System for provisioning service data utilizing the IMS defined Sh interface's transparent data

• US 20050278447A1
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Raether, Helmut L., Rudolph, Michael Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,503,528 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

Embodiments of the method and apparatus utilizes a conventional provisioning interface to the IMS HSS and the Sh interface from the HSS to a generic application to provision service data on the application at the other end of the Sh interface. One embodiment may have the steps of: interfacing a provisioning system with an HSS with a Sh interface; and using the Sh interface as a provisioning interface.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning application server data using an HSS as a path from a provisioning system to an application server, the method comprising the steps of:

interfacing a provisioning system with an HSS with predetermined interface; and

using publish/subscribe interface as a provisioning interface to the application server.

2. A method for provisioning application server data using an HSS as a path from a provisioning system to an application server, the method comprising the steps of:

sending data from the provisioning system to the HSS, and then sending data from the HSS to the application server;

provisioning, by the provisioning system, the HSS subscriber data using a CORBA interface;

receiving non-transparent data for a subscriber at the HSS and storing the non-transparent data with known attributes thereof at the HSS;

storing transparent data for this application server service as a data block the HSS;

providing, for the HSS provisioning over the CORBA interface, new parameters that include subscription-request-type, AS identity, and Service-Indication of the application server;

subscribing, by the HSS using the parameters received via the CORBA interface, the application server to the transparent data;

passing the transparent data to the application server via a publish/subscribe interface;

extracting by the application server, to support the publish/subscribe interface, a native provisioning script from the transparent data, and applying the changes; and

communicating the transparent data payload contained under a CORBA wrapper for the CORBA interface and the publish/subscribe interface, between endpoints that understand contents of the transparent data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the publish/subscribe interface is a Sh interface, wherein CORBA provisioning from the provisioning system to the HSS is utilized, and wherein transparent data capabilities of the Sh interface are utilized to notify the application server of new provisioned data for a subscriber, and wherein Sh data defined as transparent data is also transmitted over the CORBA interface.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the new parameters further comprise at least authentication information required to set up a subsequent Diameter message.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the HSS does not know the contents of the transparent data.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the HSS data and subscriber data related to application servers are conveyed from the provisioning system into the HSS.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein CORBA encapsulates a transparent data parameter that indicates LDAP operations in a predetermined format that the application server understands.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein a single service is provisioned with transparent data with a single service-indication, and wherein multiple services for a same subscriber are provisioned with multiple service-indications.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the transparent data is data that is understood syntactically, but not semantically, by the HSS, and wherein the transparent data is data that an application server stores in the HSS to support its service logic, and the non-transparent data is data that is understood both syntactically and semantically by the HSS.

10. A method for provisioning application server data using an HSS as a path from a provisioning system to an application server, the method comprising the steps of:

sending data from the provisioning system to the HSS, and then sending data from the HSS to the application server;

provisioning, by the provisioning system, HSS subscriber data using a predetermined interface;

receiving non-transparent data for a subscriber at the HSS and storing the non-transparent data with known attributes thereof at the HSS;

storing transparent data for this application server service as a data block in the HSS;

providing, for the HSS provisioning over the predetermined interface, new parameters indicative of at least an identity of the application server;

subscribing, by the HSS using the parameters received via the predetermined interface, the application server to the transparent data;

passing the transparent data to the application server via a predetermined protocol;

extracting, by the application server to support the publish/subscribe interface, information from the transparent data; and

communicating a transparent data payload of the transparent data, contained under a predetermined wrapper for the predetermined interface and the publish/subscribe interface, between endpoints that understand the predefined contents.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the publish/subscribe interface is a Sh interface.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the publish/subscribe interface is a Sh interface, wherein predetermined interface is a CORBA interface, wherein CORBA provisioning from the provisioning system to the HSS is utilized, and wherein transparent data capabilities of the Sh interface are utilized to notify the application server of new provisioned data for a subscriber.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein Sh data defined as transparent data is also transmitted over the CORBA interface, and wherein the HSS does not know the contents of the transparent data.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the HSS data and subscriber data related to application servers are conveyed from the provisioning system into the HSS.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the new parameters further comprise at least authentication information required to set up a subsequent Diameter message.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein CORBA encapsulates a transparent data parameter that indicates LDAP operations in a predetermined format that the application server understands.

17. The method according to claim 10, wherein a single service is provisioned with transparent data with a single service-indication, and wherein multiple services for a same subscriber are provisioned with multiple service-indications.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transparent data is data that is understood syntactically, but not semantically, by the HSS, and wherein the transparent data is data that an application server stores in the HSS to support its service logic, and wherein the non-transparent data is data that is understood both syntactically and semantically by the HSS.

19. A system that provisions application server data using an HSS as a path from a provisioning system to an application server, comprising:

means for sending data from the provisioning system to the HSS, and then sending data from the HSS to the application server;

means for provisioning, by the provisioning system, HSS subscriber data using a predetermined interface;

means for receiving non-transparent data for a subscriber at the HSS and storing the non-transparent data with known attributes thereof at the HSS;

means for storing transparent data for this application server service as a data block in the HSS;

means for providing, for the HSS provisioning over the predetermined interface, new parameters indicative of at least an identity of the application server;

means for subscribing, by the HSS using the parameters received via the predetermined interface, the application server to the transparent data;

means for passing the transparent data to the application server via a predetermined protocol;

means for extracting, by the application server to support the publish/subscribe interface, information from the transparent data; and

means for communicating a transparent data payload of the transparent data, contained under a predetermined wrapper for the predetermined interface and the publish/subscribe interface, between endpoints that understand the predefined contents.

20. A method for provisioning application server data using an HSS as a path from a provisioning system to an application server, the method comprising the steps of:

interfacing a provisioning system with an HSS with a Sh interface;

using the Sh interface as a provisioning interface to provision application server data to an application server; and

propagating data changes from the application server back to the provisioning system using the Sh interface.