Granted Patent B2

US 8,325,744 · App. 12/627,571 · Granted Dec 4, 2012

Abstract

Claims (42)

1. In a shared IPTV system including intermediate IPTV facilities controlled by a host operator and accessible to one or more hosted operators pursuant to a shared service arrangement, the intermediate IPTV facilities maintaining account information associated with a plurality of operators including the host operator and one or more hosted operators, a method comprising:

logically partitioning the account information associated with each of the plurality of operators into a corresponding plurality of subscriber groups; and

hosting operator transactions with the intermediate IPTV facilities in a manner that allows operator access to account information of its corresponding subscriber group while restricting access to account information of other subscriber groups;

wherein the step of hosting operator transactions comprises:

receiving an operator call intended to invoke an operator transaction with the intermediate IPTV facilities, the operator call including indicia of a sourcing operator, and wherein execution of the operator call nominally provides access to account information associated with the plurality of operators;

identifying a subscriber group corresponding to the sourcing operator;

modifying the operator call to include indicia of the subscriber group of the sourcing operator, yielding an adapted call; and

forwarding the adapted call to the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction as a proxy for the operator call, wherein execution of the adapted call provides the sourcing operator access to account information of its corresponding subscriber group while restricting access to account information of other subscriber groups.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a privilege level of the sourcing operator;

determining if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction; and

forwarding the adapted call to the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction only if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction.

3. In a shared IPTV system including intermediate IPTV facilities controlled by a host operator and accessible to one or more hosted operators pursuant to a shared service arrangement, the intermediate IPTV facilities maintaining account information associated with a plurality of operators including the host operator and one or more hosted operators, a method comprising:

logically partitioning the account information associated with each of the plurality of operators into a corresponding plurality of subscriber groups; and

hosting operator transactions with the intermediate IPTV facilities in a manner that allows operator access to account information of its corresponding subscriber group while restricting access to account information of other subscriber groups;

wherein the intermediate IPTV facilities include one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) defining interfaces and protocols for operator transactions with the intermediate IPTV facilities, the step of hosting operator transactions comprising:

receiving an operator call having a format consistent with the interface requirements of an API of the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke an operator transaction, the operator call including indicia of a sourcing operator, and wherein execution of the operator call nominally provides access to account information associated with the plurality of operators;

identifying the subscriber group corresponding to the sourcing operator;

modifying the operator call to include indicia of the subscriber group of the sourcing operator, yielding an adapted call, the adapted call having a format consistent with the requirements of the API of the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction; and

forwarding the adapted call to the API of the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction as a proxy for the operator call, wherein execution of the adapted call provides the sourcing operator access to account information of its corresponding subscriber group while restricting access to account information of other subscriber groups.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

identifying a privilege level of the sourcing operator;

determining if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction; and

forwarding the adapted call to the API of the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction only if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction.

5. A gateway adapter for use in a shared IPTV system including intermediate IPTV facilities controlled by a host operator and accessible to one or more hosted operators pursuant to a shared service arrangement, the intermediate IPTV facilities maintaining account information associated with a plurality of operators including the host operator and one or more hosted operators, the account information logically partitioned into a corresponding plurality of subscriber groups associated with the plurality of operators, the gateway adapter comprising:

means for receiving an operator call intended to invoke an operator transaction with the intermediate IPTV facilities, the operator call including indicia of a sourcing operator, and wherein execution of the operator call nominally provides access to account information associated with the plurality of operators;

means for identifying a subscriber group corresponding to the sourcing operator;

means for modifying the operator call to include indicia of the subscriber group of the sourcing operator, yielding an adapted call; and

means for forwarding the adapted call to the intermediate IPTV facilities to invoke the operator transaction as a proxy for the operator call, wherein execution of the adapted call provides the sourcing operator access to account information of its corresponding subscriber group while restricting access to account information of other subscriber groups.

6. In a shared IPTV system including intermediate IPTV facilities controlled by a host operator and accessible to one or more hosted operators pursuant to a shared service arrangement, the intermediate IPTV facilities including one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) defining interfaces and protocols for operator transactions with the intermediate IPTV facilities, a method comprising:

intercepting at least one operator call attempting to invoke an operator transaction directed to the APIs;

adapting the call to include indicia of data uniquely available to the operator initiating the calls, yielding an adapted call, the adapted call having a format consistent with the requirements of an API to invoke the operator transaction; and

forwarding the adapted call to the API to invoke the operator transaction, wherein execution of the adapted call provides access to the data uniquely available to the operator initiating the call while restricting access to data of other operators.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

logically partitioning data available to the host operator and one or more hosted operators into a corresponding plurality of subscriber groups;

the step of adapting the call comprising modifying the call to include indicia of the subscriber group associated with the operator initiating the at least one operator call; and

wherein execution of the adapted call provides access to the data associated with the subscriber group of the operator initiating the call while restricting access to data associated with the subscriber groups of other operators.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

identifying a privilege level of the operator initiating the call;

determining if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction; and

forwarding the adapted call to the API to invoke the operator transaction only if the privilege level is sufficient to execute the operator transaction.

9. The method of claim 6 , performed by a gateway adapter of the intermediate IPTV facility.

Assignments (12)