PAYMENT TRANSFER STRATEGIES FOR BANDWIDTH SHARING IN AD HOC NETWORKS

• US 20080300997A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Finn, Peter G., Dawson, Christopher J., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Li, Jenny S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,311 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods for compensating lenders of bandwidth in an ad hoc network and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing payment strategies for bandwidth sharing in an ad-hoc network. The method comprises establishing an ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth, and providing compensation instructions to compensate the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower. The system may be a computer infrastructure for implementing the steps of the method.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing an ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth; and

providing compensation instructions to compensate the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises providing payment transfer strategies for bandwidth sharing in the ad-hoc network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises directly billing the borrower.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises a lender'"'"'s service provider billing the borrower.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises a lender'"'"'s service provider billing a borrower'"'"'s service provider, wherein the borrower'"'"'s service provider passes the billing to the borrower.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically reconciling overall bandwidth borrowing between service providers of the borrower and the at least one lender.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising recouping costs for the borrowed bandwidth by at least one:

(i) distribute a cost evenly among all subscribers;

(ii) distribute the cost among subscribers according to a user'"'"'s borrowing history for a period of time; and

(iii) distribute the cost based on a difference above an average borrowing usage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises a multiplexer one of directly billing the borrower and billing a borrower'"'"'s service provider.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises a multiplexer billing a borrower'"'"'s credit card company or service.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an electronic token to facilitate the establishing or the compensation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the electronic token is an identification token containing no direct means for the compensation.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the electronic token is a identification token which is authenticated through a service so as to provide the compensation instructions.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the identification token has no value outside the ad hoc network.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein information in the identification token and a transaction receipt is passed back to a service provider of the at least one lender.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the electronic token is a payment token containing externally recognized account information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the account information is at least one of a credit card account, a bank account, a payment service account, or an on-line payment service account.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating a transaction associated with the compensation.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions comprises providing a service a percentage of the compensation from the at least one lender.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation instructions is leveling payments which provides an equitable distribution of the compensation made by the borrower.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising debiting an account of the borrower.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports a computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 1.

23. A method, comprising:

establishing an ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth; and

setting a compensation schedule between the borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth;

compensating the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower based on the compensation schedule.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the compensation schedule includes one of:

the at least one lender directly billing the borrower;

a lender'"'"'s service provider billing the borrower;

a lender'"'"'s service provider billing a borrower'"'"'s service provider; and

a multiplexer to one of directly billing the borrower or billing a borrower'"'"'s service provider.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising periodically reconciling overall bandwidth borrowing between service providers of the borrower and the at least one lender.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising providing an electronic token to facilitate the compensation, wherein the electronic token one of:

(i) contains no direct means for compensation;

(ii) has no value outside the ad hoc network;

(iii) contains identification which is authenticated through a service so as to provide the compensation schedule; and

(iv) contains externally recognized account information.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the account information is at least one of a credit card account, a bank account, a payment service account, or an on-line payment service account.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the compensation is leveling payments which provides an equitable distribution of the compensation made by the borrower.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the steps of claim 23 are provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains and supports a computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 23.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising periodically reconciling bandwidth allocations from service providers of the borrower and the at least one lender.

32. A method for providing a payment scheme in an ad hoc network, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

establish an ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth; and

compensate the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower.

33. A system comprising a server having a database containing data associated with one or more payment instructions for implementation in an ad-hoc network, and at least one of a hardware and software component for establishing the ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth, and compensating the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower based on the one or more payment instructions.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one of a hardware and software component is configured to one of:

permit the at least one lender to directly bill the borrower;

permit a lender'"'"'s service provider to bill the borrower; and

permit a lender'"'"'s service provider to bill a borrower'"'"'s service provider.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one of a hardware and software component is configured to periodically reconcile overall bandwidth borrowing between service providers of the borrower and the at least one lender.

36. The system of claim 33, further comprising a multiplexer which directly bills the borrower or borrower'"'"'s service provider based on the payment instructions and borrowed bandwidth.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the multiplexer reconciles account information and notifies a service regarding a transaction between the at least one lender and the borrower.

38. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one of a hardware and software component includes an electronic token to facilitate the compensation, wherein the electronic token one of:

(i) contains no direct means for compensation transfer;

(ii) has no value outside the bandwidth sharing system;

(iii) contains identification which is authenticated through a service so as to provide compensation instruction; and

(iv) contains externally recognized account information.

39. The system of claim 33, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the at least one of a hardware and software component.

40. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one of a hardware and software component resides on a server provided by a service provider.

41. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

establish an ad-hoc network between a borrower and at least one lender of bandwidth; and

provide compensation instructions to compensate the at least one lender of bandwidth for lending the bandwidth to the borrower.