COMMUNICATION METHODS AND SYSTEMS

• US 20090132397A1
• Filed: 11/13/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: DESIDERIO, Didier, BERTIN, Olivier
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,449 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A system arranged to receive an authorization request from an application server using a first communication protocol; identify a charging server associated with the authorization request from a plurality of charging servers, each charging server associated with a respective charging server communication protocol; and communicate with the identified charging server using the respective charging server communication protocol.

Claims

1. A system arranged to:

receive an authorization request from an application server using a first communication protocol;

identify a charging server associated with the authorization request from a plurality of charging servers, each charging server associated with a respective charging server communication protocol; and

communicate with the identified charging server using the respective charging server communication protocol.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, arranged to identify a charging server by identifying a module associated with the authorization request from a plurality of modules, each module associated with a respective charging server.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, arranged to communicate with the identified charging server by communicating with the identified module such that the identified module communicates with the identified charging server using the respective charging server communication protocol.

4. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each module comprises a Java bean.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first communication protocol comprises Remote Method Invocation, RMI.

23. A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions for implementing the system as claimed in claim 1.

25. Computer readable storage storing a computer program product as claimed in claim 23.

6. A system arranged to:

receive a service request from a user agent;

identify a charging server associated with at least one of the user agent and a user using the user agent;

provide an authorization request to a charging gateway using a first communication protocol such that the charging gateway communicates with the identified charging server using a charging server communication protocol associated with the identified charging server.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6, arranged to provide the authorization request by identifying a module associated with the charging gateway from a plurality of modules, and providing the authorization request to the identified module using the first communication protocol such that the identified module communicates with the identified charging server using the charging server communication protocol associated with the identified charging server.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the modules comprise Java beans.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first communication protocol comprises RMI.

10. A system as claimed in claim 6, arranged to receive an authorization response from the charging gateway.

11. A system as claimed in claim 10, arranged to selectively provide content or a service identified in the user request based on the authorization response.

24. A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions for implementing the system as claimed in claim 6.

12. A communication method comprising:

receiving an authorization request from an application server using a first communication protocol;

identifying a charging server associated with the authorization request from a plurality of charging servers, each charging server associated with a respective charging server communication protocol; and

communicating with the identified charging server using the respective charging server communication protocol.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein identifying a charging server comprises identifying a module associated with the authorization request from a plurality of modules, each module associated with a respective charging server.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein communicating with the identified charging server comprises communicating with the identified module such that the identified module communicates with the identified charging server using the respective charging server communication protocol.

15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the plurality of modules comprise a plurality of Java beans.

16. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first communication protocol comprises RMI.

17. A communication method comprising:

receiving a service request from a user agent;

identifying a charging server associated with at least one of the user agent and a user using the user agent;

providing an authorization request to a charging gateway using a first communication protocol such that the charging gateway communicates with the identified charging server using a charging server communication protocol associated with the identified charging server.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein providing the authorization request by identifying a module associated with the charging gateway from a plurality of modules, and providing the authorization request to the identified module using the first communication protocol such that the identified module communicates with the identified charging server using the charging server communication protocol associated with the identified charging server.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the modules comprise Java beans.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the first communication protocol comprises RMI.

21. A method as claimed in claim 17, arranged to receive an authorization response from the charging gateway.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21, arranged to selectively provide content or a service identified in the service request based on the authorization response.