Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing media content delivery audit and verification services

• US 20070094142A1
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Russell, Travis, Marsico, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,799 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing media content delivery audit and verification services are disclosed. In one example, a monitoring system analyzes messages associated with communications in a wireless communications network. The monitoring system identifies, from the messages, messages that are associated with the request for or delivery of media content to a wireless communications device via the network. Copies of the messages relating to media content delivery are generated, correlated, and analyzed in order to provide a network operator with information that may be used to verify media content delivery transactions and associated revenues.

Claims

1. A method for auditing a media content delivery transaction, the method comprising:

from at least one location in a wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider;

(a) analyzing messages associated with communications in the wireless communications network;

(b) identifying, from the messages, a message associated with delivery of media content to a wireless communications device via the wireless communications network; and

(c) generating, based on the message, a media content delivery transaction record that contains information associated with the delivery of the media content.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a message includes identifying a message of a protocol selected from a group consisting of Internet protocol (IP), signaling system 7 (SS7), Internet Engineering Task Force SIGTRAN, short message service (SMS), session initiation protocol (SIP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified message includes an address associated with a media content provider.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein identifying a message includes identifying the address as being associated with the media content provider.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a media content delivery transaction record includes generating a copy of at least a portion of the message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein generating copy of at least a portion of the message includes generating a copy of a content recipient identifier in the message.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the content recipient identifier comprises an identifier selected from the group consisting of a mobile station integrated services digital network (MSISDN) number, a mobile identification number (MIN), an international mobile station identifier (IMSI), a temporary IMSI (TMSI), a routing number (RN), a session initiation protocol uniform resource indicator (SIP URI), and an Internet protocol (IP) address.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein generating a copy of at least a portion of the message includes generating a copy of an identifier of a media content provider in the message and an identifier of the media content being delivered.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the identifier of the media content provider comprises an identifier selected from the group consisting of a uniform resource locator (URL), a uniform resource identifier (URI), an SS7 address, and an IP address.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising performing steps (a)-(d) at a signaling message routing node.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising performing steps (a)-(d) at a stand-alone data collection system.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the media content includes mobile telephone ringtone content.

13. The method of claim 1 comprising generating ratings indicative of relative or absolute numbers of media content downloads by a plurality of different subscribers.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a media content delivery transaction record includes generating a record that contains information associated with a media content delivery message.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a media content delivery transaction record includes generating a record that contains information associated with a media content request message.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a media content delivery transaction record includes generating a record that contains information associated with a media content request message and a media content delivery message.

17. The method of claim 1 including generating a media content delivery report using information contained in the media content delivery transaction record.

18. The method of claim 17 comprising using the media content delivery report to confirm that an operator of the wireless communications network is appropriately compensated for the delivery of the media content.

19. The method of claim 17 comprising using the media content delivery report to verify the delivery of requested content to the wireless communications device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless communications device comprises at least one of a mobile telephone and a personal digital assistant.

21. A method for generating ratings indicative of media content delivery to wireless subscribers, the method comprising:

from at least one location in a wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider;

(a) identifying messages as being associated with delivery of media content to a plurality of wireless subscribers via the wireless communications network; and

(b) generating, based on the messages, at least one measure indicative of an absolute or relative number of media content deliveries being made to the wireless subscribers.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein generating at least one measure includes generating measures identifying an attribute of the media content deliveries and absolute or relative numbers of deliveries corresponding to each attribute.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the media content attribute comprises a content type associated with the delivered media content.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the media content attribute comprises a content title associated with the delivered media content.

25. A system for providing content delivery audit service in a wireless communications network environment, the system comprising:

(a) a message monitoring function for analyzing messages associated with communications a wireless communications network and identifying, from the messages, a first message associated with a media content delivery transaction for delivering media content to a wireless communications device via the wireless communications network; and

(b) a correlation function for receiving information associated with the first message from the monitoring function and generating a media content transaction detail record (TDR) related to the observed media content delivery transaction, wherein the correlation function is adapted to generate the media content TDR at a location in the wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the first message is communicated using a protocol selected from the group consisting of Internet protocol (IP), signaling system 7 (SS7), Internet Engineering Task Force SIGTRAN, short message service (SMS), session initiation protocol (SIP), file transfer protocol (FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), and stream control transmission protocol (SCTP).

27. The system of claim 25 comprising a communications link probe adapted to copy messages traversing signaling links external to network nodes, wherein the monitoring function is associated with the communications link probe.

28. The system of claim 25 comprising an integrated message feed adapted to copy messages from within a network node, wherein the monitoring function is associated with the integrated message feed.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein the correlation function is adapted to receive a copy of the first message from the monitoring function.

30. The system of claim 25 wherein the correlation function is adapted to receive a second message associated with the media content delivery transaction from the monitoring function and to correlate the first and second messages.

31. The system of claim 25 wherein comprising a reporting function adapted to generate a media content delivery audit report usable by an operator of the wireless communications network to determine the amount of revenue due to the operator from the media content provider for delivering the media content to the subscriber.

32. The system of claim 25 wherein the reporting function is adapted to generate a media content delivery troubleshooting report.

33. A system for generating ratings based on media content being delivered to a plurality of different wireless subscribers, the system comprising:

(a) a message monitoring function for analyzing messages associated with communications in a wireless communications network and for identifying, from the messages, messages associated with delivery of media content to a plurality of wireless communications devices; and

(b) a correlation function for receiving messages from the monitoring function and for generating, based on the messages, at least one measure indicative of an absolute or relative number of media content deliveries being made to the wireless communications devices wherein the correlation function is adapted to generate the at least one measure from a location in the wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the correlation function is adapted to identify media content titles corresponding to the deliveries and to generate absolute or relative numbers of deliveries for each title.

35. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium for performing steps comprising:

from at least one location in a wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider;

(a) analyzing messages associated with communications in a wireless communications network;

(b) identifying, from the messages, a message as being associated with delivery of media content to a wireless communications devices; and

(c) generating, based on the message, a media content delivery transaction record that contains information associated with the delivery of the media content.

36. The computer program product of claim 35 including generating a content delivery report using information contained in the content delivery transaction record.

37. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium for performing steps comprising:

from at least one location in a wireless communications network that is not associated with a media content provider;

(a) identifying messages as being associated with delivery of media content to a plurality of wireless subscribers via the wireless communications network; and

(b) generating, based on the messages, at least one measure indicative of an absolute or relative number of media content deliveries being made to the wireless subscribers.