System and method for setting up user self-activating network-based services
View Patent ↗A system and method automates and simplifies tasks associated with setting up a user self-activating network-based service. A configurable input engine is configured to define the service. The service may, for example, use a plurality of networking devices and/or computing devices. After the service is defined, an offer of the service is published to a user. The offer includes values of commercial terms and/or values of configuration parameters associated with the offer. Upon receiving an acceptance of the offer from the user, the configurable input engine automatically generates activations for the devices to be used by the service. The activations are sent to policy distribution points (PDPs) where the activations are translated into device-specific instructions. The device-specific instructions are in turn sent to the devices (networking devices and/or computing devices) to be configured. The device-specific instructions configure the devices, thereby automatically setting up the service for the user.
1. A method, comprising:
(a) defining a user self-activating service by configuring a configurable input engine;
(b) publishing an offer of the service to a first user, the offer including a value of a commercial term;
(c) receiving from the first user a first acceptance of the offer;
(d) in response to (c) the configurable input engine automatically generating a first activation; and
(e) sending the first activation to a policy distribution point, the policy distribution point translating the first activation to device-specific instructions and configuring a first networking device to set up the service.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(f) publishing the offer of the service to a second user;
(g) receiving from the second user a second acceptance of the offer;
(h) in response to (g) the configurable input engine automatically generating a second activation; and
(i) sending the second activation to the policy distribution point, the policy distribution point translating the second activation and configuring a second networking device to set up the service.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first networking device is the second networking device.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(f) in response to (c) the configurable input engine automatically generating a third activation; and
(g) sending the third activation to the policy distribution point, the policy distribution point translating the third activation and configuring a computing device to set up the service.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first service driver is installed on the policy distribution point, the first activation being translated in the policy distribution point by the first service driver, the device-specific instructions being sent from the policy distribution point to the first networking device.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the first activation is sent in (e) to the policy distribution point, the policy distribution point does not have an installed service driver, a first service driver translating the first activation into device-specific instructions after the policy distribution point receives the first service driver, the device-specific instructions being sent from the policy distribution point to the first networking device.
7. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
(a) defining a user self-activating service by configuring a configurable input engine;
(b) publishing an offer of the service to a first user, the offer including a value of a commercial term;
(c) receiving from the first user a first acceptance of the offer;
(d) in response to (c) the configurable input engine automatically generating a first activation; and
(e) sending the first activation to a policy distribution point, the policy distribution point translating the first activation to device-specific instructions and configuring a first networking device to set up the service.
8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 having further computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:
(f) publishing the offer of the service to a second user;
(g) receiving from the second user a second acceptance of the offer;
(h) in response to (g) the configurable input engine automatically generating a second activation; and
(i) sending the second activation to the policy distribution point, the policy distribution point translating the second activation and configuring a second networking device to set up the service.
9. A method, comprising:
(a) defining a service by inputting a commercial term and a configuration parameter into a configurable input engine, the service involving a networking device;
(b) using the configurable input engine to receive a value of the commercial term and to receive a value of the configuration parameter, the configurable input engine generating an activation;
(c) sending the activation to a policy distribution point;
(d) the policy distribution point translating the activation into a format understood by the networking device; and
(e) sending the translated activation to the networking device, the translated activation configuring the networking device to set up the service.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the configurable input engine has a high level graphical user interface, and wherein a user uses the graphical user interface to define the service without doing any computer programming.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the user uses the graphical user interface by picking selected ones of a plurality of graphically illustrated steps, execution of the selected steps resulting in the value of the commercial term and the value of the configuration parameter being input into the configurable input engine.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the activation is sent to the networking device in the form of device-specific instructions, the device-specific instructions being specific to the networking device.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the commercial term is taken from the group consisting of: payment amount, payment method, duration of service, and frequency of payment.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the commercial term is payment amount, and wherein the value of the commercial term is a payment amount.
15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the configuration parameter is taken from the group consisting of: bandwidth requirement, username, password, IP address, and location.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the configuration parameter is IP address, and wherein the value of the configuration parameter is an IP address.
17. A method, comprising:
(a) publishing a first user self-activating service to a first user;
(b) the first user subscribing to the first user self-activating service and thereby causing a configuration system to use a first service driver on a policy distribution point to engage in a first communication with a billing system, the configuration system then configuring a networking device and a computing device to activate the first user self-activating service;
(c) publishing a second user self-activating service to a second user; and
(d) the second user subscribing to the second user self-activating service and thereby causing the configuration system to use the first service driver to engage in a second communication with the billing system, the configuration system then configuring the networking device and the computing device to activate the second user self-activating service.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the configuration system configures the networking device in (b) by communicating with the networking device using a second service driver, and
wherein the configuration system configures the networking device in (d) by communicating with the networking device using the second service driver.
19. A system for setting up user self-activating network-based services, comprising:
(a) a billing system;
(b) a networking device;
(c) a computing device, the networking device and the computing device comprising means for providing a network-based service to a first user;
(d) a core server, the core server comprising a configurable input engine, a user database and a library of service drivers, the configurable input engine comprising means for producing a service publication containing a description of an offer of a service, a value of a commercial term relating to the offer and the identity of the first user to whom the offer is made, the configurable input engine further comprising means for receiving an acceptance of the offer by the first user, the library of service drivers containing a first service driver for the billing system, a second service driver for the networking device and a third service driver for the computing device, the core server comprising means for producing a first activation, a second activation and a third activation; and
(e) a policy distribution point (PDP), the PDP comprising means for receiving the activations and service drivers, using the service drivers to translate the activations into device-specific instructions and sending the device-specific instructions to the billing system, the networking device and the computing device, the device-specific instructions configuring the billing system, the networking device and the computing device to provide the network-based service to the first user.
20. The system of claim 19 , further comprising a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the CRM system comprising means for providing the network-based service to the first user, the library of service drivers containing an additional service driver for the CRM system, the core server comprising means for producing an additional activation, the additional service driver translating the additional activation into additional device-specific instructions, the additional device-specific instructions configuring the CRM system to provide the network-based service to the user.
21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the networking device and the computing device further comprise means for providing a network-based service to a second user, the configurable input engine further comprising means for producing a service publication containing the identity of the second user to whom the offer is made, the configurable input engine further comprising means for receiving an acceptance of the offer by the second user, the core server comprising means for producing a fourth activation, a fifth activation and a sixth activation, the fourth through sixth activations configuring the the billing system, the networking device and the computing device to provide the network-based service to the second user.