Adaptive ambient services

• US 8,868,455 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G, Rightmyer, Rob, Kudelin, Vladislav
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/588,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20120310804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 709/201, 709/204, 705/30, 705/34, 455/405, 455/406, 455/407, 455/408, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/432.1, 726/6, 726/7
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5045 Making service definitions prior to deployment
• 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 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 : using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/29 : between an access point and the access point controlling device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 : based on regulatory allocation policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 : Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 : Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 : Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

A method comprising inspecting a traffic flow associated with a device; identifying a requested access within the traffic flow; determining, based on a set of access rules, whether the requested access is within a service profile, the service profile defining a first data service, a first service usage associated with the first data service being accounted for separately from a second service usage associated with at least a second data service available to the device, the service profile identifying a particular network end-point, a particular end-user-device application, a particular content type, or a combination of these; and if the requested access is within the service profile, creating or modifying a record, the record for assisting in providing an accounting of at least a portion of the first service usage to a paying entity responsible for subsidizing or paying for the at least a portion of the first service usage.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

inspecting a traffic flow associated with an end-user device;

identifying a requested access within the traffic flow;

determining, based on a first set of access rules, whether the requested access is within a first network data service profile, the first network data service profile defining a first network data service, a first service usage associated with the first network data service being accounted for separately from a second service usage associated with at least a second network data service available to the end-user device, the first network data service profile identifying a particular network end-point, a particular end-user-device application, a particular content type, or a combination of these; and

if the requested access is within the first network data service profile, creating or modifying a first record, the first record for assisting in providing an accounting of at least a portion of the first service usage to a first paying entity responsible for subsidizing or paying for the at least a portion of the first service usage.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the requested access is within the first network data service profile, providing information based on the first record to a rules engine for assisting in providing the accounting of the at least a portion of the first service usage to the first paying entity.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating or modifying a billing record based on information from the first record if the requested access is within the first network data service profile.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular network end-point is identified by an address, a domain name, a uniform resource locator (URL), or a combination of these.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein creating or modifying the billing record based on information from the first record comprises determining a billing offset or a positive service usage value.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein creating or modifying the billing record based on information from the first record comprises determining a revenue share.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network data service comprises a service made available to a user of the end-user device based on a measure of good standing, the measure of good standing comprising a measure of a purchase, a viewing of an advertisement, an answer to a questionnaire, a service sign-up, an acceptance of a trial offer, a number of earned customer points, or a combination of these.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the first set of access rules, whether the requested access is within the first network data service profile comprises determining whether the requested access corresponds to an entry on a list of allowed accesses.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the requested access is not within the first network data service profile, determining whether to allow the requested access based on a limitation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the limitation comprises a time, a data usage, a bandwidth, a content type, a number of actions, a number of choices, a number of web pages or portal pages, a number of uniform resource locators (URLs), a number of domains or sub-domains, a type of advertisement, a type or size of a particular content, a number of addresses, a type of file download, a number of file downloads, an activity of a particular application, or a user standing.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular network end-point comprises a web site, a wireless application protocol (WAP) site, a server, a content source, or a portal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the first service usage comprises a particular amount of usage or a usage during a period of time.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network data service is provided at no cost to a user of the end-user device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein access to the first network data service is included in a bundle associated with the end-user device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network data service profile provides for limited service capabilities prior to activation of a service plan for the end-user device.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an option for a user to purchase or upgrade a service plan for the end-user device.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a notification associated with the first network data service to the end-user device, the notification configured to cause the end-user device to present information through a user interface of the end-user device.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the first set of access rules.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein modifying the first set of access rules comprises:

monitoring a set of queries and responses between the particular end-user-device application and one or more network end points accessed by the particular end-user-device application to determine a traffic pattern associated with the particular end-user-device application, or

monitoring a set of queries and responses between the particular network end-point and one or more end-user-device applications that access the particular network end-point to determine a traffic pattern associated with the particular network end-point.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the first set of access rules based on information from a search engine, a web crawler, a domain object model (DOM), a links model of a requested web page, an analysis of a content of the requested access, a query of the first network data service, a secondary source, a network domain, or a combination of these.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the first set of access rules using an automated procedure.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

directing traffic associated with the first network data service from the end-user device to a particular network apparatus or over a particular logical channel.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the particular network apparatus comprises a server, a router, or a gateway.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

blocking the requested access if the requested access is not within the first network data service profile.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the requested access as requiring further evaluation if the requested access is not within the first network data service profile, the further evaluation for assisting in determining whether to modify the first set of access rules.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the requested access is not within the first network data service profile:

determining, based on a second set of access rules, whether the requested access is within a second network data service profile, the second network data service profile defining the second network data service; and

if the requested access is within the second network data service profile, creating or modifying a second record, the second record for assisting in providing an accounting of at least a portion of the second service usage to a second paying entity responsible for subsidizing or paying for the at least a portion of the second service usage.

29. The method of claim 17, wherein the information comprises information about the first network data service, or information about a service plan associated with or available to the end-user device.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the second paying entity is a user of the end-user device or a subscriber associated with the end-user device.

27. A system, comprising:

means for inspecting a traffic flow associated with an end-user device;

means for identifying a requested access within the traffic flow;

means for determining, based on a first set of access rules, whether the requested access is within a first network data service profile, the first network data service profile defining a first network data service, a first service usage associated with the first network data service being accounted for separately from a second service usage associated with at least a second network data service available to the end-user device, the first network data service profile identifying a particular network end-point, a particular end-user-device application, a particular content type, or a combination of these; and

means for creating or modifying a first record if the requested access is within the first network data service profile, the first record for assisting in providing an accounting of at least a portion of the first service usage to a first paying entity responsible for subsidizing or paying for the at least a portion of the first service usage.

28. The system recited in claim 27, wherein determining, based on the first set of access rules, whether the requested access is within the first network data service profile comprises determining whether the requested access corresponds to an entry on a list of allowed accesses.