What is the difference between route pattern and translation pattern?

Route Pattern vs. Translation Pattern: Cracking the Code to Call Routing

Ever wondered how your phone system knows where to send your calls? It’s more than just magic; it’s a carefully orchestrated dance of dial plans, route patterns, and translation patterns. Now, route patterns and translation patterns might sound like jargon only a telecom geek could love, but trust me, understanding the difference is key to getting your phone system to behave. Think of it this way: they’re both essential ingredients in the recipe for successful call routing, but they play very different roles. Let’s break it down, shall we?

Route Patterns: The GPS for Your Calls

A route pattern is basically a set of rules that tell your phone system, “If someone dials this number (or range of numbers), send the call there.” It’s the final destination on your call’s journey. I like to think of them as the GPS coordinates for your phone calls. They’re configured to match a specific number or a range of dialed numbers.

Here’s what makes route patterns tick:

• Destination, Destination, Destination: Route patterns are all about the endpoint. They point to a route list or a specific gateway or trunk, effectively saying, “This is where the call ends up.” This could be a voice gateway that connects you to the good old PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or a trunk linking you to another internal system.
• Wildcards are Your Friend: Imagine having to configure every single phone number individually! That’s where wildcards come in. They’re like the “any” button. Common ones include ‘X’ (any digit from 0-9), ‘!’ (one or more digits), and ‘?’ (zero or more of the previous thing). So, a route pattern like 91! means “anything that starts with 91, followed by at least one more digit.” Pretty neat, huh?
• The Call Routing Table: When you dial a number, your phone system consults its routing table. The route pattern, when matched by a dialed number, provides an entry to the call-routing table. The system searches for a configured route pattern that matches the external dialed string and uses it to select a gateway or a corresponding route list.
• Urgent vs. Normal: Route patterns can be marked as “urgent” or “normal.” Urgent patterns get matched immediately, without waiting for you to finish dialing. Normal ones give the system a little more time to collect digits, just in case there’s a better match.

Example: Let’s say your company wants all calls starting with “9” to go out through a specific phone line. You’d set up a route pattern that says, “Anything starting with 9 goes that way.” Simple as that. When a user dials 9 followed by a phone number, CUCM uses this route pattern to send the call to the designated gateway, connecting the user to the external phone network.

Translation Patterns: The Digit Doctors

Now, translation patterns are a different beast altogether. They don’t route calls directly. Instead, they manipulate the digits before the system decides where the call should go. Think of them as the digit doctors, cleaning up and modifying numbers. After they’ve worked their magic, the call gets re-analyzed, possibly hitting another translation pattern or, eventually, a route pattern.

Here’s the lowdown on translation patterns:

• Digit Surgery: The main job of a translation pattern is to tweak digits. This could involve adding, removing, or changing digits, either in the number you dialed (called-party transformation) or the number your phone is showing (calling-party transformation).
• No Final Destination (Yet): Unlike route patterns, translation patterns don’t have a final destination. They’re all about the transformation.
• CSS is Key: After the digits are massaged, translation patterns use a CSS (Calling Search Space) to figure out what to do next. The CSS tells the system which partitions (logical groupings of numbers and patterns) to search for a matching route pattern or another translation pattern.
• Partition Power: Just like route patterns, translation patterns live in partitions.
• Calling Number Matching: Translation patterns can also be set up to match based on who is calling, using the “Route Next Hop By Calling Party Number” option.

Example: Imagine you have offices in different cities, and they all dial long-distance numbers slightly differently. Translation patterns can normalize those dialing habits. Or, say you need to map extensions from public to private networks. If a call comes into the DID 4085551111, CallManager can convert the dialed digits to 4111.

Route Pattern vs. Translation Pattern: The Showdown

FeatureRoute PatternTranslation PatternPurposeRoutes calls to their final stopTweaks digits before routing startsDestinationRoute list, gateway, or trunk – the end of the lineNone directly; kicks off another round of analysisDigit HandlingMatches dialed digits for routing – a simple matchModifies dialed or calling number info – a makeoverCSS UsageUses CSS of the calling deviceUses CSS configured within the translation pattern