OPEN CABLE APPLICATION PLATFORM (OCAP) AND SET-TOP BOX (STB)-BASED BILL NOTIFICATION AND PAYMENT APPLICATION

• US 20090300668A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Chavez, David L., Weber, Gregory D., Campagna, Theresa
• Granted Patent: US 9,215,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47805 Electronic banking banking in general G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

One exemplary aspect is advanced multimedia communications via OCAP using customer specific profiles resident in the STB for bill management. Aspects of the invention also relate to managing payment preferences, auto payment of bills or invoices, managing bill notification preferences, triggering a notification to be sent to one or more of an associated device and the STB upon receipt of a bill, analyzing an incoming bill with an intelligent agent and optionally initiating a communication to the vendor associated with a bill based on the analysis, acquiring additional information about the bill including an image of the bill and/or additional details, and forwarding invoice information to a destination associated with the STB.

Claims

1. A set-top box with an operating system layer operable to support cable network interconnectability and to provide an application platform comprising:

one or more profiles, each profile including personal information and personal preferences, one or more of the personal information and personal preferences used in association with a bill management application; and

a bill management interface operable to allow management of one or more received bills, the management including one or more of payment, scheduling, categorizing, and initiating a communication with a vendor.

2. The set-top box of claim 1, wherein the one or more profiles comprise one or more of personal information, communications preferences, personal preferences, calendar information, vendor information, priority information, contextual preferences, one or more sub-profiles, alternate contact modalities and one or more trusted contacts.

3. The set-top box of claim 1, adapted to receive one or more of television programming, data, voice information, internet communications, VOIP communications, e-commerce communications, communication from attached electronic devices, content, invoices and bills.

4. The set-top box of claim 1, further comprising an I/O interface operable to communicate with one or more trusted entities.

5. The set-top box of claim 1, further comprising a menu module, the menu module operable to display one or more menus based on the bill management application.

6. The set-top box of claim 1, wherein the bill management application includes an initiate service transaction request that includes information from one or more profiles, the initiate service transaction request utilizing internet-based protocols to communicate with one or more of a trusted entity, a content/service provider, an intelligent agent and an IVR system.

7. The set-top box of claim 1, further comprising a module adapted to analyze and process one or more received bills based on one or more rules, a result of the analysis being one or more of automatically paying the bill, forwarding information from the bill to one or more destinations, securing an image of the bill, categorizing the bill and calendaring the bill based on a due date.

8. The set-top box of claim 7, wherein the one or more additional devices include a phone, a SIP enabled device, an electronic communication device, a soft phone, a multimedia device, an audio device, a PDA, a video device and a electronic device.

9. The set-top box of claim 1, further comprising a security module operable to one or more of filter, analyze, restrict access to, restrict dissemination of and control information in the one or more profiles.

10. The set-top box of claim 1, further comprising one or more sub-profiles, the behavior of which is governed by the one or more profiles.

11. A method of operating a set-top box having an operating system layer operable to support cable network interconnectability and to provide an application platform comprising:

establishing one or more profiles, each profile including personal information and personal preferences, one or more of the personal information and personal preferences used in association with a bill management application; and

managing the bill management application, the management including one or more of payment, scheduling, categorizing, and initiating a communication with a vendor.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more profiles comprise one or more of personal information, communications preferences, personal preferences, bill information, vendor information, priority information, contextual preferences, one or more sub-profiles, alternate contact modalities and one or more trusted contacts.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving one or more of television programming, data, voice information, internet communications, VOIP communications, ecommerce communications, communication from attached electronic devices, bills, invoices and content.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising communicating with one or more trusted entities.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising analyzing and processing one or more received bills based on one or more rules, a result of the analysis being one or more of automatically paying the bill, forwarding information from the bill to one or more destinations, securing an image of the bill, categorizing the bill and calendaring the bill based on a due date.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the calendaring application includes an initiate service transaction request that includes information from one or more profiles, the initiate service transaction request utilizing internet-based protocols to communicate with one or more of a trusted entity, a content/service provider, an intelligent agent and an IVR system.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising binding one or more additional devices to the set-top box, wherein the one or more additional devices include a phone, a SIP enabled device, an electronic communication device, a soft phone, a multimedia device, a PDA, an audio device, a video device and a electronic device.

18. The method of claim 11, one or more of filtering, analyzing, restricting access to, restricting dissemination of and controlling information in the one or more profiles.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising establishing one or more sub-profiles, the behavior of which is governed by the one or more profiles.

20. A means for operating a set-top box having an operating system layer operable to support cable network interconnectability and to provide an application platform comprising:

means for establishing one or more profiles, each profile including personal information and personal preferences, one or more of the personal information and personal preferences used in association with a bill management application; and

means for managing the bill management application, the management including one or more of payment, scheduling, categorizing, and initiating a communication with a vendor.