Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Distributed data processing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-14
2001-12-11
Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2154)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Distributed data processing
C709S202000, C709S221000, C709S227000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330586
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to service provision by means of communications networks. It finds particular application in aspects such as access control, presentation of services to users and management of those services.
2. Related Art
Increasingly in the future, different types of services are likely to be offered over communications networks. For instance the increasing capability of technology is enabling a future where a wide variety of multimedia services can be delivered to users over communications networks. These services could include simple voice telephony, multimedia conference amongst many users, home shopping and video on demand. Additionally users may want such services to be delivered over a variety of terminal types such as a portable phone, portable personal computer and domestic television set with a set-top-box.
These services come not only from development of the telecommunications environment, including telephony and cable television, but also from environments previously separate, such as the computing environment. For instance, there has been major growth of computer network services, such as those available on Internet. Collectively all these services are referred to herein as information services.
Although to date (at least in the telephony world) the communication network operator and the service provider (SP) have generally coincided, this is not essential. Another trend expected in the future is that, increasingly, the service provider will be separate from the network operator. As in the case of Internet, several SPs (vendors) may offer their services (products) over a common network. Indeed, there may be further complexity involved in that the “common network” might in fact comprise multiple networks connected together, managed by many different network providers.
In circumstances where many different services, supplied by multiple vendors, are available over one, or multiple, communications networks, there is an opportunity for service brokers. Competitive advantage can be gained by such brokers by offering customers better services and more effective access arrangements to those services. Another name for the service broker is a service retailer.
In the light of this accelerating complexity in the world of communications, with many different entities being involved in the exploitation of a fast growing range of different services, there is a clear need for relatively sophisticated service provision and/or management systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a service provision system, for making information services available by means of one or more communications network(s), wherein the service provision system comprises intelligent software agents in a computing environment, which agents co-operate to provide access to services for a system user, at least one of the agents being reconfigurable to modify functionality of the system available to the user.
By incorporating a reconfigurable software agent in this way, a service provision system can tailor access appropriately for users having different roles and needs in relation to the system. A user in this context might for example be a customer, needing to be able to request or use a service, a service provider needing to amend parameters of a service, or a retailer needing to add a new service to a portfolio. Further, a customer might not be an entity who actually uses a service, but could be responsible for arranging provision and payment for a service which someone else actually uses. Then again, a user might be (or represent) another piece of equipment rather than being (or representing) a person.
An example of the way functionality of the system might need to be modified is where a user of the system could identify themselves as being a customer, a service provider or a service retailer. A customer might need to be able to request use of a service, which the service provider role would not need, but the system would generally need to be able to bar the customer for security reasons from at least some of the functionality available to a service or network provider. Hence the functionality of the system might need to include service prompts to the customer but not to the network provider, and might need to apply different authentification checks to the service provider and to the customer.
It is recognised that computing infrastructures in telecommunications can become extremely complex and this could potentially limit manageability, extendibility, scalability and robustness. The approach exploited in embodiments of the present invention, which provides simplicity in the infrastructure, is that of intelligent agent technology, the basis of which is described in “Distributed Artificial Intelligence”, ed. Huhns M. N., Pitman, London 1987. An intelligent agent in this context can be broadly described as a software based entity which acts on behalf of another entity. It might comprise updatable data, which might only be locally relevant, and usually some sort of negotiating or decision-making functionality. A community of agents can then perform negotiation tasks amongst themselves to decide a way forward on behalf of multiple entities in a distributed system.
The service provision system might preferably be structured in domains relevant to different entities in the system. For instance there might be at least a customer-related domain, based on a terminal used by the customer to access the system, and a service provider/retailer domain. Alternatively, there may be separate domains for the service provider and retailer.
In embodiments of the present invention, the software agents might sit in respective domains. A reconfigurable agent might appropriately sit in a service retailer domain, giving access to services and service-related infrastructure on behalf of the service retailer.
The “portfolio” of available configurations might preferably include a configuration for use by a user who does not or cannot disclose an identity to the system. Such a configuration would generally include the facility of payment, either actual or guaranteed in some way, in advance of a service being provided.
A reconfigurable software agent may comprise, or have access to, a plurality of software modules, reconfigurability being provided at least in part by the agent taking selected sets of the software modules. Each software module is likely to comprise executable code, or code to be interpreted, which the agent invokes and runs as a process. A selected set of software modules invoked by the agent thus provides the run-time realisation of the service provision system, as determined by a particular agent configuration.
The software modules are preferably available to more than one agent configuration, making it possible to build a service provision system which is adaptable while re-using executable code. The system can also be designed so that upgrades are relatively simple to do, for instance by adding to or modifying the software modules.
Preferably, functionality of at least some of the software modules provides service-independent building blocks (SIBBS) for services to be provided by means of the system. “Services” in this context means information services a customer might want to access by means of the system, such as Video-on-Demand. Service independent building blocks are then pieces of software, generally incorporating data and functionality, which provide supporting operations that a customer would need in addition to the services themselves. Examples would be a “Help” facility or a “View-Charges” facility.
SIBBS can be compound, in that they provide a facility as a whole, or they can be even more generic in that they might provide for instance a data-read operation which forms part only of the functionality needed to operate a “View-Charges” facility.
The use of SIBBS allows the system to be particularly easy to upgrade for instance in the light of new services becoming desirable.
Many use
Bagley Mark
Farley Patrick Brian
Hill Julian Richard
Marshall Ian William
Yates Martin John
British Telecommunications public limited company
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
Vu Viet D.
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