System and method for controlling advanced triggering operations in a telecommunication network

• US 9,641,958 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lehane, Bart, Dunne, Cameron Ross, McNamee, Alan, D'Souza, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Huy D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duffy, James P
• Application Number:
  US13/957,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20140036774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/24 preventing metering of tax-free calls to certain lines, e.g. to fire or ambulance stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A network server may be configured to generate, modify, augment, communicate, and/or manage the triggers and signaling communications so that they may be processed and communicated in a more intelligent, efficient, and/or cost effective manner than that which is available via conventional solutions. The network server may receive a trigger communication message that includes trigger parameters and information suitable for causing a destination device to automatically initiate an operation, determining a criterion for sending the trigger communication message to the destination device based on the trigger parameters included in the trigger communication message, monitoring a condition to determine whether the criterion has been satisfied, and send the trigger communication message to the destination device when it is determined that the criterion has been satisfied.

Claims

1. A method of communicating triggers in a telecommunication network, comprising:

receiving, via a processor of a server computing device, a trigger communication message from a source device, wherein the received trigger communication message includes;

information suitable for causing a destination device to automatically initiate a communication operation to establish a subsequent session and communicate with the source device; and

one or more trigger parameters;

identifying, via the processor of the server computing device, a condition for monitoring based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message;

monitoring, via the processor of the server computing device, the identified condition for a period of time;

determining, via the processor of the server computing device, whether the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device based on a result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time;

determining whether the subsequent session may be established based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message in response to determining, based on the result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time, that the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device; and

sending the received trigger communication message to the destination device to cause the subsequent session to be established in response to determining that the subsequent session may be established.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message to set one of:

a time-based criterion;

a cost-based criterion;

a data volume-based criterion;

a priority-based criterion;

or

a group-based criterion.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message to determine a maximum allowable time requirement; and

determining a time period during which the trigger communication message should be transmitted to the destination device to reduce network congestion and meet the maximum allowable time requirement.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message to determine a maximum allowable time requirement; and

determining a time period during which the trigger communication message should be transmitted to the destination device to reduce an amount billed to a charging account associated with the source device and meet the maximum allowable time requirement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving policy or charging information from a component in the telecommunication network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving policy or charging information from the component in the telecommunication network comprises:

receiving policy information from a policy control rules function (PCRF) component via a policy based interface;

or

receiving charging information via a charging based interface.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, via the processor of the server computing device, whether the received trigger communication message includes a pseudonym identity value;

using, via the processor of the server computing device, the pseudonym identity value included in the trigger communication message to retrieve a hardware-based identity value from memory; and

updating, via the processor of the server computing device, the trigger communication message by replacing the pseudonym identity value with the retrieved hardware-based identity value,

wherein sending the trigger communication message to the destination device comprises sending the updated trigger communication message to the destination device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the processor of the server computing device, a response communication message that includes a hardware-based identity value from the destination device;

determining whether a pseudonym identity should be used for the received response communication message;

generating a pseudonym identity value in response to determining that the pseudonym identity should be used for the response communication message;

storing the generated pseudonym identity value in a memory in association with the hardware-based identity value that is included the received response communication message;

updating the received response communication message by replacing the hardware-based identity value with the generated pseudonym identity value; and

sending the updated response communication message to the source device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the subsequent session may be established further comprises:

sending information identifying the destination device and a quality of service required by the destination device for the subsequent session to a policy management system component; and

receiving a response message indicating whether the subsequent session may be established from the policy management system component.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using, by the processor of the server computing device, at least one trigger parameter included in the received trigger communication message to generate and set a criterion for sending the received trigger communication message from the server computing device to the destination device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

augmenting, via the processor of the server computing device, the received trigger communication message to include additional information that may be used by other components in the telecommunication network to determine a criterion that should be met before the trigger communication message is sent to the destination device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, via the processor of the server computing device, a type of radio access network to which the destination device is attached;

selecting a control plane manager component based on the determined radio access network type;

generating signaling information based on the information included in the received trigger communication message and information received from components in the telecommunication network; and

send the generated signaling information to the selected control plane manager component for forwarding to the destination device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving policy information from a policy control rules function (PCRF) component;

receiving a request for resources from a third party application server; and

determining whether the received request for resources requires that additional resources be allocated in the network based on the policy information received from the PCRF component.

14. A server computing device comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a trigger communication message from a source device, wherein the received trigger communication message includes;

information suitable for causing a destination device to automatically initiate a communication operation to establish a subsequent session and communicate with the source device; and

one or more trigger parameters;

identifying, via the processor of the server computing device, a condition for monitoring based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message;

monitoring the identified condition for a period of time;

determining whether the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device based on a result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time;

determining whether the subsequent session may be established based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message in response to determining, based on the result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time, that the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device; and

sending the received trigger communication message to the destination device to cause the subsequent session to be established in response to determining that the subsequent session may be established.

15. The server computing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising using at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message to set one of:

a time-based criterion;

a cost-based criterion;

a data volume-based criterion;

a priority-based criterion;

or

a group-based criterion.

16. The server computing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

receiving policy or charging information from a component in the telecommunication network.

17. The server computing device of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that receiving policy or charging information from the component in the telecommunication network comprises:

receiving policy information from a policy control rules function (PCRF) component via a policy based interface;

or

receiving charging information via a charging based interface.

18. The server computing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that determining whether the subsequent session may be established further comprises:

sending information identifying the destination device and a quality of service required by the destination device for the subsequent session to a policy management system component; and

receiving a response message indicating whether the subsequent session may be established from the policy management system component.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a trigger communication message from a source device, wherein the received trigger communication message includes;

information suitable for causing a destination device to automatically initiate a communication operation with the source device; and

one or more trigger parameters;

identifying, via the processor of the server computing device, a condition for monitoring based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message;

monitoring the identified condition for a period of time;

determining whether the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device based on a result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time;

determining whether the subsequent session may be established based on at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message in response to determining, based on the result of monitoring the identified condition for the period of time, that the received trigger communication message should be sent to the destination device; and

sending the received trigger communication message to the destination device to cause the subsequent session to be established in response to determining that the subsequent session may be established.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations further comprising using at least one of the trigger parameters included in the received trigger communication message to set one of:

a time-based criterion;

a cost-based criterion;

a data volume-based criterion;

a priority-based criterion;

or

a group-based criterion.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations further comprising:

receiving policy or charging information from a component in the telecommunication network.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that receiving policy or charging information from the component in the telecommunication network comprises:

receiving policy information from a policy control rules function (PCRF) component via a policy based interface;

or

receiving charging information via a charging based interface.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that determining whether the subsequent session may be established further comprises:

sending information identifying the destination device and a quality of service required by the destination device for the subsequent session to a policy management system component; and

receiving a response message indicating whether the subsequent session may be established from the policy management system component.