Network service plan design

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10869199-B2
Application number	US-201816214902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2018
Priority date	Jan 28, 2009
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of automatically generating provisioning instructions for one or more network-delivered services to be delivered to a wireless end-user device, wherein one or more processors are configured to execute instructions to perform a method comprising:
prompting a service designer, via a user interface of a computing device, to
specify, via the user interface, a plurality of network service classification objects and a plurality of service plans that incorporate the plurality of network service classification objects,
specify, via the user interface, information that controls an order in which the plurality of network service classification objects are to be evaluated in connection with a network service request from a wireless end-user device,
specify, via the user interface, the plurality of service plans as respective hierarchies of a plurality of service policies, a plurality of service policy components and plurality of service plan filters, wherein each service plan filter is associated with a respective policy state,
specify, via the user interface, a plurality of service plan priorities for two or more overlapping service plans of the plurality of service plans, each overlapping service plan having at least one respective multi-match service policy component wherein the multi-match service policy component is configured to match a combination of the policy state of the end-user device and a service access event attempted or performed by the end-user device to a service policy component of at least one further overlapping service plan, and
specify, for at least one of the multi-match service policy components, a multi-match entry that indicates whether or not that service policy component allows a re-match condition; and

automatically generating a plurality of network equipment provisioning instructions for the plurality of service plans, the plurality of network equipment provisioning instructions
indicating the order in which the plurality of classification objects are to be evaluated by a network element in connection with a network service request from a wireless end-user device, and
indicating whether, when a classification object from the plurality of classification objects is evaluated and matched by the network element in connection with the network service request, the network element is allowed to evaluate other classification objects from the plurality of classification objects for a match in connection with the network service request.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein prompting the service designer, via the user interface, to specify information that controls an order in which the plurality of network service classification objects are to be evaluated in connection with a network service request comprises prompting the service designer to, via the user interface, assign each of the plurality of service plans to respective plan classes, the plan classes being prioritized relative to one another such that assignment of first and second service plans of the plurality of service plans to first and second plan classes, respectively, indicates that the first service plan is prioritized over the second service plan such that any of the plurality of network service classification objects incorporated into the first service plan is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request before any of the plurality of network service classification objects incorporated into the second service plan is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first plan class is a sponsored plan class and the second policy class is a user plan class.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein prompting the service designer to specify the plurality of service plans that incorporate the plurality of network service classification objects comprises:
prompting the service designer to specify, via the user interface, a plurality of service policies that each incorporate one or more of the network service classification objects; and
prompting the service designer to specify, via the user interface, one or more of the service policies to be incorporated into each of the service plans.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein prompting the service designer to specify information that controls an order in which the plurality of network service classification objects are to be evaluated in connection with the network service request comprises prompting the service designer to assign, via the user interface, each of the one or more service policies to a respective one of a plurality of policy classes that are prioritized relative to one another such that assignment of first and second service policies of the plurality of service policies to respective first and second policy classes of the plurality of policy classes indicates that the first service policy is prioritized over the second service policy such that any of the network service classification objects incorporated into the first service policy is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request before any of the network service classification objects incorporated into the second service policy is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first policy class is a sponsored policy class and the second policy class is a user policy class.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein prompting the service designer to specify information that controls an order in which the plurality of network service classification objects are to be evaluated in connection with a network service request further comprises prompting the service designer to assign, via the user interface, each of the plurality of service plans to respective plan classes, the plan classes being prioritized relative to one another such that assignment of first and second service plans of the plurality of service plans to first and second plan classes, respectively, indicates that the first service plan is prioritized over the second service plan such that any of the plurality of network service classification objects incorporated into the first service plan is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request before any of the plurality of network service classification objects incorporated into the second service plan is to be evaluated in connection with the network service request.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein automatically generating the plurality of network equipment provisioning instructions for the plurality of service plans comprises generating the plurality of network equipment provisioning instructions to order the evaluation of the plurality of network service classification objects first according to policy class priority and then according to plan class priority.

9. A computer system for generating network equipment provisioning instructions for one or more network-delivered services to be delivered to a wireless end-user device, the system comprising computing circuitry, including one or more processors and non-transitory memory to store program code, the program code to configure the one or more processors to:
prompt a service designer, via a user interface, to
specify, via the user interface, a plurality of network service classification objects and a plurality of service plans that incorporate the plurality of network service classification objects,
specify, via the user interface, information that controls an order in which the plurality of network service classification objects are to be evaluated in connection with a network service request from a wireless E lser device,
specify, via the user interface, the plurality of service plans as res

Assignees

• Headwater Res Llc

Inventors

• Raleigh Gregory G
• Green Jeffrey
• Lavine James
• James Justin

Classifications

• H04L63/20

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title

• H04L41/0894 Primary

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04W12/08 Primary

  Access security · CPC title

• H04L67/63

  Routing a service request depending on the request content or context · CPC title

• H04L67/564

  Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data · CPC title