The AT&T Service Circuit Node: A New Element for Providing Intelligent Network Services

Abstract

Increasing demand for advanced voice‐and‐facsimile network services has motivated the recent introduction of an important, new, programmable network element: AT&T's A‐I‐Net™ service‐circuit node. This new network element complements existing network switching and database elements by providing internal network access to a programmable node that has highly specialized service circuits. These circuits support network services that involve the synthesis, interpretation, repetition, or translation of voiceband information. Although the central‐office and operations‐support interfaces we describe are designed for the United States market, the service‐circuit node provides a flexible base for supporting interfaces that are appropriate for other markets, too. As service‐circuit technology continues to advance to support complex, image‐processing functions (e.g., facsimile or speaker recognition), service providers will require greater flexibility for developing services that use these functions. An applications‐development environment, based on application‐oriented‐language technology, enables service providers to introduce new capabilities rapidly into existing networks.

Documenting architectures with patterns

“…The handoff mechanism responds to trigger points by routing the call (including the bearer) to a network-based entity (called a service circuit node [SCN]) [18]. After the SCN performs the service for the call (e.g., playing the announcement), the call is terminated or returned to the switching system for further call processing, depending on the feature [18].…”

Alternative methods for introducing new wireless intelligent network services using triggers and queries

“…Because the SCP and SN all communicate with industry defined protocols, these network elements can operate in a multiple MSC wireless network with any vendor meeting these defined protocols. 3 The home location register (HLR) is a specialized database storing the profile of wireless subscribers. The HLR is found in one of two places in the wireless network-either collocated in the MSC or as an independent database element.…”