Bidding for telecommunications traffic

An automated call routing method for enabling a telecommunication switch with a computer adjunct to the telecommunication switch, the telecommunication switch being associated with an originating point, to make an economic choice, in accordance with carrier selection data in a routing table, specifying to which carrier of a plurality of telecommunication carriers a call attempt presented to the telecommunication switch shall be routed for transmission of telecommunications to a first terminating point, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

• a. entering decision rules relating to a plurality of telecommunication carriers into the adjunct computer and storing the decision rules in a data base;
• b. entering economic incentive data from at least one carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers corresponding to the first terminating point and storing the economic incentive data in the data base;
• c. within the adjunct computer, applying the decision rules to the economic incentive data and populating the switch's routing table with the carrier selection data corresponding to the first terminating point;
• and
• d. routing the call attempt to a first carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers based on the carrier selection data.

Method for managing traffic loading of a first telecommunication carrier over a first telecommunication facility of a network from a first originating point to a first terminating point, wherein the network comprises a plurality of telecommunication facilities connecting a plurality of originating points to a plurality of terminating points and is administered by a carrier network administrator, by providing an economic incentive for each switch of a plurality of telecommunication switches to route call attempts to the first telecommunication facility, and adjusting the economic incentive, wherein the telecommunication carrier is one of a plurality of telecommunication carriers, wherein the method comprises:

• a. collecting carrier network data relating to the first telecommunication facility and entering the carrier network data into a computer data base;
• b. receiving network management instructions from the carrier network administrator and storing the network management instructions in the computer data base;
• c. accessing the carrier network data, determining the economic incentive relating to the first telecommunication facility, which economic incentive is dependent on the carrier network data and the network management instructions, and storing the economic incentive in the computer data base;
• d. receiving, from a bidding moderator, economic incentive data relating to at least a second telecommunication facility belonging to at least a second telecommunication carrier and extending from the first originating point to the first terminating point and adjusting the economic incentive based on the received economic incentive data;
• and
• e. transmitting the economic incentive to the bidding moderator.

A method for routing a telecommunication call attempt presented to a telecommunication switch associated with an originating point to a first telecommunication carrier of a plurality of telecommunication carriers in accordance with economic incentives arrived at through a bidding process involving a central processor, referred to as a bidding moderator, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

• a. collecting carrier network data for each of the telecommunication carriers, each telecommunication carrier entering the data corresponding to the telecommunication facilities constituting its network into its traffic management computer's traffic management database;
• b. each traffic management computer receiving management instructions from that carrier's network administrator, formulating economic incentives for at least a portion of the carrier's telecommunication facilities based on the management instructions and the carrier network data, and transmitting the economic incentives to the bidding moderator;
• c. in the moderator, receiving the economic incentives, entering the economic incentives from each carrier in the moderator's database, and sorting the economic incentives to identify all economic incentives associated with each telecommunication route specified by an originating point and a terminating point;
• d. transmitting all of the economic incentives received by the moderator to each of the plurality of carriers, entering the economic incentives in each traffic management database, and adjusting each carrier's economic incentives in consideration of the economic incentives from all carriers;
• e. sorting the routes to determine which routes have an originating point associated with the telecommunication switch, transmitting all economic incentives associated with such routes to an adjunct computer, adjunct to the telecommunication switch, and entering the economic incentives into the adjunct computer's database;
• f. transmitting decision rules formulated by the telecommunication switch's switch administrator to the telecommunication switch's adjunct computer and entering the decision rules in the adjunct computer's database;
• g. in the adjunct computer, applying the decision rules to the economic incentives thereby generating routing data, and populating the telecommunication switch's routing table with the routing data;
• and
• h. routing the call attempt to the first telecommunication carrier in accordance with the routing table.

A telecommunication management system for a first telecommunication carrier comprising:

• a. a computer with a processor and a memory;
• b. means for inputting carrier network data into the computer and storing such data in the memory;
• c. means for inputting network instructions into the computer and storing such instructions in the memory;
• d. means for receiving economic incentive data from a bidding moderator, the economic incentive data identified with a plurality of telecommunication carriers;
• e. means for determining economic incentive data identified with the first telecommunication carrier, dependent on the network instructions, the carrier network data, and the economic incentive data;
• and
• f. means for transmitting the economic incentive data identified with the first telecommunication carrier to the bidding moderator.

A telecommunication traffic bidding moderator for enabling a first telecommunication switch of a plurality of telecommunication switches to route call attempts to a plurality of telecommunication carriers in accordance with economic incentives generated by the telecommunication carriers, wherein the moderator comprises:

• a. a computer with a processor and a memory;
• b. means for receiving economic incentive data from a first telecommunication carrier and storing the economic incentive data, identified with the first telecommunication carrier in the memory;
• c. means for transmitting all of the economic incentive data received from a plurality of telecommunication carriers to each carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers;
• d. means for sorting the economic incentive data received from the plurality of telecommunication carriers to determine a first subset of such data corresponding to the first telecommunication switch;
• and
• e. means for transmitting the first subset of economic incentive data to the first telecommunication switch.

An automated call routing system for routing a call attempt presented to a telecommunication switch to a first telecommunication carrier of a plurality of telecommunication carriers, wherein the system comprises:

• a. a telecommunication switch;
• b. a computer adjunct to the telecommunication switch, which adjunct computer has a processor and a memory;
• c. means for receiving decision rules from a switch administrator and storing the rules in the memory;
• d. means for receiving economic incentive data from the bidding moderator and storing the economic incentive data in the memory;
• e. means, within the processor, for accessing the rules and the economic incentive data in the memory and applying the rules to the economic incentive data to produce carrier selection data, dependent on the economic incentive data;
• f. means for transmitting the carrier selection data to the telecommunication switch in order to populate the telecommunication switch's routing tables;
• and
• g. means for routing the call attempt to the first telecommunication carrier, based on the carrier selection data in the routing table.

A method for distributing economic incentive data concerning a telecommunications network to end users, in which method a moderating computer collects the economic incentive data from each carrier of a plurality of telecommunication carriers, processes the economic incentive data and distributes processed data to a plurality of interface units, each interface unit being associated with one of a plurality of telecommunicators and each associated with an originating point, thereby enabling each of the plurality of telecommunicators to make an economic choice as to which carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers each call attempt generated by each telecommunicator shall be routed, wherein the method comprises:

• a. receiving in the moderating computer, economic incentive data specifying the economic incentive each carrier will place on a call from a first originating point and storing the economic incentive data in a data base as first originating point data;
• b. identifying a first set of interface units of the plurality of interface units, each interface unit of the first set of interface units associated with the first originating point, and transmitting the first originating point data to each of the first set of interface units;
• and
• c. transmitting the first originating point data to each carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers.

A telecommunication traffic bidding moderator for enabling a first telecommunicator of a plurality of telecommunicators, the first telecommunicator being associated with a first originating point, to route call attempts to a plurality of telecommunication carriers in accordance with economic incentives generated by the telecommunication carriers, wherein the moderator comprises:

• a. a computer with a processor and a memory;
• b. means for receiving economic incentive data from a first telecommunication carrier and storing the economic incentive data, identified with the first telecommunication carrier in the memory;
• c. means for transmitting all of the economic incentive data received from a plurality of telecommunication carriers to each carrier of the plurality of telecommunication carriers;
• d. means for sorting the economic incentive data received from the plurality of telecommunication carriers to determine a first subset of such data corresponding to the first originating point;
• and
• e. means for transmitting the first subset of economic incentive data to a first interface unit associated with the first telecommunicator.

An interface unit for routing a call attempt placed by a telecommunicator to a first telecommunication carrier of a plurality of telecommunication carriers in response to economic incentive data received from a moderator and decision rules received from an end user, the interface unit comprising:

• a. a first input port for receiving the call attempt from the telecommunicator, the call attempt including routing data;
• b. a second input port for receiving the decision rules from the end user;
• c. means for receiving the economic incentive data from the moderator;
• d. a processor for selecting the first telecommunication carrier in response to the economic incentive data and the decision rules;
• e. means for inserting a first carrier identifier, corresponding to the first telecommunication carrier into the routing data;
• and
• f. an output port for transmitting the call attempt.