DEVICE ASSISTED CDR CREATION, AGGREGATION, MEDIATION AND BILLING

• US 20100197266A1
• Filed: 01/27/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,275,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1482 involving use of telephony infrastructure for billing for the transport of data, e.g. call detail record [CDR] or intelligent network infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/39 Credit based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/53 using mediation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/705 Account settings, e.g. limits or numbers or payment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/75 Account location specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/752 Terminal based account
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 : involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/82 : Criteria or parameters used for performing billing operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8257 : Unit based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 : characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 : Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0164 : Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0172 : Mediation, i.e. device or program to reformat CDRS from one or more switches in order to adapt to one or more billing programs formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2033 : WLAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/72 : Account specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7213 : Terminal based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/74 : Rating aspects, e.g. rating parameters or tariff determination apects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/78 : Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/786 : Unit based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7886 : Apply cheapest or best package, e.g. selection among available tariffs or packages least cost routing H04M2215/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 : Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Device assisted CDR creation, aggregation, mediation and billing is provided. In some embodiments, device assisted CDR creation, aggregation, mediation and billing for a wireless network includes collecting device generated service usage information for one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and providing the device generated service usage information in a syntax (e.g., a device assisted charging data record (CDR)) and a communication protocol (e.g., 3GPP, 3GPP2, or other communication protocols) that can be used by other network devices to augment or replace network generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor of a network device in communication with a wireless network, wherein the processor is configured to;

collect device generated service usage information for one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

provide the device generated service usage information in a syntax and a communication protocol that can be used by other network devices to augment or replace network generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR).

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the service usage information includes network service usage information.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the network device includes a service usage data store.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the network device includes a service usage data store and a rules engine for aggregating the collected device generated service usage information.

6. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

apply a set of rules to the aggregated CDRs using a rules engine.

7. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

apply a set of rules to the aggregated device assisted CDRs using a rules engine; and

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system.

8. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

verify the aggregated device assisted CDRs; and

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

verify the aggregated device assisted CDRs by comparing at least a subset of the aggregated device assisted CDRs to a set of network generated CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system based on the verifying of the aggregated device assisted CDRs.

10. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

apply a set of rules to the aggregated CDRs using a rules engine, wherein at least one rule includes a bill by account rule; and

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system.

11. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

is apply a set of rules to the aggregated device assisted CDRs using a rules engine, wherein at least one rule includes a bill by account rule; and

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system, wherein at least one CDR includes a billing offset.

12. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system.

13. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate with a service controller to collect the device generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network.

14. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate with a service controller, wherein the service controller is in communication with a billing interface or a billing system, and wherein the service controller communicates the device generated service usage information to the network device.

15. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate the device generated service usage information to a billing interface or a billing system.

16. The system recited in claim 1, wherein a service controller in communication with the network device performs a rules engine for aggregating and mediating the device generated service usage information.

17. The system recited in claim 1, wherein a rules engine device in communication with the network device performs a rules engine for aggregating and mediating the device generated is service usage information.

18. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate with a transport gateway or a Radio Access Network (RAN) gateway to collect the network generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network.

19. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

execute rules for performing a bill by account aggregation and mediation function.

20. A system, comprising:

a processor of an intermediate network device in communication with a wireless network, wherein the processor is configured to;

collect device generated service usage information for one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network via the intermediate network device; and

provide the device generated service usage information in a syntax and a communication protocol that can be used by other network devices to augment or replace network generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

21. The system recited in claim 20, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and wherein the processor is further configured to:

sending device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network, wherein the device assisted CDRs include a transaction code for is associating a user and/or the intermediate networking device with the service usage information.

22. A system, comprising:

a processor of a communications device in communication with a wireless network, wherein the processor is configured to;

generate device service usage information for the communications device based at least in part on a device service usage activity map, wherein the device service usage activity map includes a categorization of device service usage activities based on one or more of the following categories;

by URL, by network domain, by website, by network traffic type, and by application or application type; and

sending to a service controller the device generated service usage information in a syntax and a communication protocol that can be used to augment or replace network generated service usage information for the communications device; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

23. A method, comprising:

collecting device generated service usage information for one or more devices in wireless communication on a wireless network; and

providing the device generated service usage information in a syntax and a communication protocol that can be used by other network devices to augment or replace network generated service usage information for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network.

24. The method recited in claim 23, wherein the syntax is a charging data record (CDR).

25. The method recited in claim 23, further comprising:

aggregating device assisted CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network;

verifying the aggregated device assisted CDRs by comparing at least a subset of the aggregated device assisted CDRs to a set of network generated CDRs for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network; and

communicating a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system based on the verifying of the aggregated device assisted CDRs.