Excluding specific application traffic from customer consumption data
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving first data packets over a communication link from a first source, the first data packets destined for delivery to a communication device operated by a user in a network environment, the first data packets assigned delivery information to facilitate conveyance of the first data packets over the communication link to the communication device;
examining the delivery information assigned to the first data packets to control delivery of the first data packets, the delivery information indicating that the first data packets are received from the first source; and
in response to detecting that the first data packets are received from the first source and that communications from the first source are to be excluded from a data delivery count representing a amount of data conveyed to the communication device over the communication link on behalf of the user, communicating the first data packets over a data flow that is not counted in the data delivery count assigned to the user.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for excluding specific application traffic from customer consumption-based data billing counts. This is useful for excluding traffic from consumption totals where the application traffic has been accounted for using other means, such as through billing as a separate or technically distinct service. In practice, a tablet computer (or other end user device) can run a video application that uses a high-speed data network via a cable modem. This video application may be included as part of a core video package associated with a distinct cable television service. The system then provides accurate consumption billing of customer traffic that is outside of any other managed services by creating separate logical data service flows at a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) for excluding specific traffic counts.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
receiving first data packets over a communication link from a first source, the first data packets destined for delivery to a communication device operated by a user in a network environment, the first data packets assigned delivery information to facilitate conveyance of the first data packets over the communication link to the communication device; examining the delivery information assigned to the first data packets to control delivery of the first data packets, the delivery information indicating that the first data packets are received from the first source; and in response to detecting that the first data packets are received from the first source and that communications from the first source are to be excluded from a data delivery count representing a amount of data conveyed to the communication device over the communication link on behalf of the user, communicating the first data packets over a data flow that is not counted in the data delivery count assigned to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A system comprising;
-
a communication link; and communication hardware operable to provide a communication device operated by a user access to multiple content delivery sources over the communication link, the communication hardware operable to; receive first data packets from a first source of the multiple content delivery sources, the first data packets destined for delivery to the communication device operated by the user, the first data packets assigned delivery information to facilitate conveyance of the first data packets over the communication link to the communication device; examine the delivery information assigned to the first data packets to control delivery of the first data packets, the delivery information indicating that the first data packets are received from the first source; and in response to detecting that the first data packets are received from the first source and that communications from the first source are to be excluded from a data delivery count representing a amount of data conveyed to the communication device over the communication link on behalf of the user, communicate the first data packets over a data flow that is not counted in the data delivery count assigned to the user. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when carried out by computer processor hardware, cause the computer processor hardware to:
-
receive first data packets over a communication link from a first source, the first data packets destined for delivery to a communication device operated by a user in a network environment, the first data packets assigned delivery information to facilitate conveyance of the first data packets over the communication link to the communication device; examine the delivery information assigned to the first data packets to control delivery of the first data packets, the delivery information indicating that the first data packets are received from the first source; and in response to detecting that the first data packets are received from the first source and that communications from the first source are to be excluded from a data delivery count representing a amount of data conveyed to the communication device over the communication link on behalf of the user, communicate the first data packets over a data flow that is not counted in the data delivery count assigned to the user.
-
Specification