Method and system for dynamic service classification and integrated service control

• US 6,674,725 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Issued: 01/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Norby, Steven E., Nabkel, Jafar S., Jaramillo, Paul D., Egan, Ronald J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang Bin
• Application Number:
  US09/842,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20020167908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/254, 370/259, 370/395.2, 370/395.4, 370/395.42, 370/400, 370/410, 370/422, 370/426, 370/522, 379/219, 379/220.01, 379/221.08, 379/229, 379/242
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1225 Details of core network interconnection arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13034 A/D conversion, code compression/expansion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13039 Asymmetrical two-way transmission, e.g. ADSL, HDSL
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13097 Numbering, addressing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13098 Mobile subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13173 Busy signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1325 Priority service
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1329 Asynchronous transfer mode, ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13296 Packet switching, X.25, frame relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13298 : Local loop systems, access network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13336 : Store & forward, messaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13338 : Do-not-disturb
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 : Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13376 : Information service, downloading of information, 0800/0900 services
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 : LAN, internet

Abstract

A system and method for providing integrated control of communication services, which includes an Integrated Services Controller (ISC), which is configured to establish communications with any numbers of communications networks, such as The Public Switched Telephone Network or the Internet. Communications may be established with one or more communications services, which in turn provide classification criteria which includes variable parameters that define a capability of a particular communications service. Also received may be a Message Registration List (MRL), which registers with the ISC messages in which a particular communications service has a notification interest. Through these communications, the ISC may be configured to provide a centralized processing for messages received from various system entities so as to apply intelligent prioritization rules for each message processed.

Claims

1. A system for providing integrated control of at least one communication service provided by at least one communication service provider comprising:

at least one integrated services controller (ISC) connectable to a plurality of communications networks so as to exchange at least one control message with system entities, wherein the ISC is configured to receive from each of the at least one communication service classification criteria that may comprise at least one variable parameter that collectively define the capabilities of that communications service provided by the at least one communications service provider, where the service classification criteria are dynamically communicated to the at least one ISC through an interactive exchange of one or more commands from each of the at least one communication service when the communication service associated with the at least one communications services is initiated, and to receive a message registration list (MRL) defining one or more messages from each of the at least one communication service registering notification interest in said messages by said communication services; and

wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to provide centralized prioritized processing for the at least one message, to apply intelligent prioritization rules for each of the at least one messages processed by the at least one ISC in order to prioritize the at least one communication service based on the least one classification criteria, and to receive one or more of the at least one messages, and based on the prioritization for each of the at least one messages, deliver each of the at least one messages to an appropriate one of the at least one communication service.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to control the at least one communication service for an individual person customer.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured as a child member within a group all related to a parent ISC that manages a customer group of related individual persons or a group of related ISC groups.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to control the at least one communication service for a plurality of individual person customers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the classification criteria may comprise at least one of:

service classification, customer classification, customer service preference order, service provider policy, and a current state of the at least one communication services monitored within the at least one ISC.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the service classification criteria are statically established with the at least one ISC through parameters set within the at least one ISC, from each of the at least one communication service.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one ISC defines customer classification criteria may comprise at least one variable parameter that collectively define the classification of a customer.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the customer classification criteria include a plurality of levels which may include at least one of:

Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the customer classification criteria is maintained by an operations support customer care system and communicated to the at least one ISC through a command message exchange.

10. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one ISC provides for a customer preference order which defines a customer'"'"'s service priority order preference and may be indicated by a customer through a user interface and may be employed in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

11. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one ISC may employ the service provider policy in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

12. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to monitor the high-level current state of each of the at least one communication services in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the intelligent prioritization rules are dynamically configurable by the at least one communications service provider so as to effect the prioritization of the at least one communication services by the at least one ISC.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the MRL is dynamically communicated, through an interactive exchange of one or more messages, from each of the at least one communication service to the at least one ISC at the time the said at least one communication service is initiated.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one message registration list (MRL) is statically established with the at least one ISC through parameters set within the at least one ISC, from each of the at least one communication services.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to relay the MRL for each of the at least one communication services to one or more of the system entities.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the system entities may include at least one of:

a transport association controller (TAC), association state manager (ASM), message broker (MB), and another integrated services controller (ISC).

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to receive an event registration list (ERL) defining one or more events for each of the at least one communication services registering notification interest in said events by said at least one communications services, whereby the at least one ISC is further configured to relay the ERL for each of the at least one communication services to one or more of the system entities.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the one or more system entities may include at least one of:

transport association controller (TAC), association state manager (ASM), message broker (MB), and another integrated services controller (ISC).

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to receive a profile of service-specific parameters settable by at least one of a customer or the service which may contain one or more variable entries from each of the at least one communication services defining a service profile for said at least one communication service.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the service profile adheres to a profile schema pre-defined by the at least one ISC which includes at least one master key field shared across the at least one communication services and may comprise at least one service-specific field unique to each of the at least one communication services.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the profile schema defines a visibility attribute settable by the at least one communication service providing at least one level of visibility setting that defines whether the service-specific fields for said service are visibile to other services when merged by the at least one ISC.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the profile schema supports a default entry for each of the at least one service-specific fields settable by at least one of a customer and the service wherein if defined establishes a default setting for said field whereby all other entries in the profile schema establish exceptions to the default entry.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein the profile schema supports a child ISC modifiability attribute for each of the at least one master key field and each of the at least one service-specific fields settable by at least one of a customer and the service wherein, if defined, establishes a default setting of modifiability for said field by other child ISCs related to said at least one ISC.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the current entry values for the at least one master key field and possible at least one service-specific fields in the service profile are dynamically communicated, through an interactive exchange of one or more commands, from each of the at least one communication services to the at least one ISC at the time the said service is initiated.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to automatically merge shared master key fields of the service profile from each of the at least one communication services and append corresponding service-specific fields from each of the at least one communication services into a merged multi-service profile (MMSP).

27. The system of claim 26 further comprising a user interface connectable to the at least one ISC which provides for viewing and editing access to all or a portion of the MMSP.

28. The system of claim 1 wherein a first ISC is further configurable to communicate with at least one other ISC to provide inter-ISC integration.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein one of the at least one ISCs may be configured as a master ISC and another of the at least one ISCs may be configured as a remote ISC relative to the master ISC for a specific customer.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the master ISC may restrict access to the at least one message and capabilities of the remote ISC.

31. The system of claim 28 wherein a plurality of the at least one ISCs may be configured as peer ISCs.

32. The system of claim 28 wherein one of the at least one ISCs may be configured as a standalone ISC within a hierarchy of the at least one ISCs.

33. The system of claim 28 wherein each of the at least one ISCs may be configured as at least one of:

a master ISC to other remote ISCs, a remote ISC to other of the master ISCs, a peer ISC to other peer ISCs, or a standalone ISC.

34. The system of claim 28 wherein the other ISC may be provisioned in the same network domain operated by the same communication service provider as the first ISC.

35. The system of claim 28 wherein the at least one other ISC may be provisioned in a different network domain operated by a different communication service provider as the first ISC.

36. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to communicate with a provisioning system, wherein the provisioning system is configured to provide at least one:

service and system configuration, performance management, fault management, accounting, and security management.

37. A method for providing integrated control of at least one communication service provided by at least one communication service provider comprising the steps of:

configuring at least one Integrated Service Controller (ISC) to establish a connection with a plurality of communications networks so as to exchange at least one control message with system entities;

receiving from each of the at least one communication service service classification criteria that may comprise at least one variable parameter that collectively define the capabilities of at least one communications service provided by the at least one communications service provider, and wherein the service classification criteria are dynamically communicated to the at least one ISC through an interactive exchange of one or more commands from each of the at least one communication service when the at least one communication service associated with the at least one communications service provider is initiated;

receiving a message registration list (MRL) defining one or more messages from each of the at least one communication service registering notification interest in said messages by said communication services;

performing centralized prioritized processing for the at least one message and applying intelligent prioritization rules for each of the at least one messages processed in order to prioritize the at least one communication service based on the least one classification criteria; and

receiving one or more of the at least one messages, and based on the prioritization for each of the at least one messages, delivering each of the at least one messages to an appropriate one of the at least one communication service.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to manage the at least one communication service for an individual person customer.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured as a child member within a group all related to a parent ISC that manages a customer group of related individual persons or a group of related ISC groups.

40. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to manage the at least one communication service for a plurality of individual person customers.

41. The method of claim 37 wherein the classification criteria may comprise at least one of:

service classification, customer classification, customer service preference order, service provider policy, and a current state of the at least one communication services monitored within the at least one ISC.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the service classification criteria are statically established with the at least one ISC through parameters set within the at least one ISC, from each of the at least one communication service.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the at least one ISC defines customer classification criteria may comprise at least one variable parameter that collectively define the classification of a customer.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the customer classification criteria include a plurality of levels which may include at least one of:

Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the customer classification criteria is maintained by an operations support customer care system and communicated to the at least one ISC through a command message exchange.

46. The method of claim 41 wherein the at least one ISC provides for a customer preference order which defines a customer'"'"'s service priority order preference and may be indicated by a customer through a user interface and may be employed in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

47. The method of claim 41 wherein the at least one ISC may employ the service provider policy in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

48. The method of claim 41 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to monitor the high-level current state of each of the at least one communication services in the prioritization of the at least one communication service.

49. The method of claim 37 wherein the intelligent prioritization rules are dynamically configurable by the at least one communications service provider so as to effect the prioritization of the at least one communication services by the at least one ISC.

50. The method of claim 37 wherein the MRL is dynamically communicated, through an interactive exchange of one or more messages, from each of the at least one communication service to the at least one ISC at the time the said at least one communication service is initiated.

51. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one MRL is statically established with the at least one ISC through parameters set within the at least one ISC, from each of the at least one communication service providers.

52. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to relay the MRL for each of the at least one communication services to one or more of The system entities.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein The system entities may include at least one of:

a transport association controller (TAC), association state manager (ASM), message broker (MB), and another integrated services controller (ISC).

54. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to receive an event registration list (ERL) defining one or more events for each of the at least one communication services registering notification interest in said events by said at least one communications services, hereby the at least one ISC is further configured to relay the ERL for each of the at least one communication services to one or more of the system entities.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the one or more system entities may include at least one of:

transport association controller (TAC), association state manager (ASM), message broker (MB), and another integrated services controller (ISC).

56. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to receive a profile of service-specific parameters settable by at least one of a customer or the service which may contain one or more variable entries from each of the at least one communication services defining a service profile for said at least one communication service.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the service profile adheres to a profile schema pre-defined by the at least one ISC which includes at least one master key field shared across the at least one communication services and may comprise at least one service-specific field unique to each of the at least one communication services.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein the profile schema defines a visibility attribute settable by the at least one communication service providing at least one level of visibility setting that defines whether the service-specific fields for said service are visibile to other services when merged by the at least one ISC.

59. The method of claim 57 wherein the profile schema supports a default entry for each of the at least one service-specific fields settable by at least one of a customer or the service wherein if defined by said customer establishes a default setting for said field whereby all other entries in the profile schema establish exceptions to the default entry.

60. The method of claim 57 wherein the profile schema supports a child ISC modifiability attribute for each of the at least one master key field and each of the at least one service-specific fields settable by at least one of a customer and the service wherein if defined by said customer establishes a default setting of modifiability for said field by other child ISCs related to said at least one ISC.

61. The method of claim 56 wherein the current entry values for the at least one master key field and possible at least one service-specific field in the service profile are dynamically communicated, through an interactive exchange of one or more commands, from each of the at least one communication services to the at least one ISC at the time the said service is installed.

62. The method of claim 56 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to automatically merge shared master key fields of the service profile from each of the at least one communication services and append corresponding service-specific fields from each of the at least one communication services into a merged multi-service profile (MMSP).

63. The method of claim 62 further comprising a user interface connectable to the at least one ISC which provides for viewing and editing access to all or a portion of the MMSP.

64. The method of claim 37 wherein a first ISC is further configurable to communicate with at least one other ISC to provide inter-ISC integration.

65. The method of claim 64 wherein one of the at least one ISC'"'"'s may be configured as a master ISC and another of the at least one ISC'"'"'s is configured as a remote ISC relative to the master ISC for a specific customer.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein the master ISC may restrict access to the at least one message and capabilities of the remote ISC.

67. The method of claim 64 wherein a plurality of the at least one ISCs may be configured as peer ISCs.

68. The method of claim 64 wherein one of the at least one ISCs may be configured as a standalone ISC within a hierarchy of the at least one ISCs.

69. The method of claim 64 wherein each of the at least one ISCs may be configured as at least one of:

a master ISC to other remote ISCs, a remote ISC to other of the master ISCs, a peer ISC to other peer ISCs, or a standalone ISC.

70. The method of claim 64 wherein the other ISC may be provisioned in the same network domain operated by the same communication service provider as the first ISC.

71. The method of claim 64 wherein the at least one other ISC may be provisioned in a different network domain operated by a different communication service provider as the first ISC.

72. The method of claim 37 wherein the at least one ISC is further configured to communicate with a provisioning system, wherein the provisioning system is configured r to provide at least one of:

service and system configuration, performance management, fault management, accounting, and security management.