Systems and methods for provisioning multi-dimensional rule based entitlement offers

• US 9,467,726 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ly, Cuong T., Pamplona, Joel M., Le-Chau, Luan, Kahn, Raynold M., Sue, Ranny Q., Chaudhry, Kapil
• Primary Examiner(s): MONTOYA, OSCHTA I
• Application Number:
  US14/871,835
• Time in Patent Office: 377 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26225 involving billing parameters, e.g. priority for subscribers of premium services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6193 involving transmission via a satellite arrangements for data linking, networking or transporting, or for controlling an end to end session in a satellite broadcast system H04B7/18526
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6334 for authorisation, e.g. by transmitting a key wireless communications network key management H04W12/04; wireless communications network access security H04W12/08

Abstract

A method of provisioning entitlement including: receiving within a headend and at a policy management module first conditions and rules for content from a service provider or a third party device; and generating, for a point of presence (POP) device of a customer, a policy for entitlement and usage of content (merged policy). The generating of the merged policy includes: merging conditions and rules of policies including the first conditions and rules to generate the merged policy based on a predetermined hierarchy of the policies. Rules and conditions of the merged policy are multi-dimensional to include customer, POP device, and provider dimensions; and generating a configuration file including conditions or condition based parameters. The method further includes: presenting an offer for the content to the customer via the POP device; receiving an acceptance of the offer from the POP device; and enforcing the merged policy according to the configuration file.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning multi-dimensional rule based entitlement, the method comprising:

receiving within a headend and at a policy management module first conditions and rules for content from a service provider or a third party device;

generating, for a point of presence device of a customer, a policy for entitlement and usage of content including;

merging conditions and rules of a plurality of policies including the first conditions and rules to generate the policy for entitlement and usage of content based on a predetermined hierarchy of the plurality of policies, wherein rules and conditions of the policy for entitlement and usage of content are multi-dimensional to include a customer dimension, a point of presence device dimension, and a provider dimension, and

generating a configuration file including a plurality of conditions or condition based parameters;

presenting an offer for the content to the customer via the point of presence device;

receiving an acceptance signal indicating acceptance of the offer from the point of presence device;

enforcing the policy for entitlement and usage of content according to the configuration file;

subsequent to receiving the acceptance signal, updating a record of the customer for the content at the service provider;

subsequent to updating the record, determining a billing status of the customer and a classification of the customer and generating an authorization signal to authorize access to the content based on the billing status, the classification, and whether the plurality of conditions or parameters of the configuration file are satisfied;

subsequent to updating the record, generating a conditional access packet in response to the authorization signal; and

transmitting the conditional access packet from the headend to the point of presence device, wherein the point of presence device accesses the content from a content locker based on the conditional access packet, and wherein the content locker is allocated to the customer and is separate from the point of presence device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content locker is outside a local area network in which the point of presence device is located.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a new or updated parameter, a new or updated condition, or a new or updated rule for the content;

modifying the configuration file for the content based on the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule; and

sharing the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule for the content or the modified configuration file with a plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein;

the configuration file is modified according to only the new or updated parameter; and

one of the condition based parameters is replaced by the new or updated parameter.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule for the content is shared with the plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the modified configuration file is shared with the plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the modifying of the configuration file comprises modifying a key/value pair of the configuration file.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for second content from the point of presence device;

determining whether the second content is in a content locker of the customer, wherein the content locker is located outside a local area network of the point of presence device;

if the second content is in the content locker and the customer is authorized to view the second content, downloading the second content from an Internet or the headend to the point of presence device; and

if the second content is not in the content locker, implementing the policy for entitlement and usage of content or a second merged policy to determine whether to permit access to the second content to the customer.

9. A system for provisioning multi-dimensional rule based entitlement, the system comprising:

a policy management module configured to

receive first conditions and rules for content from a service provider or a third party device, wherein the policy management module is within a headend;

generate, for a point of presence device of a customer, a policy for entitlement and usage of content including;

merge conditions and rules of a plurality of policies including the first conditions and rules to generate the policy for entitlement and usage of content based on a predetermined hierarchy of the plurality of policies, wherein rules and conditions of the policy for entitlement and usage of content are multi-dimensional to include a customer dimension, a point of presence device dimension, and a provider dimension, and

generate a configuration file including a plurality of conditions or condition based parameters;

an authorization module configured to

present an offer for the content to the customer via the point of presence device, and

receive an acceptance signal indicating acceptance of the offer from the point of presence device;

a conditional access management module configured to enforce the policy for entitlement and usage of content according to the configuration file;

a billing module, wherein;

the authorization module is configured to, subsequent to receiving the acceptance signal, generate a modified customer event signal to update a record of the customer for the content at the service provider;

the billing module is configured to, subsequent to updating the record, determine a billing status of the customer and a classification of the customer and generate an authorization signal to authorize access to the content based on the billing status, the classification, and whether the plurality of conditions or parameters of the configuration file are satisfied;

the conditional access management module is configured to, subsequent to updating the record, generate a conditional access packet in response to the authorization signal and transmit the conditional access packet from the headend to the point of presence device, wherein the point of presence device accesses the content from a content locker based on the conditional access packet, and wherein the content locker is allocated to the customer and is separate from the point of presence device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the content locker is outside a local area network in which the point of presence device is located.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the policy management module is configured to:

receive a new or updated parameter, a new or updated condition, or a new or updated rule for the content;

modify the configuration file for the content based on the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule; and

share the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule for the content or the modified configuration file with a plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein;

the policy management module is configured to is configured to modify the configuration file according to only the new or updated parameter; and

one of the condition based parameters is replaced by the new or updated parameter.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the policy management module is configured to share the new or updated parameter, the new or updated condition or the new or updated rule for the content with the plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the policy management module is configured to share the modified configuration file with the plurality of network devices and systems within the headend.

15. The system of claim 11, the policy management module is configured to, in modifying the configuration file, modify a key/value pair of the configuration file.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the policy management module is configured to receive a request for second content from the point of presence device;

the authorization module is configured to determine whether the second content is in a content locker of the customer, wherein the content locker is located outside a local area network of the point of presence device;

the policy management module or the authorization module is configured to, if the second content is in the content locker and the customer is authorized to view the second content, download the second content from an Internet or the headend to the point of presence device; and

the policy management module or the authorization module is configured to, if the second content is not in the content locker, implement the policy for entitlement and usage of content or a second merged policy to determine whether to permit access to the second content to the customer.