Content capability clearing house systems and methods

摘要

A content capability clearing house that can act as a trusted and neutral mediator among network providers to manage rich content capabilities among multiple networks is provided. Content capabilities that can be brokered include, but are not limited to, quality of service and content screening. In an embodiment, a content capability clearing house includes a receiver that receives content capability request messages and other messages from network providers. A content capability request message includes a quality of service request and/or a subscriber profile request for use with content screening and subscriber specific advertisements. The present invention includes a series of methods for determining content capabilities for data transmission over a transaction between a content provider and a subscriber in which a content capability clearing house is used to efficiently broker and manage the capability among multiple network providers.

主权项

1. A system, comprising:
a receiver separate from and in communication with a first network provider over a first network provided by the first network provider, the receiver configured to:
receive, from the first network provider over the first network, a content capability request message, wherein the content capability request message indicates that a provider of content provided network connectivity by the first network provider desires to establish an end-to-end communications path for providing a content delivery session between the content provider and a subscriber at a specified quality of service, and wherein the content capability request message includes a subscriber identifier that identifies the subscriber, wherein the subscriber is provided network connectivity over a second network provided by a second network provider;a transmitter separate from and in communication with the second network provider over the second network provided by the second network provider, the transmitter configured to:
transmit responsive to the received content capability request message, to the second network provider over the second network, a quality of service request message that requests the specified quality of service;the receiver further configured to:
receive, from the second network provider over the second network, a quality of service confirmation message that indicates the specified quality of service has been applied as a result of the quality of service request message;the transmitter further configured to:
forward responsive to the received quality of service confirmation message, to the first network provider over the first network, the quality of service confirmation message, wherein the quality of service confirmation message prompts the first network provider to initiate the content delivery session at the specified quality of service;the receiver further configured to:
receive from the first network provider over the first network a forwarded quality of service release message that originates from the content provider and indicates that the content has been delivered from the content provider, andthe transmitter further configured to:
in response to receiving the quality of service release message, forward the quality of service release message to the second network provider providing the network connectivity to the subscriber to release the specified quality of service and to record a completion of a transaction.