Affiliated service provision method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016309044-A1
Application number	US-201615096341-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 12, 2016
Priority date	Apr 17, 2015
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

When a plurality of services are enjoyed by a single terminal, a communication regulation caused by another service has influence on enjoyment of another service. A service provider and a mobile communication provider are affiliated with each other and newly provide an affiliated service in which a communication fee for a service use is borne by the service provider to a user. Conventional communication and affiliated service communication are performed on a single communication line of the user together, and communication control is performed in units of services such that a service quality of the affiliated service is maintained. It is implemented by affiliating a communication log and contract information between business operators and performing communication identification using user information at the time of a contract as a key.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A network system that relays communication for implementing a plurality of services performed by a terminal and one or more service providing devices that provide the services to the terminal, comprising:
a relay device; and a communication control device, wherein the communication control device manages a session log received from the relay device and service management information related to the communication for implementing the service to be relayed, a user identifier of a user using the terminal and an address of the service providing device that provides the service to the terminal are associated as the session log, a service identifier of the service provided by the service provider, the address of the service providing device that provides the service, an identifier of a registered user list indicating a user that makes a contract in which the services are provided as affiliated services, and the user identifier are associated as the service management information, and the service provided to the terminal used by the user indicated by the user identifier is specified as any one of the affiliated services or a non-affiliated service based on the user identifier and the address of the service providing device described in the session log.

2 . The network system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication control device includes, as the service management information, a server management table in which a service identifier of the affiliated service or the non-affiliated service provided by the service provider and the address of the service providing device that provides the affiliated service or the non-affiliated service are associated, and a user management list in which the service identifier, the identifier of the registered user list, and the user identifier are associated and managed.

3 . The network system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication control device manages the service management information such that the service identifier of the affiliated service and a restriction value of a communication volume allowed to the affiliated service are associated, the communication control device acquires the communication volume of each affiliated service provided to the user of the terminal from the session log received from the relay device, and the communication control device instructs the relay device to perform communication regulation for the affiliated service provided to the user when a total communication volume of the communication volume of any one of the affiliated services provided to the user exceeds the restriction value allowed to the affiliated service.

4 . The network system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication control device calculates a service fee of the affiliated service for the user in units of service providers managing the service providing device that provides the affiliated service.

5 . The network system according to claim 4 ,
wherein the communication control device acquires a communication log for the non-affiliated service provided to the user of the terminal from the session log received from the relay device, the communication control device manages a predetermined fee calculation method related to the non-affiliated service, and the communication control device calculates a fee for the non-affiliated service supplied to the user indicated by the user identifier based on the fee calculation method related to the non-affiliated service and the communication log of the non-affiliated service.

6 . The network system according to claim 4 ,
wherein the communication control device performs a billing process including a service fee for the non-affiliated service for the user in units of user identifiers.

7 . The network system according to claim 4 ,
wherein the communication control device further manages the service management information such that a total communication volume of the affiliated service that is indicated by the service identifier and provided to the user indicated by the user identifier is further associated, the communication control device manages a fee calculation method related to the affiliated service, and the communication control device calculates a service fee for the user for each service provider based on the fee calculation method related to the affiliated service and the total communication volume.

8 . The network system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the communication control device performs a process of billing the service provider for the calculated service fee.

9 . The network system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication control device manages the service management information such that an identifier of the affiliated service and a restriction value of a communication volume allowed to the affiliated service are associated, the communication control device acquires the communication volume of each affiliated service provided to the user of the terminal from the session log received from the relay device, and when a total communication volume of the communication volume of any one of the affiliated services provided to the user exceeds the restriction value allowed to the affiliated service, and there is another affiliated service in which a total value of the communication volume does not exceed the restriction value, the communication control device sets a value obtained by adding a difference between the total value of the other affiliated service and the restriction value to the restriction value of the affiliated service in which the restriction value is exceeded as a new restriction value.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Nemoto Naokazu
• Matsuura Yoshiki
• Takeda Yukiko
• Yoshiuchi Hideya
• Miyata Tatsuhiko
• Sobue Tsuneo

Classifications

• H04M15/68

  Payment of value-added services · CPC title

• H04M15/48

  Secure or trusted billing, e.g. trusted elements or encryption · CPC title

• H04M15/06

  Recording class or number of calling {, i.e. A-party} or called party {, i.e. B-party} · CPC title

• H04L41/5025

  by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade · CPC title

• H04L41/5054

  Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components · CPC title