Delivery of network services

• US 20040203759A1
• Filed: 01/02/2003
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaw, Venson M., Holmes, David W., Leuca, Ileana A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

A network includes user information comprising terminal capabilities and readiness information for a terminal device. A network element receives the terminal capabilities and readiness information from the terminal device and communicates the terminal capabilities and readiness information such that it is received and stored. The information is accessed to set media delivery parameters for the terminal device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing user information comprising terminal capabilities and readiness information; and

accessing the user information to set media delivery parameters for a terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

setting, according to the terminal capabilities, at least one of the frame rate, compression ratio, and frame size of media to deliver to the terminal device.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining, according to the terminal capabilities, at least one of network bandwidth and quality of service to deliver media to the terminal device.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

setting, according to user preferences comprised by the user information, at least one of the frame rate, compression ratio, and frame size of media to deliver to the terminal device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the user information with at least one of updated terminal device capabilities and updated readiness information.

6. A method comprising:

a terminal device storing terminal capabilities;

the terminal device maintaining readiness information;

the terminal device communicating the terminal capabilities to a network; and

the terminal device communicating the readiness information to the network when the readiness information changes.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

the terminal device maintaining the readiness information.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

the terminal capabilities comprising information of the terminal device'"'"'s capability to receive, process, and display information.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

the terminal device maintaining at least one of location and presence information.

10. A device comprising:

a wireless communication interface;

terminal capabilities;

readiness information; and

logic to maintain the readiness information and to communicate the terminal capabilities and readiness information via the wireless communication interface.

11. The device of claim 10 further comprising:

a location system; and

logic to communicate location information via the wireless interface.

12. The device of claim 10 further comprising:

the terminal capabilities organized into categories, at least some of the categories corresponding to subsystems of the terminal device.

13. The device of claim 10 further comprising:

a presence system; and

logic to communicate presence information via the wireless interface.

14. A network comprising:

a network element to store user information, the user information comprising terminal capabilities and readiness information for a user of the network; and

a network element to receive the terminal capabilities and readiness information from a terminal device and to communicate the terminal capabilities and readiness information such that it is received and stored by the network element to store the user information.

15. The network of claim 14 further comprising:

a network element to access the user information and to communicate with the terminal device in accordance with the user information.

16. The network of claim 14 further comprising:

a network element to compare service requirements with the terminal capabilities and to select a service provider for the terminal device accordingly.

17. A method comprising:

receiving first terminal capabilities for a terminal of a network user;

storing the first terminal capabilities;

receiving a service request from the user;

reading the first terminal capabilities; and

comparing service provider service requirements with the first terminal capabilities and selecting a first service provider to meet the service request accordingly.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

receiving second terminal capabilities for the network user;

storing the second terminal capabilities;

reading the second terminal capabilities;

comparing service provider service requirements with the second terminal capabilities and selecting a second service provider to meet the service request accordingly.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

the first service provider discontinuing to provide the service to the terminal, and the second service provider beginning to provide the service to the terminal, as a result of comparing service provider service requirements with the second terminal capabilities and selecting the second service provider to meet the service request.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

comparing categories of the service provider service requirements with categories of the first terminal capabilities to identify suitable service providers to meet the service request, at least some of the categories corresponding to subsystems of the terminal.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

receiving a request for user information from a roaming network; and

providing the user information to the roaming network.

22. A network comprising:

a network element to store user information comprising terminal device capabilities and readiness information; and

a network element to access the user information and to set media delivery parameters accordingly.

23. The network of claim 22 further comprising:

the user information comprising at least one of location information and presence information for a terminal device; and

the network element to access the user information to set media delivery parameters according to at least one of the location information and the presence information.

24. A network element comprising:

a memory to store user information for a plurality of users of a network;

logic to store updates to the user information; and

logic to authenticate and authorize access to the user information.

25. The network element of claim 24 further comprising:

logic to identify the updates to the user information as one of terminal capabilities and readiness information.

26. The network element of claim 25 further comprising:

logic to respond to requests for the user information by authenticating and authorizing access to the user information.