Service design center for device assisted services

• US 9,706,061 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• 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., Lavine, James, Raissinia, Alireza, James, Justin, Green, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US14/541,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20150201089A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 455405, 455406, 4554141, 4554321, 713323, 719318, 709217, 709223, 705300, 705500
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/46 Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• 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 15/72 by the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/723 using the user's device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A technique involves modular storage of network service plan components and provisioning of same. A subset of the capabilities of a service design system can be granted to a sandbox system to enable customization of service plan offerings or other controls.

Claims

1. A method for operating a service design system to implement a service plan including one or more wireless network data services to be provided by one or more wireless access networks to one or more wireless end-user devices, the method comprising:

accepting, via a service design system user interface, user input defining an event associated with a use of at least one of the wireless access networks according to the service plan;

receiving, via the service design system user interface, user input specifying a plurality of service policies associated with the defined event, the service policies including at least two of an access policy that defines rights to access a wireless network data service selected from a plurality of Internet data service definitions available for user selection via the interface, a service accounting policy that defines accounting for using the wireless network data service, and a notification policy that defines when to provide notifications corresponding to the wireless network data service;

creating a definition for the service plan based at least in part on the defined event and the at least two specified service policies; and

automatically translating the service plan definition into instructions for one or more policy implementation elements, the instructions to cause the one or more policy implementation elements to implement the specified service policies when the event is detected for at least one applicable wireless end-user device'"'"'s use of at least one of the wireless access networks, the at least one applicable wireless end-user device subject to the service plan.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the service design center user interface, user input specifying one or more device states of a wireless end-user device, wherein a device state is a property of the device; and

associating the device state with the event definition.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, from user input, a first group of wireless end-user devices to be bound to the service plan; and

providing the instructions to one or more policy implementation elements to cause the specified service policies to take effect for the first group of wireless end-user devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the first group of wireless end-user devices subscribes to the service plan.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service design center user interface includes one or more picklists for defining the event, each picklist including a plurality of options.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more picklists include:

a first picklist that includes at least one option that corresponds to a measure for an amount of usage of a wireless network data service; and

one or more second picklists that include options for specifying the amount of usage.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the association comprises a conditional relationship that specifies one or more time window criteria between when the defined event is detected and when the device state is present on the device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the window criteria includes an order of occurrence between the event and the device state.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the device state comprises a location of the device.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the association comprises a conditional relationship wherein the device state is present when the defined event is detected.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the device state comprises whether a given application is presently executing on the device.