Claims:CLAIMS
We Claim:

1. A method of listing on-demand connectivity products on a platform (100), wherein each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice, wherein the platform (100) provides end-to-end network slice communication service distribution across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs), the method comprising:
receiving primary product attributes for a product offering from a Digital Service Provider (DSP) for updating in a product catalogue module (102), wherein the product offering is associated with a pre-configured network slice and a network application, wherein the pre-configured network slice is defined by one or more of uplink throughput, downlink throughput, number of user equipments, latency and shared slices;
defining a product offering template based on the primary product attributes;
transmitting analytical insights to the product offering template for secondary product attributes;
auto populating the secondary product attributes based on the analytical insights;
receiving submission of the product offering template;
checking feasibility of the product offering; and
launching the product offering.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product offering includes at least a network slicing as a service, a virtualized radio access network (V-RAN) as a service, a private LTE (Long-Term Evolution) as a service, an on-demand service, services for connected venues.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising monitoring usage of the pre-configured network slice at least by quality of service, quality of experience, data utilization, network downtime in a connection.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one of:
deactivating the pre-configured network slice when required; and
terminating the pre-configured network slice after completion of subscribed services.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one of: re-creating and re-activating the pre-configured network slice when massive traffic monitored and existing network slices are not able to cater the needs of incoming traffic.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-configured network slice contains slicing packages from one or more of diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze categories.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising single click connectivity product creation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method utilizes 5G network components including a 5G radio access network (RAN) (122), a user plane function (UPF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF) (116) and a charging function (CHF) (118).

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising network slice management, wherein the network slice management includes at least one of: creation, activation and termination across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs).

10. A method of receiving inputs for purchase of a product offering, wherein pre-configured network slices contain different types of slicing packages, the method comprising:
forming the slicing packages by bundling recommended attributes, parameters, and values;
configuring the pre-configured network slices in a product catalogue module (102) of a platform (100) for a subscription-based selection by a user equipment (UE) (130) through mapping the attributes, parameters, and values, wherein after configuration of the pre-configured network slices, the product catalogue module (102) pushes the pre-configured network slices into the platform (100); and
activating the pre-configured network slices by the UE (130) from the platform (100), wherein a virtual machine (VM) deploys and down-streams activated services for the UE (130) by deducting a charging function (118).

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the attributes include area and availability of the activated services, throughput, delay, tolerance or isolation level, the parameters include information of specific region for a defined area, throughput count per UE, types of isolation and the values include a defined value required for the attributes and the parameters.

12. A method of accessing on-demand connectivity products from a platform (100), wherein each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), the method comprising:
choosing a preferred solution provider, one or more solutions, types of connectivity, quality of connectivity, end-user experience key performance indicators, and desired connectivity solutions on the platform (100); and
configuring the one or more solutions on detailed aspects based on usage, duration, and parameters through specific service level agreements (SLAs) and submitting a request for enablement or upgradation, wherein purchasing initiates after approval of a request from a server-end based on a 5G specific workflow defined to meet the SLAs.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein an order management module (110) decomposes a product order and sends service orders to a service provisioning layer which interacts at least with network elements and cloud-native platform to provision the one or more solutions.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein a policy control function (PCF) (116) defines policies of usage for a customer, a charging function (CHF) (118) defines charges for every event and a billing and revenue management (BRM) module (108) interfaces with the charging function (118) for usage management and raises invoice for services usage and consumption.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the policies include device-based policy, session-based policy, application-based policy, access network type-based policy.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to digital marketplace, and more specifically, relates to on-demand and real-time connectivity products creation.

BACKGROUND
[0002] Partner product creation and modelling for complex enterprise use cases is a complex field that requires too much time. Further, rolling out new offers specially by vendors who would like to host these products on a marketplace is not few days’ activity but sometimes a few months’ activity. In the same context, a few prior arts are discussed below:
[0003] US20130167011A1 discloses a system for automatically locating and data-typing information originating from many Web pages, and then collecting that information in a database. The database is then made available via an online data marketplace which allows users from different organizations to buy and sell related data, associated advertisements, and access to the communities of end-users who may also view advertisements and make purchases.
[0004] US20150220325A1 relates to enterprise software development and management, and more specifically to an agile framework for vertical application development and delivery.
[0005] US20150019292A1 relates specifically to methods and systems for generating a variety of distinct and functionally different custom online marketplaces, wherein once such a distinct custom online marketplace may be generated, buyers and sellers may then transact in goods and/or services particular to the generated distinct custom online marketplace.
[0006] US10349240B2 teaches a method and system for responding to demand-based charging in a communication network, such as a 5G wireless communication network. Service providers and/or infrastructure providers adjust network usage pricing dynamically based on demand. Customers such as Virtual Network operators respond to pricing adjustments by adjusting their network usage, service requirements, and/or by re-negotiating the pricing structure. Network usage can be adjusted by controlling network traffic generated in response to activity of end-user devices of the Virtual Network.
[0007] “Modelling e-marketplaces with multi-agents Web services proposes” a multi-agent Web Services framework for e-Marketplaces in which templates are defined as generic processes so as to enable seamless integration and collaboration amongst services within and across e-Marketplaces. The proposed framework is based on a novel generic trading model of e-Marketplaces. The significance of the proposed framework is to facilitate interactions with e-Marketplaces. The framework is implemented using multi-agent and Web Service technologies. The evaluation is performed through a case study of auction-supported mutual fund e-Marketplace.
[0008] While the prior arts and other existing solutions cover the concept of digital marketplaces, however, the existing solutions focus upon capturing category, subcategory, marketing information followed by technical discussion with a vendor product manager that is time consuming. The existing digital marketplaces are restricted by providing vertical based templates, pricing insights and recommendations, faster time-to-market, feature comparison of different products, for example, which can help communication service providers (CSPs) compete effectively and create true differentiators in a dynamic industry that’s being steered by digital transformations. In light of the above-stated discussion, there is a need to overcome the above stated disadvantages.

OBJECT OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0009] A principal object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique for on-demand and real-time connectivity products creation and for listing and accessing the on-demand connectivity products on a platform (marketplace).
[0010] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide the platform having a vertical based template that provides pricing insights, pricing recommendations, creation of new product offer.
[0011] Another object of the present disclosure is to facilitate default/auto populating information while product creation.
[0012] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to facilitate feature comparison of different products provided by different communication service providers (CSPs) and capturing technology information.

SUMMARY
[0013] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of listing on-demand connectivity products on a platform, wherein each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice and the platform provides end-to-end network slice communication service distribution across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs). The method utilizes 5G network components including a 5G radio access network (RAN), a user plane function (UPF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF) and a charging function (CHF).
[0014] The method comprises receiving primary product attributes for a product offering from a Digital Service Provider (DSP) for updating in a product catalogue module, wherein the product offering is associated with a pre-configured network slice and a network application, wherein the pre-configured network slice is defined by one or more of uplink throughput, downlink throughput, number of user equipments, latency and shared slices and the product offering includes at least a network slicing as a service, a virtualized radio access network (V-RAN) as a service, a private LTE (Long-Term Evolution) as a service, an on-demand service, services for connected venues. The pre-configured network slice contains slicing packages from one or more of diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze categories.
[0015] The method further comprises defining a product offering template based on the primary product attributes, transmitting analytical insights to the product offering template for secondary product attributes, auto populating the secondary product attributes based on the analytical insights, receiving submission of the product offering template, checking feasibility of the product offering and launching the product offering. The method further comprises single click connectivity product creation. The method further comprises network slice management, wherein the network slice management includes at least one of: creation, activation and termination across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs).
[0016] The method enables monitoring usage of the pre-configured network slice at least by quality of service, quality of experience, data utilization, network downtime in a connection and comprises at least one of: deactivating the pre-configured network slice when required, and terminating the pre-configured network slice after completion of subscribed services and at least one of: re-creating and re-activating the pre-configured network slice when massive traffic monitored and existing network slices are not able to cater the needs of incoming traffic.
[0017] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of receiving inputs for purchase of a product offering, wherein pre-configured network slices contain different types of slicing packages. The method comprises forming the slicing packages by bundling recommended attributes, parameters, and values and configuring the pre-configured network slices in a product catalogue module of a platform for a subscription-based selection by a user equipment (UE) through mapping the attributes, parameters, and values, wherein after configuration of the pre-configured network slices, the product catalogue module pushes the pre-configured network slices into the platform. The attributes include area and availability of the activated services, throughput, delay, tolerance or isolation level, the parameters include information of specific region for a defined area, throughput count per UE, types of isolation and the values include a defined value required for the attributes and the parameters. The method further includes activating the pre-configured network slices by the UE from the platform, wherein a virtual machine (VM) deploys and down-streams activated services for the UE by deducting a charging function.
[0018] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of accessing on-demand connectivity products from a platform, wherein each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). The method comprises choosing a preferred solution provider, one or more solutions, types of connectivity, quality of connectivity, end-user experience key performance indicators, and desired connectivity solutions on the platform and configuring the one or more solutions on detailed aspects based on usage, duration, and parameters through specific service level agreements (SLAs) and submitting a request for enablement or upgradation, wherein purchasing initiates after approval of a request from a server-end based on a 5G specific workflow defined to meet the SLAs.
[0019] Herein, an order management module decomposes a product order and sends service orders to a service provisioning layer which interacts at least with network elements and cloud-native platform to provision the one or more solutions. Further, a policy control function (PCF) defines policies of usage for a customer, a charging function (CHF) defines charges for every event and a billing and revenue management (BRM) module interfaces with the charging function for usage management and raises invoice for services usage and consumption.
[0020] These and other aspects herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention herein without departing from the spirit thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0021] The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, throughout which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the drawings. The invention herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates a platform for on-demand and real-time connectivity products creation and listing.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a flow-chart depicting a method for listing on-demand connectivity products on the platform.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a flow-chart illustrating a method of receiving inputs for purchase of a product offering.
[0025] FIG. 4 is a flow-chart illustrating a method of accessing the on-demand connectivity products from the platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] In the following detailed description of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced with or without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the invention.
[0027] Furthermore, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these alternatives only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without parting from the scope of the invention.
[0028] The accompanying drawings are used to help easily understand various technical features and it should be understood that the alternatives presented herein are not limited by the accompanying drawings. As such, the present disclosure should be construed to extend to any alterations, equivalents and substitutes in addition to those which are particularly set out in the accompanying drawings. Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are generally only used to distinguish one element from another.
[0029] The present disclosure provides a technique for on-demand and real-time connectivity products creation and for listing and accessing the on-demand connectivity products on a platform (marketplace). The platform has a vertical based template that provides pricing insights, pricing recommendations, creation of new product offer and facilitate default/auto populating information while product creation. Further, the present disclosure facilitates feature comparison of different products provided by different communication service providers (CSPs) and capturing technology information.
[0030] Now referring to Figures. FIG. 1 illustrates a platform 100 for on-demand and real-time connectivity products creation and listing. The platform 100 may comprise a product catalogue module 102, a product order module 104, an identity management module 106, a billing and revenue management module 108, an order management module 110, a network analytics module 112, a slice management platform 114, a policy control function 116, a charging function 118 and a plurality of domain controllers 120.
[0031] The platform 100 may receive primary product attributes for a product offering from a Digital Service Provider (DSP) for updating in the product catalogue module 102, wherein one example for the primary product attributes is, connected venues (stadium provider can configure the facilities provided by the stadium to media broadcasters (ex. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) such as the cameras (drone / goal post)), edge Compute servers. A DSP is an entity that provides digital music services (whether streaming, downloads, or both), via computer or phone networks. DSPs tend to focus on driving almost all interactions online and across devices. The product catalogue module 102 may be a centralized product catalogue of the platform 100. The product offering may be associated with a pre-configured network slice and a network application. The pre-configured network slice may be defined by one or more of uplink throughput, downlink throughput, number of user equipments, latency and shared slices.
[0032] Based on the primary product attributes, the product catalogue module 102 can define a product offering template, where the network analytics module 112 may be configured to transmit/push analytical insights to the product offering template in the Product Order Module 104, for secondary product attributes/recommendations and assist in auto populating the secondary product attributes based on the analytical insights, for example (when the Media Broadcaster customer (ex ESPN) configures the expected number of subscribers in the stadium for a FC Barcelona match are say 10,000 subscribers, analytics can calculate that the broadcaster will require Network Slice with Downlink throughput of 10 Gbps)
[0033] The product catalogue module 102 may receive submission of the product offering template from the DSP. The product offering template is a vertical based template for every possible product offer, for example, device, accessory, Cloud infra as a Service, conferencing service, Security as a Service, iOT as a service, Platform as a Service, etc. While creating products, the product offering template by default populates all information so that product creation is simplified. For e.g., if a vendor product manager (DSP) selects Load Balancer as a Service, a template for this use case would be populated so the vendor product manager needs to only populate data quickly. The product offering template provides pricing insights like what are the prices competitors are keeping for the products in the same category. The product offering template also provides pricing recommendations like what range of price is most effective to have best sale of the product for the given set of parameters, Number of CPU cores, TPS etc., redundancy mode (Cluster, Active). For such auto-population, price insights and recommendations, the platform 100 may use robotic process automation with AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) algorithms. Further, the template populates all the characteristics in form of attributes to facilitate creation a new product offer. The product catalogue module 102 provides flexibility to update value of the attributes as well as creation of new attributes. All the above features facilitate the platform 100 to be a single click connectivity product creation platform, where each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice and where the platform 100 provides end-to-end network slice communication service distribution across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs).
[0034] The product catalogue module 102 simplifies the selection process for the DSP by ideally positioned to assemble 5G solution providers and their industry offers into the platform 100, wherein partner enabled 5G services that model and simplify the purchase of different kinds of connectivity services be it a Network slicing as a service, which aims at allocating portions of network resources to specific tenants, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), IoT, e-health, connected vehicles, etc, a Virtualized Radio Access Network (V-RAN) as a service, RAN deployment, and management of 5G enterprise customers, a Private LTE (Long-Term Evolution) as a service that runs specifically for the benefit of an organization, such as a utility, factory, or police department, an on-demand service that allows users to obtain, configure and deploy applications themselves using cloud service catalogues, without requiring the assistance of a trained person and services for connected venues like the smart stadium (both physically and digitally), real-time fan experience.
[0035] Once the product offering has been submitted, the product catalogue module 102 may check feasibility of the product offering to further launch the product offering wherein, feasibility check may either allow or reject the request based on the availability of product offering in the event time, for example (if the Media Broadcaster (say ESPN) requests for Edge Media Server with 10 cores + 40 GB RAM, the feasibility check may either allow or reject the request based on the cores + RAM availability in the Edge Servers for the event time)
[0036] The platform 100 may further be configured to receive inputs for purchase of the product offering using the product order module 104. The product order module 104 may receive inputs for the purchase of the product offering that includes forming slicing packages using the slice management platform 114 by bundling recommended attributes, parameters, and values and configuring different pre-configured network slices in the product catalogue module 102 for the subscription-based selection by a user equipment (UE) 130 through mapping the attributes, parameters, and values, wherein after configuration of the pre-configured network slices, the product catalogue module 102 pushes the same into the platform 100. The UE 130 may be any mobile device, laptop, personal computer, or any other suitable device. Further, the attributes include area and availability of the services, throughput, delay, tolerance or isolation level etc., the parameters include information of specific region for a defined area, throughput count per UE, types of isolation etc. and the values include a defined value required for the attributes and the parameters.
[0037] The pre-configured network slices contain different types of slicing packages, wherein different types of slicing packages may include diamond, platinum, gold, silver, bronze or other suitable categories. The pre-configured network slices are activated by the UE 130 from the platform 100, wherein a virtual machine (VM) deploys and down-streams the activated services for the UE 130 by deducting the charging function 118. In general, a?Virtual Machine (VM) is a compute resource that uses software instead of a physical computer to run programs and deploy apps. One or more virtual “guest” machines run on a physical “host” machine. Each virtual machine runs its own operating system and functions separately from the other VMs, even when they are all running on the same host. This means that, for example, a virtual MacOS virtual machine can run on a physical PC. The charging function 118 is an integral entity in CCS (Converged Charging System) which provides Account Balance Management function (ABMF) for balance management/quota management, Rating Function (RF) for measuring the events and Charging Gateway Function (CGF). Together, they are known as Converged Charging Server (CCS). The 5G Charging Function forms part of the 3GPP’s Converged Charging System, which encompasses support for both prepaid and post-paid billing within the same charging system.
[0038] The product order module 104 may have comparison features. For example, users can compare Load balancer of two providers, DB as a Service from two or three different providers before deciding their preferred vendor.
[0039] The product order module 104 may also facilitate accessing the on-demand connectivity products from the platform 100, wherein each on-demand connectivity product has at least one 5G network slice, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). A 5G network slice can be defined as a network configuration that allows multiple networks (virtualized and independent) to be created on top of a common physical infrastructure. Each network slice is an isolated end-to-end network tailored to fulfil diverse requirements requested by a particular application. eMBB is one of the core features of 5G services and is the enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) which focuses on the high speed of end user data and system capacity. This will impact the end user experience by enabling different business uses. eMBB is a new service category of 5G that defines a minimum level of data transfer rate, promising to deliver both vastly increased bandwidth and decreased latency compared to existing 4G services. Ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) is a new service category in 5G to accommodate emerging services and applications having stringent latency and reliability requirements. URLLC will cater to multiple advanced services for latency-sensitive connected devices, such as factory automation, autonomous driving, the industrial internet and smart grid or robotic surgeries. Further, mMTC is about massive access by a large number of devices, i.e., about providing wireless connectivity to tens of billions of often low-complexity low-power machine-type devices.
[0040] The product order module 104 may facilitate accessing the on-demand connectivity products from the platform 100 by choosing a preferred solution provider, one or more solutions, types of connectivity, quality of connectivity, end-user experience KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and aligned/desired connectivity solutions on the platform 100 and by configuring the one or more solutions on detailed aspects based on usage, duration, and parameters through specific service level agreements (SLAs) and submitting a request for enablement or upgradation, wherein purchasing initiates after approval of a request from server-end based on 5G specific workflow defined to meet the SLAs. In general, a service level agreement is a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both the services required and the expected level of service. The agreement varies between vendors, services, and industries.
[0041] As previously stated, the platform 100 includes the order management module 110 that may decompose a product order and send service orders to service provisioning layer which interacts with network elements and or a cloud-native platform 128 via the plurality of domain controllers 120 to provision the connectivity solutions (one or more solutions). Such order is received from end-users/enterprise customers or the like, where identity/profiles of the end-user/enterprise customers or the like may be managed using the identity management module 106. Domain controller performs orchestration of the network slice in a particular domain such as RAN domain, Transmission domain or the Core network domain
[0042] The service provisioning layer may be the slice management platform 114. The slice management platform 114 may enable, but not limited to, service design and creation, network slice instantiation, service operation and management. That is, the slice management platform 114 may create, activate and/or terminate across different multiple network slice instances (NSIs). In general, a network slice instance is an activated network slice, which is created based on a network template. A set of managed run-time network functions, and resources to run these network functions, forming a complete instantiated logical network to meet certain network characteristics required by the service instance(s). It provides the network characteristics that are required by a service instance. A network slice instance may also be shared across multiple service instances provided by the network operator. The network slice instance may be composed by none, one or more sub-network instances, which may be shared by another network slice instance.
[0043] The slice management platform 114 may monitor usage of the pre-configured network slices by quality of service, quality of experience, data utilization, network downtime/ drop in connection etc. These pre-configured network slices may be deactivated/ terminated when required or after the completion of subscribed services. Further, these pre-configured network slices may be re-created/ re-activated when massive traffic monitored, and existing network slices are not able to cater the needs of incoming traffic.
[0044] The network elements may include a radio access network 122, a transport layer 124, a 5G core 126, the PCF 116, the CHF 118. The radio access network 122 may be a 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) that uses 5G radio frequencies to provide wireless connectivity to devices to deliver applications.
[0045] Further, the policy control function (PCF) 116 may define policies of usage for the customer and the charging function (CHF) 118 may define charges for every event. The policy control function 116 is a functional element for policy control decision and flows-based charging control functionalities. Different type of policies defined by the PCF 116 may be device-based policy, session-based policy, application-based policy, access network type-based policy etc. The PCF 116 provides various functions like Policy rules for application and service data flow detection, gating, QoS (Quality of Service), and flow-based charging to a Session Management Function (SMF). The SMF is a fundamental element of the 5G Service-Based Architecture handling session management, IP address allocation and policy enforcement. The SMF is primarily responsible for interacting with the decoupled data plane, creating updating and removing Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions and managing session context with a User Plane Function (UPF), where UPF performs all of the work to connect the actual data coming over the Radio Area Network (RAN) to the Internet.
[0046] The platform 100 may further comprise the billing and revenue management (BRM) module 108 that interfaces with the charging function 118 for usage management and raises invoice for services usage and consumption.
[0047] Advantageously, the platform 100 provides a simplified product creation for vendor products and a faster time-to-market (TTM) for vendor products. The templates with pricing (price) insights and recommendations increase chances of better sale. The platform 100 is built on open, disaggregated (including microservices, serverless and APIs) and cloud-native architecture that simplifies customer and partner journey with high availability and scalability. Further, Subscriber Acquisition Time and Subscriber Acquisition Cost are slashed at least by 40%.
[0048] Although FIG. 1 shows various components of the platform 100, but it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereon. The platform 100 may include less or more number of components. Further, the labels or names of the components are used only for illustrative purpose and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. One or more components can be combined together to perform same or substantially similar function in the platform 100.
[0049] FIG. 2 is a flow-chart depicting a method for listing the on-demand connectivity products on the platform 100. It may be noted that in order to explain the flow-chart 200, references will be made to the elements explained in FIG. 1.
[0050] At step 202, the method includes receiving the primary product attributes for the product offering from the Digital Service Provider (DSP) for updating in the product catalogue module 102. The product offering may be associated with the pre-configured network slice and the network application. The pre-configured network slice may be defined by one or more of uplink throughput, downlink throughput, number of user equipments, latency and shared slices.
[0051] At step 204, the method includes defining the product offering template based on the primary product attributes and at step 206, the method includes transmitting/pushing the analytical insights to the product offering template for the secondary product attributes.
[0052] At step 208, the method includes auto populating the secondary product attributes based on the analytical insights.
[0053] At step 210, the method includes receiving submission of the product offering template from the DSP.
[0054] At step 212, the method includes checking feasibility of the product offering and at step 214, the method includes launching the product offering.
[0055] FIG. 3 is a flow-chart illustrating a method of receiving inputs for purchase of the product offering. It may be noted that in order to explain the flow-chart 300, references will be made to the elements explained in FIG. 1.
[0056] At step 302, the method includes forming the slicing packages by bundling the recommended attributes, parameters, and values.
[0057] At step 304, the method includes configuring the different pre-configured network slices in the product catalogue module 102 of the platform 100 for the subscription-based selection by a user equipment (UE) 130 through mapping the attributes, parameters, and values, wherein after configuration of the pre-configured network slices, the product catalogue module 102 pushes the pre-configured network slices into the platform 100.
[0058] At step 306, the method includes activating the pre-configured network slices by the UE 130 from the platform 100, wherein the virtual machine (VM) deploys and down-streams the activated services for the UE 130 by deducting the charging function 118.
[0059] FIG. 4 is a flow-chart illustrating a method of accessing the on-demand connectivity products from the platform 100. It may be noted that in order to explain the flow-chart 400, references will be made to the elements explained in FIG. 1.
[0060] At step 402, the method includes choosing the preferred solution provider, the one or more solutions, the types of connectivity, the quality of connectivity, the end-user experience KPIs, and the aligned/desired connectivity solutions on the platform 100.
[0061] At step 404, the method includes configuring the one or more solutions on detailed aspects based on usage, duration, and parameters through specific service level agreements (SLAs) and submitting a request for enablement or upgradation, wherein purchasing initiates after approval of a request from the server-end based on the 5G specific workflow defined to meet the SLAs.
[0062] The aforesaid methods provide vertical based templates, pricing insights and recommendations, faster time-to-market, feature comparison of different products, for example, which can help communication service providers (CSPs) compete effectively and create true differentiators in a dynamic industry that's being steered by digital transformations.
[0063] It may be noted that the flow-charts 200, 300 and 400 are explained to have above stated process steps; however, those skilled in the art would appreciate that the flow-charts 200, 300 and 400 may have more/less number of process steps which may enable all the above stated implementations of the present disclosure.
[0064] The various actions act, blocks, steps, or the like in the flow chart and sequence diagrams may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some implementations, some of the actions, acts, blocks, steps, or the like may be omitted, added, modified, skipped, or the like without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
[0065] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented using at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the elements.
[0066] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention. While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above-described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope of the invention. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary, with the true scope of the invention being indicated by the claims.
[0067] The methods and processes described herein may have fewer or additional steps or states and the steps or states may be performed in a different order. Not all steps or states need to be reached. The methods and processes described herein may be embodied in, and fully or partially automated via, software code modules executed by one or more general purpose computers. The code modules may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. Some or all of the methods may alternatively be embodied in whole or in part in specialized computer hardware.
[0068] The results of the disclosed methods may be stored in any type of computer data repositories, such as relational databases and flat file systems that use volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., magnetic disk storage, optical storage, EEPROM and/or solid-state RAM).
[0069] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, routines, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. The described functionality can be implemented in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosure.
[0070] Moreover, the various illustrative logical blocks and modules described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented or performed by a machine, such as a general purpose processor device, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor device can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor device can be a controller, microcontroller, or state machine, combinations of the same, or the like. A processor device can include electrical circuitry configured to process computer-executable instructions. In another embodiment, a processor device includes an FPGA or other programmable device that performs logic operations without processing computer-executable instructions. A processor device can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Although described herein primarily with respect to digital technology, a processor device may also include primarily analog components. A computing environment can include any type of computer system, including, but not limited to, a computer system based on a microprocessor, a mainframe computer, a digital signal processor, a portable computing device, a device controller, or a computational engine within an appliance, to name a few.
[0071] The elements of a method, process, routine, or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor device, or in a combination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to the processor device such that the processor device can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor device. The processor device and the storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor device and the storage medium can reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
[0072] Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, "can," "may," "might," "may," “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey those certain alternatives include, while other alternatives do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more alternatives or that one or more alternatives necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without other input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular alternative. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.
[0073] Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain alternatives require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.
[0074] While the detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various alternatives, it can be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. As can be recognized, certain alternatives described herein can be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately from others.