Service authorizer

• US 8,073,920 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2008
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Gailey, Michael L., Portman, Eric A., Burgiss, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US12/245,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20090098862A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/219, 709/207, 709/217, 709/225, 709/227, 709/229, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/415, 455/416, 455/417, 370/352, 370/353, 379/88.13
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A service authorizer system for pushing and pulling data service authorization requests to wireless terminals is disclosed herein. The wireless terminal or a service authorization server may generate requests for authorization. The wireless terminal may generate a request for authorization that is sent to the service authorization server, which generates a multi-modal response and transmits the multi-modal response to the user. The service authorization server may also generate a multi-modal request for authorization that is sent to the wireless terminal.

Claims

1. A service authorization system for data service authorization over a wireless access network, the service authorization system comprising:

a service authorization server computer configured to generate a data service list associated with a respective user of a wireless terminal;

the service authorization server computer further configured to create and transmit to the wireless terminal, as an unsolicited request, a multi-modal request for authorization for at least one data service included in the data service list, wherein the multi-modal request comprises at least two different message formats that are transmitted over the wireless access network to the wireless terminal;

the service authorization server computer further configured to receive a response to the multi-modal request for authorization from the wireless terminal; and

a virtual customer database in communication with the service authorization server computer, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to update a user profile of the respective user of the wireless terminal based on the response to the multi-modal request for authorization, wherein the user profile is included in the virtual customer database.

2. The service authorization system of claim 1, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to generate the data service list from the virtual customer database based on services identified in the virtual customer database that the respective user is authorized to receive, and for which the respective user has not yet responded to an authorization request for the services.

3. The service authorization system of claim 2, wherein the user profile is generated in the virtual customer database from data obtained from a plurality of participating businesses, wherein different parts of the data are associated with different respective customer identifiers of the respective user that are provided by different respective participating businesses.

4. The service authorization system of claim 1, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to generate a query based on the user profile to search the virtual customer database and generate the data service list.

5. The service authorization system of claim 1, wherein the multi-modal request comprises a voice-based message and a text-based message that are separately transmitted to the wireless terminal.

6. The service authorization system of claim 1, wherein the multi-modal request comprises at least two different messages selected from a group of messages consisting of a voice-based message, a text-based message, an email message, a short message, a chat message, a video message, a video conference message, or a voice-mail message.

7. The service authorization system of claim 1, wherein the service authorization server computer is configured to generate the data service list in response to receipt from a participating company server computer of a request for authorization to provide a data service to a wireless terminal.

8. A service authorization system for data service authorizations over a wireless access network, the service authorization system comprising:

a service authorization server computer configured to receive a request for authorization to receive a data service, the request for authorization transmitted from a wireless terminal over the wireless access network, wherein the wireless terminal is associated with a respective user; and

a virtual customer database in communication with the service authorization server computer, wherein the virtual customer database includes a user profile of the respective user that is populated with participating company specific data of the respective user, wherein different parts of the participating company specific data is supplied to the virtual customer database from a plurality of respective participating company database server computers;

the service authorization server computer further configured to access the virtual customer database to determine if the respective user associated with the wireless terminal is authorized to receive the data service in response to receipt of the request for authorization;

the service authorization server computer further configured to generate a multi-modal response to the request for authorization, wherein the multi-modal response comprises at least two different messages;

the service authorization server computer further configured to transmit the multi-modal response to the wireless terminal over the wireless access network; and

the service authorization server computer further configured to update the user profile included in the virtual customer database based on the multi-modal response.

9. The service authorization system of claim 8, wherein the request for authorization to receive the data service includes indication that the data service be delivered at a future time.

10. The service authorization system of claim 9, wherein the multi-modal response includes confirmation that the data service will be delivered to the wireless terminal at the future time.

11. The service authorization system of claim 8, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to generate a search query from an identity of the respective user to identify data services the respective user is authorized to receive.

12. The service authorization system of claim 8, wherein the multi-modal response includes at least a voice-based message and a text-based message.

13. The service authorization system of claim 9, wherein the participating company database server computer is configured to deliver the data service to the wireless terminal at the future time.

14. A service authorization system for data service authorizations over a wireless access network, the service authorization system comprising:

a participating company server computer;

a service authorization server computer in communication with the participating company server computer, the service authorization server computer configured to receive from the participating company server computer a request for authorization to provide a data service to a wireless terminal;

the service authorization server computer further configured to create a multi-modal request for authorization for the data service, wherein the multi-modal request for authorization comprises at least two different messages formats;

the service authorization server computer further configured to transmit the multi-modal request for authorization over the wireless access network for receipt by the wireless terminal;

the service authorization server computer further configured to receive a response to the multi-modal request for authorization from the wireless terminal; and

a virtual customer database in communication with the service authorization server computer, the service authorization server computer further configured to update a user profile associated with wireless terminal based on the response to the multi-modal request for authorization, and the user profile stored in the virtual customer database.

15. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to provide the data service from the participating company server computer to the wireless terminal if the response contains an authorization indication.

16. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to provide the data service to the wireless terminal via a multi-modal message comprising at least two different message formats that are transmitted over the wireless access network to the wireless terminal.

17. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the participating company server computer is configured to generate the request for authorization in response to a predetermined event detected with the participating company server computer.

18. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the multi-modal request for authorization includes at least a voice-based message and a text-based message.

19. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the multi-modal request for authorization includes at least two messages selected from a group of messages consisting of a voice-based message, a text-based message, an email message, a short message, a chat message, a video message, a video conference message, or a voice-mail message.

20. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to create the multi-modal request for authorization only after confirmation from the user profile included in the virtual customer database that the respective user has not previously responded to a previous request for authorization to provide the data service.

21. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the service authorization server computer is further configured to update the user profile to indicate that the wireless terminal will not receive another request for authorization to provide the data service.

22. The service authorization system of claim 14, wherein the participating company server computer is configured to populate the user profile included in the virtual customer database with customer specific participating company data that includes indication of availability to the wireless terminal of the data service.