INTEGRATED SERVICE IDENTITY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF INFORMATION EXCHANGE SERVICES

• US 20100162363A1
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chow, Lee M., Piepenbrink, David J., Sofos, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services

Abstract

A service provisioning method includes providing a differentiated set of information exchange services to a user. In some embodiments, differentiation between or among the provided services may include differentiated access networks, differentiated physical network layers, and/or differentiated service providers. An integrated service identity may be generated and/or maintained by the service provider(s) or by a third party. The integrated services identity may enable the user to define preference settings applicable to the information exchange services, to process billable events and activity and to issue integrated statements encompassing all of the information exchange services provided to the user, and enabling the user to access customer support services for any of the information exchange services and further enabling the logging of all customer support activities to the integrated service identity.

Claims

1. A service provisioning method, comprising:

providing a plurality of information exchange services to a user, the information exchange services including services provided via a first access network having a first physical layer and services provided via a second access network having a second physical layer;

defining an integrated service identity encompassing all of the information exchange services;

enabling the user to define preference settings applicable to the information exchange services;

employing the integrated service identity to process billable events and activity and to issue integrated statements encompassing all of the information exchange services provided to the user;

enabling the user to access customer support services for any of the information exchange services; and

logging customer support activities to the integrated service identity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information exchange services provided via the first access network include multimedia content delivery services, fixed access voice services, and broadband Internet services.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first physical layer is compliant with a standard selected from the group consisting of:

digital subscriber line (DSL), integrated services digital network (ISDN), T-carrier, and E-carrier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein information exchange services provided via the second access network include mobile telephony services.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical layer is compliant with a standard selected from the group consisting of wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), time division-CDMA (TD-CDMA), TD-synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first access network comprises a wireless access network and the second access network comprises a wired access network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said enabling of the user to define preference settings includes enabling the user to define a single logon for all devices rendering the information exchange services.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the devices rendering the information exchange services include a set top box/television display for rendering the multimedia content delivery services, an Internet protocol phone for the fixed access voice services, and a computer for broadband Internet services.

9. A computer program product comprising instructions, stored on a computer readable medium, for providing services to a user, the instruction, operable for:

managing a plurality of information exchange services provided to a user, the information exchange services including services provided by a first service provider and services provided by a second service provider;

defining an integrated service identity encompassing all of the information exchange services;

enabling the user to define preference settings applicable to the information exchange services;

employing the integrated service identity to process billable events and activity and to issue an integrated statement encompassing all of the information exchange services provided to the user;

enabling the user to access customer support services for any of the information exchange services; and

logging customer support activities to the integrated service identity.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the information exchange services provided via the first provider include multimedia content delivery services, fixed access voice services, and broadband Internet services.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein information exchange services provided via the second provider include mobile telephony services.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the services provided by the first service provider are provided via a first access network and wherein the services provided by the second service provider are provided via a second access network comprises a wired access network.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said instructions for enabling of the user to define preference settings includes instructions for enabling the user to define a single logon for all devices rendering the information exchange services.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the devices rendering the information exchange services include a set top box/television display for rendering the multimedia content delivery services, an Internet protocol phone for the fixed access voice services, and a computer for broadband Internet services.

18. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 14, wherein information exchange services provided via the second access network include mobile telephony services.

19. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 18, wherein the second physical layer is compliant with a standard selected from the group consisting of wideband-code division multiple access, time division-CDMA, TD-synchronous CDMA and time division multiple access.

15. An operations services subsystem/business services subsystem (OSS/BSS) resource including processor and storage media accessible to the processor, the storage media including instructions, stored on a computer readable medium, for providing services to a user, the instructions operable for:

providing a plurality of information exchange services to the user, the information exchange services including services provided via a first access network having a first physical layer and services provided via a second access network having second physical layer;

defining an integrated service identity encompassing a plurality of the information exchange services;

enabling the user to define preference settings applicable to the information exchange services;

employing the integrated service identity to process billable events and activity and to issue integrated statements encompassing all of the information exchange services provided to the user for the encompassed information exchange services;

enabling the user to access customer support services for any of the encompassed information exchange services; and

logging customer support activities to the integrated service identity.

16. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 15, wherein the information exchange services provided via the first access network include multimedia content delivery services, fixed access voice services, and broadband Internet services.

17. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 16, wherein the first physical layer is compliant with a standard selected from the group consisting of:

digital subscriber line, integrated services digital network, T-carrier, and E-carrier.

20. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 15, wherein the first access network comprises a wired access network and the second access network comprises a wireless access network.

21. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 15, wherein said instructions for enabling of the user to define preference settings includes instructions for enabling the user to define a single logon for all devices rendering the encompassed information exchange services.

22. The OSS/BSS resource of claim 21, wherein the devices rendering the information exchange services include a set top box/television display for rendering the multimedia content delivery services, an Internet protocol phone for the fixed access voice services, and a computer for broadband Internet services.