Systems for enabling subscriber monitoring of telecommunications network usage and service plans

• US 8,929,859 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2012
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: McNamee, Alan, Dunne, Cameron Ross, Hogan, Joe, Lehane, Bart, D'Souza, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, MONG-THUY THI
• Application Number:
  US13/454,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20120276867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455405-408, 705/52, 705/77, 705/79, 370352-356, 370/401
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1414 in real-time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1467 involving prepayment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/66 with means for preventing unauthorised or fraudulent calling verifying user identity or authority in secret or secure digital communications H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/64 On-line charging system [OCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/65 Off-line charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/70 Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/71 Modifying recharging resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/72 by the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/721 using the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/723 using the user's device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8022 Determining tariff or charge band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8351 before establishing a communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Methods, servers and systems for directly accessing and modifying charging information maintained within a telecommunications operator'"'"'s business and operating systems'"'"' infrastructure from user equipment. A mobile application server may receive a charging request from a user equipment, identify a relevant charging system based on the received request, send a charging request to the identified charging system for processing, receive a first response message including charging information from the identified charging system, generate a second response message based on the charging information included in the first response message, and send the generated second response message to the user equipment. The received charging request may include various types of information, including information for transferring cost or billing information from a first billing category to a second billing category.

Claims

1. A method of accessing live charging information in a telecommunications network, comprising:

receiving in a mobile application server a request message from a user equipment via a stateless interface;

identifying a relevant charging system and a relevant policy management system based on information included in the received request message;

generating a charging request message and a policy request message based on the information included in the received request message;

sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing via a stateful interface;

sending the generated policy request message to the identified policy management system;

receiving in the mobile application server a charging response message from the identified charging system in response to sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system;

receiving in the mobile application server a policy response message from the identified policy management system in response to sending the generated policy request message to the identified policy management system;

generating in the mobile application server a response message based on charging information included in the received charging response message and policy information included in the received policy response message; and

sending from the mobile application server the generated response message to the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes at least one of:

charging information associated with a specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with a subscriber defined counter;

charging information associated with a specific service for the specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with non-telecommunications related service; and

charging information associated with specific devices belonging to the specific network subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing comprises sending a communication message that instructs the identified charging system to modify charging information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a threshold based on the information included in the received request message.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising sending a notification message to the user equipment in response to determining that the set threshold is breached.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises:

receiving information from subscriber repository;

determining a charging system type based on the information received from subscriber repository; and

identifying the relevant charging system based on the determined charging system type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises identifying one of an online charging system (OCS) and an offline charging system (OFCS) based on the information included in the received request message.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising predicting future charging spending balances and rates based on the charging information included in the received charging response message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes information for obtaining network connectivity without having a prior commercial relationship.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes loyalty information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes information for transferring cost information from a first billing category to a second billing category.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the response message based on charging information included in the received charging response message and policy information included in the received policy response message comprises generating a communication message that includes two or more of:

harassment prevention information;

service level restriction information;

content filtering information;

network utilization information;

user group information;

dynamic pricing information; and

parental control information.

13. A computing device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request message from a user equipment via a stateless interface;

identifying a relevant charging system and a relevant policy management system based on the information included in the received request message;

generating a charging request message and a policy request message based on the information included in the received request message;

sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing via a stateful interface;

sending the generated policy request message to the identified policy management system;

receiving a charging response message from the identified charging system in response to sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system;

receiving a policy response message from the identified policy management system in response to sending the generated policy request message to the identified policy management system;

generating a response message based on charging information included in the received charging response message and policy information included in the received policy response message; and

sending the generated response message to the user equipment.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes at least one of:

charging information associated with a specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with a subscriber defined counter;

charging information associated with a specific service for the specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with non-telecommunications related service; and

charging information associated with specific devices belonging to the specific network subscriber.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing comprises sending a communication message that instructs the identified charging system to modify charging information.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

setting a threshold based on the information included in the received request message.

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

sending a notification message to the user equipment in response to determining that the set threshold is breached.

18. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that identifying the relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises:

receiving information from subscriber repository;

determining a charging system type based on the information received from subscriber repository; and

identifying the relevant charging system based on the determined charging system type.

19. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that identifying the relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises identifying one of an online charging system (OCS) and an offline charging system (OFCS) based on the information included in the received request message.

20. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

predicting future charging spending balances and rates based on the charging information included in the received charging response message.

21. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes information for obtaining network connectivity without having a prior commercial relationship.

22. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes loyalty information.

23. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes information for transferring cost information from a first billing category to a second billing category.

24. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations for accessing live charging information in a telecommunications network, the operations comprising:

receiving a request message from a user equipment via a stateless interface;

identifying a relevant charging system and a relevant policy management system based on information included in the received request message;

generating a charging request message and a policy request message based on the information included in the received request message;

sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing via a stateful interface;

sending the generated policy request message to the identified policy management system;

receiving a charging response message from the identified charging system in response to sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system;

generating a response message based on charging information included in the received charging response message and policy information included in the received policy response message; and

sending the generated response message to the user equipment.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes at least one of:

charging information associated with a specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with a subscriber defined counter;

charging information associated with a specific service for the specific network subscriber;

charging information associated with non-telecommunications related service; and

charging information associated with specific devices belonging to the specific network subscriber.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that sending the generated charging request message to the identified charging system for processing comprises sending a communication message that instructs the identified charging system to modify charging information.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations comprising:

setting a threshold based on the information included in the received request message.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations comprising:

sending a notification message to the user equipment in response to determining that the set threshold is breached.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that identifying the relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises:

receiving information from subscriber repository;

determining a charging system type based on the information received from subscriber repository; and

identifying the relevant charging system based on the determined charging system type.

30. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that identifying a relevant charging system based on the information included in the received request message comprises identifying one of an online charging system (OCS) and an offline charging system (OFCS) based on the information included in the received request message.

31. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations comprising:

predicting future charging spending balances and rates based on the charging information included in the received charging response message.

32. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving communication message that includes information for obtaining network connectivity without having a prior commercial relationship.

33. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes loyalty information.

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor of a mobile application server to perform operations such that receiving the request message from the user equipment comprises receiving a communication message that includes information for transferring cost information from a first billing category to a second billing category.