APPLICATION SERVICES INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS INCLUDING A NOTIFICATION CAPABILITY AND RELATED METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS

• US 20080162637A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Hong, Adamczyk, Maria, Huslak, Nicholas Steven, Stillman, Scott Traynham, Modarressi, Abdi, Patterson, Gregory, Johnson, Myranda, Denny, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,288,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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

Abstract

A system for supporting a notification capability for a plurality of applications utilizing a next generation network having a network layer includes an application services middleware between the applications and the network layer comprising a plurality of common infrastructure elements usable by the applications. The common infrastructure elements provide both services associated with use of the network and services that are not associated with use of the network. The plurality of common infrastructure elements includes a notification service that is configured to facilitate the sending of messages from authorized services to recipients.

Claims

1. A system for supporting a notification capability for a plurality of applications utilizing a next generation network having a network layer, comprising:

application services middleware between the applications and the network layer comprising a plurality of common infrastructure elements usable by the applications, wherein the common infrastructure elements provide both services associated with use of the network and services that are not associated with use of the network, and wherein the plurality of common infrastructure elements comprises;

a notification service that is configured to facilitate the sending of messages from authorized services to recipients.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification service is an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network element.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification service comprises:

a notification server that is configured to receive the messages from the authorized services for delivery to the recipients and to send the messages to the recipients;

an IMS Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) that is configured to maintain session state information between the notification server and the authorized services and between the notification server and the recipients; and

a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) that is configured to store recipient profile and preference data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the notification server is configured to send the notification messages to the recipients on demand, at a specific future time, and/or on a periodic schedule.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the notification server is configured to retrieve profile and preference data from the HSS for the recipients, and wherein the notification server is configured to apply rules to the profile and preference data to determine how to send the messages to the recipients and/or to determine when to send the messages to the recipients.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of common infrastructure elements further comprises a mobility management service, a presence service, and/or a location service;

and

wherein the notification server is further configured to send a message to at least one of the recipients based on a location of the at least one of recipients and/or based on an identity of the authorized service that is the source of the message to the at least one of the recipients.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of common infrastructure elements further comprises an authentication service that is configured to ensure that communication between the notification server and the authorized services and between the notification server and the recipients is secure.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the notification server is further configured to send a confirmation to at least one of the authorized services when one of the messages for which the at least one of the authorized services is the source is delivered.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the IMS comprises a Multimedia Resource Function (MRF) that is configured to perform content adaptation for at least one of the messages.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the authorized services comprise at least one of the plurality of applications and/or a subscriber device registered with the IMS.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification service is a 3 GPP network push service element.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising computer readable program code configured to provide an application services middleware as recited in claim 1.

13. A method of providing a notification service, comprising:

providing an application services middleware between a plurality of applications and a network layer of a next generation network, the application services middleware comprising a plurality of common infrastructure elements usable by the different applications, wherein the common infrastructure elements provide both services associated with use of the network and services that are not associated with use of the network; and

incorporating a notification service into the application services middleware as a common infrastructure element, the notification service being configured to facilitate the sending of messages from authorized services to recipients.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the notification service is an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network element.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving at the notification service a message from one of the authorized services for delivery to one of the recipients;

retrieving profile and preference data from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for the one of the recipients;

applying rules to the profile and preference data at the notification service to determine how to send the message from one of the authorized services to the one of the recipients and/or to determine when to send the message from one of the authorized services to the one of the recipients; and

sending the message from one of the authorized services to the one of the recipients.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein applying the rules comprises:

applying rules to the profile and preference data at the notification service to determine whether to send the message from one of the authorized services to one of the recipients on demand, at a specific future time, and/or on a periodic schedule.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein sending the message comprises:

sending the message from one of the authorized services to the one of the recipients based on a location of the one of the recipients and/or based on an identity of the one of the authorized services.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending a confirmation to the one of the authorized services when the message to the one of the recipients is delivered.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the authorized services comprise at least one of the plurality of applications and/or a subscriber device registered with the IMS.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising computer readable program code configured to carry out the method as recited in claim 13.