Intelligent charging for services

• US 8,019,683 B1
• Filed: 11/02/2007
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Swanburg, Scott Allen, Bhatia, Gurmeet Kaur
• Primary Examiner(s): Merchant, Shahid R
• Assistant Examiner(s): RANKINS, WILLIAM E
• Application Number:
  US11/934,164
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 370/259, 379/201.05, 455/418, 455/406, 709/227, 725/116
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1457 using an account
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/81 Dynamic pricing, e.g. change of tariff during call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/852 Low balance or limit reached
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42144 by service provider
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44226 on social networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

The present invention discloses systems and methods for intelligently providing and charging for services on a network. A Service Controller aggregates usage history for a subscriber using a service on a network. An IICR consolidates the information into a subscriber profile and links the subscriber profile to community profiles or “segmentation” profiles. The Service Controller then seeks patterns in the subscriber profile, and adjusts the level of service for the subscriber based on said patterns. Services are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned in real-time based on the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the services, along with demographics and network conditions. Additionally, the subscriber is charged for the services based on his real-time use of the services and based on the Quality of Service (QoS) actually delivered.

Claims

1. A network system for intelligent provisioning and charging, the network system comprising:

a Service Controller configured to;

aggregate a plurality of raw data,

determine usage patterns of a first service by a device on the network; and

record the usage patterns on a central database;

a Billing Manager within the Service Controller configured to bill the subscriber based on the usage patterns;

an Intelligent Information Collection Repository (IICR) configured to correlate the usage patterns of the first service with a plurality of market demographics and network analytics;

a logic unit within the Service Controller configured to;

determine a usage pattern for a subscriber using the first service by a Service Controller on a network;

record the usage pattern in a subscriber profile on the central database on the network in communication with an application server;

receive local data regarding subscriber-end information from a Micro Intelligent Information Collection Repository (MIICR) within the device, the MIICR configured to collect and upload local data regarding subscriber-end information, the subscriber-end information including state change information and usage information;

store the subscriber-end information in the subscriber profile;

direct the billing manager to charge the subscriber for the first service based on the usage pattern and subscriber-end information; and

provision a second service for the subscriber by correlating the usage data with the purchasing and charging data;

wherein the second service is provisioned pursuant to a plurality of billing rules stored in a user profile, said plurality of billing rules including at least a spending limit for the subscriber.

2. The network system of claim 1, wherein the Service Controller further comprises:

a Content Manager;

a Communications Manager; and

a plurality of databases to store the raw data used to generate the usage patterns.

3. The network system of claim 1, wherein communication between devices, logic units, and network elements is facilitated by a Session Initiation Protocol.

4. A network system for intelligent provisioning and charging, comprising:

a Service Controller configured to aggregate a plurality of usage data for a subscriber and to record the usage data on a central database;

an Intelligent Information Collection Repository (IICR) in communication with the Service Controller, the IICR configured to correlate the usage data with market demographics, network analytics, and other information about the subscriber;

a Billing Manager within the Service Controller configured to aggregate a plurality of purchasing and charging data for a subscriber; and

a logic unit within the Service Controller configured to;

determine a usage pattern for a subscriber using a service by a Service Controller on a network;

record the usage pattern in a subscriber profile on the central database on the network in communication with an application server;

receive local data regarding subscriber-end information from a Micro Intelligent Information Collection Repository (MIICR) within a device on the network, the MIICR configured to collect and upload local data regarding subscriber-end information, the subscriber-end information including state change information and usage information;

store the subscriber-end information in the subscriber profile;

direct the billing manager to charge the subscriber for the service based on the usage pattern and subscriber-end information; and

provision a service for the subscriber by correlating the usage data with the purchasing and charging data;

wherein the service is provisioned or de-provisioned pursuant to a plurality of billing rules stored in a subscriber profile, said plurality of billing rules including at least a spending limit for the subscriber.

5. The network system of claim 4, further comprising:

a Communications Manager within the Service Controller configured to aggregate a plurality of communications-related data for a subscriber; and

a Content Manager within the Service Controller configured to aggregate a plurality of content and multimedia-related data for a subscriber.

6. The network system of claim 4, wherein communication between network elements and devices is facilitated by a Session Initiation Protocol.

7. A method for intelligent provisioning and charging, the method comprising:

determining a usage pattern for a subscriber using a service by a Service Controller on a network;

recording the usage pattern in a subscriber profile on a database on the network in communication with an application server;

receiving local data regarding subscriber-end information from the device on the network, the subscriber-end information sent from a Micro Intelligent Information Collection Repository (MIICR) on the device, the MIICR configured to collect and upload local data regarding subscriber-end information, the subscriber-end information including state change information and usage information;

storing the subscriber-end information in the subscriber profile;

directing a billing server to charge the subscriber for the service based on the usage pattern and subscriber-end information;

correlating the usage pattern and subscriber-end information with a plurality of market demographics and network analytics; and

provisioning a second service for the subscriber based on the usage pattern and subscriber-end information, wherein the second service is provisioned pursuant to a plurality of billing rules stored in the subscriber profile, said plurality of billing rules including at least a spending limit for the subscriber.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

aggregating usage data for the subscriber by using the Service Controller;

wherein the Service Controller includes a plurality of sub-controllers and a plurality of databases.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

combining the usage data along with a plurality of demographics for the subscriber and adding the combined usage data and the plurality of demographics to the subscriber profile.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the subscriber profile is created and stored within an Intelligent Information Collection Repository.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the subscriber profile is linked to a segmentation layer within the Intelligent Information Collection Repository.