Methods and apparatus to interface with different service provider information technology systems supporting service ordering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10148826-B2
Application number	US-201514839563-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2015
Priority date	Aug 28, 2015
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

Example methods disclosed herein include accessing first messaging received from an enterprise mobility management system to identify a first device, the first messaging conforming to a first set of application programming interfaces. Disclosed example methods also include exchanging respective instances of second messaging with respective ones of multiple different service provider information technology systems supporting service ordering to identify a first one of the service provider information technology systems associated with the first device, the respective instances of the second messaging including first data from the first messaging and conforming to respective second sets of application programming interfaces, different from the first set of application programming interfaces, that are specific to the respective ones of the different service provider information technology systems. Disclosed example methods further include exchanging third messaging with the first one of the service provider information technology systems to determine service offerings available for the first device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to interface with a plurality of different service provider information technology systems supporting service ordering, the method comprising:
accessing first messaging received via a network from an enterprise mobility management system to identify a first device, the first messaging conforming to a first set of application programming interfaces;
exchanging, by executing an instruction with a processor, respective instances of second messaging with respective ones of the different service provider information technology systems to identify a first one of the different service provider information technology systems associated with the first device, the instances of the second messaging including first data from the first messaging and respectively conforming to second sets of application programming interfaces that are specific to the different service provider information technology systems, the second sets of application programming interfaces different from the first set of application programming interfaces; and
exchanging, by executing an instruction with the processor, third messaging with the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to determine service offerings available for the first device, the first data including a device identifier identifying the first device, and the exchanging of the respective instances of the second messaging with the respective ones of the different service provider information technology systems including:
including the device identifier in a first message conforming to a first application programming interface to query the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to qualify devices for service provisioning, the first application programming interface included in a first one of the second sets of application programming interfaces specific to the first one of the different service provider information technology systems;
transmitting the first message to the first one of the different service provider information technology systems;
accessing a second message received from the first one of the different service provider information technology systems;
transmitting a third message including the device identifier to a second one of the different service provider information technology systems, the third message conforming to a second application programming interface to query the second one of the different service provider information technology systems to qualify devices for service provisioning, the second application programming interface included in a second one of the second sets of application programming interfaces specific to the second one of the different service provider information technology systems;
determining that the second one of the different service provider information technology systems is not associated with the first device when a fourth message received from the second one of the different service provider information technology systems indicates that the first device is not qualified for service provisioning; and
determining that the first one of the different service provider information technology systems is associated with the first device when the second message received from the first one of the different service provider information technology systems indicates that the first device is qualified for service provisioning.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of application programming interfaces is agnostic to the different service provider information technology systems, the third messaging conforms to the first one of the second sets of application programming interfaces specific to the first one of the different service provider information technology systems, and further including:
transforming the third messaging to fourth messaging conforming to the first set of application programming interfaces; and
exchanging the fourth messaging with the enterprise mobility management system to convey the service offerings available for the first device to the enterprise mobility management system.

3. The method of claim 2 , further including:
transforming fifth messaging received from the enterprise mobility management system and conforming to the first set of application programming interfaces to sixth messaging conforming to the first one of the respective second sets of application programming interfaces specific to the first one of the different service provider information technology systems; and
exchanging the sixth messaging with the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to order at least one of the service offerings available for the first device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fifth messaging includes a fifth message conforming to one of the first application programming interfaces to select a first service to order from a listing of available service offerings, and the sixth messaging includes (1) a sixth message conforming to a second third application programming interface to request the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to provision enterprise billing information associated with an ordered service, and (2) a seventh message conforming to a fourth application programming interface to request the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to provision subscriber billing information associated with the ordered service, the third and fourth application programming interfaces included in the first one of the second sets of application programming interfaces.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first messaging also identifies a second device, and further including:
exchanging respective instances of fourth messaging with respective ones of the different service provider information technology systems to identify a third one of the different service provider information technology systems associated with the second device, the fourth messaging respectively conforming to the second sets of application programming interfaces that are specific to the different service provider information technology systems; and
exchanging fifth messaging with the third one of the different service provider information technology systems to determine service offerings available for the second device.

6. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
accessing first messaging received via a network from an enterprise mobility management system to identify a first device, the first messaging conforming to a first set of application programming interfaces;
exchanging respective instances of second messaging with respective ones of a plurality of different service provider information technology systems to identify a first one of the different service provider information technology systems associated with the first device, the instances of the second messaging including first data from the first messaging and respectively conforming to second sets of application programming interfaces that are specific to the different service provider information technology systems, the second sets of application programming interfaces different from the first set of application programming interfaces;
exchanging third messaging with the first one of the different service provider information technology systems to determine service offerings available for the first device, the first data including a device identifier identifying the first device, and the exchanging of the respective instances of the second messaging with the respective ones of the different service provider information technology systems including:
including t

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Mobility Ii Llc

Inventors

• Malee Daniel P
• Shabazz Jeloni
• Hammond Robert
• Wills Laury Ann
• Miller Gregory

Classifications

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• H04W4/24

  Accounting or billing · CPC title

• H04M15/61 Primary

  based on the service used · CPC title

• H04M15/8033

  location-dependent, e.g. business or home · CPC title

• H04M15/44

  Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation · CPC title