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INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION

CCITT	E.115

THE INTERNATIONAL

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE

CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

TELEPHONE NETWORK AND ISDN ù

OPERATION, NUMBERING, ROUTING

AND MOBILE SERVICE

COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION SERVICE

FOR TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBER NUMBERS

IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

(DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE),

RESERVED FOR OPERATORS

Recommendation E.115

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Geneva, 1991

Printed in Switzerland

FOREWORD

The CCITT (the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee) is the permanent organ of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). CCITT is responsible for studying technical, operating and tariff questions and issuing Recommendations on them with a view to standardizing telecommunications on a worldwide basis.

The Plenary Assembly of CCITT which meets every four years, establishes the topics for study and approves Recommendations prepared by its Study Groups. The approval of Recommendations by the members of CCITT between Plenary Assemblies is covered by the procedure laid down in CCITT Resolution No. 2 (Melbourne, 1988).

Recommendation E.115 was prepared by Study Group I and was approved under the Resolution No. 2 procedure on the 11 of March 1991.

___________________

CCITT NOTE

pprivate operating agency.

c ITU 1991

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the ITU.

PAGE BLANCHE

Recommendation E.115

Recommendation E.115

COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION SERVICE FOR TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBER NUMBERS

IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

(DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE), RESERVED FOR OPERATORS

1	Preamble

The method to be followed in providing the customers and operators in one country with information on the national significant telephone numbers (as specified in Recommendation E.160) of subscribers in another country depends on the way the information service is organized in the country of destination, distance between the countries, operating procedures, etc.

2	Methods of obtaining information

The operator in the country of origin dealing with international inquiries should be able to obtain information, depending on the organization of the inquiry service in each country, by one of the following methods:

a)	from telephone directories;

b)	from other information systems sent by the country of destination and kept up-to-date (e.g., microfiches);

c)	by calling the information service operator in the country of destination:

ù	outgoing operators in the originating country should, where language and other conditions permit, have direct access to the appropriate foreign information centre(s) which hold, or are able to obtain from other centres up-to-date information;

ù	where language and other conditions do not permit the outgoing operator to have direct access to the appropriate foreign information centre, the outgoing operator should call the operator in the international exchange of the country of destination;

ù	where access to a number of information centres is possible, provision should be made for access to a centralized international information centre or assistance operator in case the originating operator encounters language or other difficulties;

d)	by having access to foreign information service computers:

ù	either via a national computer using appropriate procedures;

ù	or, in special circumstances, via direct access using dedicated or switched connections.

3	General principles applicable to the various methods of obtaining information

In any relation, Administrations should abide by the following general principles:

a)	Inquiries from customers concerning foreign subscribers' numbers should normally be addressed to operators in the country of origin who will obtain the required information; it may be useful to keep the customer on line while this information is being sought.

b)	In order to give operators in the country of origin ready access to the international telephone inquiry service in other countries, it is desirable that Administrations, in conformity with Recommendation E.149, provide common routing codes or abbreviated access numbers to the foreign computerized or manual telephone inquiry services.

c)	Technical arrangements should, as far as practicable, prevent access by a subscriber of one country to an operator of the telephone information service of another country. Administrations should not communicate access numbers of telephone information services in foreign countries to their subscribers (except in cases covered in Recommendation E.128).

d)	Exceptionally, however, subscribers in one country may be permitted to have access to the information service in another country subject to bilateral agreement between the Administrations concerned.

e)	An international system should be able to provide:

ù	for the desired correspondent: his international number;

ù	for the locality in which this correspondent resides: the country code and the trunk code.

f)	No secret numbers should be issued.

4	Principles for the organization of an interconnected computerized international information service

For the organization of an interconnected computerized international information service, Administrations should abide by the following principles:

a)	The international system should be so designed that national systems can be used; each Administration should adapt its system to the international system by means of the appropriate interface procedures.

b)	The operator should be able to supply the most adapted and selective search data in order to avoid a situation in which the number of subscribers matching the search criteria exceeds the maximum capacity of a single response message.

c)	To overcome language difficulties, the questions put to a remote system containing the file to be consulted should be formulated in the language used in the country concerned. This means that the language problems raised by certain inquiry and response features should be resolved by the country making the inquiry.

d)	Where, in a given country, the files have been allocated to different computers integrated in a single system, access to the system from a foreign country should be possible via a designated computer.

e)	Formats for inquiry and response procedures should be standardized.

f)	A question should give rise to only one response message with no dialogue between computers. The response message may cover several subscribers where such subscribers match the search characteristics introduced in the system. The maximum number of subscribers mentioned in a response message depends both on the maximum capacity prescribed for the type of message in question and on the limitations imposed by national systems. Any dialogue concerning all the information provided should be prepared at the national level.

g)	With regard to the management of messages, there is no relationship between the inquiry and the response; where for any reason the response to a particular question has not been obtained, the inquiry must be reiterated by the requesting country and on its initiative.

h)	To realize the interconnection of computers of different countries, the network procedures described in Annex A should be used. The layer 4 will conform to Recommendation X.214 and X.224, class O. The layer 5 follows Recommendations X.215 and X.225 (BCS)1). Functional units "kernel" and "duplex" are only selected.

For the layer 6, the procedures will be the subject of further study.

i)	The structure and coding of the Entry and Reply formats will use the notation defined in Recommendations X.208 and 209, and are described in Annex B.

j)	Considering the question of correct locality spelling, some countries may want to implement a matching table for synonyms between spelling(s) of a locality in the local country and spelling(s) of the same locality in the remote country, so as to make the search easier for the operator.

To accomplish this, it is necessary to define the content and the format of a locality file for the E.115 service. Each country should put this file at the other countries' disposal, in order to make the implementation of these tables easier.

Procedures to keep the locality file up to date, if other than by bilateral agreement, are for further study.

5	Description of the standards used for inquiry and response

When operator access is given via a national computer to foreign information service computers, unless modified by bilateral agreement, the following minimum standards should apply to the inquiry and response process, to permit maximum flexibility in the national information service and compatibility with the international information service.

5.1	Input information

5.1.1	The operator should request information using the details supplied by the caller, according to the following format:

ù	country, locality (geographical area), surname, forename(s) or initial(s), trade or residential address (street name and number), supplementary data (according to bilateral agreement).

5.1.2	Country code, locality (or geographical area) and surname are minimum requirements.

5.1.3	The foreign system should reply to every question asked. If the foreign computer indicates that the information supplied is insufficient, the question should be repeated with more selective information.

5.1.4	Certain specified conditions, i.e. the number is not available (secret number, no listing, etc.) or further information has to be obtained, may be indicated by a standardized coded response.

5.2	Output information

The output from the foreign computer system should give the following information as available in the data base, in order to identify the accuracy of the telephone number:

ù	surname, forename(s) or initial(s), address, locality, country code, national significant number.

5.3	Alphabet to be used

5.3.1	The Latin alphabet should be employed for inquiries and responses in communication between computers. The systems must in general be able to use the following characters2):

ù	26 capital letters A - Z

ù	10 figures 0 - 9

ù	space, full stop

according to International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 (Recommendation S.1 [1]).

5.3.2	Special signs associated with letters are not transmitted.

5.4	Description of standardized inquiry and response messages

The standard formats for inquiry and response shown in Figures1/E.115 and 2/E.115 should be used2).

5.4.1	Inquiry format

See Figure 1/E.115.

The question contains the following information:

a)	Part 1

1)	Obligatory

ù	message code identifying a request to the international inquiry service;

ù	codes identifying the countries of origin and destination; these codes normally consist of the country code (see Recommendation E.163);

ù	code of the originating terminal. This code should not be used by the receiving country but should be repeated in identical fashion in the response format.

2)	Optional

ù	areas reproduced identically in the response:

i)	date and time of the origin of the inquiry

Format: YYMMDDHHMMSS

ii)	message number given by the local country.

b)	Part 2

1)	Basic data

ù	locality:

The name of the locality should be introduced according to its exact3) spelling. Special signs should be replaced by spaces and each space must be introduced as a space.

Abbreviations are not permitted, except for the words "Sint", "Saint", "Sankt", "San", . . ., which are abbreviated by the letter "S" followed by a space.

The mandatory minimum number of characters to be input should be fixed by each country and be mentioned in an operator's manual. The system of the outgoing country should check whether this minimum is respected. Each complete word must be terminated with a full stop.

ù	Surname or trade name of subscriber:

The subscriber's surname should be input according to its exact spelling.

Special signs, including the full stop, should be replaced by spaces and each space must be introduced as a space. Abbreviations should not be allowed. The mandatory minimum number of characters to be input should be fixed by each country and be mentioned in the operator's manual.

The system of the outgoing country should check whether this minimum is respected. Each complete word must be terminated with a full stop. When the subscriber's surname or trade name is replaced by initials, the characters composing the acronym should be introduced successively without being separated by special signs or spaces.

Numbers forming part of names or acronyms should be introduced as numbers.

2)	Additional data (for making the search easier)

ù	Name of street or address:

The name of the street should be input according to its exact spelling, the complete name of the street being retained. Special signs, including the full stop, should be replaced by spaces and each space must be input as a space.

The words "Sint", "Saint", "Sankt", "San", . . . should be abbreviated by the letter "S" followed by a space. The mandatory minimum number of characters to be input should be fixed by each country and be mentioned in the operator's manual. The system of the outgoing country should check whether this minimum is respected. Each complete word must be terminated with a full stop. Numbers forming part of the name of the street should be introduced as numbers.

ù	House number:

The numerical part of the house number should precede the alphabetical part without separation. Non-significant zeros should be omitted.

ù	Subscriber's forename:

Entire forenames, initials or a combination of forenames and initials should always be separated by spaces.

ù	Heading in the guide:

This data should only be introduced after bilateral agreements.

ù	Profession code:

This data should only be introduced after bilateral agreements.

ù	Additional information for a selective search:

This data should only be introduced after bilateral agreements.

ù	County or province:

This data should only be introduced after bilateral agreements.

ù	Category:

The category to which the required subscriber number belongs:

business, residential or public service (government).

This data should only be introduced after bilateral agreements.

On the basis of the above data, the computer of destination searches in its files.

include 115-T01E

ATTENTION MONTAGE

FIGURE 1/E.115 table landscape

5.4.2	Structure of the inquiry

ENTRY message

1010 0000	Directory message (telephone)

LENGTH

1010 0000	Telephone (entry)

LENGTH

0011 0000	Entry

LENGTH

0110 0000	Part 1

LENGTH

1000 0000	Message indicators

LENGTH

Message indicators

1000 0001	International indicators

LENGTH

International indicators

1000 0010	Originating terminal code

LENGTH

Originating terminal code

1000 0011	Date and time (optional)

LENGTH

Date and time

1000 0100	Message number (optional)

LENGTH

Message number

0110 0001	Part 2

LENGTH

1000 0000	Locality

LENGTH

Locality

1000 0001	Subscriber name

LENGTH

Subscriber name

1000 0010	Street name (optional)

LENGTH

Street name

1000 0011	House number (optional)

LENGTH

House number

1000 0100	Forename (optional)

LENGTH

First name

1000 0101	Heading in the Guide (optional)

LENGTH

Heading in the Guide

1000 0110	Profession code (optional)

LENGTH

Profession Code

1000 0111	Additional information for a selective search (optional)

LENGTH

Additional information for a selective search

1000 1000	County or province (optional)

LENGTH

County or province

1000 1001	Category (optional)

LENGTH

Category

5.4.3	Response format

See Figure 2/E.115.

The response contains the following information:

a)	Part 1

1)	Obligatory:

ù	message code identifying an answer to the international inquiry service;

ù	codes identifying both the answering country and the requesting country; these codes normally consist of the country code (see Recommendation E.163);

ù	code of the originating terminal.

2)	Optional:

ù	areas generated by the country of the input message:

i)	date and time

ii)	message number.

b)	Part 2

ù	Message code

Always included and common in all answer messages. The coded message must be converted to text by the calling country.

The following codes have been defined:

00	=	one or some subscribers have been found

01	=	locality insufficiently defined; no subscriber number is forthcoming

02	=	street name insufficiently defined; no subscriber number is forthcoming

03	=	no subscriber has been found

04	=	fault or congestion; no subscriber number is forthcoming

05	=	the number of subscribers who correspond to the selection criteria exceeds the maximum capacity for the message. Re-enter the question with more precise information. No subscriber number is forthcoming

06	=	partial fault or congestion. The list of subscriber numbers who correspond to the selection criteria is not complete

07	=	the number of subscribers who correspond to the selection criteria exceeds the maximum capacity of the message. The list of subscriber numbers answering to the selection criteria is not complete. Re-enter eventually the question using more precise indicators

08	=	insufficient search elements have been entered. Re-enter the question with more information. No subscriber number is forthcoming

09	=	selection criteria not known (e.g. locality does not exist)

10	=	protocol error

ù	country code (in accordance with the CCITT Recommendations) ù 3 characters: aligned from the left (if necessary, supplemented by spaces).

c)	Part 3.1

ù	trunk code (in accordance with the CCITT Recommendations) ù 5 characters

ù	zone number: aligned from the left (if necessary, supplemented by spaces);

ù	zeros if no subscriber has been found or if a subscriber's number is not to be disclosed;

ù	subscriber's number (in accordance with the CCITT Recommendation) ù 8 characters:

i)	aligned from the left (if necessary, supplemented by spaces);

ii)	zeros if no subscriber has been found or a series of "x" characters if a subscriber's number is not to be disclosed;

ù	locality, subscriber's surname or trade name, forename, street name, house number, supplementary data: data concerning the subscriber found. If no subscriber has been found, the zone of the corresponding data in the question format;

ù	subscriber message:

The coded message which must be converted into text by the calling country.

The following codes have been defined:

0	=	no comment

1	=	subscriber changed address

2	=	refer to distant operator

ù	heading in the guide;

ù	profession code;

ù	additional information for a selective search;

ù	county or province;

ù	category.

d)	Part 3.2 to 3.x

ù	contains the continuation of the selection if other subscribers have been selected. Each supplementary selection uses the same form as in the layout of Part 3.1.

5.4.4	Structure of the response

REPLY message

1010 0000	Directory message (telephone)

LENGTH

1010 0001	Telephone (reply)

LENGTH

0011 0000	Reply

LENGTH

0110 0011	Part 1

LENGTH

1000 0000	Message indicators

LENGTH

Message indicators

1000 0001	International indicators

LENGTH

International indicators

1000 0010	Originating terminal code

LENGTH

Originating terminal code

1000 0011	Date and time (optional)

LENGTH

Date and Time

1000 0100	Message number (optional)

LENGTH

Message number

0110 0100	Part 2

LENGTH

1000 0000	Message code

LENGTH

Message code

1000 0001	Country code

LENGTH

Country code

0110 0101	Part 3 (optional)

LENGTH

0011 0001	Selection

LENGTH

1000 0000	Trunk code (optional)

LENGTH

Trunk code

1000 0001	Subscriber number

LENGTH

Subscriber number

1000 0010	Locality

LENGTH

Locality

1000 0011	Subscriber name

LENGTH

Subscriber name

1000 0100	Forename (optional)

LENGTH

Forename

1000 0101	Street name (optional)

LENGTH

Street name

1000 0110	House number (optional)

LENGTH

House number

1000 0111	Supplementary data (optional)

LENGTH

Supplementary data

1000 1000	Subscriber message (optional)

LENGTH

Subscriber message

10000 1001	Heading in the Guide (optional)

LENGTH

Heading in the Guide

1000 1010	Profession code (optional)

LENGTH

Profession code

1000 1011	Additional information for a selective search (optional)

LENGTH

Additional information for a selective search

1000 1100	County or province (optional)

LENGTH

County or province

1000 1101	Category (optional)

LENGTH

Category

0011 0001	Selection

LENGTH

1000 0000	Trunk code

LENGTH

Trunk code

include 115-T02E

ATTENTION MONTAGE

FIGURE 2/E.115 TABLE Landscape

5.4.5	The different parts of the inquiry formulated by the operator of the country of origin should be converted by the national computer into the international standard format. The different parts of the response transmitted in the international standard format should be converted by the computer of the country which made the request into its national format.

6	Charges

Note ù As specified in Article 106 of the Instructions for the International Telephone Service [2], no charge is made for obtaining information in accordance with Article 51 of the Instructions, even when this requires the use of an international circuit.

However, some Administrations may reserve the possibility of applying certain charges in the future. The amounts charged would remain a national arrangement.

7	Operator manual

Each country that implements this Recommendation must supply a simple operator manual for remote countries. This manual describes principally the main characteristics of its directory assistance system so as to indicate the best way to inquire for the remote operators.

ANNEX A

(to Recommendation E.115)

Directory services interconnect bearer services

A.1	Introduction

The interconnection of International Directory Databases should be network independent.

The general structure for the arrangement of the physical link (OSI layer 1), link access (OSI layer 2) and network layer (OSI layer 3) are as outlined in Figure A-1/E.115. Where Administrations have provided similar equipment, interconnection may be arranged by bilateral agreement to suit local requirements. This method of interconnection is solely the matter of the Administrations concerned.

A.2	Identification

The types of bearer services considered applicable for directory inquiry interconnect are:

i)	packet switched public data network (PSPDN);

ii)	circuit switched public data network (CSPDN);

iii)	public switched telephone network (PSTN);

iv)	Administration leased line (point-to-point).

With possible evolution to ISDN, Signalling System No. 7 includes Message Transfer Part and message handling systems.

A.3	Network interconnection

The choice of network to be used for the interconnection of computer-based directory systems should be agreed bilaterally. However, to achieve commonality across all types of networks, the link, data transfer and call procedures, as specified in the appropriate Recommendations, should be used.

Figure A-1/E.115 = 20 cm

ANNEX B

(to Recommendation E.115)

Formal definitions of directory messages

Directory Message	::= CHOICE [ [0] Telephone ]

Telephone	::= CHOICE [ Entry [0], Reply [1] ]

Entry	::= SEQUENCE [ Part 1, Part 2 ]

Part 1	::= [ APPLICATION 0 ] IMPLICIT SET [

MessageIndicators	[0] IMPLICIT IA5String,

InternationalIndicators	[1] IMPLICIT IA5String,

OriginatingTerminalCode	[2] IMPLICIT IA5String,

DataAndTime	[3] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

MessageNumber	[4] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL

]

Part 2	::= [ APPLICATION 1 ] IMPLICIT SET [

Locality	[0] IMPLICIT IA5String,

SubscriberName	[1] IMPLICIT IA5String,

StreetName	[2] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

HouseNumber	[3] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

Forename	[4] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

HeadingInTheGuide	[5] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

ProfessionCode	[6] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

AdditionalInformationForASelectiveSearch	[7] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

CountyOrProvince	[8] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

Category	[9] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL

]

Reply	::= SEQUENCE [ Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 OPTIONAL ]

Part 1	::= [ APPLICATION 3 ] IMPLICIT SET [

MessageIndicators	[0] IMPLICIT IA5String,

InternationalIndicators	[1] IMPLICIT IA5String,

OriginatingTerminalCode	[2] IMPLICIT IA5String,

DateAndTime	[3] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

MessageNumber	[4] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL

]

Part 2	::= [ APPLICATION 4 ] IMPLICIT SET [

MessageCode	[0] IMPLICIT IA5String,

CountryCode	[1] IMPLICIT IA5String

]

Part 3	::= [ APPLICATION 5 ] IMPLICIT SET of Selection

Selection	::= SET [

TrunkCode	1[0] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

SubscriberNumber	1[1] IMPLICIT IA5String,

Locality	1[2] IMPLICIT IA5String,

SubscriberName	1[3] IMPLICIT IA5String,

Forename	1[4] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

StreetName	1[5] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

HouseNumber	1[6] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

SupplementaryData	1[7] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

SubscriberMessage	1[8] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

HeadingInTheGuide	1[9] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

ProfessionCode	[10] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

AdditionalInformationForASelectiveSearch	[11] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

CountyOrProvince	[12] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL,

Category	[13] IMPLICIT IA5String OPTIONAL

]

References

[1]	CCITT Recommendation International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 (ITA2), Rec. S.1.

[2]	CCITT Instructions for the International Telephone Service (1st October 1985), ITU, Geneva, 1985.