System and method for provisioning customer premises equipment

• US 20050048957A1
• Filed: 08/28/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Phillips, Bruce A., Casey, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0266 using meta-data, objects or commands for formatting management information, e.g. using eXtensible markup language [XML]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5087 wherein the managed service relates to voice services management of VoIP services H04M7/0081
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5093 wherein the managed service relates to messaging or chat services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management

Abstract

A method of provisioning telecommunication offerings includes receiving from a first provider a message at a services clearing house to provision a telecommunication offering at a customer'"'"'s premises and processing the request into a provisioning message. The method also includes directing the provisioning message to the customer'"'"'s premises, thereby causing the offering to be provisioned at the customer'"'"'s premises.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning telecommunication offerings, comprising:

receiving from a first provider a message at a services clearing house to provision a telecommunication offering at a customer'"'"'s premises;

processing the request into a provisioning message; and

directing the provisioning message to the customer'"'"'s premises, thereby causing the offering to be provisioned at the customer'"'"'s premises.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for the service from the customer; and

directing the request to the first provider.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from a second provider a message at the services clearing house to provision a different telecommunication offering at a different customer'"'"'s premises;

processing the request into a provisioning message; and

directing the provisioning message to the different customer'"'"'s premises;

wherein the second provider is different from the first provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the provisioning message to the customer'"'"'s premises comprises directing the provisioning message to customer premises equipment at the customer'"'"'s premises.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the customer premises equipment comprises a network interface device configured to receive provisioning information via a wireless transmission.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the customer premises equipment is selected from the group consisting of network interface device, video receiver, broadband modem, and telephone receiver.

7. A method of provisioning telecommunication offerings, comprising:

receiving from a provider a message comprising an offering;

receiving from a consumer of telecommunication offerings an enrollment message;

providing a list of offerings to the consumer;

receiving a request to provision at least one telecommunication offering to the consumer;

preparing a provisioning message relating to the request;

transmitting the provisioning message to a location of the consumer, thereby causing the offering to be provisioned.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving from a provider a message comprising an offering comprises receiving a type of offering, information indicating a type of customer premises equipment used to receive the offering, and information from which eligible consumers may be determined.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing information relating to the message in a centralized services database.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving from a consumer of telecommunication offerings an enrollment message comprises receiving customer information comprising a type of customer premises equipment of the customer and information used to determine telecommunications offerings the customer is eligible to receive.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving a request to provision at least one telecommunication offering to the consumer comprises receiving the request from the consumer.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving a request to provision at least one telecommunication offering to the consumer comprises receiving the request from a provider.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising verifying the provider'"'"'s authority to provision the service.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein verifying the provider'"'"'s authority to provision the service comprises confirming the provider'"'"'s identity using a digital certificate.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein preparing a provisioning message relating to the request comprises preparing the provisioning message using XML.

16. A telecommunication provisioning system, comprising:

a services clearing house configured to receive telecommunication offerings from a plurality of providers and direct the telecommunication offerings to a plurality of customer'"'"'s via customer premises equipment; and

a provisioning arrangement configured to receive requests to provision telecommunication offerings from a plurality of service providers to a plurality of customers.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the telecommunication offerings are selected from the group consisting of video programming, broadband access, and telephone service.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a billing system that periodically provides to providers information relating to the telecommunication offerings provisioned to customers.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising a distribution network through which both telecommunication offerings and provisioning messages are provided from the services clearing house to customers.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the provisioning arrangement comprises means for communicating with each of the plurality of providers in a common provisioning language.