JPH0865395A - Service provisioning system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To freely utilize various kinds of information communication services by a user by connecting the service provisioning devices which are dispersedly arranged on both a user side and a service provider side by a network and making the devices coorperate each other. CONSTITUTION: Service provisioning(SP) devices 100 and 200 are dispersedly arranged on a user side 10 and a service provider (SP') 20 side and are connected by a network. A virtual I/F part 110 controls the AP software on a customer terminal and a PBX, etc., and the virtual I/F of the network. An SP control part 120 performs the order generation and control of the synthetic NW/NE of a service. A sorting processing part 130 sorts a UNI, a UOI and plural SP' 20. A coorporation processing part 140 exchanges information with each SP device, cancels the competitions and makes the devices coorporate with each other. As a result, a user freely designates an information communication service to be utilized in the I/F part 110 and can utilize various kinds of services without being conscious of the plural SP'.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a service provisioning system which enables a user to freely use an information communication service without knowing the network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An operation service is a service that provides the information communication service that responds to the user's request and the speed and accuracy of the response as one service.

Recently, as typified by computer telephony co-proposed by Microsoft Corporation and Intel Corporation, basic information communication services such as telephone use service and message service are provided as applications (word processor, spreadsheet, personal computer). Information management, etc.) There is a method of interlocking with embedded communication. This allows the user to directly access the network / network element (N
The information communication service can be used without being aware of the user network interface (UNI) which is the interface between the W / NE) and the user. However, this is only for UNI in the information and communication service, and it is a service to set and change the service profile of various service operation conditions such as service order processing required when using the information and communication service and to control the service. Provisioning still needs to rely on the service provider. Furthermore, it has not been considered until the multimedia / B-ISDN era in which information and communication services are diversified. For this reason, the convenience of the user for using the information communication service is still a problem.

On the other hand, an intelligent network
With the service, the user can change the service profile directly from the terminal. However, this is only a change of some pre-defined variable parameters, such as the telephone reception hours of the information provider in the free-of-call service, and it is not possible to change the entire service and various requests from users. It is not something that can be answered.

[0005]

In the prior art,
Even if the user decides to use the information communication service, it cannot be used immediately, and there is a problem in that it is necessary to perform service provisioning, that is, design / setting of service operation conditions and service control through a service provider in advance. Further, even if the service provisioning is possible directly from the user, it is not easy for the user to distinguish and use both the information communication service and the operation service.

On the other hand, among the information managed by the user side / service provider side, there are many pieces of information that cannot be disclosed, and it is difficult to refer directly from the outside in terms of security. In addition, many of these pieces of information have the property of changing from moment to moment. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not possible to utilize such information, and it is not possible to flexibly determine and finely adapt the service provision to a variety of users' demands / environments.

Further, even if the user wants to use information communication services provided by different service providers in an integrated manner, it is necessary to be aware of the distinction between the service providers, which is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above,
Its purpose is to provide a service provisioning system that enables users to freely use information communication services.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the service provisioning system of the present invention has a service provisioning apparatus distributedly arranged on both a user side and a service provider side, and each of the distributedly arranged services. It is characterized in that the provisioning device is provided with means for coordinating them by connecting them via a network.

Further, the service provisioning system of the present invention is such that the service provisioning device is provided with a virtual interface means and a user network interface (U) that make the service provisioning device unaware of call control and service operation.
NI) and user operation interface (UO
It is characterized in that a means for allocating I) is provided.

Further, in addition to the above, the service provisioning system of the present invention distributes the virtual interface means that does not make the user aware of a plurality of service providers and the information communication service selected by the user to the service provider of the provision destination. Means are provided.

[0012]

In the service provisioning system of the present invention, the service provisioning devices are distributedly arranged on both the user side and the service provider side, and the distributed service provisioning devices are connected by a network. If a conflict occurs between the service provisioning devices while designing / setting service operating conditions or performing service control in the service provisioning device, the cooperation processing unit exchanges information with another service provisioning device to create a conflict. Dissolve and coordinate.
Therefore, the service provisioning devices arranged in a distributed manner can cooperate with each other to perform service provisioning adapted to a variety of user service requests and situations.

Further, in the service provisioning system of the present invention, the user designates the information communication service that he / she wants to use by the virtual interface which does not make the call control and the service operation conscious. The service provisioning device distributes the UNI and UOI information required for service provisioning of the specified information communication service in the distribution processing unit to the information communication service and the UN
It is generated by utilizing the correspondence knowledge with the I / UOI and transmitted to the network or the service operation system.
Therefore, service provisioning is possible without the user being aware of UNI and UOI.

Further, in the service provisioning system of the present invention, the user designates the information communication service that he / she wants to use by using the virtual interface which is invisible to a plurality of service providers. The service provisioning device utilizes the knowledge of correspondence between the information communication service and the service provider providing the service in the distribution processing unit, and the service operation condition / service control information concerning the information communication service designated to the related service provider. To send. Therefore, service provisioning is possible without the user being aware of multiple service providers.

[0015]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the service provisioning system of the present invention. 1
0 is the user side (end user, information provider, etc.), 20
Is a service provider side (NTT or the like), and the service provisioning apparatuses (SP apparatuses) 100 and 200 are distributed and arranged on the user side and the service provider side, respectively. Reference numeral 250 is an operation system for activating the NW / NE 270, protocol control, etc., 260 is another service operation system (fault management, various service operations, etc.), and 270 is communication equipment such as an exchange or a transmission device (NW / NE; network / Network element). UNI indicates a user network interface which is a direct interface between the NW / NE 270 and the user side 10, and UOI indicates a user operation interface which is an interface between the operation system 250 of the NW / NE 270 and the user side 10.

The SP device 100 on the user side 10 is a virtual interface section (actually a keyboard) which controls a virtual interface between the application software (AP) on the customer terminal / PBX / router / host machine on the user side and the network. , Display, etc.) 110, SP control unit 1 for designing and setting service operation conditions (service synthesis, NW / NE order generation, etc.) for enabling use of various information communication services, and for actually controlling services.
20, a user network interface (UNI) and a user operation interface (UOI) or a distribution processing unit 130 for distributing a plurality of service providers, and S on the user side and the service provider side.
The P processing unit 140 is configured by a cooperation processing unit 140 that connects P devices via a network to eliminate conflicts and cooperate with each other. The configuration of the service provider side 20 is also the same.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the SP control unit 120.
The SP control unit 120 selects a service element to combine and combine service elements 121, and an NW / N that generates an NW / NE order based on the combined service plan.
E-order generation means 122 and service control means 123
It is composed of Furthermore, the SP control unit 120 uses a typical service / service case database (DB) 124,
A service element DB 125, a service operation condition history DB 126, and various knowledge bases 127 are provided. The details of these are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-167997.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the distribution processing section 130. The distribution processing unit 130 provides distribution of UNI and UOI, or distribution means 131 of a plurality of service providers, knowledge base 132 for storing correspondence between information communication service and NW / NE, information communication service and it. It is composed of a knowledge base 133 that stores correspondences with existing service providers.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the cooperation processing section 140.
The collaborative processing unit 140 uses the conflict resolution means 14 for resolving conflicts.
1. A knowledge base 142 for storing collaborative strategies and knowledge for resolving conflicts, and a communication means 143 for communicating with other SP devices for collaborative purposes.

Next, an operation example of the service provisioning system will be described.

First, the operation of connecting and coordinating the SP devices distributed on the user side and the service provider side by a network will be described with reference to a concrete example of FIG.

FIG. 5 shows an example of distance education, in which the SP device is
It is distributed and distributed to students, teachers and service providers. Now, suppose that when the students A, B, and C cooperate to solve the exercise problem via a network, the student A has a question to the instructor "A".

In response to the request of the student A, the SP device of the terminal of the student A causes the instructor "Kou" to move the current instruction to the student A by the SP control unit.
A plan for "adding a point" is generated in the group meetings of B and C, and the plan is sent to the SP device on the service provider side via the distribution processing unit. The SP device on the service provider side communicates with the SP device of the terminal of the instructor "Kou" in the cooperation processing unit, and checks the state. Then, it can be seen that the lecturer “Kou” is currently in a multimedia conference (staff meeting) with another lecturer. Therefore, the SP device on the service provider side finds, for example, a collaborative strategy in the cooperation processing unit according to the state of the other party, and the SP control unit generates a "post-contact service" as a new service plan, and Return (propose) to the SP device.

As described above, as a result of the cooperation among the SP devices distributed and arranged, the "post-contact service" is finally executed. After that, we will be able to realize information and communication services that meet the diverse needs of users, such as being able to contact the instructor "Kou".

In addition to the above-mentioned inconvenience of the other party of connection, there may be a case in which inconveniences depending on the network situation occur such that calls are concentrated on the instructor "Kou" and it is difficult to connect. Even in this case, S on the service provider side
The P device can easily grasp this situation. Therefore,
For example, a new plan of “use of voice storage service” is newly created and cooperates with the SP device of student A. Then you can tell the question by timed voice mail. In this way, service provisioning adapted to various situations can be realized.

Next, the operation of the virtual interface and the distribution processing will be described with reference to the specific example of FIG.

UNI / UOI distribution: When the user A uses the conference service, first, "service request: conference" is input to the SP device via the virtual interface. In the SP device, the SP control unit selects a broadcast service element and a multipoint connection service element from the DB of service elements, which is a basic unit of service, and after executing the broadcast service for making the conference known, A plan for executing the multipoint connection service is synthesized, and NW / NE orders necessary for this are generated. For example, the NW / NE order for controlling the multipoint connection service includes the status check order of the connection partner, the setting of the connection with the multipoint (connection partner) and the call setting order. Next, in the distribution processing unit, information communication service and UNI / UOI
Utilizing the knowledge of correspondence with, the status check of the connection partner, the connection setup order to UOI, and the call setup order to UN
Divide to I. On the service provider side, the SP device checks the status of the connection partner via the distribution processing unit,
The connection setup order is given to the NW / NE operation system 260, and the call setup order is directly sent to the NW / NE2.
70, and service control is actually executed. Therefore, the service provision can be performed without making the user aware of the UNI and UOI.

Distribution of a plurality of service providers: In the above example, for example, the user B who is one of the connection partners,
Since there is no multimedia terminal, it is assumed that the materials of the conference can be obtained only by FAX (image information) instead of moving images. In this case, the SP control unit of the SP device combines the plans for making the media conversion service available to the user B and generates the NW / NE order. However, this media conversion service is a service that is not provided by the service provider that provides the conference service. Therefore, in the distribution processing unit,
Utilizing knowledge of service provider correspondence, the service provider providing the media conversion service is determined and contracted with, and the NW / NE order necessary for enabling the media conversion service is allocated to the corresponding service provider. In this way, the user can perform service provisioning without being aware of multiple service providers.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the information necessary for service provisioning is localized on the user / service provider side by coordinating the distributed service provisioning devices by connecting them through a network, it is possible to meet various service requests / situations of the user. It enables adaptive service provisioning. In addition, the user himself / herself can use the information communication service with a simple virtual interface without being aware of the UNI and UOI. Further, it becomes possible to use the information communication service by using the same simple virtual interface without being aware of a plurality of service providers. Therefore, the user can freely use various information communication services without knowing the network.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a service provisioning system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a service provisioning control unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a distribution processing unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a cooperation processing unit.

FIG. 5 is a specific example for explaining the operation of the service provisioning system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 user side 20 service provider side 100, 200 service provisioning apparatus 110 virtual interface section 120 service provisioning control section 130 distribution processing section 140 cooperative processing section 250 NW / NE operation system 270 network (NW) / network element (NE)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A service provisioning system that enables a user to freely use various information and communication services, and means for designing and setting service operating conditions and controlling services for enabling the use of various information and communication services. A service provisioning system comprising: a service provisioning apparatus including the above; distributedly distributed to a user side and a service provider side, and each service provisioning apparatus includes means for connecting these in a network and coordinating them. 2. A service provisioning system that enables a user to freely use various information and communication services, and means for designing and setting service operating conditions and controlling services for enabling the use of various information and communication services. The service provisioning apparatus including the above is distributedly arranged on the user side and the service provider side, and at least the service provisioning apparatus on the user side is
A user of the information communication service or virtual interface means between the application software on the terminal of the user and the network, a user network interface which is an interface between the network / network element and the user, an operating system of the network and a user. And a user operation interface which is an interface with the service provisioning system. 3. The service provisioning system according to claim 2, wherein the service provisioning device includes a virtual interface means for displaying information communication services provided by a plurality of service providers to users or application software without distinction, and users or applications. A service provisioning system, comprising means for allocating an information communication service selected by software to a service provider of a provision destination.