Service design center for device assisted services
A technique involves modular storage of network service plan components and provisioning of same. A subset of the capabilities of a service design system can be granted to a sandbox system to enable customization of service plan offerings or other controls.
1. A method of operating a network provisioning system to provision wireless network service plans for a network provider network, the method comprising:
obtaining and storing, a first service plan component and a second service plan component,
the first service plan component comprising (i) information specifying a first traffic classification filter for filtering network traffic events and (ii) information specifying a first network policy enforcement action to be taken when a network traffic event possesses a characteristic that matches the first traffic classification filter,
the second service plan component comprising (a) information specifying a second traffic classification filter for filtering network traffic events, and (b) information specifying a second network policy enforcement action to be taken when a network traffic event possesses a characteristic that matches the second traffic classification filter,
wherein the sets of network traffic event characteristics that respectively match the first and second traffic classification filters are overlapping but not identical in extent;
receiving a user selection to, for a grouping of the first service plan component and the second service plan component as both applicable to a given wireless service plan, create a prioritization of the first traffic classification filter over the second traffic classification filter;
processing the first service plan component, the second service plan component, and the prioritization to create a service plan provisioning instruction set applicable to at least one wireless device; and
deploying the service plan provisioning instruction set to one or more devices in a network, such that for a network traffic event associated with the at least one wireless device and that matches both the first and second traffic classification filters, the one or more devices perform the first network policy enforcement action and do not perform the second network policy enforcement action.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining the first and second service plan components from a user operating a graphical user interface of the network service plan provisioning system.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the first service plan component, the second service plan component, and the prioritization to create a service plan provisioning instruction set applicable to at least one wireless device comprises creating the service plan provisioning instruction set such that after deployment to the one or more devices in the network, the one or more devices perform traffic inspection comparison operations such that the traffic inspection provisioning instructions determine whether a given network traffic event matches the first traffic classification filter before determining whether the given network traffic event matches the second traffic classification filter.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the first service plan component, the second service plan component, and the prioritization to create a service plan provisioning instruction set applicable to at least one wireless device comprises creating the service plan provisioning instruction set such that after deployment to the one or more devices in the network, the one or more devices perform traffic inspection comparison operations such that the traffic inspection provisioning instructions determine whether a given network traffic event matches the second traffic classification filter only after determining that the network traffic event does not match the first traffic classification filter.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the first service plan component, the second service plan component, and the prioritization to create a service plan provisioning instruction set applicable to at least one wireless device comprises creating the service plan provisioning instruction set such that after deployment to the one or more devices in the network, the one or more devices perform traffic inspection comparison operations such that the traffic inspection provisioning instructions determine whether a given network traffic event matches the second traffic classification filter, after determining that the given network traffic event matches the first traffic classification filter.
6. The method of claim 1 , and wherein receiving a user selection to create a prioritization of the first traffic classification filter over the second traffic classification filter comprises operating a graphical user interface to provide user selection of a policy enforcement priority rule from a policy enforcement priority rule datastore for application to the first and second service plan components.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the policy enforcement priority rule comprises a priority order for a plurality of traffic classification filters, the plurality of traffic classification filters including the first traffic classification filter and the second traffic classification filter.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information specifying the first traffic classification filter comprises an inspection criterion selected from a group of inspection criteria consisting of: a specific device application, a specific network destination, a specific network source, a specific traffic type, a specific content type, a specific traffic protocol, and a combination of two or more of the inspection criteria.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first or second policy enforcement action is an action selected from a group of actions consisting of: apply a traffic control policy; apply a service usage accounting, charging, or billing policy; apply a service notification policy; and a combination of two or more of the actions.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising facilitating user grouping of the first and second service plan components into a larger service plan object definition.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more devices in the network comprise the at least one wireless device.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network policy enforcement action comprises a traffic control action.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the traffic control action specifies to allow, block, throttle, delay, or defer a network traffic event.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the traffic control action is conditionally applicable based on a network state, a device state, a service-plan-usage state, or a combination of these.