System and method for establishing and controlling access to network resources
First Claim
1. A telecommunications system, comprising:
- a communications network having a plurality of telecommunications applications capable of communication over the network, wherein the telecommunications applications have diverse specifications with respect to at least one of input specifications, function carried out, output specifications, information for accounting purposes, subscription terms and resource utilization limitations, wherein at least two said telecommunications applications operate cooperatively at least in some situations;
a service broker system comprising at least one programmed processor operable to allocate and selectively enable use of telecommunications applications and media servers to meet demand;
wherein an allocation of the telecommunications applications and media servers to meet the demand is changeable by the service broker system during operation of the telecommunications system.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telecommunications network uses a supervisory service broker in a packet messaging environment, particularly Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messaging, to changeably allocate and to account for the usage of network resources by users. The SIP INVITE and other messages are passed through the supervisory broker, monitored for accounting and potentially redirected to change allocations of resources. The resources can generally comprise applications and applications servers such as media storage and playback, voicemail and directory services, subnet messaging and instant messaging, voice-over-Internet, wireless linkages and others, and can be logically grouped in packages that are allocable. Users such as telecom carriers and others can contract for usage and also can contract to provide resources for use by others, in an unlimited way or according to terms, and for appropriate credit.
360 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A telecommunications system, comprising:
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a communications network having a plurality of telecommunications applications capable of communication over the network, wherein the telecommunications applications have diverse specifications with respect to at least one of input specifications, function carried out, output specifications, information for accounting purposes, subscription terms and resource utilization limitations, wherein at least two said telecommunications applications operate cooperatively at least in some situations;
a service broker system comprising at least one programmed processor operable to allocate and selectively enable use of telecommunications applications and media servers to meet demand;
wherein an allocation of the telecommunications applications and media servers to meet the demand is changeable by the service broker system during operation of the telecommunications system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A Service Controller for operation in a telecommunications system wherein resources are allocated by a Service Broker to meet demand, and can include telecommunications applications and media servers logically associated as logical services and service control groups of logical services, the Service Controller comprising:
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at least one Network adapter through which the Service Controller monitors and controls network elements on behalf of the allocated resources;
a Call Model which reflects a state of the network elements for a subscriber'"'"'s session;
a Service Distribution Manager which acts on the state reflected by the Call Model according to definitions of the subscribers service control groups and invokes appropriate resources;
a Resource Manager which monitors at least one of access and real time usage of the resources in fulfilling a demand;
a Billing Logs Alarms and Metrics Engine (BLAME) operable to collect Billing, Log, Alarm and Metric information from one or more of the Network adapter, Service Distribution Manager, Resource Manager and the subscriber and reports data to the Service Manager;
a plurality of Application adapters through which the Service Controller invokes and communicates with said resources. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A communications system, comprising:
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a plurality of communications resources including telecommunications applications running on applications servers that are coupled with one another and with users over a network;
a supervisory service broker coupled with the applications servers and the users over the network;
wherein at least certain of the communications resources are shared by the users through the supervisory service broker, wherein the users are allocated usage of the communications resources by directing invitation messages to the resources through the service broker, and wherein the service broker manages allocation of said usage by at least one of integrating new resources, combining resources in defined groups, changing allocations of resources to particular users over time, and accounting for at least one of allocations of resources and usage of said resources by the users. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for changeably configuring a telecommunications system having a plurality of users having requirements, and a plurality of telecommunications applications each having at least one of hardware and software for producing an output from an input, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a data store containing specifications for the telecommunications applications, the specifications enabling the telecommunications applications to be compared with one another by standardized criteria, the specifications defining characteristics needed for the input and characteristics provided by the telecommunications applications in the output;
provisioning particular said users by assigning at least temporary access to selected ones of the telecommunications applications that meet the requirements of the particular users; and
,reconfiguring the provisioning of said users from time to time by at least one of adding, substituting and removing access to the telecommunications applications by said particular users. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification