DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS The present invention, in exemplary embodiments, provides for transcoder free operation in wireless networks that include both legacy and next-generation network elements.
In particular, in exemplary embodiments, a mobile station that is served by a legacy MSC may still be able to establish a transcoder-free call with another mobile station.
To achieve this functionality, the wireless network may include an off-board translation center (OTC) that can provide instructions to one or more legacy MSCs regarding whether a given call can be transcoder-free and, if so, how to route the call so that it will be transcoder-free.
For example, a legacy MSC may receive a request from a first mobile station in its service area to originate a call to a second mobile station that is in a different service area.
To determine how to route the call, the legacy MSC may send a query that includes the dialed directory number to the OTC.
The OTC may identify the second mobile station from the dialed directory number and may determine where the second mobile station is operating.
In this way, the OTC may obtaining a routing address, e.
g.
, an MSCID or other identifier of the MSC or media gateway currently serving the second mobile station, with which the legacy MSC can use to route the call to the second mobile station.
Moreover, the OTC may determine, based at least in part on where the second mobile station is operating, whether the call can be transcoder-free.
If the OTC determines that the call is a transcoder-free candidate, then the OTC may provide the legacy with a transcoder-free indication.
In response to the transcoder-free indication, the legacy MSC may route the call in such a way that it can be transcoder-free.
Thus, if the second mobile station is operating in an area served by another legacy MSC, then the OTC may respond with a routing address of the second MSC, without a transcoder-free indication.
In response, the first MSC may route the call to the second MSC, via the PSTN, with the result that the media exchanged during the call may be transcoded; indeed, the media may be transcoded in tandem
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