Cable billing systems and methods enabling independence of service marketing and provisioning from billing and collection of revenue
View Patent ↗Systems and methods that divide the billing function of a billing system from the provisioning function of a service in digital cable systems. Because the billing system is only responsible for billing, rather than the provisioning of services, new services may be quickly added to cable systems without the time consuming and expensive task of configuring the billing system specifically for new services added to the system. The services are implemented using an offering package created by the service, where the offering package contains billing related information forwarded to the billing system to bill for the service.
1. A digital distribution and delivery system comprising a hybrid fiber coax network facilitating the provisioning and billing of a service available for purchase to a subscriber associated with a set top box, comprising:
a provisioning system comprising a first server executing a service application program implementing the service, said service application program comprising a price algorithm and metadata both associated with a service offering wherein the service application program is configured to receive a purchase request for the service offering from the set top box and in response said purchase request compute a list price associated with the service offering using the price algorithm prior to fulfilling said purchase request, said service application program configured to generate one or more billing messages indicating an identifier of the set top box, the service offering, the list price, and the metadata;
a billing system comprising a computer receiving said one or more billing messages from the provisioning system, the billing system configured to generate an amount billed to the subscriber for the service offering wherein the amount billed comprises the list price and an additional amount, wherein the meta data is used by the billing system to determine the additional amount; and
a network controller configured to receive a provisioning message for provisioning the service offering for the set top box connected to the hybrid fiber coax network.
2. The digital distribution and delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the billing system maintains at least one table comprising tax-related information associated with the service offering that is used by the billing system to determine the additional amount.
3. The digital distribution and delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the additional amount comprises a plurality of tax amounts and the metadata comprises a plurality of billing items which are used to compute the plurality of tax amounts.
4. The digital distribution and delivery system of claim 1 , further comprising a marketing component, wherein said marketing component provides marketing data associated with the service offering used by said price algorithm to determine said list price.
5. The digital distribution and delivery systems of claim 1 further comprising:
a network controller in communication with the service application program to provision the set top box to receive digital content associated with the requested service offering.
6. The digital distribution and delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the network controller provisions the set top box to receive said service offering.
7. The digital distribution and delivery system of claim 6 , wherein said network controller is capable of receiving a command from the service application program to provision the set top box.
8. A method of facilitating the provisioning and billing of a service for a subscriber in a digital distribution and delivery system comprising a hybrid fiber coax network, comprising the steps of:
receiving at a service application program executing in a server of a provisioning system in the digital distribution and delivery system, a purchase request for a service offering comprising an indication of the service offering from a set top box connected to said hybrid fiber coax network, said service application program comprising a pricing algorithm and meta data both associated with the service offering;
ascertaining an identification of the set top box making the purchase request as indicated in the purchase request;
processing the purchase request at the service application program in response to receiving said purchase request using a pricing algorithm associated with the service offering to determine a list price of the service offering;
providing the identification of the set top box, the indication of the service offering, the list price, and the meta data from the provisioning system to a billing system comprising a computer, wherein the billing system calculates a charge for the service offering for the subscriber associated with the set top box prior to fulfilling said purchase request, wherein the charge comprises the list price and an additional amount wherein said additional amount is calculated using said metadata; and
providing a provisioning message to a network controller provisioning the service offering for the set top box connected to the hybrid fiber coax network.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:
generating a bill for said subscriber at said billing system for said service offering, said bill indicating the charge wherein the charge comprises said additional amount.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein calculating said charge for said service offering using said metadata comprises accessing at least one tax related table stored in said billing system to determine at least one tax associated with said service offering.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:
provisioning said service offering in the set top box by generating a second provisioning message conveyed over the hybrid fiber coax network from the network controller to the set top box.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:
determining in said billing system said subscriber is authorized to receive said service offering; and
providing from said billing system to said service application program an indication that said subscriber is authorized to receive said service offering.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of:
instructing the network controller to distribute content associated with said offering to said set top box.
14. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a marketing server providing discount data to the provisioning system, wherein said provisioning system uses said discount data in computing said list price.
15. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
providing discount data from a marketing server to the service application program, and determine said list price of the service offering by further using said discount data.