Broadband intelligent telecommunications network and method employing a resource system to support network services

A method for operating a broadband intelligent network having customer apparatus coupled to predetermined ports of a fast-packet switch through connections having a broad digital bandwidth;

• a network service control processor connected to at least one fast-packet switch port;
• at least one data base of a network resource system connected through a common channel signaling system to the network service control processor;
• the steps of the method comprising:
• detecting customer signaling cells received by the fast-packet switch from customer apparatus and routing customer signaling cells to the network service control processor through the one switch port;
• detecting service request data in each signaling cells received by the network service control processor and requiring support of the one data base and generating at least one output query requesting data from the one data base;
• routing the query through the signaling system to the one data base;
• generating a response containing the requested data from the data base;
• and
• routing the response from the one data base through the signaling system to the service control processor.

A broadband intelligent network comprising:

• a fast-packet switch having a plurality of ports;
• a switch processor for managing port connections to establish switched or permanent virtual connections between ports;
• respective customer links having a broad digital bandwidth connected to predetermined customer switch ports for transporting signaling and data cells to and from customer apparatus;
• a network control processing system interfaced to at least one switch port to receive customer generated signaling cells carrying customer service request data and to control network responses thereto;
• a network resource system having at least one resource unit;
• the one resource unit interfaced to a resource unit port of the fast-packet switch to receive query cells from the network control processing system and to transmit response cells thereto;
• the switch processor detecting each customer generated signaling cell received by the fast-packet switch and routing each customer generated signaling cell to the network control processing system through the one switch port;
• the network control processing system detecting service request data in each received signaling cell requiring support of the one resource unit and generating at least one output query cell requesting information from the resource unit needed for support of the requested service;
• the network control processing system routing the query cell to the resource unit through the fast-packet switch;
• the resource unit generating a response cell containing the requested information in response to data in the query cell;
• and
• the resource unit routing the response cell to a defined network address through the fast-packet switch.

A broadband intelligent network comprising:

• a fast-packet switch having a plurality of ports;
• a switch processor for managing virtual port connections to establish switched or permanent virtual connections between ports;
• respective customer links having a broad digital bandwidth connected to predetermined customer switch ports for transporting signaling and data cells to and from customer apparatus;
• a network control processing system interfaced to at least one of the switch ports to receive customer generated signaling cells carrying customer service request data and to control network responses thereto;
• a network resource unit system having at least one data base;
• the switch processor detecting each customer generated signaling cell received by the fast-packet switch and routing each customer generated signaling cell to the network control processing system through the one switch port;
• the network control processing system detecting service request data in each received signaling cell requiring support of the one data base and generating at least one output query requesting data from the one data base needed for support of the requested service;
• a signaling system coupling the network control processing system to the one data base;
• the network control processing system sending queries to and receiving responses from the one data base through the signaling system.

A broadband intelligent network comprising:

• means for switching data packet, the switching means having a plurality of ports;
• means for managing connections between the ports to establish switched or permanent virtual connections between the ports;
• means for coupling customer apparatus through connections having a broad digital bandwidth to predetermined switch ports to transport cells to and from the customer apparatus;
• means for processing customer service request data extracted from received signaling cells and providing network-controlled responses thereto;
• means for interfacing the network control processing means to at least one of the switch ports;
• the managing means detecting each signaling cell received by the fast-packet switching means and routing each signaling cell to the processing means through the one switch port;
• the managing means detecting each customer signaling cell received by the fast-packet switching means and routing each customer signaling cell to the processing means through the one switch port;
• means for controlling at least one resource unit of a network resource system;
• the resource unit controlling means directly connected to a resource unit port of the fast-packet switching means to receive query cells from the processing means and to transmit responses thereto;
• the processing means detecting service request data in each received signaling cell requiring support of the one resource unit and generating at least one output query cell requesting information needed from the one resource unit for support of the requested service and routing the query cell through the fast-packet switching means to the one resource unit;
• the resource unit controlling means generating a response cell containing requested data in response to data in the query cell and routing the response cell to a defined network address through the fast-packet switching means.