SPENDING LIMITS ACROSS MULTIPLE ACCESS POINTS

• US 20110112930A1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2009
• 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 10,068,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0607 Regulated
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A method and system for limiting spending in a multimedia content distribution network involves receiving spending limits from an Internet-protocol television portal, a web portal, or a mobile portal. The spending limits may be provided by a network user and may be usable to limit access to multimedia programs. The spending limits may be applied using a unified storefront application, which provides access to multimedia content via an Internet-protocol television portal, a web portal, and a mobile portal.

Claims

1. A method for limiting spending in a unified storefront (USF) application of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), comprising:

storing spending limit information associated with an authorized user of the MCDN;

receiving a request to access a multimedia program; and

applying the spending limit information to constrain access to the multimedia program via at least one of;

a USF web portal, a USF Internet-protocol television (IPTV) portal provided by the MCDN, and a USF mobile portal, wherein said applying further comprises;

in response to the spending limit information indicating that the request would result in exceeding a spending limit if allowed, denying the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending limit information is received from at least one of:

the USF web portal, the USF IPTV portal, and the USF mobile portal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending limit information indicates spending limits associated with at least one sub-account administered using an MCDN account associated with the authorized user, and wherein the at least one sub-account is configured to provide access to multimedia content using the MCDN account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending limit information indicates a predetermined time period to access multimedia content using an MCDN account.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending limit information indicates a maximum number of accessed multimedia programs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending limit information is received from the authorized user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the spending limit information indicating that the request would not result in exceeding a spending limit if allowed, allowing the request.

8. A customer premises equipment (CPE) for use within a client configuration of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), comprising:

a processor; and

memory media accessible to the processor, including instructions executable by the processor to;

receive spending limit information from a user of an MCDN client;

send the spending limit information to an MCDN server; and

use the spending limit information to limit access to MCDN multimedia content from at least one of;

an Internet website and a mobile wireless network platform.

9. The CPE of claim 8, wherein the CPE is the MCDN client configuration, and wherein the spending limit information is usable with an MCDN user account associated with the CPE, and further comprising instructions executable to:

use the spending limit information to limit access to MCDN multimedia content from the CPE.

10. The CPE of claim 9, wherein the spending limit information includes spending limits associated with at least one user sub-account administered using the MCDN user account, and wherein the at least one sub-account is configured to provide access to multimedia content.

11. The CPE of claim 10, further comprising processor executable instructions to:

modify spending limit information associated with the MCDN user account and the at least one user sub-account.

12. A computer-readable memory media, including instructions for implementing a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), said instructions executable to:

store a spending limit profile received from a user of an MCDN client; and

based on the spending limit profile, limit access to multimedia content via at least one of;

a web portal, an Internet-protocol television (IPTV) portal provided by the MCDN, and a mobile portal, wherein said instructions executable to limit access further include instructions executable to;

in response to a request for multimedia content from customer premises equipment (CPE) associated with the MCDN client, determine if fulfilling the request would result in exceeding a spending limit according to the spending limit profile; and

if fulfilling the request would result in exceeding the spending limit, denying the request.

13. The memory media of claim 12, wherein the spending limit profile is received from at least one of:

the web portal, the IPTV portal, and the mobile portal.

14. The memory media of claim 12, wherein the spending limit profile includes spending limits associated with at least one user sub-account administered using an MCDN account associated with the user, and wherein the at least one sub-account is configured to provide access to multimedia content using the MCDN account.

15. The memory media of claim 12, wherein the spending limit profile indicates a predetermined time period to access multimedia content using an MCDN account.

16. The memory media of claim 15, wherein the predetermined time period is at least one of:

a day, a week, a month, a quarter, and a year.

17. The memory media of claim 12, wherein the spending limit profile includes spending limits based on a type of multimedia content.

18. The memory media of claim 12, further comprising instructions executable to:

in response to a request for charges associated with the user, output account information describing spending activity associated with the user, and wherein the account information that is output includes an indication of the spending limit profile.