Method for selecting a service provider for a service, which can be received by a mobile station via a radio access network and which is provided by at least two service providers, and a corresponding selecting device

• US 7,532,885 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2004
• Issued: 05/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Hans, Martin, Eckert, Michael, Choi, Hyung-Nam
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro; Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chambers; Tangela T
• Application Number:
  US10/562,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20060166668A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,785 Days
• Field of Search: 455/435.2
• US Class Current: 455/435.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/145 trading network capacity or selecting route based on tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

A method for selecting a service provider for a service, which can be received by a mobile station via a radio access network and which is provided by at least two service providers, as well as to a corresponding selecting device are shown. During a method for selecting a service provider for a service, which can be received by a mobile station via a radio access network and which is provided by at least two service providers, a selecting device receives a request for selecting the service provider from the mobile station via an interface. The service providers are requested by the selecting device for indicating a value of a selection parameter, and the selecting device selects one of the service providers for the service according to the indicated values of the selection parameter.

Claims

1. A computerized method for selecting a provider that provides a radio communication service that can be received by a mobile station via a radio access network and is provided by a plurality of service providers via the radio access network, the method comprising:

receiving from the mobile station via a radio interface of the radio access network a request to select a provider for the service from the plurality of service providers by a selecting device;

requesting the plurality of service providers to indicate a value of a selection parameter by the selecting device;

selecting the provider by the selecting device based on the values received from the indication request, the plurality of service providers indicating respective values within a first time interval and the selecting of the provider occurring after a second time interval, wherein after the first time interval comparing the values received with each other to perform an initial selecting of a provider based on a most favorable value from the values received, and re-requesting at least a portion of the plurality of service providers to indicate a new value of the selection parameter, wherein in the event the received new values of at least two providers have an identical value, the selecting by the selecting device is performed on a random basis; and

notifying said portion of the service providers of the most favorable value from the values received so that at least one of said service providers can provide a new value chosen to undercut the most favorable value;

wherein, in the event the received new values of at least two service providers have identical values, said at least two service providers is each notified of the existence of said identical values so that at least one of said at least two service providers can change its own identical value to pre-empt a random selection.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mobile station is informed about the selected provider.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting device assigns the mobile station to the selected provider for a connection setup via the radio interface.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the plurality of service providers are re-requested to indicate the value of a selection parameter within a third time interval.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the portion of the plurality of service providers are notified of the most favorable value.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the portion of the plurality of service providers are informed if the most favorable value has been indicated by at least two of the plurality of service providers.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the value from the request is different than the value from the re-request.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection parameter is defined by the mobile station.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection parameter includes a price of the service.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection parameter includes a quality of service.

11. A computerized selecting device for selecting a provider for a radio communication service that can be received by a mobile station via a radio access network and is provided by a plurality of service providers via the radio access network, the selecting device comprising:

a receiver capable of receiving a request sent by the mobile station via a radio interface of the radio access network to select a provider for the service;

a transmitter capable of sending a request to indicate a value of a selection parameter to the plurality of service providers, the receiver capable of receiving response having an indicated value from each of the plurality of service providers;

a selector capable of selecting a provider from the plurality of service providers based on the indicated value from each response; and

a first timer that after expiring, the values received are compared with each other, and a most favorable value is determined by the selector from the values received, wherein the selector is configured to perform an initial selection of a provider based on the most favorable value determined from the values received, and further configured to re-request at least a portion of the plurality of service providers to indicate a new value of the selection parameter, wherein in the event the received new values of at least two providers have identical values, the selector is configured to select a provider on a random basis, wherein said portion of the service providers is notified of the most favorable value from the values received so that at least one of said service providers can provide a new value chosen to undercut the most favorable value, and further wherein, in the event the received new values of at least two service providers have identical values, said at least two service providers is each notified of the existence of said identical values so that at least one of said at least two service providers can change its own identical value to pre-empt a random selection.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the value from the request is different than the value from the re-request.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the selection parameter includes a price of the service, a quality of service or both.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the selection parameter is defined by the mobile station.