System and Method to Determine Network Usage

• US 20100318647A1
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Blackburn, Stuart, Savoor, Raghvendra, Manthoulis, Orestis
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8027 based on network load situation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0152 General billing plans, rate plans, e.g. charge rates, numbering plans, rate centers, customer accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number

Abstract

Systems and methods to measure network usage are provided. A particular method includes collecting first usage data from a first network device of a network at a network usage tracking system. The first network device determines the first usage data based on an inband measurement of data passing through the first network device. The method includes collecting second usage data from a second network device of the network at the network usage tracking system. The first network device and the second network device are different network devices. The method includes matching the first usage data and the second usage data to user accounts. The network usage data is determined based on the first usage data, the second usage data, and the user accounts.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting first usage data from a first network device at a network usage tracking system, the first usage data associated with usage of a network at a first location;

collecting second usage data from a second network device at the network usage tracking system, the second usage data associated with usage of the network for a particular user identification and network address;

retrieving user information at the network usage tracking system, the user information including information associating the first usage data with a user account and information associating the second usage data with the user account;

determining first network usage at the first location for the user account for a first time interval based on the first usage data and the user information;

determining second network usage for the user account for the first time interval based on the second usage data and the user information; and

sending usage data for the user account from the network usage tracking system to a billing system, wherein the usage data comprises at least a portion of the first network usage.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining aggregate usage data for the user account for the first time interval based on the first network usage and the second network usage;

wherein sending the usage data for the user account comprises sending the aggregate usage data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first usage data corresponds to broadband usage.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the network comprises an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first usage data comprises an uploaded cell count and a downloaded cell count.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first usage data is collected at a second time interval having a length such that a counter of the first network device does not roll over more than a single time during the second time interval based on at least one of an upper data rate limit for downloading data and an upper data rate limit for uploading data for the user account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first network usage comprises adjusting the first usage data to compensate for network overhead bytes counted in the first usage data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein adjusting the first usage data comprises applying an upload correction factor to an uploaded bytes value determined from an uploaded cell count measured at the first network device and applying a download correction factor to a downloaded bytes value determined from a downloaded cell count measured at the first network device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a user upload correction factor based on the uploaded bytes value determined from the first usage data and a second uploaded bytes value from the second usage data when the second uploaded bytes satisfies an upload threshold determined based on an upper data rate limit for uploading available to the user account;

determining a user download correction factor based on the downloaded bytes value determined from the first usage data and a second downloaded bytes value determined from the second usage data when the second downloaded bytes value satisfies a download threshold determined based on an upper data rate limit for downloading available to the user account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network device comprises a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM).

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network device comprises a remote terminal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network device comprises a residential gateway.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network device comprises a deep packet inspection device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting, at the network usage tracking system, third usage data from a third network device, the third usage data associated with usage of the network by session; and

determining third network usage by session for the user account for the first time interval based on the third usage data and based on user information associated with each session of the third usage data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining aggregate usage data for the user account for the first time interval based on the first network usage, the second network usage and the third network usage;

wherein sending the usage data for the user account comprises sending the aggregate usage data.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the third network device comprises a remote authentication dial in user service (Radius) server.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, at the network usage tracking system, cumulative network usage for the user account during a billing interval; and

generating an alert when the cumulative network usage for the user account exceeds a threshold.

18. A network usage tracking system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory accessible to the at least one processor, the at least one memory comprising;

a first agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve first usage data, the first usage data associated with usage of a network by location;

a second agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve second usage data, the second usage data associated with usage of the network by session;

a third agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve user information including information to enable association of portions of the first usage data to user accounts and to enable association of portions of the second usage data to the user accounts;

wherein the at least one processor determines first network usage associated with at least one user account for a first time period based on the first usage data and the user information;

wherein the at least one processor determines second network usage associated with the at least one user account for the first time period based on the second usage data and the user information; and

wherein the network usage tracking system is configured to send usage data associated with the at least one user account to a billing system, wherein the usage data comprises at least a portion of the first network usage.

19. The network of claim 18, wherein the usage data comprises the first network usage and the second network usage.

20. A network usage tracking system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory accessible to the at least one processor, the at least one memory comprising;

a first agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve first usage data, the first usage data associated with usage of a network by one or more sessions;

a second agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve second usage data, the second usage data associated with usage of the network by user identification and network address;

a third agent executable by the at least one processor to retrieve user information including information to enable association of portions of the first usage data to user accounts and association of portions of the second usage data to the user accounts;

wherein the at least one processor determines first network usage for at least one user account for a first time period based on the first usage data and the user information;

wherein the at least one processor determines second network usage for the at least one user account for the first time period based on the second usage data and the user information; and

wherein the network usage tracking system is configured to send usage data associated with the at least one user account to a billing system, wherein the usage data comprises at least a portion of the first network usage.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first network device comprises a class of service (CoS) queue.

22. A method, comprising:

collecting first usage data from a first network device of a network at a network usage tracking system, wherein the first network device determines the first usage data based on an inband measurement of data passing through the first network device;

collecting second usage data from a second network device of the network at the network usage tracking system, wherein the first network device and the second network device are different network devices;

matching the first usage data to user accounts;

matching the second usage data to the user accounts; and

storing network usage data for the user accounts at a memory of the network usage tracking system, wherein the network usage data is determined based on the first usage data, the second usage data, and the user accounts.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first usage data comprises aggregated packet data from a residential gateway device.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the first usage data comprises usage data from a class of service (CoS) queue.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising sending the network usage data to a billing system.