Importance

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Abstract

An improved home location register (HLR) that includes a switch capability mediation module for implementing switch capability mediation between different mobile switching centers (MSCs). According to the invention, when one MSC (home MSC of a receiving party) attempts to communicate with another MSC (serving MSC) via the HLR serving the home MSC, the mediation module determines whether the two MSCs are provided by different vendors and whether they implement different capabilities, based on the MPCM (MSC ID Point Code Map) file records of both the originating and serving MSCs. The MPCM files store MSCs' network configuration information. For each capability involved, the mediation module determines which one of the three situations are present: (1) the originating MSC has this particular capability, but the serving MSC does not; (2) the originating MSC does not have this capability, but the serving MSC does; and (3) both the originating and serving MSCs have this capability but implement it in different ways. Depending on which situation is present, the mediation module provides appropriate capability mediation between the two MSCs. In any of the above three situations, if the mediation module determines that it cannot mediate between the two different MSCs, based on the particular capability involved, it may deny the call entirely. Thus, by using the improved HLR of the invention, the communication between two different MSCs may be properly established and optimized.

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First Claim