Patent Application
20100111272
The present invention relates in general to communication of service content and in particular to inter-operator brokerage of such service content.
Telecommunication operators are today building up several standardized routing capabilities for communication services, sessions and/or media across their collective networks. The motive force is to be able to provide person-to-person connectivity for anyone-to-anyone regardless of particular user-operator relations. Examples of routing capabilities of these services, sessions and/or media are telephony, SMS, MMS, IMPS, Email and now also the coming IMS. Each of these examples has their own addressing structure that makes it possible to route from any user to any other user active within the specific addressing, service or session scheme.
Content providers of different service contents, e.g. communication service content, media content etc., have need for distributing their service content to specified users. In typical cases, a large number of users spread being associated with a number of different operators are the tentative targets for such service content. To this end, content providers can use the routing structures described above just as any other user can, and they will in such a case also be considered as a “normal” user. The content providers can in that way route their service content to anyone desiring it. However, delivering service content when acting as a user among other users has some drawbacks, mainly in terms of ability to adapt the actual content to the type of terminal the content is delivered to and/or the type of access the content is delivered through. This in turn reduces the possible price that can be associated with such products.
Another alternative that is available for content providers is to create a direct relation to the different operators. Such relations can provide access to current terminal capabilities of the users associated with the operator and the operator access capabilities by making use of the operator's third party interfaces. This becomes a way to obtain e.g. the position of a targeted user, which may be important for the actual delivery of the content. However, in order to be able to provide the service to all possible users, the content provider has to create such relation to all operators of interest. Since there are numerous operators spread over the entire globe, such relations might be difficult to obtain, at least for smaller content providers. This procedure leads to that this approach is very time consuming, administratively difficult and costly for the content provider. There is thus a high barrier for any content provider to use such solutions.
A general problem with prior art telecommunications systems is that it is difficult to provide service content to a multitude of targeted users of different telecommunication operators in a manner that is well suited to individual terminal and access capabilities. Another general problem with prior art service content provision is that the difference between the costs for providing the service content and the possible charging for the service content provision is very low.
A general object of the present invention is thus to improve service content distribution from content providers over the collective network of a multitude of telecommunication operators to targeted users. Another general object of the present invention is to improve possible profits connected to service content distribution. A further object of the present invention is to provide methods and arrangements facilitating creation of relations between a content provider and a multitude of telecommunication operators. A subsidiary object of the present invention is to create a communication structure enabling a higher development speed of end user applications.
The above objects are achieved by methods and arrangements according to the enclosed patent claims. In general words, the basic concept of the present invention is a provision of a broker node acting as an intermediate administrator, handler or distributor for all operators. A content provider has a single relation to the broker. This broker has relations to a number of other operators. In this manner it is possible for the content provider to reach all users of all operators having a relation to one single actor. The content provider provides the communication content. A list of targeted users or subscribers is compiled by the broker. Preferably, the broker collects necessary subscriber attributes, such as position, device information and access properties, from the other operators. The communication content is preferably modified according to the collected attributes and the content can subsequently be distributed or delivered to the targeted subscribers in the best possible way. The broker node collects payment from the subscribers for said service content and reimburses the media content supplier. The broker according to the present invention acts in two aspects. In a first aspect, the broker is a distributor and payment administrator for service content. In another aspect, the broker is a mediator of use of inter-operator relations to a third-party content provider, and payment routines connected thereto.
An advantage with such an arrangement is that it constitutes a structure, which enables a high development speed of end user applications. The invention provides possibilities that not all services have to be identically implemented at all operators. Instead, the services are usable through all operators as implemented in one. Another advantage is that the final service content has a potentially higher value for the subscriber, which may imply a higher price. This higher price can increase the profit of the different operators, the broker as well as of the content provider. Furthermore, the content provider is released from time consuming and costly operator relation negotiations.
The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
In telecommunication networks of today, routing capabilities for services, sessions and media across operator boundaries are well established.
When turning into providers of service content, a content provider may according to prior art act as an ordinary user. Such a situation is depicted in
The content provider may also have a more direct connection to the communication network operators.
According to the present invention, an alternative configuration is proposed.
The broker 10′ has typically established relations with other network operators 20 for enabling exchange 80 of certain subscriber attributes, such that subscriber position data, subscriber device information and/or subscriber access properties. Agreement between the operators and the broker determines the situations, data content, extent, economic compensation etc. under which such exchange 80 may take place.
The broker 10′ has also established a relation to the content provider 60, governing the types of data, transfer technologies etc. for data exchanged between the broker 10′ and the content provider 60. The content handling subsystem 70 receives content to be delivered to a number of users in the collective network of all operators. The content is in the present embodiment modified to suit the different end users, their needs and capabilities in a best possible way by using the exchanged user attribute data 80. The modified content is then distributed using the conventional routing capabilities 40, 50.
The network of a broker may also simultaneously function as a terminating network, when a user targeted for receiving the content is subscriber of the broker acting as a network operator. This is illustrated by the bottom part, where a user terminating terminal 22 is illustrated within the broker 10′.
In such a configuration, an inter-operator relation can be reused for handling content from a multitude of content providers. At the same time, a content provider only has to establish one single operator relation. In other words, the configuration described above opens up for the operators to make collective use of the service/session/media routing anyone-to-anyone in their business setup between each other and with content providers.
The operators/brokers have an agreement on attribute sharing with each other, making it possible for the broker to ask for attribute values of another operator's user. The preferred technology for that is the 3GPP standardised Generic User Profile (GUP) solution, other candidates are the Liberty Alliance solution.
The configuration of
The network operator 20 has an inter-operator relation 91 with broker 10′ based on mutual trust. Such relation 91 governs, as mentioned above, what user attribute data can be exchanged, and under what conditions. Such relations 91 are typically symmetrical, i.e. any of the operators may act as a broker for different content providers. The relations 91 preferably also define formats and means for exchanging the information.
The broker 10′ has a relation 90 to the content provider 60. This relation governs the task that the broker accepts to perform on behalf of the content provider 90. As being described further below, different divisions of responsibility can be feasible, and may also easily be coexisting. One relation 90 may cover a particular content or all contacts between a particular pair of content provider 60 and broker.
Finally, a relation 93 between the content provider 60 and the tentative user 30 has to be present. The relation 93 may be a direct relation, where commitments and conditions are agreed directly between the parties. However, by the influence of the other relations 90-92 of
The relation between the broker and the content provider determines the division of responsibilities between the content provider 60 system and the broker content handling subsystem 70. In
The content from the content source 66 is transferred 82 to a content modifying unit 78 of the content handling subsystem 70. Also the subscriber list or a representation thereof is transferred 83 from the content provider 60 to an attribute collector 71 of the content handling subsystem 70 over a content provider interface 69. The attribute collector 71 uses in the present embodiment the inter-operator relations for requesting useful user attributes of the users present in the received subscriber list. Such communication takes place over inter-operator interfaces 81 adapted for management signalling with operators of a plurality of mobile communication network. The subscriber list accompanied by associated user attribute data is provided to the content modifying unit 78. In the content modifying unit 78, the content is modified to suit the different user attributes as good as possible. More detailed examples of such handling are given further below. The modified content together with subscriber lists indicating which user that should have what type of content is provided to a distributing means 77, which delivers the content over data traffic interfaces 79 adapted for communication with subscribers of the plurality of mobile communication networks.
In the embodiment of
Another embodiment, based on a different division of responsibilities, is illustrated in
In
In order to increase the understanding of the benefits of the methods and devices according to the present invention, a number of illustrative examples will be presented below. As a model situation, a concert event taking place in a limited concert area is used. A multitude of artists are going to perform on a stage and as an additional service for the spectators, the arranger of the concert has a film team operating back-stage, providing additional media material, such as interviews or just general back-stage film sequences.
A user 30 that is interested in having the back stage material replies 63B on the advertisement 63A, by sending an SMS to the specific phone number including the word “BackStageFilms”. The specific phone number belongs to the content provider 60 and when the SMS is received, the content provider 60 detects the code word “BackStageFilms” and takes the originating SMS address, e.g. the MSISDN, of the SMS and adds that to a list 86 of users subscribing to the content delivery offer.
The concert starts, and the so does the work of the back stage film team. When the content provider 60 has any new content 96 to offer, it is sent 82, 83 together with the list 86 of MSISDNs of those subscribing to it to the broker 10′. The broker 10′ (or the content handling subsystem of the broker) goes through the list 86 of MSISDNs and divides it according to operator responsible for each number into a list 87 per operator that has users in the original list 86. The broker 10′ sends a request 81A to each operator in question, asking for position, capability of current device, capability of current access and preferred delivery method IMS or MMS. For users belonging to a network of the broker 10′ itself, such a request is of course handled internally.
The different terminating network operators 20 reply 81B on the requests 81A, providing user attribute data for the targeted users of respective operator. The broker 10′ uses this received information to make a new division of the subscriber list. The subscriber list 86 is now divided into part lists 88, in which users having the same or similar demands on access and presentation capabilities are collected. For instance, a division between users that shall have the content delivered through MMS and those that shall have the content through IMS can be performed. Targeted users that are not present within the concert area are removed 89 from receiving the media content.
The broker 10′ modifies the content to suit the different demands of the part lists 88, i.e. provides modified content 98 associated with respective part list 88. Finally, the broker 10′ sends 79 the modified content to the users of the part lists 88 using conventional routing capabilities. In this particular example, a video MMS to each MSISDN on the MMS list and a streaming invite to each MSISDN on the IMS list. Generally, content can be modified and/or recoded to fit e.g. terminal screen size depending on terminal type or down-coded to fit e.g. reduced access capability.
Anyone skilled in the art understands that the above illustration corresponds to a system e.g. according to
The above illustrative example presents content distribution on a very basic level. Further aspects can also be considered. The issue of guaranteed quality is a delivery requirement that can be considered. Such aspect is required in cases of e.g. network congestion and when the content is sold with delivery guarantee. This is easily included in the configuration above.
The request 81A for user attributes will then also include a request for information about if the user has subscribed to guaranteed quality delivery. Upon receiving the attributes, the broker 10′ creates part lists 88 also based on guaranteed quality delivery status. When delivering the modified content, the deliveries to users that have guaranteed quality delivery are marked accordingly.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is also an important factor to attract lasting high valued content to the market. In this context it is a matter of checking the DRM level present in the terminal delivered to. This can be treated as an attribute among other attributes within the above scheme. The ability to push a higher DRM capacity to the terminal could also be incorporated as a step.
As an example; the content provider consider the content valuable and decides to require DRM capability level 2 in the user device, in order for the subscription to be valid. The broker 10′ sends an attribute request asking about DRM level available in the device the user is using and requiring it to be at least of level 2. The terminating network operator 20 checks the user device capability. If the user device is DRM level 2 compatible, this information is returned. If the level is less than 2, then the terminating network operator 20 tries to update the device to fulfil level 2, if possible. If the update successes, level 2 compatibility is returned, otherwise the terminating network operator 20 returns a DRM level less than 2. The broker 10′ processes the returned DRM levels, and if the level is less than 2, the broker 10′ removes the user from the lists of users that will be provided with the content. Preferably, an indication of the removal and the reason for it is transferred to the user 30.
Privacy, i.e. the question about what information that is allowed to be distributed to other parties, is another issue that can be incorporated within the scheme above. Privacy is an addition of large relevancy, since it typically is considered that it is required in some form to protect the user integrity. As mentioned further above, at least a part of the user privacy may be governed by the subscriber agreement or other relation between the operator and the user. Such regulations may concern general privacy, i.e. not towards any other particular extern party or at any particular event. It is, however, not very common to allow operators to handle user attributes totally free with respect to external parties. In such cases, a general privacy restriction is typically present, prohibiting the network operator to distribute user attributes to external parties only according to his own considerations. For the scheme of the present invention to operate properly also under such circumstances, such obstacles may be temporarily removed by using event or party associated privacy handling schemes according to the following description, which is schematically illustrated by
In the embodiment of
When the broker 10′ sends the request 81A for user attributes, the terminating operator 20 checks the validity of the attribute requests against each users privacy configuration 103. For those users that are present in the privacy configuration list 103 and have the proper privacy setting, the requested attribute values are returned 81B. The broker 10′ sorts out users 89 that do not have any suitable privacy configuration, i.e. where no user attributes are returned. In an alternative implementation, the broker 10′ may create separate a part list of users having no suitable privacy configuration. The content to be distributed to the users of that part list is then modified to suit a “lowest” possible level of terminal and network access capabilities.
Due to the above script handling procedure, a privacy level approved by the user at all instances, can be used to provide a best possible choice of distribution.
In some situations, a user may also want to maintain its anonymity, although still wanting to achieve the content. For instance, if the subscriber does not know whether the content provider is an operator that can be trusted, the subscriber may choose not to reveal its true identity for the content provider. In other words, the subscriber wants to achieve availability to the content, however, not revealing its own identity. Also anonymity schemes may then be comprised in the above configuration, using subsystems in the broker 10′ or the terminating network operator 20 as anonymity preserving subsystems. One embodiment of such a system is illustrated in
The operation of the anonymity port 35 is easiest understood by studying an example. When a content provider 60 or broker 10′ advertises the content services, also information about anonymous subscriptions is provided. The advertising could e.g. comprise the information “Anonymous subscription is accepted. Include “0701234567” and send the SMS to your operator's anonymity port.” The user sends an SMS to its home operator anonymity port 35 with the content provider or broker SMS address 0701234567 and an identification for the actual content of interest. The operator 20 anonymity port 35 selects a temporary routing number and associates that with the “from” address of the received SMS. Routing numbers are preferably structured so that they can be understood that they are routing numbers and not ordinary telephone numbers. The operator 20 forwards any call or message addressed to the routing number to the associated original address for the validity time of the association. The anonymity port 35 also forwards the SMS to the content provider address “0701234567”. The broker 10′ takes the “from” address in the SMS, i.e. now the routing number, and adds that to the list of users subscribing to the content delivery offer.
When the broker 10′ requests user attributes of the subscriber, the anonymity port 35 can translate the routing number into the original number and provide, if permitted, the correct user attributes 80 to the broker 10′. Still, the identity of the end user 30 is not revealed, just which operator he belongs to. When the actual content is distributed, the content will be addressed to the routing address, which brings the content to the anonymity port 35. The anonymity port 35 forwards the content to the subscriber 30, using its internal association.
In such an arrangement, any charging for the content has to pass via the terminating network operator 20.
One of the tasks for the broker is to handle the payment for the service content. In a typical case, the receiver has to pay for the service content, which is in analogy with so-called B-party charging.
The broker action is financially possible due to two main reasons. The final content quality is generally higher, which means that the price the subscriber 30 is willing, to pay is higher than for prior art solutions. This gives an extra cost margin to distribute to the participating parties. Furthermore, the content provider 60 is generally released from many tasks that typically cost large efforts, and can instead concentrate on the main tasks of providing service content. By handing these tasks over to the broker 10′, the content provider 60 is typically willing to compensate the broker 10′, which ends up in a larger efficient difference between charged and reimbursed amounts for the broker 10′.
The structure described here enable a market structure where one particular telecommunication operator to act as administrator or broker for the operator collective, thus making it possible for an application industry to be innovative and grow faster. The operators are still in control as they are providing the most of the information regarding their users as well as configure the basic capability needed.
Agreements between operators are required. These agreement covers generics interconnect aspects on session routing level and enabler level as well as general attribute sharing capability. The ways these are used in a service context are not part of the agreement and need only to be known on one side of the relation. Privacy is furthermore considered as a generic service provided by each operator to their customers.
The structure enables the different operators to act and develop independently thus removing the time consuming activity of standardizing on a service level. Another advantage is that single services need not be implemented at all operators in order to work across all users.
An important aspect of the invention is the way standardised interface solutions are combined to provide the overall capabilities and characteristics making it possible for each operator to reach all users regardless of the operator relation.
The embodiments described above are to be understood as a few illustrative examples of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible. The scope of the present invention is, however, defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11095666 | Apr 2005 | US |
| Child | 12654954 | US |
