REAL-TIME USAGE MONITORING FOR COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• US 20110300826A1
• Filed: 06/04/2010
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Patricia Ruey-Jane, Ritter, Phillip Andrew, Chan-Lizardo, Louis A., Hoffner, Barry F., Tiziani, Scott Alan, Ferro, Javier Alejandro
• Granted Patent: US 8,892,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1414 in real-time
• 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 15/59 based on real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8207 Time based data metric aspects, e.g. VoIP or circuit switched packet data

Abstract

A subscriber device receives a message from a network device external to the subscriber device, where the network device implements a first metering engine that meters usage of a network service by a subscriber using the subscriber device and where the message includes the subscriber'"'"'s usage data. The subscriber device includes a second usage metering engine that receives the subscriber'"'"'s usage data from the usage synchronization unit, and performs real-time metering of the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the network service, based on the subscriber'"'"'s usage data received from the network device and independently of the first metering engine of the network device, to generate real-time usage metering data. The second usage metering engine further outputs the real-time usage metering data to a display at the subscriber device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

starting a network session at a subscriber device;

receiving subscriber network service usage data at a first usage metering engine implemented at the subscriber device from a second usage metering engine implemented at a network device that is external to the subscriber device;

performing real-time metering of the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the network service, using the first usage metering engine, to generate real-time usage metering data;

displaying the real-time usage metering data at the subscriber device;

receiving updated subscriber network service usage data at the first metering engine from the second metering engine; and

synchronizing the generated real-time usage metering data with the received updated network service subscriber usage metering data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber device comprises a communication device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber device comprises one of a cable network Set-Top Box (STB), a mobile broadband card, a cellular radiotelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a palmtop computer, or a water or electrical service usage metering device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the synchronized real-time usage metering data at the subscriber device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated subscriber network service usage data is received periodically from the second metering engine and wherein the generated real-time usage metering data is periodically synchronized with the updated subscriber usage metering data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber network service usage data comprises at least one of a number of service units already used by the subscriber device or a number of service units remaining to be used by the subscriber device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the service units comprise minutes or a quantity of data used by the subscriber device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber network service usage data or the updated subscriber network service usage data is received at the first metering engine from the second metering engine via a Short Message Service (SMS) message or an Internet Protocol (IP) message.

9. A subscriber device, comprising:

a usage synchronization unit configured to receive a message from a network device external to the subscriber device, wherein the network device implements a first metering engine that meters usage of a network service by a subscriber using the subscriber device, wherein the message includes the subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data; and

a second usage metering engine configured to;

receive the subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data from the usage synchronization unit,

perform real-time metering of the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the network service, based on the subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data received from the network device and independently of the first metering engine of the network device, to generate real-time usage metering data, and

output the real-time usage metering data to a display at the subscriber device.

10. The subscriber device of claim 9, wherein the subscriber device comprises one of a cable network Set-Top Box (STB), a mobile broadband card, a cellular radiotelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a palmtop computer, or a water or electrical service usage metering device.

11. The subscriber device of claim 9, wherein the real-time usage metering data comprises network service unit usage data that is metered and maintained continuously based on usage of the network service at the subscriber device by the second usage metering engine.

12. The subscriber device of claim 9, wherein the second usage metering engine is configured to cause the real-time usage metering data to be displayed continuously at the subscriber device.

13. The subscriber device of claim 9, wherein the usage synchronization unit is further configured to receive a second message from the network device, wherein the second message includes updated subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data and wherein the second usage metering engine is further configured to synchronize the generated real-time usage metering data with the received updated subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data.

14. A computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processing unit at a subscriber device, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a message from a network device external to the subscriber device, wherein the network device implements a first metering engine that meters usage of a network service by a subscriber using the subscriber device and wherein the message includes the subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data;

one or more instructions for performing real-time metering of the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the network service, based on the subscriber'"'"'s network service usage data received from the network device and independently of the first metering engine of the network device, to generate real-time usage metering data; and

one or more instructions for causing the real-time usage metering data to be displayed on a display at the subscriber device.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the real-time usage metering data comprises network service unit usage data that is metered and maintained continuously based on usage of the network service at the subscriber device.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein one or more instructions for causing the real-time usage metering engine to be displayed on the display further comprise:

one or more instructions for outputting the real-time usage metering data for continuous display at the subscriber device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving another message from the network device, wherein the other message includes updated subscriber'"'"'s usage data; and

one or more instructions for synchronizing the generated real-time usage metering data with the received updated subscriber'"'"'s usage data.

18. A method, comprising:

providing an option to a subscriber to activate real-time usage monitoring of the subscriber'"'"'s usage of a network service at a subscriber device;

receiving subscriber usage data from a remote network node if the subscriber activates the real-time usage monitoring;

metering the subscriber'"'"'s usage of the network service, when the subscriber starts using the network service, to generate real-time usage metering data; and

outputting the generated real-time usage metering data for display to the subscriber.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the generated real-time usage metering data comprises current values for a number of service units used by the subscriber at the subscriber device and a number of remaining service units available to be used by the subscriber at the subscriber device.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving updated subscriber usage data from the remote network node; and

synchronizing the generated real-time usage metering data with the updated subscriber usage data to generate synchronized real-time usage metering data.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

outputting the synchronized real-time usage metering data for display.

22. The subscriber device of claim 18, wherein the subscriber device comprises one of a cable network Set-Top Box (STB), a mobile broadband card, a cellular radiotelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a palmtop computer, or a water or electrical service usage metering device.