Techniques for correlation of charges in multiple layers for content and service delivery

• US 20070297340A1
• Filed: 06/26/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,560,463 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1446 inter-operator billing

Abstract

In a method for correlating charges in a service layer and a network layer, first charging data is determined for a service layer based on content or a service purchased for a user. Second charging data for a network layer is determined based on transmission for the content or service. The first and second charging data, with any respective metadata, are correlated in order to generate a single bill for the user. This bill may be for the transmission as well as the purchase of the content or service. In the correlation, charges for the network layer and/or the service layer may be changed based on the correlation. For example, duplicative charges such as charging for the content and the traffic used to download the content may be correlated and one of the charges may be changed or removed.

Claims

1. A method for determining charges for content or services, the method comprising:

determining first charging information for a first layer for a first layer based on a request for a;

determining second charging information for a second layer based on transmission related to the requested service or content; and

correlating the first charging information and second charging information to generate a single charge for an overall transaction, the overall transaction including activity at the first and second layers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first layer is a service layer and the second layer is a network layer

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining metadata for at least one of the first and second layers.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising correlating the first charging information, and any metadata for the first layer, with the second charging information, and any metadata for the second layer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the single charge comprises adjusting a charge generated for the first layer or the second layer based on the correlation information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the single charge is generated for the content purchased and the transmission of the content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the single charge is generated for the service purchased and transmission related to the service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of a the first charging information and the second charging information is changed based on the correlation.

9. A method for determining charges for content or services, the method comprising:

receiving first charging information and any associated first metadata from a service layer based on a request for content or a service;

determining second charging information and any associated second metadata for the network layer based on transmission for the requested content or service through the network layer; and

correlating the first charging information and any associated first metadata with the second charging information and any associated second metadata; and

generating a single total charge for the request for content or a service and the transmission for the content or service based on the results of the correlating step.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the single total charge is generated by a network billing system.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the single total charge comprises adjusting a service charge generated for the service layer or a network charge generated for the network layer based on the results of the correlating step.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the generated single total charge is generated to cover a first charge for the purchase of the content or service and a second charge for the transmission related to the content or service.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the service layer is associated with a first entity and the network layer is associated with a second entity different from the first entity.

14. A method for determining charges for content or services, the method comprising:

receiving first charging information and any associated first metadata from a network layer based on transmission related to a request for a service or content;

determining second charging information and any associated second metadata for the service layer based on a purchase of the content or usage of the service;

correlating the first charging information and any associated first metadata with the second charging information and any associated second metadata; and

generating a single total charge based on the correlating step.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein generating the charge comprises adjusting at least one of a service charge generated for the service layer and a network charge generated for the network layer based on the correlating step.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the service layer is associated with a first entity and the network layer is associated with a second entity different from the first entity.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the generating of a single total charge includes using at least one of a payment system and a billing system.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of generating a single total charge supports payment models selected from the group consisting of pre-paid and post-paid payment models.

19. A computer program product embedded in a computer readable medium, comprising:

computer program code for determining first charging information for a first layer for a first layer based on a request for a;

computer program code for determining second charging information for a second layer based on transmission related to the requested service or content; and

computer program code for correlating the first charging information and second charging information to generate a single charge for an overall transaction, the overall transaction including activity at the first and second layers.