Abstract:
A database system manages digital service plans and related promotions across a plurality of service providers. The system includes a service provider interface that receives data from service providers and incorporates this data into the service plan/promotion database. A client interface enables clients to retrieve and display data from the service plan/promotion database relating to digital service plans and related promotions that are available for the client&#39;s geographic location.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    The present invention is based on, and claims priority to the Applicants&#39; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser No. 60/378,458, entitled “System For Managing Digital Service Plans And Related Promotions,” filed on May 7, 2002. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates generally to the field of managing digital service plans and related promotions. More specifically, the present invention discloses a database and interface system for gathering data on the availability of various digital service plans and related promotions for potential customers.  
           [0004]    2. Statement of the Problem  
           [0005]    Consumers are often confronted with a bewildering array of choices in selecting digital services, such as broadband internet data services, digital video, narrowband data services, digital telephony, and others. Some digital services, such as DSL service, are available only in limited geographic areas. Promotional effects for digital services can further complicate matters. Many promotions are offered only for a limited period of time, or only in particular areas, or only by particular local network providers. The financial incentive provided by promotions can also be difficult to compare. Some promotions offer reduced monthly fees for an initial period of time. Other promotions offer discounts on installation or hardware.  
           [0006]    This also complicates efforts by retailers, web sites, and others that wish to merchandise and sell digital services to consumers. In order to effectively merchandize digital services, retailers need the ability to determine which digital service plans and promotions are available to their potential customers.  
           [0007]    3. Solution to the Problem  
           [0008]    The present invention is a centralized, synchronized, and accurate database management system for digital service plans and applicable promotions from across a range of service providers. This information can be automatically updated by service providers over the internet, and can also be made available to clients and potential customers via the internet.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present invention provides a digital service plan and promotional management database and interfaces that collect, normalize and provide access to accurate digital service plan and promotional data from across a range of service providers. The database and interfaces define IDs that enable digital services and promotions to be identified as unique elements, and provide hierarchies that enable service plans to be consolidated from multiple service providers through the use of parent-child relationships. These hierarchies also enable promotional elements to be defined at multiple levels, including geography, service element, and service technology type.  
           [0010]    These and other advantages, features, and objects of the present invention will be more readily understood in view of the following detailed description and the drawings.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    The present invention can be more readily understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of one implementation of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the tables comprising the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a diagram of the structure of the provider table  23  in the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a diagram of the structure of the service table  24  in the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is a diagram of the structure of the promotion table  25  in the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is a diagram of the structure of the cross reference table  26  in the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 is a diagram of the structure of the map table  27  in the service plan/promotion database  20 .  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 is a listing of an XML implementation of the gateway messaging.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 9 is a workflow diagram of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram of digital service plan/promotion database  20  in use within a digital services sales system.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 11 is an example of a client browser screen showing the results of a serviceability search using the digital service plan/promotion management database  20 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]    Turning to FIG. 1, a simplified block diagram is shown of one implementation of the present invention. The major components of the system are the service plan/promotion database  20  and the interfaces used to process data from service providers  40  and deliver information to clients  50  (e.g., retailers, computer OEMs, web sites, and others). For example, the invention can operate over the internet  10  and support the needs of companies that need to access accurate, digital service plan and promotional data for merchandising through various portals, including kiosks, web sites, customer service personnel and interactive voice response systems (IVRs).  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the structure of the service plan/promotion database  20 . This provides a database of service plans and promotions from across a range of service providers and over a range of geographic locations. FIGS.  3 - 7  are diagrams of structures of the provider table  23 , service table  24 , promotions table  25 , cross reference table  26 , and map table  27 , respectively, in the service plan/promotion database  20 . These figures catalog the fields that are maintained to describe service plans, providers, and promotions and enable their accurate qualification. The service plan/promotion database  20  is maintained by the hierarchy manager  30  to maintain a consistent hierarchical relationship between providers, digital service plans and promotions. Unique IDs are assigned and used to define and track individual service plans and promotions across network affiliates and service providers. These IDs enable digital services and promotions to be identified as unique elements, and provide hierarchies that enable service plans to be consolidated from multiple providers through the use of parent-child relationships. These hierarchies also enable promotional elements to be defined at multiple levels, including geography, service element, and service technology type. A start date and end date are maintained for each service plan and promotion to enable programmatic communication of data in advance of an effective date, as well as automatic expiration of data based on a termination date. In addition, the database structure shown in FIGS.  3 - 7  provides the ability to record incremental changes and roll-back changes based on change sets. Changes sets are defined as groups of changes that are tracked based on transaction identifiers assigned to each change.  
         [0025]    As shown in FIG. 1, each service provider  40  is equipped with a plan/promotion interface  45  capable of transmitting data over the internet  10  to a service provider interface  60  associated with the service plan/promotion database  20 . A query manager  65  can be used to periodically request updated information concerning service plans and promotions from each service provider  40  through these interfaces  45 ,  60 . These interfaces  45 ,  60  can request and deliver both full and incremental updates for all service plans and promotional elements that are relevant to the service provider  40 .  
         [0026]    A validation/normalization engine  80  receives data from the service provider interface  60  and applies global and service provider specific business rules to normalize the syntactical format of the data. The validation/normalization engine  80  checks each data element to ensure it conforms with syntactical format. This includes universal formats, as well as formats that are defined by service provider  40 . If an error is encountered, a notification is generated. If there are no errors, then the data package is moved into the service plan/promotion database  20 . This functionality is used to ensure the service plan and promotional data are both accurate, and that service provider specific differences are eliminated.  
         [0027]    The service plan/promotion database  20  processes queries from clients  50  and delivers data via the internet  10 , as illustrated in FIG. 1. Each client  50  is equipped with a plan/promotion interface  55  capable of transmitting data over the internet  10  to a client interface  60  and query manager  65  associated with the service plan/promotion database  20 . The client interface  60  receives requests from clients for service plan and promotional data. This request will generate a unique data set that is specific to the client  50  based on the client&#39;s geographic location, service requirements and other query parameters, and will manage delivery of data from the service plan/promotion database  20  in the format specified by the client  50 . The interfaces  55 ,  70  can request and deliver both full and incremental updates for all service plans and promotional elements that are relevant to a particular client  50 . The work flow for each of the invention components is illustrated in FIG. 9.  
         [0028]    The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 employs the internet  10  for data communications between service providers  40  and the service plan/promotion database  20 , and between the service plan/promotion database  20  and clients  50 . It should be understood that other types of data communications could be readily substituted. For example, direct dial-up connections, dedicated telephone lines, or fiber optic connections could be used for data communications between the service plan/promotion database  20  and the service providers  40  or clients  50 . Thus, all types of data communications could be used as “gateways” between the components in the present invention. In the case of an internet-based gateway, any of a variety of standard transport mechanisms (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, e-mail) can be used. An example of an XML implementation of the gateway messaging is provided in FIG. 8.  
         [0029]    The digital service plan and promotional database  20  is used to support an integrated digital services sales system  100 , as shown in FIG. 10. The digital services sales system  100  also includes a serviceability system  110  to determine which service plans are available to a specific potential customer, and an ordering system  130  to process customer orders for digital service plans. This system can be deployed by clients that wish to merchandise and sell digital services. In order to merchandize digital services, clients  50  need the ability to determine which plans and promotions are available to their customers at a specific location, the ability to place orders directly with services providers  40 , and the ability to manage these digital services as conventional stock items in a retail setting. It is this functionality that is enabled by the digital service plan and promotional management system.  
         [0030]    The client interface can include a browser-based interface for clients. FIG. 11 is an example of a client browser screen showing the results of a serviceability search using the digital service plan/promotion management database  20 . The potential customer is presented with a list of the available digital service plans for the customer&#39;s address. For each available digital service plan, the customer can view a plan description, together with information about the service provider and the price of the plan. The potential customer can also view a side-by-side comparison of the available digital service plans.  
         [0031]    The above disclosure sets forth a number of embodiments of the present invention. Other arrangements or embodiments, not precisely set forth, could be practiced under the teachings of the present invention and as set forth in the following claims.