Openet Telecom Ltd.

Avaya Inc.

Opennet Telecom Ltd.

Bart Lehane

Alan Mcnamee

Cameron Ross Dunne

Joe Hogan

Andrew D'Souza

Max Bacik

Peter Haraszti

Michael O'Sullivan

John Fitzpatrick

Gerry Donohoe

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems that enable decomposing abstract service requests into resources rules, which may include receiving an abstract service request (e.g., a request specifying a functional requirement) via an exposed public interface, generating domain-specific resource rules based on the received abstract service request, identifying relevant components in a telecommunications domain for enforcing the generated domain-specific resource rules, and send the domain-specific resource rules to the identified components (e.g., online charging server, policy management server, etc.) for enforcement. Generating domain-specific resource rules based on the received abstract service request may include generating the rules consistent with the existing resource rules of the domain.

Systems, devices and methods of decomposing service requests into domain-specific service requests

Systems and computing devices may be configured to intelligently apply controls in a telecommunication system that implements or uses network slicing and/or virtualized network function technologies. A computing device may be configured to receive a request to instantiate a new network slice from a component in the telecommunication system. The computing device may determine that a virtualized network function (e.g., C-RAN virtual network function, MEC virtual network function, etc.) should be created for the new network slice, and determine whether a policy allows for the creation of the virtualized network function. The computing device may create the virtualized network function if the policy allows for its creation. The server computing device may be a charging and license management (CALM) component.

System and method for enabling service lifecycle based policy, licensing, and charging in a network function virtualization ecosystem

Systems and computing devices may be configured to intelligently apply service-level policy, charging, licensing, and authorization controls in a telecommunication system that implements or uses network function virtualization technologies. A server computing device deployed in the telecommunication network may be configured to receive a policy request message relating to a network service lifecycle event from another network component, use the information included in the received policy request message to make a service-level policy decision, generate a trigger definition relating to the network service lifecycle event based on the policy decision, generate a policy response message that includes the trigger definition, and send the generated policy response message to the network component.

Methods, servers and systems for directly accessing and modifying charging information maintained within a telecommunications operator's business and operating systems' infrastructure from user equipment. A mobile application server may receive a charging request from a user equipment, identify a relevant charging system based on the received request, send a charging request to the identified charging system for processing, receive a first response message including charging information from the identified charging system, generate a second response message based on the charging information included in the first response message, and send the generated second response message to the user equipment. The received charging request may include various types of information, including information for transferring cost or billing information from a first billing category to a second billing category.

Systems for enabling subscriber monitoring of telecommunications network usage and service plans

Systems and methods for accomplishing charging operations in a communications network in which a plurality of charging and enforcement (CaE) components operate as enforcement points for a single data communication may include receiving in a server computing device usage records from a first CaE component and a second CaE component, generating correlated usage records by using a common Service Data Flow (SDF) to correlate the one or more usage records received from the first CaE component with the one or more records received from the second CaE component, and using the correlated usage records to determine a charge value that identifies correct charges to be applied.

System and method for performing multi-enforcement point charging

A network server may be configured to generate, modify, augment, communicate, and/or manage the triggers and signaling communications so that they may be processed and communicated in a more intelligent, efficient, and/or cost effective manner than that which is available via conventional solutions. The network server may receive a trigger communication message that includes trigger parameters and information suitable for causing a destination device to automatically initiate an operation, determining a criterion for sending the trigger communication message to the destination device based on the trigger parameters included in the trigger communication message, monitoring a condition to determine whether the criterion has been satisfied, and send the trigger communication message to the destination device when it is determined that the criterion has been satisfied.

System and method for controlling advanced triggering operations in a telecommunication network

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems that enable decomposing abstract service requests into resources rules, which may include receiving an abstract service request (e.g., a request specifying a functional requirement) via an exposed public interface, generating domain-specific resource rules based on the received abstract service request, identifying relevant components in a telecommunications domain for enforcing the generated domain-specific resource rules, and send the domain-specific resource rules to the identified components (e.g., on-line charging server, policy management server, etc.) for enforcement. Generating domain-specific resource rules based on the received abstract service request may include generating the rules consistent with the existing resource rules of the domain.

A system and method for managing group-based charging for network usage and spending. A server computing device that includes an offline charging system (OFCS) component may be configured to receive a communication message that includes a first attribute, determine/identify a group of user equipments that includes a first user equipment device that is associated with the received communication message, and determine a charging attribute state for the determined group of user equipments based on the first attribute and a second attribute associated with a second user equipment device in the group of user equipments. The server may apply a charging event, determine whether the charging attribute state of the group of user equipments changed as a result of applying the charging event, and notifying a listener component of a new charging attribute state in response to determining that the charging attribute state of the group of user equipments changed.

System and method for enabling interactions between a policy decision point and a charging system

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems that enable synchronizing information in a telecommunications system, which may include receiving a first message including communication information to be synchronized from a first domain, receiving a second message including information associated with a communication on a component in a second telecommunication domain, synchronizing information included in the first message with information included in the second message, and sending the synchronized information to a public interface of the first domain. Synchronizing the information included in the first message with information included in the second message may include synchronizing one or more of metering, rating, charging, balance, policy, and contextual information.

Systems, devices and methods of synchronizing information across multiple heterogeneous networks

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems for controlling services across multiple heterogeneous networks, which may include receiving a service request, identifying two or more telecommunications domains required to fulfill the received service request, generating two or more domain specific service requests based on the received service request, associating at least one of the generated plurality of domain specific service requests with one of the identified telecommunications domains, and sending the associated domain specific service requests to exposed public interfaces of the associated telecommunications domains. A component in the telecommunications domain may receive the domain specific service request, decompose the request into resource rule(s), and send the resource rule(s) to a relevant component within the associated telecommunications domain for enforcement.

Systems, devices, and methods of orchestrating resources and services across multiple heterogeneous domains

A network server may be configured to communicate triggers across a telecommunication network by receiving a trigger communication message that includes information suitable for causing a destination machine-to-machine device to perform operations in response to receiving the trigger communication message, receiving policy or charging information from a component in the telecommunication network, determining whether the trigger communication message should be sent to the destination machine-to-machine based on the received policy or charging information, and sending the trigger communication message to the destination component only when it is determined that the trigger communication message should be sent to the destination machine-to-machine based on the received policy or charging information.

Methods, servers and systems for managing subscriber accounts within a telecommunications network. A server may be configured to identify a network access scheme (e.g., subscription plan, service pass, etc.) associated with a subscriber account, and use contextual information received from components in the telecommunication network to intelligently determine whether to notify the user of the availability of different network access schemes based on various factors, such as based on determining whether any available service pass is more cost effective than the currently installed service pass, whether any available service pass will provide a user equipment device with an increased quality of service relative to the currently installed service pass, whether any available subscription plan will provide the user equipment device with an increased quality of service relative to the current subscription plan, or whether any available subscription plan is more cost effective than the current subscription plan.

Systems and methods for enabling subscriber monitoring of telecommunications network usage and service plans

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems for distributing telecommunications functionality across multiple heterogeneous domains within a telecommunications system, which may include determining policy-charging capabilities of a first telecommunications domain, determining policy-charging capabilities of a second telecommunications domain, determining policy-charging requirements required for a communication, partitioning the policy-charging requirements into a first group and a second group based on the determined policy-charging capabilities of the first and second telecommunications domains, sending a first message including the first group of policy-charging requirements to a public interface of the first domain, and sending a second message including the second group of policy-charging requirements to a public interface of the second domain.

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Dublin, Ireland

Bart Lehane