Local Service Providers

3rd International IEEE Workshop on Service Oriented Architectures in Converging Networked Environments Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, March 26, 2008

Third-party-initiated Context-aware Real-time Charging on an Open SOA Platform Frank Bormann, Stephan Flake, Jürgen Tacken, Carsten Zoth Orga Systems GmbH, Paderborn, Germany © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com

Creation/Revision Date: 20.03.2008

Third-party-initiated Context-aware Real-time Charging on an Open SOA Platform Motivation

Approach and Solution Example Conclusion and Outlook

© 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Motivation Mobile Network Operators  Need new services to keep existing customers and win new ones  Most promising: Context-aware real-time multimedia services Service Providers (no Network Operators)  want to offer services,  may have interested customers,  but no (mobile) network to reach them. Mobile Network Operators need to open their networks for third-party Service Providers © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Motivation

The situation today ... Platform Operator

Network Operators LEVERAGE infrastructure:

DEMAND for easy creation:

• “Long-tail” service portfolio • Safe exposure of networkbased enabling services

Multiple Access

• Convenience

• Ad-hoc use


But how ?? Application Domains

?

Service Variety

DEMAND good services: • Variety

Service Operators

Mobile Users

Local Service Providers

“Local” businesses INHIBITED:  Know “local” demands, but: No technical know-how No (e-)sales channels Creation/Revision Date: 20.03.2008

Approach Local Mobile Services – LOMS*

http://www.loms-itea.org

*The German part of the LOMS project (D-LOMS) is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

New Business Roles

Platform Operator

Network Operators

(a) Platform Operator and (b) Service Operator

Multiple Access

Service Operators

Application Domains

Service Variety

Local Service Providers Mobile Users can now  offer context-aware services,  launch them easier,  via more channels  while technical complexity is hidden © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com



Approach

LOMS: Easy Service Creation with Templates Enabling Services (e.g., authentication, charging and billing, ...)

Platform Operator

Network Operators

Multiple Access

Service Operators

Application Domains

Domain-specific Service Templates

Service Variety Mobile Users


End User Services (local mobile services) © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Approach

LOMS Runtime Platform

LOMS Runtime Platform Web Application Server (UPB) Personal Portal Web Pages

...

Service GUI 1

Service GUI n

User Interface Layer

Service Logic n

End User Services Layer

TCE WS-BPEL Server (DAI) Service Management

Service Operator PC

SCE

Internet GSM WLAN

Service Provider PC

Web Server (URO)

Service Logic 1

...

Web Server (Orga)

Web Server (KUL)

User Management UDDI Service Registry

Database Service

Charging Service

Server (KUL)

Server (Orga) User Profiles

Subscriptions

Context Service

Exposed Enabling Services Layer

Media

Service Templates

OPSC® Gold

Context Simulator

Backend System and Persistence Layer

Sensory Data

End User Device(s) © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Approach

Required:

A secure and reliable solution for charging operations that are  initiated by local providers’ services,  to be performed in real-time, and  depending on context information. Solution:

Third-party-initiated Context-aware Real-time Charging © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Solution Real-time Charging Offline Charging  Charging requests are received by billing system, but processing is performed later.  Charging information has no effect on service usage. Real-time (or: Online) Charging  Charging information is processed before and during service usage.  Charging information can have an immediate effect on service usage (in real-time).



Solution Context-aware Charging Applied charges depend on the context, like

 the users’ location,  the local time,  the local weather,  the quality of the network connection. Third-party-initiated Context-aware Charging Need for a common understanding about contextual information  Use of ontologies defined in the LOMS project  Appropriate standard API for such kind of charging (cf. the analysis in our SOCNE’07 article) © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Solution

LOMS Ontologies (using the COGITO framework by K.U. Leuven) Example for a context envelope to represent the current location of a mobile user (identified by the location of his currently used mobile device) Context Envelope

A Context Concept

Default Attributes of Context Concepts

Class = “User” Key = “0001” Ontology = “http//.../04/User.owl” UserID = “sflake” TimeStamp = “2007-12-14 14:55:33” Class = “Device” Key = “0002” Ontology = “http//.../04/Hardware.owl” UserID = “sflake” TimeStamp = “2007-12-14 14:53:33”

Further Context Attributes (Properties)

Reference usesDevice = [0002]

Reference

...

hasUserProfile = [0009]

select ?x0 from ?x0 ... ?x3 where ?x0.Ontology=‘.../Location.owl’ and ?x0.Class =‘Location’ and ... and ?x0.Key=?x3.Value

Reference isHostedAt = [0003]

...

Class Key Ontology

= “Host” = “0003” = “http//.../04/Location.owl”

hasLocation = [0004]

Class Key Ontology

= “GeoLocation” = “0004” = “http//.../04/Location.owl”

Float

Float

latitude = 51.614089

longitude = 8.616317

...

...

Reference


Example query to find the location:

... ...


Solution Charging and Billing Services  Implemented as Web Services  Extending the Parlay X standard  Payment API  Account Management API  Interfaces for  Advice of Charge (AoC) before service usage,  threshold definition for online charging indication,  context-aware charging for service usage,  account management and billing functionality to make account queries, update the balances, and generate bills © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com


Solution Charging and Billing Services: Architecture Online Charging System Charging and Billing System

Third-Party Service Credit Control End User Services Charging Service

SOAP

Service Configuration Client

SOAP

• Upload Discount Rules

• extended Parlay X Payment API • context-aware discount calculation • secured by authentication and authorization

Rule Engine

Online Charging

Threshold Manager

Authentication & Authorization

Thresholds

User and Operator Login Data

Account Balance Management

Rules

Operator Portal • Manage Users • View Balance • History Statements

SOAP

Account Management Service

SOAP

• extended Parlay X Account Management API • end user self-care as well as admin operations • secured by authentication and authorization

End User Portal • View Balance • History Statements • Threshold Settings


Rating Function (Tariffs)

Java RMI

Billing & Customer Care (BCC)

Account Management


Easy Service Creation Service Operator: Template Creation

Platform Operator

Network Operators

Multiple Access

Service Operators

Application Domains

Service Variety

Mobile Users


VManage, a tool to define XML-based  skeleton code (service logic) and  questionnaires DMF

LOMS Runtime Platform LomsLatestNewsService.bpr

Web Server (Orga)

Internet


Database Service


Easy Service Creation Service Provider: Service Configuration

Platform Operator

Network Operators

Service Operators

Application Domains

Multiple Access

Service Variety


Mobile Users

Answer the questions

AMF

LOMS Runtime Platform LomsLatestNewsService_SP001.bpr

WS-BPEL Server (DAI)

Internet


Service Management

Service Logic 1

...

Service Logic n


Example

Latest News Service for a Film Festival in a Medieval Theme Park Design, Configure & Deploy 1. A Publisher creates service templates with questionnaires.

2. A Journalist configures services for the film festival with the LOMS Service Creation Environment.

3. The Journalist publishes the service to the Execution Environment on the LOMS Runtime Platform.


Run, Use & Manage 4. The User logs into the Personal Portal with account information and services overview.

5. The User subscribes to the Latest News Service.

6. The User accesses the latest news, which are provided depending on context information: location, time, weather, sponsored content.


Example

LOMS Service Provider Portal: Add News



Example

Context-aware Charging: Definition and Upload of Charging Rules



Example User Selfcare Portal: Latest News Service with context-dependent charging rules



Conclusion and Outlook Conclusion  Web Services for third-party-initiated real-time charging and billing  based on Parlay X APIs  extended for context handling  Integration into the open SOA platform of the LOMS project

Ongoing and Future Research  Performance evaluation of our Web Services for real-time charging  In-depth analysis of the added value of our approach (benefits related to context information)



Thank You! Berlin . Istanbul . Kiev . Madrid . Paderborn . Rio de Janeiro . Rome

all4billing.com © 2007 Orga Systems GmbH | All rights reserved | orga-systems.com
