Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management

• US 9,557,889 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G., Tellado, Jose, Green, Jeffrey, Lavine, James, James, Justin, Nguyen, Laurent An Minh, Carter, Russell Bertrand III
• Primary Examiner(s): Rudy, Andrew Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/748,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 715/738, 455/405, 455/406, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/46 Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/70 Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/72 by the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/77 involving multiple accounts per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatuses to enable subscribers of mobile wireless communication devices to view, research, select and customize service plans; to create and manage device groups, share and set permission controls for service plans among devices in device groups; to manage communication services through graphical user interfaces; to sponsor and promote service plans; and to design, manage, and control communication services through application programming interfaces.

Claims

1. A wireless end-user device, comprising:

one or more wireless modems to communicate Internet data over one or more wireless networks;

a user interface;

a wireless network data traffic policy implementation agent to apply a traffic policy to wireless network Internet data traffic communicated or requested for communication over at least one of the wireless networks; and

one or more processors configured to;

present, through the user interface, a first plurality of selection options to a subscriber, the first plurality of selection options for customizing at least an aspect of a first service plan element of a plurality of service plan elements of a service plan bundle, the first service plan element including wireless network Internet data access services provided over at least one of the wireless access networks, the data access services provided to or shared by the wireless end-user device;

receive, through the user interface, a first user input indicating a first user selection from the first plurality of selection options;

send, to a network system communicatively coupled to the wireless end-user device by one of the wireless networks, information based at least in part on the first user selection, the information for enabling the network system to provision one or more network elements to implement a customized service plan bundle based on the first user selection, the customized service plan bundle comprising a corresponding set of policies to allow, disallow, and/or count at least some wireless network Internet data usage differently in dependence on a device application to which the Internet data usage is attributed; and

configure the wireless network data traffic policy implementation agent according to the customized service plan bundle, such that the traffic policy applied by the policy implementation agent includes at least one of the set of policies applied in dependence on a device application to which the Internet data usage is attributed.

2. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises interface a particular communication services application to an application portal communicatively coupled to one of the wireless networks.

3. The wireless end-user device of claim 1, wherein the data traffic policy implementation agent applies the at least one of the set of policies to wireless network Internet data traffic by tagging traffic to indicate an application on the device that is associated with the traffic.

4. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises using one or more operating system components.

5. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selection options is pre-stored in the wireless end-user device.

6. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

obtain the first plurality of selection options from the network system.

7. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 6, wherein the network system includes a catalog server.

8. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein sending, to a network system communicatively coupled to the wireless end-user device by one of the wireless networks, information based at least in part on the first user selection comprises communicating the information to the network system through a secure communication link.

9. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

obtain, from the network system through a secure communication channel over the wireless network, at least one of the set of policies applied by the policy implementation agent; and

provide the at least one of the set of policies to the policy implementation agent.

10. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

present, through the user interface, a visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle.

11. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first service plan element is wireless network Internet data access services associated with a particular application on the device or a particular subgroup of all applications on the device capable of using wireless network Internet data access service.

12. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 11, wherein the particular application is a social networking application, a mail application, a media application, or a navigation application.

13. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10, wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a cost of the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

14. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10, wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a service usage amount used or remaining and associated with the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

15. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10, wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a time period remaining or an expiration time and associated with the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

16. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises:

render the first plurality of selection options as a cyclic arrangement of selection options; and

cycle through the cyclic arrangement of options in response to a second user input obtained through the user interface.

17. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive the second user input, and

present, through the user interface, one or more characteristics of the service plan bundle, the one or more characteristics of the service plan bundle being dynamically updated in response to the second user input.

18. The wireless end-user device of claim 1, wherein the wireless network Internet data access services of the first service plan element are shared by the wireless end-user device with at least one other wireless end-user device, and wherein the customized service plan bundle is customized, based on the information, for the at least one other wireless end-user device.

19. The wireless end-user device of claim 18, the one or more processors configured to present, through the user interface, a visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle, including usage information for the at least one other wireless end-user device.

20. The wireless end-user device of claim 1, wherein the data traffic policy implementation agent applies the at least one of the set of policies to wireless network Internet data traffic by blocking wireless network Internet data access, for at least one of the wireless networks, to at least one particular application on the device, while allowing such access to at least one other application.

21. The wireless end-user device of claim 20, the one or more processors further configured to, in response to the policy implementation agent blocking wireless network Internet data access to the at least one particular application on the device, present, through the user interface, one or more selection options for further customizing the service plan bundle to allow the blocked access.

22. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

provide, through the user interface, information about service plans presently activated or previously activated for the wireless end-user device, the information provided on, in, adjacent to, overlaid on, or as a highlight area for at least one selection option of the first plurality of selection options.

23. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one of more processors are further configured to:

provide, through the user interface, a visual indication of the first user selection.

24. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 23, wherein the visual indication of the first user selection is an icon or a text item having a first aspect that differs from the first aspect of an unselected selection option of the first plurality of selection options.

25. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 22, wherein the information about service plans presently activated or previously activated for the wireless end-user device includes a service usage amount for the service plan elements of at least one of the service plans presently activated or previously activated for the wireless end-user device.

26. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

obtain, through the user interface, a search term from a user of the wireless end-user device,

and wherein the first plurality of selection options is based at least in part on the search term.

27. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

provide service usage information for the service plan elements of the customized service plan bundle, through the user interface.

28. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selection options includes a recommended selection option based at least in part on a service usage history or a present service usage by a user of the wireless end-user device.

29. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 28, wherein present, through the user interface, a first plurality of selection options comprises:

render the recommended selection option as visually distinct from the other selection options in the first plurality of selection options.

30. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

present an interview question through the user interface; and

obtain a response to the interview question, the response for determining at least in part the first plurality of selection options.

31. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selection options includes an add-on service plan element for wireless Internet data usage specific to one or more device applications, and wherein the first user selection indicates the add-on service plan element.