Dynamic business relationship establishment in a public wireless LAN environment

A method for enabling an operator of a network responsive to an access request, to establish an business relationship with a Billing Agent that bills a user for accessing the network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request from the user for access the network that includes identification of the Billing Agent;
• establishing a secure communications channel with the Billing Agent;
• verifying the Billing Agent;
• communicating to the Billing Agent proposed business terms including a charge for imposition by the network operator for access by the user;
• receiving from the Billing Agent one of (1) an acceptance of the terms proposed by the network operator when the Billing Agent finds such business terms agreeable, and (2) a counter proposal of business terms acceptable to the Billing Agent when the Billing Agent finds at least one of the proposed terms unacceptable;
• and
• communicating to the Billing Agent a formal agreement of the business terms acceptable to the Billing Agent and acknowledged by the network operator.

A method for enabling an operator of a network responsive to an access request, to establish an initial business relationship with a Billing Agent that bills a user for accessing the network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request from the user for access the network that includes identification of the Billing Agent;
• establishing a secure communications channel with the Billing Agent in response to a request for access by a user;
• verifying the Billing Agent by exchanging digital certificates between the Billing Agent and the network operator;
• communicating to the Billing Agent proposed business terms including a charge for imposition by the network operator for access by the user;
• receiving from the Billing Agent one of (1) an acceptance of the terms proposed by the network operator when the Billing Agent finds such business terms agreeable, and (2) a counter proposal of business terms acceptable to the Billing Agent when the Billing Agent finds at least one of the proposed terms unacceptable;
• communicating to the Billing Agent a formal agreement of the business terms acceptable to the Billing Agent and acknowledged by the network operator;
• and
• receiving from the Billing Agent an acknowledgement of acceptance of the formal agreement.

A method for enabling an operator of a network responsive to an access request, to establish an initial business relationship with a Billing Agent that bills a user for accessing the network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request from the user for access the network that includes identification of the Billing Agent;
• establishing a secure communications channel with the Billing Agent;
• verifying the Billing Agent;
• communicating to the Billing Agent proposed business terms including a proposed charge imposed by the network operator for access by the user;
• communicating to a user the proposed charge for approval when the proposed charge exceeds an amount previously agreed to between the user and the Billing Agent for access;
• and
• receiving from the Billing Agent an acceptance of business terms upon acceptance of the proposed charge by the user.

Apparatus for enabling an operator of a network responsive to an access request, to establish an initial business relationship with a Billing Agent that bills a user for accessing the network, comprising the steps of:

• means for receiving a request from the user for access the network that includes identification of the Billing Agent;
• means for establishing a communications channel with the Billing Agent;
• means for verifying the Billing Agent;
• means for communicating to the Billing Agent proposed business terms including an access charge for imposition by the network operator for access by the user;
• and
• means for receiving from the Billing Agent an acceptance of business terms agreeable to the Billing Agent.