Advice of promotion for usage based subscribers

• US 8,611,852 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Guionnet, Jerome
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jinsong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Jean
• Application Number:
  US13/323,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20130149995A1
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• Field of Search: 455/406, 455/405, 379/114.02
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts

Abstract

Systems and method are described for providing advice of promotion to notify a subscriber about potential promotions that the subscriber would benefit from if he/she changed the context under which he/she plans to use a service. The process begins when a subscriber initiates a request to use the service, e.g. establish a call session. The operator identifies the subscriber by determining whether the subscriber is permitted to use the service, e.g. establish the session, and calculates a charge rate for the service usage, e.g. call session based on a usage plan associated with the subscriber. A rating engine is then invoked to identify a promotion that includes an additional rate that is different from the charge rate determined for the session. The promotion is identified based on parameters associated with the call session by determining which additional rate would apply if at least one of those parameters were modified.

Claims

1. A method for providing advice of promotion in a service delivery environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request to render a service from a subscriber using a device;

identifying the subscriber by determining whether the subscriber is permitted to access the service and using a rating engine to determine a charge rate for the request based on a rate plan associated with the subscriber, wherein the rating engine includes a runtime rating model that takes as parameters a type, a quantity, a time and a location of the request;

invoking the rating engine to identify a promotion by

varying each and a different combination of said parameters of the runtime rating model, to generate a plurality of additional charge rates,

identifying, from the plurality of additional charge rates, at least one charge rate which is different from the charge rate initially determined for the request; and

transmitting the promotion including the at least one charge rate and the one or more varied parameters associated therewith to the subscriber in a response to the request, before the service is rendered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the runtime rating model is a graph, the graph containing a set of conditions as nodes and a set of rates as leaves of the graph.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the rating engine identifies said promotion by employing information from the plan associated with the subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rate plan associated with the subscriber is stored in a charging system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the subscriber of the promotion by using the device for the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters further include one or more of tariffs, price plans, taxes, accumulated usage, and contracts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one charge rate associated with the promotion is lower than the charge rate determined for the request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the rating engine functions in combination with advice of a charge rating engine.

9. A system for providing advice of promotion in a telecommunications environment, the system comprising a physical storage memory and one or more hardware processors that execute instructions stored in the storage memory to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request to render a service from a subscriber using a device;

identifying the subscriber by determining whether the subscriber is permitted to access the service and using a rating engine to determine a charge rate for the request based on a rate plan associated with the subscriber, wherein the rating engine includes a runtime rating model that takes as parameters a type, a quantity, a time and a location of the request;

invoking the rating engine to identify a promotion by

varying each and a different combination of said parameters of the runtime rating model, to generate a plurality of additional charge rates,

identifying, from the plurality of additional charge rates, at least one charge rate which is different from the charge rate initially determined for the request; and

transmitting the promotion including the at least one charge rate and the one or more varied parameters associated therewith to the subscriber in a response to the request, before the service is rendered.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the runtime rating model is a graph, the graph containing a set of conditions as nodes and a set of rates as leaves of the graph.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the rating engine identifies said promotion by employing information from the plan associated with subscriber.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the rate plan associated with the subscriber is stored in a charging system.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

notifying the subscriber of said promotion by using the device for the subscriber.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameters further include one or more of tariffs, price plans, taxes, accumulated usage, and contracts.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the additional rate associated with the promotion is lower than the charge rate determined for the request.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a set of instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request to render a service from a subscriber using a device;

identifying the subscriber by determining whether the subscriber is permitted to access the service and using a rating engine to determine a charge rate for the request based on a rate plan associated with the subscriber, wherein the rating engine includes a runtime rating model that takes as parameters a type, a quantity, a time and a location of the request;

invoking the rating engine to identify a promotion by

varying each and a different combination of said parameters of the runtime rating model, to generate a plurality of additional charge rates,

identifying, from the plurality of additional charge rates, at least one charge rate which is different from the charge rate initially determined for the request; and

transmitting the promotion including the at least one charge rate and the one or more varied parameters associated therewith to the subscriber in a response to the request, before the service is rendered.