Policy management method and system for internet service providers

• US 6,487,594 B1
• Filed: 11/30/1999
• Issued: 11/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comcast MO Group Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MediaOne Group Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bahlmann, Bruce F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US09/450,543
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/102, 707/202, 709/223-226, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management

Abstract

A policy management system for an Internet service provider having standalone Internet provisioning servers in different regions includes a central policy database (CPD) for providing centralized configuration and local management of the policies which control aspects of service and level qualities of the Internet servers and for distributing central product definitions to the Internet servers. In addition to the central policy database, the policy management system includes a plurality of regional policy databases each associated with the Internet servers in a respective region. The central policy database is operable with each of the regional policy databases for providing central definitions to the Internet servers. The central policy database stores product, feature, subscriber, and device objects. The objects of the central policy database are operable with the regional policy databases for providing the central definitions to the Internet servers. The product objects define products supported by the Internet service provider and the feature objects define features of the products supported by the Internet service provider. Combinations of feature objects define each product object.

Claims

1. A policy management system for an Internet service provider having a plurality of Internet provisioning servers in different regions, the system comprising:

a plurality of regional policy databases each storing Internet provisioning data and each associated with the Internet provisioning servers in a respective region, wherein the Internet provisioning servers use the Internet provisioning data of their associated regional policy database to provision Internet service in the respective region; and

a central policy database operable with each of the regional policy databases, the central policy database storing a product object, a feature object, a device object, and a subscriber object, the objects of the central policy database are operable with the Internet provisioning data of the regional policy databases for providing central definitions of quality of service provisioning policies and level of service provisioning policies to the Internet provisioning servers.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the feature object includes a plurality of feature objects and the product object includes a plurality of product objects, wherein selected combinations of feature objects define each product object.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the product object defines a product supported by the Internet service provider.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the feature object defines a feature of a product supported by the Internet service provider.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the device object defines a device supported by the Internet service provider.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the subscriber object defines a subscriber supported by the Internet service provider.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the regional policy databases each store billing objects, wherein a billing object defines billing supported by the Internet service provider.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an enterprise administration tool operable with the central policy database for managing the objects stored in the central policy database.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a regional administration tool operable with at least one regional policy database for managing objects stored in the at least one regional database.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a tools interface operable with at least one regional policy database and at least one Internet provisioning server for communicating with devices supported by the Internet service provider in a region.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a self service interface operable with at least one regional policy database for enabling subscribers supported by the Internet service provider to carry out subscriber requests.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a subscriber management system operable with at least one regional policy database and having subscriber data.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an on line database operable with at least one Internet provisioning server for storing subscriber device configurations.

14. A policy management system for an Internet service provider having a plurality of Internet provisioning servers in different regions, the system comprising:

a plurality of regional policy databases each storing Internet provisioning data and each associated with the Internet provisioning servers in a respective region, wherein the Internet provisioning servers use the Internet provisioning data of their associated regional policy database to provision Internet service in the respective region; and

a central policy database operable with each of the regional policy databases, the central policy database storing product objects and feature objects, wherein selected combinations of feature objects define each product object, the objects of the central policy database being operable with the Internet provisioning data of the regional policy databases for providing central definitions of quality of service provisioning policies and level of service provisioning policies to the Internet provisioning servers.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the product objects define products supported by the Internet service provider.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the feature objects define features of products supported by the Internet service provider.