U.S. patent application number 15/354810 was filed with the patent office on 2018-05-17 for system and method for processing of a service subscription using a telecommunications operator.
The applicant listed for this patent is SPOTIFY AB. Invention is credited to CHRIS BEVINGTON, FELIX BOULEAU, GORAN EDLING, PETER SIMON.
Application Number | 20180139333 15/354810 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 62091528 |
Filed Date | 2018-05-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180139333 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
EDLING; GORAN ; et
al. |
May 17, 2018 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING OF A SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION USING A
TELECOMMUNICATIONS OPERATOR
Abstract
A method performed in a radio device comprising a client of a
service. In accordance with an embodiment, the method comprises
sending, from the radio device to the service provider, a request
requesting information about whether a telecommunications operator
(telco), which the radio device is connected via, provides any
offer for a subscription to the service; receiving a message
comprising an indication that the telco provides such an offer and
an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer; sending a
message by means of the received address of the telco, regarding
available offers; receiving a confirmation message comprising
information about an available offer for a subscription to the
service; receiving an indication that the available offer is
accepted; and, to the service provider, sending a message
indicating that the available offer has been accepted and should be
activated.
Inventors: |
EDLING; GORAN; (Stockholm,
SE) ; SIMON; PETER; (Stockholm, SE) ; BOULEAU;
FELIX; (Stockholm, SE) ; BEVINGTON; CHRIS;
(Stockholm, SE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SPOTIFY AB |
Stockholm |
|
SE |
|
|
Family ID: |
62091528 |
Appl. No.: |
15/354810 |
Filed: |
November 17, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 15/755 20130101;
H04W 8/18 20130101; H04M 15/723 20130101; H04M 15/51 20130101; H04W
4/24 20130101; G06Q 30/0207 20130101; H04M 15/61 20130101; H04M
15/46 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04M 15/00 20060101
H04M015/00; H04W 8/18 20060101 H04W008/18; G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A method performed in a radio device comprising a client of a
service, the method comprising: determining a telecommunications
operator (telco), to which the radio device is connected via a
connection provided by said telco; to a service provider providing
the service, initiating sending of a request requesting information
about whether the telco, to which the radio device is connected,
provides any offer for a subscription to the service; from the
service provider, in response to the sent request, receiving a
message comprising an indication that the telco provides such an
offer and an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer;
via a user interface of the radio device, receiving an indication
that a user of the radio device requests access to the service via
the client; via the user interface, in response to the received
indication that the user requests access to the service, requesting
input from the user about whether said user wants to check whether
an offer for a subscription to the service is available; in
response to the input having been requested, via the user
interface, receiving an indication that the user wants to check
whether an offer for a subscription to the service is available; in
response to the received indication that the user wants to check
whether an offer is available, initiating sending a message by
means of the received address of the telco, via the connection
provided by said telco; receiving a confirmation message comprising
information about an available offer for a subscription to the
service; via the user interface, presenting the available offer;
via the user interface, receiving an indication that the available
offer is accepted; and to the service provider, initiating sending
a message indicating that the available offer has been accepted and
should be activated.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving a confirmation
message, comprises receiving the confirmation message from the
telco.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the initiating sending a message
by means of the received address comprises initiating sending the
message comprising an identifier, ID, of the user used by the
service provider.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ID is a temporary identifier
previously received from the service provider.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving a confirmation
message, comprises receiving the confirmation message from the
service provider.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the available offer is an offer
for upgrading, to a premium subscription, a pre-existing user
subscription to the service.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by the
client.
8. A non-transitory computer program product comprising
computer-executable components for causing a radio device to
perform a method, when the computer-executable components are run
on processing circuitry comprised in the radio device, comprising:
determining a telecommunications operator (telco), to which the
radio device is connected via a connection provided by said telco;
to a service provider providing the service, initiating sending of
a request requesting information about whether the telco, to which
the radio device is connected, provides any offer for a
subscription to the service; from the service provider, in response
to the sent request, receiving a message comprising an indication
that the telco provides such an offer and an address for contacting
the telco regarding said offer; via a user interface of the radio
device, receiving an indication that a user of the radio device
requests access to the service via the client; via the user
interface, in response to the received indication that the user
requests access to the service, requesting input from the user
about whether said user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the input
having been requested, via the user interface, receiving an
indication that the user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the
received indication that the user wants to check whether an offer
is available, initiating sending a message by means of the received
address of the telco, via the connection provided by said telco;
receiving a confirmation message comprising information about an
available offer for a subscription to the service; via the user
interface, presenting the available offer; via the user interface,
receiving an indication that the available offer is accepted; and
to the service provider, initiating sending a message indicating
that the available offer has been accepted and should be
activated.
9. A radio device comprising: processing circuitry; and storage
storing instructions executable by said processing circuitry
whereby said radio device is operative to: determine a
telecommunications operator (telco), to which the radio device is
connected via a connection provided by said telco; to a service
provider providing the service, initiate sending of a request
requesting information about whether the telco, to which the radio
device is connected, provides any offer for a subscription to the
service; from the service provider, in response to the sent
request, receive a message comprising an indication that the telco
provides such an offer and an address for contacting the telco
regarding said offer; via a user interface of the radio device,
receive an indication that a user of the radio device requests
access to the service via the client; via the user interface, in
response to the received indication that the user requests access
to the service, request input from the user about whether said user
wants to check whether an offer for a subscription to the service
is available; in response to the input having been requested, via
the user interface, receive an indication that the user wants to
check whether an offer for a subscription to the service is
available; in response to the received indication that the user
wants to check whether an offer is available, initiate sending a
message by means of the received address of the telco, via the
connection provided by said telco; receive a confirmation message
comprising information about an available offer for a subscription
to the service; via the user interface, present the available
offer; via the user interface, receive an indication that the
available offer is accepted; and to the service provider, initiate
sending a message indicating that the available offer has been
accepted and should be activated.
10. A method performed in a server arrangement of a service
provider, the method comprising: from a radio device, receiving a
request requesting information about whether a telecommunications
operator (telco), to which the radio device is connected, provides
any offer for a subscription to the service provided by the service
provider; in response to the received request, sending a message
comprising an indication that the telco provides such an offer and
an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer; and from
the radio device, receiving a message indicating that the offer has
been accepted and should be activated.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: from the telco,
receiving an information message comprising information about the
offer and an identifier, ID, used by the service provider for
identifying a user of the radio device; and to the radio device,
sending a confirmation message comprising the information about the
offer.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the ID is a temporary
identifier previously sent to the radio device in the message
comprising the indication that the telco provides the offer.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: to the telco,
sending information about that the offer is being activated; and in
response to the sent information, receiving an acknowledgement from
the telco.
14. A non-transitory computer program product comprising
computer-executable components for causing a server arrangement to
perform a method, when the computer-executable components are run
on processing circuitry comprised in the server arrangement,
comprising: from a radio device, receiving a request requesting
information about whether a telecommunications operator (telco), to
which the radio device is connected, provides any offer for a
subscription to the service provided by the service provider; in
response to the received request, sending a message comprising an
indication that the telco provides such an offer and an address for
contacting the telco regarding said offer; and from the radio
device, receiving a message indicating that the offer has been
accepted and should be activated.
15. A server arrangement comprising: processing circuitry; and
storage storing instructions executable by said processing
circuitry whereby said server arrangement is operative to: from a
radio device, receive a request requesting information about
whether a telecommunications operator (telco), to which the radio
device is connected, provides any offer for a subscription to the
service provided by the service provider; in response to the
received request, send a message comprising an indication that the
telco provides such an offer and an address for contacting the
telco regarding said offer; and from the radio device, receive a
message indicating that the offer has been accepted and should be
activated.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to methods and devices for
use with a radio or other device having a client to a service
provided by a service provider, for processing a service
subscription using a telecommunications operator (telco).
BACKGROUND
[0002] A telco can cooperate with a service provider to offer a
free subscription to the service provided by the service provider,
an upgraded subscription with improved features, or the like, e.g.,
as part of a campaign to attract new customers or satisfy current
customers of the telco.
[0003] This implies that the telco customer has to create an
account with the service provider (if not already having one) and
then login to the telco customer portal and enter the username of
the service account. The telco can then contact the service
provider and activate the offer for the given username.
[0004] This is a well functioning way of providing the offer to a
telco customer, who is also a user of the service, but there is a
risk that some customers find the procedure too complicated or do
not manage to perform the manual steps needed correctly for it to
work. Also, if may, for security and integrity reasons, not be
desirable that the telco is provided with the username of the
service account.
SUMMARY
[0005] It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide an
improved way of providing a service subscription offer to a telco
customer which may be regarded as more simple and/or intuitive by a
user.
[0006] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is
provided a method performed in a radio device comprising a client
of a service. The method comprises: determining which telco the
radio device is connected via; to a service provider providing the
service, initiating sending of a request requesting information
about whether the telco provides any offer for a subscription to
the service; from the service provider, in response to the sent
request, receiving a message comprising an indication that the
telco provides such an offer and an address for contacting the
telco regarding said offer; via a user interface of the radio
device, receiving an indication that a user of the radio device
requests access to the service via the client; via the user
interface, in response to the received indication that the user
requests access to the service, requesting input from the user
about whether said user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the input
having been requested, via the user interface, receiving an
indication that the user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the
received indication that the user wants to check whether an offer
is available, initiating sending a message by means of the received
address of the telco via the connection provided by said telco;
receiving a confirmation message comprising information about an
available offer for a subscription to the service; via the user
interface, presenting the available offer; via the user interface,
receiving an indication that the available offer is accepted; and
to the service provider, initiating sending a message indicating
that the available offer has been accepted and should be
activated.
[0007] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a computer program product comprising
computer-executable components for causing a radio device to
perform an embodiment of a method of the present disclosure when
the computer-executable components are run on processing circuitry
comprised in the radio device.
[0008] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a radio device configured to perform the radio device
method aspect of the present disclosure. The radio device comprises
processing circuitry, and storage storing instructions executable
by said processing circuitry whereby said radio device is operative
to: determine which telco the radio device is connected via; to a
service provider providing the service, initiate sending of a
request requesting information about whether the telco provides any
offer for a subscription to the service; from the service provider,
in response to the sent request, receive a message comprising an
indication that the telco provides such an offer and an address for
contacting the telco regarding said offer; via a user interface of
the radio device, receive an indication that a user of the radio
device requests access to the service via the client; via the user
interface, in response to the received indication that the user
requests access to the service, request input from the user about
whether said user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the input
having been requested, via the user interface, receive an
indication that the user wants to check whether an offer for a
subscription to the service is available; in response to the
received indication that the user wants to check whether an offer
is available, initiate sending a message by means of the received
address of the telco via the connection provided by said telco;
receive a confirmation message comprising information about an
available offer for a subscription to the service; via the user
interface, present the available offer; via the user interface,
receive an indication that the available offer is accepted; and to
the service provider, initiate sending a message indicating that
the available offer has been accepted and should be activated.
[0009] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a method performed in a server arrangement of a service
provider. The method comprises: from a radio device, receiving a
request requesting information about whether a telco provides any
offer for a subscription to the service provided by the service
provider; in response to the received request, sending a message
comprising an indication that the telco provides such an offer and
an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer; and from
the radio device, receiving a message indicating that the offer has
been accepted and should be activated.
[0010] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a computer program product comprising
computer-executable components for causing a server arrangement to
perform an embodiment of a method of the present disclosure when
the computer-executable components are run on processing circuitry
comprised in the server arrangement.
[0011] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a server arrangement configured to perform an
embodiment of the server arrangement method aspect of the present
disclosure. The server arrangement comprises processing circuitry,
and storage storing instructions executable by said processing
circuitry whereby said server arrangement is operative to: from a
radio device, receive a request requesting information about
whether a telco provides any offer for a subscription to the
service provided by the service provider; in response to the
received request, send a message comprising an indication that the
telco provides such an offer and an address for contacting the
telco regarding said offer; and from the radio device, receive a
message indicating that the offer has been accepted and should be
activated.
[0012] By means of embodiments of the present disclosure, a service
subscription offer may be offered to the user such that said user
does not have to actively log in to its telco account to activate
the offer for a subscription of a service provided by a service
provider (which is not the telco). By the address to the telco
provided by the service provider, the client can contact the telco
directly to receive an available offer to the user. The address is
known by the service provider, e.g., as a result of an agreement
between the telco and the service provider regarding the offer.
[0013] Typically, a telco will use an identifier (herein called a
telco user ID) with which it identifies the user. This telco user
ID may e.g., be the telephone number of the user's radio device
which is provided with connection by the telco, a customer number
and/or other user name. Similarly, the service provider will use an
identifier (herein called a service user ID) with which it
identifies the user. This service user ID may e.g., be a customer
number and/or other user name. For security and privacy reasons, it
may not be desirable to spread such IDs, why the telco should
preferably not be informed of the service user ID, and the service
provider should preferably not be informed of the telco user ID.
Since the client communicates with the telco via the connection
provided by the telco, the telco may identify the radio device of
the user, without a need for the client or the service provider to
be informed of the telco user ID. Since the user communicates
directly with the service provider (via the client), there may be
no need to involve a service user ID in communication with the
telco (the service provider already knows which user it is). In
some embodiments, a temporary service user ID may be used to more
easily keep track of the communication session between the service
provider or client and the telco.
[0014] It is to be noted that any feature of any of the aspects may
be applied to any other aspect, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any
advantage of any of the aspects may apply to any of the other
aspects. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed
embodiments will be apparent from the following detailed
disclosure, from the attached dependent claims as well as from the
drawings.
[0015] Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be
interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical
field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references
to "a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc." are
to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of
the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless
explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed
herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed,
unless explicitly stated. The use of "first", "second" etc. for
different features/components of the present disclosure are only
intended to distinguish the features/components from other similar
features/components and not to impart any order or hierarchy to the
features/components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] Embodiments will be described, by way of example, with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a
communication system in accordance with the present invention.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a
radio device, in accordance with the present invention.
[0019] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a
service provider, in accordance with the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a
computer program product, in accordance with the present
invention.
[0021] FIG. 5 is a schematic signalling diagram of different
embodiments of the methods of the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the
method in a radio device, in accordance with the present
invention.
[0023] FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the
method in a server arrangement, in accordance with the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] Embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter
with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain
embodiments are shown. However, other embodiments in many different
forms are possible within the scope of the present disclosure.
Rather, the following embodiments are provided by way of example so
that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully
convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.
Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.
[0025] That the sending of a message, request, indication or the
like, is "initiated" implies herein that the sending is initiated
by an entity but not necessarily sent by it. For instance, the
service client in the radio device may initiate the sending, but
the actual sending may be performed by the radio interface of the
radio device.
[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a communication system
in which a user 4 (typically human) has a radio device 1 which is
able to communicate with a service provider 6 via a connection to a
Packet Data Network (PDN) 5, e.g., the Internet, provided by means
of a Radio Access Network (RAN) 3 of a telco 2. The RAN may e.g.,
be a cellular network such as in accordance with a Third Generation
Partnership Program (3GPP) communication standard.
[0027] The radio device 1 may be any device or user equipment (UE),
mobile or stationary, enabled to communicate over a radio channel
in a communication network, for instance but not limited to e.g.,
mobile phone, smartphone, modem, vehicles (e.g., a car), household
appliances, media players, or any type of consumer electronic, for
instance but not limited to television, radio, lighting
arrangements, tablet computer, laptop, or personal computer (PC).
In accordance with the present disclosure, the radio device
comprises a client for a service provided by the service provider
6.
[0028] The service provided by the service provider, and provided
to the user 4 by means of the client in the radio device 1, may be
any service, e.g., a media service for downloading or streaming
media files such as audio (e.g., music) and/or video files and for
playing (outputting) said media files to the user, e.g., via a
(loud) speaker, headphone interface (e.g., jack) or radio (e.g.,
Bluetooth) interface of the radio device.
[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a radio device 1 of the
present disclosure. The radio device 1 comprises processing
circuitry 21 e.g., a central processing unit (CPU). The processing
circuitry 21 may comprise one or a plurality of processing units in
the form of microprocessor(s). However, other suitable devices with
computing capabilities could be comprised in the processing
circuitry 21, e.g., an application specific integrated circuit
(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex
programmable logic device (CPLD). The processing circuitry 21 is
configured to run one or several computer program(s) or software
(SW) 41 (see also FIG. 4) stored in a storage 22 of one or several
storage unit(s) e.g., a memory. The storage unit is regarded as a
computer readable means 43 (see FIG. 4) as discussed herein and may
e.g., be in the form of a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Flash
memory or other solid state memory, or a hard disk, or be a
combination thereof. The processing circuitry 21 may also be
configured to store data in the storage 22, as needed. In
accordance with the present disclosure, the storage 22 may store
application (app) SW 41 which, when run on the processing circuitry
21, forms a software application (an app), here a client 23 to the
service provider 6. The radio device 1 also comprises a user
interface (UI) 24, e.g., comprising a Graphical User Interface
(GUI) such as a touchscreen, for presenting information to the user
and for allowing input of indications from the user. Further, the
radio device comprises a radio interface 25 for communication over
the RAN 3 and thus allowing the radio device access to the
PDN/Internet 5.
[0030] FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the service provider 6
of the present disclosure. The service provider comprises a server
arrangement 35, which may or may not be at least partly hosted by a
cloud provider. The server arrangement 35 comprises processing
circuitry 31 e.g., a central processing unit (CPU). The processing
circuitry 31 may comprise one or a plurality of processing units in
the form of microprocessor(s). However, other suitable devices with
computing capabilities could be comprised in the processing
circuitry 31, e.g., an application specific integrated circuit
(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex
programmable logic device (CPLD). The processing circuitry 31 is
configured to run one or several computer program(s) or software
(SVV) 42 (see also FIG. 4) stored in a storage 32 of one or several
storage unit(s) e.g., a memory. The storage unit is regarded as a
computer readable means 43 (see FIG. 4) as discussed herein and may
e.g., be in the form of a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Flash
memory or other solid state memory, or a hard disk, or be a
combination thereof. The processing circuitry 31 may also be
configured to store data in the storage 22, as needed. The storage
32 may e.g., store media files which may be provided to the client
23 as part of the service. The server arrangement 35 also comprises
a communication interface 34, e.g., for providing the service to
the client 23 and for other external communication.
[0031] FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a computer program
product 40. The computer program product 40 comprises a computer
readable (e.g., non-volatile and/or non-transitory) medium 43
comprising software/computer program 41 and/or 42 in the form of
computer-executable components. The computer program 41/42 may be
configured to cause a radio device 1 or a server arrangement 35,
e.g., as discussed herein, to perform an embodiment of a method of
the present disclosure. The computer program may be run on the
processing circuitry 21/31 of the radio device 1 or server
arrangement 35 for causing it to perform the method. The computer
program product 40 may e.g., be comprised in a storage unit or
memory 22/32 comprised in the radio device 1 or server arrangement
35 and associated with the processing circuitry 21/31.
Alternatively, the computer program product 40 may be, or be part
of, a separate, e.g., mobile, storage means/medium, such as a
computer readable disc, e.g., CD or DVD or hard disc/drive, or a
solid state storage medium, e.g., a RAM or Flash memory. Further
examples of the storage medium can include, but are not limited to,
any type of disk including floppy disks, optical discs, DVD,
CD-ROMs, microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs,
EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flash memory devices, magnetic or optical
cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of
media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be conveniently
implemented using one or more conventional general purpose or
specialized digital computer, computing device, machine, or
microprocessor, including one or more processors, memory and/or
computer readable storage media programmed according to the
teachings of the present disclosure. Appropriate software coding
can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the
teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those
skilled in the software art.
[0032] FIG. 5 illustrates interactions between the user 4, the
radio device 1 (e.g., the client 23 in the radio device), the
service provider 6 (e.g., the server arrangement 35 of said service
provider), and the telco 2 (e.g., a server arrangement of said
telco), in different embodiments of the methods of the present
disclosure. Interactions with the user are via a user interface 24
of the radio device.
[0033] The radio device determines which telco provides its
connectivity. The client 23 may e.g., obtain this information from
a part of the radio device handling the subscription with the telco
2. The service provider may have agreements with one or several
different telco's regarding providing different service
subscription offers to users with network subscriptions with the
telco's. The radio device sends a request a requesting information
about whether the specific telco providing connectivity to the
radio device provides any offer for a subscription to the service.
The offer may e.g., be a free subscription to the service, or an
upgrade of and existing subscription the user has for the
service.
[0034] In response, the service provider 6 sends a message b
comprising an indication that the telco 2 provides such an offer
and an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer. It is
not at this stage necessary that the message indicates what type of
offer is available, only that there is an offer available. The
address allows contact with the telco regarding the offer, e.g., to
determine what offer is available.
[0035] When the user 4 accesses c or tries to access (use) the
service, e.g., tries to access a feature of the service which
currently not available to the user, possibly due to that feature
requiring an upgrade of the user's subscription to the service, the
client 23 can, via the UI 24, inform d the user that there may be
an offer available (e.g., an offer which may allow access to the
feature not currently available) and ask the user whether he/she
would like to check if such an offer is available.
[0036] In response to a positive indication e, that the user wants
to check for an offer, the radio device 1 sends a message f to the
address of the telco previously provided by the service provider.
The message is sent via the RAN 3 of the telco 2 and may thus be in
flight provided with the phone number or other telco user ID. By
means of the message f, the telco is asked whether the user, as
identified by the telco user ID, is eligible for a service
subscription offer from the telco.
[0037] The radio device 1 (typically the client 23) is then
informed of the one or more available offer by means of a
confirmation message. In some embodiments, this confirmation
message g2 is sent from the telco 2. In other embodiments
(discussed below) the information is sent via the service provider
6.
[0038] The available offer is presented h to the user 4 via the UI
24 and the user can indicate i that the offer is accepted. The
radio device then sends a message j to the service provider 6,
indicating that the available offer has been accepted and should be
activated. The service provider may then in its turn send
information k about that the offer is being activated to the telco
2 (e.g., by means of the same address as previously provided to the
client 23, or some other address to the telco server arrangement).
In response, and acknowledgement (Ack) I may be sent from the telco
to the service provider. The service provider may in its turn send
an acknowledgement m to the radio device 1 (client 23), and the
radio device may present an acknowledgement n to the user via the
UI 24.
[0039] In some embodiments, the message f may also comprise a
service user ID, preferably a temporary service user ID, or the
telco may otherwise have been informed of such a service user ID
associated with the user 4. In this case, an information message
g1a comprising information about the offer and as well as the
service user ID may be sent to the service provider 6 (since the
service provider can then identify the user by means of the
(preferably temporary) service user ID. The confirmation message
g1b may then be sent from the service provider. An advantage of
these embodiments is that further communication between the service
provider 6 and the telco 2 (e.g., the information k about that the
offer is being activated and corresponding acknowledgement I) may
not be needed.
[0040] FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the method
performed in the radio device 1, of the present disclosure. Which
telco 2 the radio device is connected via is first determined M1.
Then, the sending M2, to the service provider 6 providing the
service, of a request a requesting information about whether the
telco provides any offer for a subscription to the service is
initiated e.g., by the client 23 in the radio device 1 (the request
a being sent by the radio device). In response to the sent M2
request a message (b) comprising an indication that the telco (2)
provides such an offer and an address for contacting the telco
regarding said offer is received M3 from the service provider 6. An
indication c that the user 4 of the radio device requests access to
the service via the client 23 is received M4 via a user interface
24 of the radio device. Input from the user 4 about whether said
user wants to check whether an offer for a subscription to the
service is available is requested M5 via the user interface 24 in
response to the received M4 indication that the user requests
access to the service. An indication e that the user wants to check
whether an offer for a subscription to the service is available is
received M6 via the user interface 24 in response to the input
having been requested M5. The sending M7 of a message f by means of
the received M3 address of the telco 2 via the connection provided
by said telco is initiated in response to the received M6
indication that the user wants to check whether an offer is
available. A confirmation message g1b or g2 comprising information
about an available offer for a subscription to the service is
received M8. The available offer is then presented M9 via the user
interface. An indication i that the available offer is accepted is
received M10 via the user interface. The sending M11 of a message j
to the service provider 6 indicating that the available offer has
been accepted and should be activated is initiated (e.g., by the
client 23).
[0041] FIG. 7 is a flow chart of embodiments of the method
performed in the server arrangement 35 of the service provider 6. A
request a requesting information about whether a telco provides any
offer for a subscription to the service provided by the service
provider is received S1 from a radio device 1. A message b
comprising an indication that the telco 2 provides such an offer
(i.e., an offer for a subscription to the service) and comprising
an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer is sent S2
in response to the received S1 request. A message j indicating that
the offer has been accepted and should be activated is then
received S5 from the radio device 1.
[0042] In some embodiments, the method performed in the server
arrangement 35 also comprises receiving S3 an information message
g1a from the telco 2, the information message g1a comprising
information about the offer and an identifier (herein also called
service user ID) used by the service provider 6 for identifying a
user 4 of the radio device 1. Then, a confirmation message g1b
comprising the information about the offer may be sent S4 to the
radio device 1. In some embodiments, the ID is a temporary
identifier previously sent to the radio device 1, e.g., in the
message b comprising the indication that the telco 2 provides the
offer.
[0043] In some other embodiments, the method performed in the
server arrangement 35 also comprises sending S6 information k about
that the offer is being activated to the telco 2. Then, an
acknowledgement I may be received (S7) from the telco 2 in response
to the sent S6 information.
EXAMPLES
[0044] An App 23 for a streaming media service in a mobile phone 1
detects the Telco 2 identifier from the telco network name (i.e.,
the name of the operator 2) from within the mobile phone.
[0045] The App, being a client to the service provider 6, then M2
sends this Telco identifier to the service provider backend and
gets a response b that there is an active premium deal with that
Telco. The backend also responds with the check-offer Telco server
internet address.
[0046] Then the App awaits the user 4 performing some sort of
activity that requires a premium subscription for the service, for
example offline music, pick the exact next song to play (i.e., not
accept a shuffled playlist) or the like. The App will then popup a
question d:
[0047] "You might be eligible for a premium offer from [Telco
name]. Do you want us to check?"
[0048] If the user responds yes, the App will send M7 an empty HTTP
GET request f to the check-offer Telco server, by means of the
address previously received.
[0049] Internet HTTP requests sent from a mobile phone to specific
Telco servers may be instrumented (in flight) by the Telco 2, to
include the phone number of the mobile phone 1. This is possible
since it is sent inside the Telco network.
[0050] Such an extra header could e.g., be:
[0051] X-UP-SUBNO: 070-12345678
[0052] The Telco check-offer server will detect the added
X-UP-SUBNO and then check if the Telco subscriber is eligible for
e.g., a 6-months premium subscription, and return YES or NO, or
information specifying the available offer.
[0053] If YES, the App sends a message j to the service provider
backend that the 6-months premium subscription can be started and
informs the user the same.
Alternative Implementation:
[0054] The HTTP request f is not empty, but contains an anonymized
service provider user ID. The Telco check-offer server will then
tell the service provider (step S3) through the Telco-Service
provider Application Program Interface (API) that the user is
eligible for the offer. The App then requests (step S4) this
information from the service provider Backend and tells the
user.
[0055] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a method performed in a radio device 1 comprising a
client of a service. The method comprises sending a request a
requesting information about whether the telco 2 which the radio
device is connected via provides any offer for a subscription to
the service. The method also comprises receiving a message b
comprising an indication that the telco provides such an offer and
an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer. The
method also comprises receiving an indication e that a user of the
radio device wants to check whether an offer for a subscription to
the service is available. The method also comprises sending a
message f by means of the received address of the telco. The method
also comprises receiving a confirmation message g1b or g2
comprising information about an available offer for a subscription
to the service. The method also comprises receiving an indication i
that the available offer is accepted by the user. The method also
comprises, to the service provider 6, sending a message j
indicating that the available offer has been accepted and should be
activated. This aspect may be regarded as simplified, with some
features which are optional in some embodiments of the present
disclosure removed.
[0056] The present disclosure has mainly been described above with
reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated
by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones
disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the
present disclosure, as defined by the appended claims.
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