Reconfigurable service provision via a communication network

Abstract

A services provision system provides information services over one or more communications networks and has a software infrastructure divided into domains. Each domain has an intelligent software agent and this community of agents sits in a computing environment represented in each domain by a DPE kernel. The community of agents co-operates to provide service and service management functionality to user. At least one of the agents is reconfigurable to change the functionality the system makes available. Reconfigurability is based on the use of a plurality of reusable software modules, the agent reconfiguring by selecting a new combination of modules. The software modules themselves incorporate rules, or policies, which determine process steps offered by the modules at run-time. These policies are external to the modules and may be loaded at run-time, allowing dynamic modification to functionality of the system. The system as a whole offers functionality associated with using services, providing them and managing them and the reconfigurability allows it to offer the different types of functionality in an efficient way. It also allows access control to functionality at different levels with particularly good security against fraudulent use.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]This invention relates to service provision by means of communications networks. It finds particular application in aspects such as access control, presentation of serivces to users and management of those services.[0003]2. Related Art[0004]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 uses 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.[0005]These services come not only from development of the telecommunications environme...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]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.

[0067]to be fault tolerant and easily recoverable in the event of failure.

Problems solved by technology

It is recognized that computing infrastructures in telecommunications can become extremely complex and this could potentially limit manageability, extendability, scalability and robustness.

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