the detection and measurement of device-billing relationships. When billing information needs to be tracked, the component provides the appropriate device identifier based on the telephone number and communication details, eliminating the need for complex queries across multiple networks to determine which device should be billed.
Data Source
AI summary
System and methods for using a single number for multiple devices supported by distinct network operators are described. A secondary device from a different network operator may be provisioned on a wireless communications network and associated with a primary telephone number that is also associated with one or more other devices so that traffic for the primary telephone number is duplicated to the secondary device. When the secondary device is used for communications with the primary telephone number, call detail records may be provided to the primary network billing system that may not charge for the services and to a billing system associated with the secondary device for appropriate billing.