Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9557889-B2
Application number	US-201313748152-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2013
Priority date	Jan 28, 2009
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatuses to enable subscribers of mobile wireless communication devices to view, research, select and customize service plans; to create and manage device groups, share and set permission controls for service plans among devices in device groups; to manage communication services through graphical user interfaces; to sponsor and promote service plans; and to design, manage, and control communication services through application programming interfaces.

First claim

We claim:

1. A wireless end-user device, comprising:
one or more wireless modems to communicate Internet data over one or more wireless networks;
a user interface;
a wireless network data traffic policy implementation agent to apply a traffic policy to wireless network Internet data traffic communicated or requested for communication over at least one of the wireless networks; and
one or more processors configured to:
present, through the user interface, a first plurality of selection options to a subscriber, the first plurality of selection options for customizing at least an aspect of a first service plan element of a plurality of service plan elements of a service plan bundle, the first service plan element including wireless network Internet data access services provided over at least one of the wireless access networks, the data access services provided to or shared by the wireless end-user device;
receive, through the user interface, a first user input indicating a first user selection from the first plurality of selection options;
send, to a network system communicatively coupled to the wireless end-user device by one of the wireless networks, information based at least in part on the first user selection, the information for enabling the network system to provision one or more network elements to implement a customized service plan bundle based on the first user selection, the customized service plan bundle comprising a corresponding set of policies to allow, disallow, and/or count at least some wireless network Internet data usage differently in dependence on a device application to which the Internet data usage is attributed; and
configure the wireless network data traffic policy implementation agent according to the customized service plan bundle, such that the traffic policy applied by the policy implementation agent includes at least one of the set of policies applied in dependence on a device application to which the Internet data usage is attributed.

2. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises interface a particular communication services application to an application portal communicatively coupled to one of the wireless networks.

3. The wireless end-user device of claim 1 , wherein the data traffic policy implementation agent applies the at least one of the set of policies to wireless network Internet data traffic by tagging traffic to indicate an application on the device that is associated with the traffic.

4. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises using one or more operating system components.

5. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of selection options is pre-stored in the wireless end-user device.

6. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
obtain the first plurality of selection options from the network system.

7. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 6 , wherein the network system includes a catalog server.

8. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein sending, to a network system communicatively coupled to the wireless end-user device by one of the wireless networks, information based at least in part on the first user selection comprises communicating the information to the network system through a secure communication link.

9. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
obtain, from the network system through a secure communication channel over the wireless network, at least one of the set of policies applied by the policy implementation agent; and
provide the at least one of the set of policies to the policy implementation agent.

10. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
present, through the user interface, a visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle.

11. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first service plan element is wireless network Internet data access services associated with a particular application on the device or a particular subgroup of all applications on the device capable of using wireless network Internet data access service.

12. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 11 , wherein the particular application is a social networking application, a mail application, a media application, or a navigation application.

13. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10 , wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a cost of the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

14. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10 , wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a service usage amount used or remaining and associated with the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

15. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 10 , wherein the visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle comprises a time period remaining or an expiration time and associated with the customized service plan bundle or a particular service plan element of the one or more service plan elements of the service plan bundle.

16. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 1 , wherein presenting, through the user interface, the first plurality of selection options comprises:
render the first plurality of selection options as a cyclic arrangement of selection options; and
cycle through the cyclic arrangement of options in response to a second user input obtained through the user interface.

17. The wireless end-user device as recited in claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive the second user input, and
present, through the user interface, one or more characteristics of the service plan bundle, the one or more characteristics of the service plan bundle being dynamically updated in response to the second user input.

18. The wireless end-user device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network Internet data access services of the first service plan element are shared by the wireless end-user device with at least one other wireless end-user device, and wherein the customized service plan bundle is customized, based on the information, for the at least one other wireless end-user device.

19. The wireless end-user device of claim 18 , the one or more processors configured to present, through the user interface, a visual indication of a current configuration of the customized service plan bundle, including usage information for the at least one other wireless end-user device.

20. The wireless end-user device of claim 1 , wherein the data traffic policy implementation agent applies the at least one of the set of policies to wireless network Internet data traffic by blocking wireless network Internet data access, for at least one of the wireless networks, to at least one particular application on the device, while allowing such acc

Assignees

• Headwater Partners I Llc

Inventors

• Raleigh Gregory G
• Tellado Jose
• Green Jeffrey
• Lavine James
• James Justin
• Nguyen Laurent An Minh
• Carter Iii Russell Bertrand

Classifications

• G06F3/0482 Primary

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04M15/46

  Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators · CPC title

• H04L12/14 Primary

  Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework · CPC title