Service creation apparatus for a communications network

• US 6,338,088 B1
• Filed: 12/02/1998
• Issued: 01/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Pavier, Jeremy, Hunter, Andrew Timothy, Smith, Nicolas Duncan Barker, Rand, Jeffrey Kevin, Cox, Richard Dewitt, Waters, Donald George Paul, Turner, Graham David
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/066,459
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 709/229, 709/217, 709/219, 364/146, 707/102, 707/526, 707/530
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1316 Service observation, testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/135 Service creation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13535 distributed systems - also domains in service creation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0054 Service creation techniques

Abstract

A service creation system for a communications network of the intelligent network type has 3 different levels at which service creation activities can be carried out, these being SCE1, SCE2 and SCE3. The use of separate levels allows access to the service creation system to be kept functionally separate for users having different interests in the network. Hence, features which have to be installed at the network element level for a selected service to be available can be created in SCE1. Marketable service features, which give a view of features in that they encapsulate call handling logic thereof together with support and management descriptions of the feature, can be created in SCE2. Service packages, which permit collection of marketable service features to meet requirements of a service together with servicespecific support and management information, can be created in either of SCE2 or SCE3. The service provider at SCE2 creates and tests edit graphs which comprise ordered sequences of marketable service features. These are then made available to the customer at SCE3. Profiles, which list the features relevant to a service for a user and provide data slots for the data necessary to each feature, can be provisioned and modified in SCE3 by the creation of execute graphs from edit graphs. In addition to marketable service features, metafeatures can be embedded in edit graphs. These are similar to marketable service features but have no associated screen information. This allows the user to generate execute graphs from what appears to be a blank screen but in practice has embedded constraints by means of the metafeatures, thus ensuring that the execute graph is still within tested constraints.

Claims

1. Service creation apparatus for a communications network in which communications services can be created or modified by screen-based manipulation of ordered sequences of units of code, the system providing a service by running such an ordered sequence of units of code in accordance with an execute graph, wherein the system comprises:

i) an interface for use in accessing stored units of code;

ii) means to select a set of units of code from those stored;

iii) means to create or modify an edit graph, the edit graph determining at least in part the ordered sequence associated with a set of units of code for the provision of a communications service;

iv) means to associate an edit graph with visual information for use by a user on a graphical user interface in editing or modifying the edit graph to produce an execute graph; and

v) means to supply the edit graph together with the visual information to the graphical user interface;

wherein the means to supply the edit graph together with visual information is adapted to supply at least one edit graph without visual information such that an execute graph can be produced from the edit graph without the edit graph being visible, or with the edit graph being only partially visible, to the user.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises more than one level of service creation environment, wherein at least two of said levels are each provided with means to generate or access different respective types of software entity, wherein a first of said levels has means to generate or access service application features which comprise software objects which can be deployed in elements of the network, and a second of said levels has means to generate or access marketable service features, each marketable service feature comprising a reference to one or more service application features of the first level, together with graphical definition data for modifying or inputting provisionable aspects of said service application features by means of a graphical interface, and said second level further has means to generate or access service packages, communicable to a third of said levels, at least one service package comprising a set of marketable service features or references to a set of marketable service features, together with an edit graph.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein each edit graph comprises a set of references to files, each file comprising at least one of the units of code.

4. Apparatus according to either one of claim 2 wherein said second level further has means to generate or access metafeatures, each metafeature referencing one or more service application features of the first level but not including graphical definition data such that a user at the third level is not provided with interface information for modification purposes in respect of any metafeature.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein at least one service package may comprise a set of marketable service features, or references thereto, together with one or more metafeatures, or references thereto.

6. Apparatus according to either one of claim 4 wherein at least one service package may comprise a set of metafeatures, or references thereto, and no marketable service features, or references thereto.

7. A method of providing edit facilities for use in customising a communications service to be provided to a user over a communications network, which method comprises:

a) generating an edit graph for the service, which edit graph comprises a set of nodes representing zero or more marketable service features and at least one metafeature, linked in a preselected relationship, each marketable service feature identifying one or more executable units of code for use in providing the service at run-time, and comprising screen information for use by the user in customising a service by use of the graph, and each metafeature identifying one or more executable units of code for use in providing the service at run-time;

b) making the edit graph so generated available to a user; and

c) receiving an execute graph for use in provision of the service, which execute graph comprises the edit graph customised by at least one user data input, wherein said edit graph available to the user excludes screen information with respect to any metafeature such that the metafeature(s) are not visible to the user.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein said edit graph made available to the user includes at least one marketable service feature.

9. A method according to either one of claim 7 which further comprises the selection of marketable service features to be available to a user in association with the edit graph and providing screen information to the user for use in selecting and inserting marketable service features from the selection into the edit graph.

10. A method according to claim 7 wherein the screen information comprises icon data for displaying an icon identifying a relevant marketable service feature.

11. A method according to claim 7 wherein at least part of the screen information comprises form information for use by the user in generating the execute graph from the edit graph.