RULE BASED HIERARCHICAL ACCOUNT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20110053555A1
• Filed: 11/21/2007
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Xiang Yang, Cai, Yigang
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/55 for hybrid networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/64 On-line charging system [OCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/70 Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/75 Account location specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/77 involving multiple accounts per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2046 Hybrid network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/70 Administration aspects, modify settings or limits or counter-check correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/72 Account specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/724 Linked accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7254 : Multiple accounts per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/74 : Rating aspects, e.g. rating parameters or tariff determination apects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7435 : Location dependent, e.g. Bussiness or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing

Abstract

A system and method for allocating system resources through a rule based account hierarchy is provided. An Account Manager attempts to apply a system charge to an account. In applying the charge to the account, the Account Manager examines balance selection rules associated with the account. If, after examining the balance selection rules the Account Manager determines that the balance selection rules are satisfied, then the Account Manager attempts to charge the account. If the balance is owned by a parent account, then the charge is routed to that parent account. If the balance is not owned by a parent account, then the balance is charged. If, after examining all the balance selection rules of an account the Account Manager cannot find a balance to charge, then the communication session is disallowed.

Claims

1. A method for managing wireless network system resources comprising the steps of:

applying at least one balance selection rule to determine a responsible hierarchical account balance to charge; and

managing wireless network system resources based on the results of the application of the balance selection rule.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of applying at least one balance selection rule further comprises the step of determining a type of the balance selection rule.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of applying at least one balance selection rule further comprises the step of applying the at least one balance selection rule based on a priority.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining a responsible hierarchical account balance further comprises the steps of:

receiving a charge request at one of a plurality of hierarchical account balances;

determining if the one of the hierarchical account balances is owned by a parent hierarchical account;

routing the charge request to the parent hierarchical account, the parent hierarchical account being associated with child hierarchical account balances;

determining whether at least one of the child hierarchical account balances is responsible for the charge request; and

charging the at least one of the child hierarchical account balances.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein further comprising the step of disallowing a communication session, if there are no child hierarchical account balances responsible for the charge request.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of determining whether at least one of the child hierarchical account balances is responsible for the charge request further comprises the step of determining a balance type of the at least one of the child hierarchical account balances.

7. A system comprising:

at least one hierarchical account; and

an account manager for managing wireless network usage of a communication session based on applying at least one balance selection rule and selecting a charge hierarchical account balance from the at least one hierarchical account based on the balance selection rule and charging the charge hierarchical account balance.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one hierarchical account comprises a parent hierarchical account and a child hierarchical account.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one hierarchical account further comprises:

at least one hierarchical account balance associated with the at least one hierarchical account where the at least one hierarchical account balance is used to store network usage balances; and

at least one balance selection rule associated with the at least one hierarchical account balance used to determine network usage.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

a balance rule provision interface for providing balance selection rules;

a balance rule provisioning system for provisioning and verifying balance selection rules in real-time; and

a message protocol interface for receiving and sending hierarchical account-related messages.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the balance rule provision interface further comprises:

a subscriber user input for inputting subscriber balance selection rules in real-time and providing the subscriber balance selection rules to the balance rule provisioning system; and

an operator user input for inputting operator balance selection rules in real-time and providing the operator balance selection rules to the balance rule provisioning system.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the subscriber user input comprises at least one of:

a web portal input for inputting the subscriber balance selection rules;

a wireless access protocol input for inputting the subscriber balance selection rules; and

an interactive voice recognition input for inputting the subscriber balance selection rules.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the operator user input comprises a web portal for inputting operator balance selection rules.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the message protocol interface further comprises a Diameter Ro protocol interface for sending and receiving Diameter Ro protocol messages if the system resides on a plurality of online charging systems.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the message protocol interface further comprises a user defined protocol interface for sending and receiving messages if the system resides on an online charging system.

16. The system of claim 7 wherein the account manager selects at least one a hierarchical account balance to charge and disallows a communication session if there are no hierarchical accounts to route a charge to and there are no hierarchical account balances to charge.

17. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one hierarchical account is arranged as at least one billing plan.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one billing plan comprises at least one subscriber and at least one hierarchical account balance.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one hierarchical account comprises a plurality of associated hierarchical account balances where each of the associated hierarchical account balances belongs to a different billing plan.

20. The system of claim 7 wherein each hierarchical account is associated with at least one billing plan.