Telecommunication service registry

• US 7,243,155 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2002
• Issued: 07/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas E., Moore, Victor S., Bou-Ghannam, Akram A., Narayan, Vishwanath
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ortiz; Belix M.
• Application Number:
  US10/314,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20040111429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system for presenting telecommunication services to potential customers can include a distributed, platform independent registry disposed within a publicly accessible network. The registry can include a plurality of entries, each entry specifying at least one telecommunication service, wherein selective ones of the telecommunication services can be provided by two or more providers. Each entry can further contain connectivity information for contacting an associated one of the providers across a publicly accessible network in order to obtain the telecom service from the provider. Each of the telecommunication services can be configured to function within multiple switch environments.

Claims

1. A system that offers one or more telecommunication services available from one or more service providers of a first network to customers linked to a second network through a switch of the second network and who do not have access to the one or more telecommunication services on the first network, wherein the system installs the one or more telecommunication services on the switch to provide the one or more telecommunication services to the customers on the second network, the system comprising a publicly accessible registry disposed within a publicly accessible network containing a plurality of entries, each entry associated with at least one telecommunication service and containing connectivity information for contacting each provider associated with each telecommunications service across said publicly accessible network in order to obtain said telecommunication service from said provider, and wherein the system configures each telecommunication service to function within multiple switch environments.

2. The registry of claim 1, wherein said registry further comprises at least one entry specifying at least one non-telecommunication service that the system installs on the switch.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a telecom service processor operatively coupled to the switch and communicatively coupled to the registry that installs the one or more telecommunication services in a telecom services repository and provides a platform upon which the one or more telecommunication services execute, wherein at least one of said entries in said registry is configured to receive updates from said provider associated with said entry.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said registry is a universal description discovery and integration (UDDI) compliant registry.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said registry is updated with a services description language (WSDL) compliant message received from said provider associated with said entry being updated.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said connectivity information specifies connection parameters necessary to establish a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant connection.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said telecommunication services is a self contained, self describing modular application that is published, located, and invoked across a public network.

8. A method for providing telecommunication service comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one telecommunication service description from at least one service provider on a first network across a publicly accessible network;

parsing a received telecommunication service description into one or more telecommunication service entries;

storing said telecommunication service entries into a publicly accessible registry disposed in said publicly accessible network;

receiving a telecommunication service query from a requester on a second network for a telecommunication service on the first network across said publicly accessible network;

responsive to said telecommunication service query, searching said registry for qualifying telecommunication service entries;

presenting results of said searching to said requester;

upon a selection of the results, installing one or more telecommunication services that are associated with the qualifying telecommunication service entries on a switch of the second network identified by the telecommunication service query for providing an installed telecommunication service on the switch; and

granting the requestor access to the installed telecommunication service to provide the one or more telecommunication services to a customer on the switch.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said telecommunication service description further comprises connectivity information that connects the requestor to the provider associated with said telecommunication service on the switch across said publicly accessible network to obtain said telecommunication service from said provider.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said connectivity information specifies how to establish a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant connection to said provider.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said telecommunication service description is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of said telecommunication service descriptions describes a Web service.

13. A method of advertising telecommunication services by a service provider comprising the steps of:

publishing a telecommunication service description of one or more telecommunication services of said provider to a publicly accessible registry across a publicly accessible network, wherein said telecommunication service description comprises connectivity information;

receiving a connection request from a requester application that utilizes said connectivity information;

establishing a connection between said requester application and a provider application across said publicly accessible network;

receiving a telecommunication service request from said requester across said established connection for a telecommunication service on a first network that is not available on a second network; and

,

installing the telecommunication service on a switch of the second network to provide said telecommunication service specified by said telecommunication service request to a mobile device on the second network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said publicly accessible registry is a universal description discovery and integration compliant (UDDI) registry.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said telecommunication service description is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said connectivity information specifies how to establish a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant connection to said provider application.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of said telecommunication services is a Web service.

18. A method of purchasing telecommunication services comprising the steps of:

accessing a publicly accessible registry of one or more telecommunication services available across a publicly accessible network;

searching said publicly accessible registry for at least one telecommunication service;

responsive to results of said searching, selecting at least one telecommunication service;

receiving a telecommunication service description for said selected telecommunication service, wherein said telecommunication service description specifies connectivity information for connecting to a provider of said selected telecommunication service;

sending a telecommunication service request to said provider across said publicly accessible network using said connectivity information;

installing the at least one telecommunication service on a switch to provide said telecommunication service specified by said telecommunication service request and,

receiving requested services through a telecommunication carrier corresponding to the switch providing said selected telecommunication service.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said publicly accessible registry is a universal description discovery and integration (UDDI) compliant registry.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said telecommunication service response is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein said sending step utilizes a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant mechanism.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of said telecommunication services is a Web service.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

receiving said selected telecommunication service from said provider across said publicly accessible network; and

,

sending said selected telecommunication service to said telecommunication carrier for installation.

24. A machine readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving at least one telecommunication service description from at least one service provider on a first network across a publicly accessible network;

parsing a received telecommunication service description into one or more telecommunication service entries;

storing said telecommunication service entries into a publicly accessible registry disposed in said publicly accessible network;

receiving a telecommunication service query from a requester on a second network for a telecommunication service on the first network across said publicly accessible network;

responsive to said telecommunication service query, searching said registry for qualifying telecommunication service entries;

presenting results of said searching to said requester;

upon a selection of the results, installing one or more telecommunication services that are associated with the qualifying telecommunication service entries on a switch of the second network identified by the telecommunication service query for providing an installed telecommunication service on the switch; and

granting the requestor access to the installed telecommunication service to provide the one or more telecommunication services to a customer on the switch.

25. The machine readable storage of claim 24, wherein said telecommunication service description further comprises connectivity information allowing said requester to connect to a provider associated with said telecommunication service across said publicly accessible network in order to obtain said telecommunication service from said provider.

26. The machine readable storage of claim 25, wherein said connectivity information specifies how to establish a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant connection to said provider.

27. The machine readable storage of claim 24, wherein said telecommunication service description is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

28. The machine readable storage of claim 24, wherein at least one of said telecommunication service descriptions describes a Web service.

29. A machine readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

publishing a telecommunication service description of one or more telecommunication services of a service provider to a publicly accessible registry across a publicly accessible network, wherein said telecommunication service description comprises connectivity information;

receiving a connection request from a requester application that utilizes said connectivity information;

establishing a connection between said requester application and a provider application across said publicly accessible network;

receiving a telecommunication service request from said requester across said established connection for a telecommunication service on a first network that is not available on a second network; and

,

installing the telecommunication service on a switch of the second network to provide said telecommunication service specified by said telecommunication service request to a mobile device on the second network.

30. The machine readable storage of claim 29, wherein said publicly accessible registry is a universal description discovery and integration compliant (UDDI) registry.

31. The machine readable storage of claim 29, wherein said telecommunication service description is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

32. The machine readable storage of claim 29, wherein said connectivity information specifies how to establish a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant connection to said provider application.

33. The machine readable storage of claim 29, wherein at least one of said telecommunication services is a Web service.

34. A machine readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

accessing a publicly accessible registry of one or more telecommunication services available across a publicly accessible network;

searching said publicly accessible registry for at least one telecommunication service;

responsive to results of said searching, selecting at least one telecommunication service;

receiving a telecommunication service description for said selected telecommunication service, wherein said telecommunication service description specifies connectivity information for connecting to a provider of said selected telecommunication service;

sending a telecommunication service request to said provider across said publicly accessible network using said connectivity information;

installing the at least one telecommunication service on a switch to provide said telecommunication service specified by said telecommunication service request; and

,

receiving requested services through a telecommunication carrier corresponding to the switch providing said selected telecommunication service.

35. The machine readable storage of claim 34, wherein said publicly accessible registry is a universal description discovery and integration (UDDI) compliant registry.

36. The machine readable storage of claim 34, wherein said telecommunication service response is formatted in a services description language (WSDL) complaint format.

37. The machine readable storage of claim 34, wherein said sending step utilizes a simple object access protocol (SOAP) compliant mechanism.

38. The machine readable storage of claim 34, wherein at least one of said telecommunication services is a service.

39. The machine readable storage of claim 34, further comprising the steps of:

receiving said selected telecommunication service from said provider across said publicly accessible network; and

,

sending said selected telecommunication service to said telecommunication carrier for installation.