System and method for providing access to network services

• US 7,917,394 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2001
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CSG Systems Incorporated (CSG Systems International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CSG Systems Incorporated (CSG Systems International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chawla, Ranbir, Borelli, Steven J., Davies, Patrick C., Else, Sally E., Cardinal, Randall W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUCHANAN, CHRISTOPHER R
• Application Number:
  US09/992,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20060020525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,417 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/34
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/51 for resellers, retailers or service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/54 Resellers-retail or service providers billing, e.g. agreements with telephone service operator, activation, charging/recharging of accounts

Abstract

A system and method for provisioning services accessible via a broadband network. The system receives a user selection of one or more services that have been deemed to be available to the user via the network as well as user registration information. The user registration information may include billing information and a user identifier such as a login id or email address. The system then authenticates the identity of the user with an ISP and communicates the user identifier to each provider of each selected service. The registration information and information representative of any selected service is also communicated to a billing engine. In this manner, a user may access each product or service and be billed appropriately for its usage.

Claims

1. A system for aggregating product offerings from multiple network and service providers and managing the purchase of any offerings by end customers, comprising:

a catalog of offerings available to end subscribers from multiple providers organized into an aggregated plan for presentation to the subscriber, the product catalog tracking rating guidelines and financial reconciliation rules between providers;

a rating engine for processing usage events that originate from providers which usage events summarize data indicative of customer use of offerings across the multiple providers, wherein the rating engine reconciles between the multiple providers based on the rating guidelines and financial reconciliation rules in the product catalog for use in billing the end customer and reconciling payments to the providers; and

a provisioning subsystem responsible for provisioning and de-provisioning offerings with the providers, the provisioning subsystem using information in the product catalog to create a series of provisioning events that are relayed to the providers which allow the provider to register a purchase of an offering by the end customer with the provider, track customer usage of the offerings, and, in response to the usage, create usage events for processing by the rating engine.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, comprising a standardized interface to allow providers to develop connections to the product catalog and to transact with other providers.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, comprising an IP address rules server tracking the assignment of IP address subnets across the offerings to thereby provide customer access to the offerings.