Granted Patent B2

US 7,792,745 · App. 09/791,239 · Granted Sep 7, 2010

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate roaming between a plurality of network service providers, the method comprising:

intercepting, in a first group of network service providers, authorization requests for accessing a network via the first group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are associated with service customers subscribed to ones of a second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are not acceptable to the first group of network service providers;

transmitting, from the first group of network service providers, the authorization requests to the second group of network service providers;

receiving, in the first group of network service providers, authorization messages from the second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization messages cause the first group of network service providers to allow the service customers to access the network;

transmitting, from the first group of service providers to an access broker system, accounting information indicating time durations of the accesses to the network, wherein the accounting information is associated with the service customers and with the first and second groups of network service providers;

determining, in the access broker system, prices for allowing the service customers to access the network, wherein the determining includes,

determining, based on the accounting information, identities for each of the service customers, and location identifiers for each of the first group of network service providers;

determining pricing plans based on the identities and the location identifiers;

determining the prices based on the time durations and the pricing plans;

updating, in the access broker system, account payable balances and account receivable balances for the service customers and for the first and second groups network service providers, the updating based on the prices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service customers include any one of a group of customers including a business, an end-user, an Internet carrier, a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) and a channel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service customers access the network utilizing access points provided by the first group of network service providers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prices include buy prices owed by a service broker to the first group of network service providers and sell prices owed by the service customers to the service broker.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising verifying credit limits for the account receivable balances associated with the service customers.

6. A financial settlement system to settle service access transactions between multiple parties, the system comprising:

a network server configured to intercept an authorization request being transmitted from a service customer of a plurality of service customers to a first network service provider of a plurality of network service providers, wherein the service customer is subscribed to a second network service provider of the plurality of network service providers, and wherein the first network service provider will not allow network access based on the authorization request;

a transaction server configured to receive the authorization request from the network server, to transmit the authorization request to the second network service provider, to receive an authorization message from the second network service provider, and to transmit the authorization message to the first network service provider, the authorization message indicating the service customer is permitted to access the network;

a loader application configured to collect data concerning a transaction performed by the service customer, the transaction pertaining to the network access; and

a settlement application configured to determine a transaction value for the transaction based on pricing models associated with a multi-tiered grouping of customers that includes the plurality of service customers and the plurality of network service providers, and to update an account payable balance for the service customer and one or more account receivable balances for one or more of the plurality of network service providers, the updating based at least in part on the transaction value.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the transaction value includes a transaction rate and a transaction price.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the plurality of service customers includes any one of a group of customers including a business, an end-user, an Internet carrier, a Value-Added Reseller (VAR), and a channel.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the first and second network service providers each support roaming service access, and wherein the service customer achieves the access to the network via an access point provided by the first network service provider.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the settlement application is further configured to identify the first and second service providers and the service customer for the transaction.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the settlement application is further to determine, based on information derived from the authorization request and the authorization message, a buy price owed by a service broker to the first network service provider for the transaction and a sell price owed by the first service customer to the service broker for the transaction.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the transaction value is further based on the buy price.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the transaction value is further based on the sell price.

14. The system of claim 6 , wherein the settlement application is further configured to verify a credit limit for the service customer based on the account receivable balance of the service customer.

15. The system of claim 6 , wherein the multi-tiered grouping of customers defines pricing models for the service customer, the first network service provider, and the second network service provider.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the pricing models define the transaction value based on usage prices and transaction prices.

17. The system of claim 6 , wherein the pricing models determine the transaction value based on one or more of an identity of one of the plurality of network service providers that facilitates the network access, a network access location, a service or product type, a network access type, a network access time of day, and a network access day of week.

18. The system of claim 6 wherein the settlement application is to calculate a first sell price for at least a first customer of a multi-tiered grouping of customers by applying anyone of a group of pricing models in the calculation of the first sell price including a usage rate, a transaction rate, a subscription rate, a flat rate, a discount, a promotion, a fee and a commitment.

19. A system to settle service access transactions between multiple parties, the system comprising:

means for intercepting, in a first group of network service providers, authorization requests for accessing a network via the first group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are associated with service customers subscribed to ones of a second group of network service providers;

means for transmitting, from the first group of network service providers, the authorization requests to the second group of network service providers;

means for receiving, in the first group of network service providers, authorization messages from the second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization messages cause the first group of network service providers to allow the service customers to access the network;

means for transmitting, from the first group of service providers to an access broker system, accounting information indicating time durations of the accesses to the network, wherein the accounting information is associated with the service customers and with the first and second groups of network service providers;

means for determining, in the access broker system, prices for allowing the service customers to access the network, wherein the means for determining include,

means for determining, based on the accounting information, identities for each of the service customers, and location identifiers for each of the first group of network service providers;

means for determining pricing plans based on the identities, the location identifiers;

means for determining the prices based on the time durations and the pricing plans;

means for updating, in the access broker system, account payable balances and account receivable balances for the service customers and for the first and second groups of network service providers, the updating based on the transaction value.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the service customers include any one of a group of customers including a business, an end-user, an Internet carrier, a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) and a channel.

21. The system of claim 19 further comprising: means for verifying credit limits for the account receivable balances associated with the service customers.

Assignments (10)