True convergence with end to end identity management

• US 9,565,297 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zenati, Amal
• Application Number:
  US13/029,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20120045040A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,182 Days
• Field of Search: 379 671- 8828
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/38 Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections queuing arrangements H04Q3/64

Abstract

Described is a system of disparate telecommunications networks having managed identities, a service, such as voicemail, abstracted from the underlying access networks, and an operational support system (OSS)/business support system (BSS) coupled to the networks to manage authentication and subscription information. A single authentication/subscription manager which is common to the disparate telecommunications networks is enabled by a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) which can be open-standards based and extensible as needed.

Claims

1. A system of telecommunication networks and services comprising:

a plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks, each of the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks providing access for each user in a set of users, each user having a different managed identity on each of the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks;

a service abstracted from the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks, the service adapted to run on the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks; and

a business support system (BSS);

an operational support system (OSS) coupled to the BSS, the OSS and BSS being shared across the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks and enabling a subscription to the service; and

an identity manager that is accessible through the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks and shared across the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks, the OSS, and the BSS, wherein;

the identity manager maintains a unified profile for each user in the set of users;

the unified profile for each user in the set of users maps the different managed identity of the user on each of the disparate telecommunications access networks to a unified identity; and

the identity manager;

authenticates a user in the set of users requesting the service through one of the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks using the unified identity for the user;

determines whether the user is subscribed to the service; and

makes available to the service the determination of whether the user is subscribed to the service, wherein;

the unified identity provides a federated, common identity of the user across the different managed identities of the user on the access networks including dynamic data and profile information; and

the OSS, the BSS, and the identity manager are built on a same software stack that enables sharing of the unified identity of each user.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a service delivery platform having a service-oriented architecture, the service delivery platform comprising a voice over internet protocol service and a virtual private branch exchange service.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the service delivery platform further comprises a charging service, a messaging service, a voice access service, a call control service, a user presence service, and a media server control service.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the service delivery platform is implemented in Java.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein a first one of the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks is a mobile network and a second one of the plurality of disparate telecommunications access networks is a fixed network.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the service comprises voicemail.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the service comprises conference calling.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the service comprises call hunting.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic data includes presence information.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic data includes location information.

9. A method of managing services on a plurality of different telecommunication networks, the method comprising:

providing an identity manager to a first telecommunications network and a second telecommunications network, wherein;

the identity manager comprises;

a business support system (BSS); and

an operational support system (OSS) coupled to the BSS, the OSS and BSS being shared across the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network;

the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network each provide access for each of two or more users of a set of users;

each of the two or more users has a different managed identity on the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network;

the identity manager maintains a unified profile for each of the two or more users;

the unified profile for each of the two or more users maps the different managed identities for each of the two or more users on the the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network to a unified identity;

each unified identity provides a federated, common identity of the two or more users across the different managed identities of the the two or more users on the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network including dynamic data and profile information; and

the OSS, the BSS, and the identity manager are built on a same software stack that enables sharing of the unified identity;

providing a telecommunications service to the first and second telecommunications networks;

authenticating a user in the two or more users using the identity manager and the unified identity for the user through the first telecommunications network;

verifying that the user is subscribed to the service using the identity manager through the first telecommunications network;

allowing the user to access the service on the first telecommunications network;

authenticating the user using the identity manager and the unified identity for the user through the second telecommunications network;

verifying that the user is subscribed to the service using the identity manager through the second telecommunications network; and

allowing the user to access the service on the second telecommunications network;

wherein the identity manager is used to authenticate the user and verify a common subscription of the user to the service on both the first and second telecommunications networks.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising billing the user using the BSS for use of the service accessed through both the first and second telecommunications networks.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the providing the telecommunications service is performed by a service delivery platform (SDP), the SDP adapted to control multiple different telecommunication services.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the first telecommunications network is a mobile network and the second telecommunications network is a fixed network.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the service is selected from the group consisting of voicemail, conference calling, and call hunting.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein authenticating the user using the identity manager through the second telecommunications network and verifying that the user is subscribed to the service using the identity manager through the second telecommunications network comprises using authentication and verification of the user using the identity manager of the first network as a single sign-on for the second telecommunications network.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein allowing the user to access the service on the second telecommunications network comprises allowing the user to roam to the second telecommunications network.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein allowing the user to access the service on the second telecommunications network comprises allowing the user to access converged services of the first telecommunications network and the second telecommunications network.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the dynamic data includes presence information.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein the dynamic data includes location information.