Subscription management system for data communication network
First Claim
1. A management system for a data communication network, the management system comprising:
- a) a plurality of application objects, each application object having a one to one correspondence with an application available on a data communication network and each application object specifying a network connection point for the corresponding application;
b) a plurality of subscriber objects each corresponding to a subscriber having a connection to the data communication network, each subscriber object specifying a network connection point for the corresponding subscriber;
c) a user interface permitting a user to create a subscription object associating one of the subscriber objects and one of the application objects; and
,d) a network manager for creating, in the data communication network, at least one communication channel for each subscription object, the communication channel connecting the network connection point for the subscriber of the subscription object and the network connection point for the application of the subscription object.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network management system allows operators to set up subscriptions to services for network users. The subscriptions each associate a subscriber object and an application object. The subscriber object contains information about the subscriber'"'"'s network connection. The application object contains information about the application'"'"'s network connection. The operator does not need to work with low level information such as physical port numbers to create a subscription. The system automatically sets up one or more virtual channel connections as needed to provide the application to the subscriber. The system can be easier to operate accurately than current systems. The system may track and accumulate statistics on a service-by-service basis. The statistics may be used to bill for individual services even if several different virtual channel connections are used to provide each service.
43 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A management system for a data communication network, the management system comprising:
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a) a plurality of application objects, each application object having a one to one correspondence with an application available on a data communication network and each application object specifying a network connection point for the corresponding application; b) a plurality of subscriber objects each corresponding to a subscriber having a connection to the data communication network, each subscriber object specifying a network connection point for the corresponding subscriber; c) a user interface permitting a user to create a subscription object associating one of the subscriber objects and one of the application objects; and
,d) a network manager for creating, in the data communication network, at least one communication channel for each subscription object, the communication channel connecting the network connection point for the subscriber of the subscription object and the network connection point for the application of the subscription object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for managing the provision of services to users of a data communications network, the method comprising, in a computer system:
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a) storing in a database accessible to the computer system subscriber information identifying a plurality of subscribers and application information identifying one or more applications available to the subscriber, the application information comprising one or more application objects, each application object having a one to one correspondence with a particular one of the one or more applications and each application object specifying a network connection point for the particular application; b) receiving user input identifying a selected subscriber and a selected application to be associated as a subscription; c) retrieving, from the database, a selected subscriber network connection point from the subscriber information for the selected subscriber and a selected application network connection point from the application object corresponding to the selected application; and
,d) creating a communications channel in the data communications network extending between the selected subscriber network connection point and the selected application network connection point. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification