US Patent 8396458 Automated device provisioning and activation

Devices and methods are disclosed for determining that a traffic flow of a wireless end-user device is associated with a first service activity that includes a data communication associated with a particular application of a plurality of applications on the wireless end-user device; assigning, to the traffic flow, a flow tag configured to assist in preserving the association of the traffic flow with the first service activity when the traffic flow is processed by one or more device functions that operate on the traffic flow; monitoring an attempted or successful wireless access network service usage associated with the flow tag, the determining, assigning, and monitoring occurring in any order; and, after determining that the traffic flow is associated with the first service activity, applying a first service policy to the attempted or successful wireless access network service usage.