Common channel signaling with a network of distributed signal transfer points

摘要

The common channel signaling (CCS) system of the public switched telecommunication network involves digital call routing information that is communicated between the switches of the network and signal transfer points (STPs) of the CCS system and among the STPs themselves. The CCS system causes the network switches and the trunks that connect them to be so interconnected as to complete a connection between a calling party and a called party. The STPs are kept as close as practicable to the network switches so as to minimize the length of the digital transmission links between them. This results in a proliferation of less-than-optimally utilized STPs. Therefore, the constituent parts of a STP are geographically distributed over a wide geographical area with higher-capacity digital links between the constituent parts of the STP, in order to realize substantial transmission cost savings and to drastically reduce the number of individual STPs extant and thus reduce the complexity of the CCS communication between them.