interface for intelligent network services

A method for providing a communication service, comprising:

• capturing signaling messages in one or more communication networks;
• processing the signaling messages to generate network signaling primitives indicative of network events in a network-independent format;
• processing the signaling primitives using a common, network-independent call model for the one or more networks, so as to generate service requests for processing by one or more application servers;
• receiving service instructions from the application servers in response to the service requests;
• processing the service instructions using the call model, so as to generate network instruction primitives in the network-independent format;
• and
• processing the network instruction primitives to generate signaling instructions to the respective networks.

A method for providing application services to a communication network using application servers having predefined respective application protocols, the method comprising:

• receiving indications of network events occurring in a communication network;
• responsive to the events, generating service request primitives in a form substantially independent of the application protocols;
• processing the service request primitives so as to generate service requests to at least two of the application servers using the different, respective application protocols;
• receiving service instructions from the application servers in the different, respective application protocols in response to the service requests;
• processing the service instructions so as to generate service response primitives in the form substantially independent of the application protocols;
• and
• responsive to the service response primitives, generating signaling instructions to be conveyed to the network.