System and method for charging for directed provisioning of user applications on limited-resource devices

• US 20030060188A1
• Filed: 10/01/2002
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Teichholtz, Haim, Gidron, Yoad, Holder, Ophir
• Granted Patent: US 8,849,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system and a method for charging for directed provisioning and using of dynamic content to limited resource devices, through an integrated platform which handles all aspects of aggregation and management of such dynamic content. The integrated platform features a billing system for performing billing actions. The billing system of the present invention interacts with other components of the integrated platform in order to be able to determine the charge for particular triggering events, such as downloading dynamic content, and/or events which are actually triggered by the application itself. The charge is preferably determined according to one of a plurality of rules, as applied by a rules engine of the billing system. These rules are part of a charging policy, which may optionally be determined by the content provider.

Claims

1. A method for charging for provisioning and using a dynamic content to a limited resource device through an integrated platform, the steps of the method comprising:

(a) sending an event regarding the dynamic content to the integrated platform;

(b) analyzing said event to determine an amount to be charged by the integrated platform; and

(c) charging the user said amount for consuming the dynamic content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the limited resource device is a wireless communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the limited resource device is a cellular communication device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes the steps of:

(i) analyzing said event to select at least one rule of a plurality of rules for determining said amount to be charged; and

(ii) applying said at least one rule to determine said amount to be charged.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said at least one rule includes an event, a condition and an action, said event at least including said request, said condition being determined according to at least one characteristic of said request and said action being determined according to at least one characteristic for delivering the dynamic content.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said event is a request to receive the dynamic content for downloading to the limited resource device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said event is generated by the user application as operated by the limited resource device, such that said request is received from the user application.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said condition is determined according to at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of subscriber information regarding a user of the limited resource device, data related to the dynamic content, delivery conditions for delivering the dynamic content and information which is specific to the dynamic content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein information about said request and said amount to be charged is stored.

10. A system for charging for consuming a dynamic content, the system comprising:

(a) a limited resource device for receiving the dynamic content; and

(b) a billing system for determining an amount to be charged for the dynamic content, wherein said billing system comprises a rules engine for selecting at least one rule for determining said amount to be charged.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

(c) an external billing system for being in communication with said billing system;

and wherein said billing system further comprises;

(i) a mediation block for translating at least one charge command from said rules engine for communicating with said external billing system.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

(c) an archive for storing information about said amount to be charged, said at least one rule and information about the dynamic content.

13. A method for charging for consuming a dynamic content, the method comprising:

providing a billing model;

receiving at least one event generated by consumption of the dynamic content;

analyzing said billing model to determine at least one action of a plurality of actions according to said at least one event; and

executing said action to charge for consuming the dynamic content.

14. A system for charging for consuming a dynamic content, comprising:

(a) a user device for consuming the dynamic content; and

(b) a billing infrastructure for charging for the dynamic content according to at least one event generated according to said user device, wherein said billing infrastructure further comprises;

a rule engine for performing analysis of said billing model according to said at least one event; and

data repositories for storage of data for use by said rule engine.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said billing model comprises:

a download policy wherein said download policy defines conditions for permitting the downloading of the dynamic content to said limited resource device; and

a server-side policy which defines at least one rule of a plurality of rules wherein said at least one rule includes an event, a condition and an action.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said event is generated by a component of the system.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said event is generated during execution of the user application.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said condition is determined according to at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of data attached to said event, global data, and predefined parameters.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said action is a charging action, and wherein a price to be charged is determined according to at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of data attached to said event, global data, and predefined parameters.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

(c) an external billing system which receives said charging action from said rules engine.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said rule engine further comprises:

(iii) a billing mediator for transferring said charging action from said rules engine to said external billing system.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said billing model further comprises:

a client side policy wherein said client side policy is downloaded with the application to said limited resource device and wherein said client side policy further executes from said limited resource device in response to said event.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein said client side policy comprises a software wrapper for the user application.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said wrapper is generated automatically by the system.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the user application is provided with a license and wherein said wrapper checks said to determine validity of said license.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein said analysis of said billing model is performed by said rule engine in response to receipt of said event and wherein said analysis comprises:

identifying the application;

selecting said at least one rule; and

evaluating said condition.

27. A system for management of charging for provisioning and using a dynamic content, the system comprising:

(a) a limited resource device for receiving and executing the dynamic content;

(b) a provisioning platform for providing the dynamic content;

(c) an external billing system for charging for provisioning and/or using the dynamic content; and

(d) an messaging system for communicating between said limited resource device, said provisioning platform and said external billing system.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein said provisioning platform further comprises:

a rule engine for selecting at least one rule for determining amount to be charged.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said rule engine further comprises:

a billing mediator for transferring at least one charge command from said rules engine to said external billing system; and

a data repository for storage of data for being used by said rule engine in determining said amount to be charged.