Systems and Methods for Billing Content Providers for Designated Content Delivered Over a Data Network

• US 20130238473A1
• Filed: 03/06/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edgio Incorporated
• Original Assignee: EdgeCast Networks (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Fan, Jerry, Lientz, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Some embodiments provide multi-tenant billing systems and methods whereby data network usage fees that are associated with delivering select content of different content providers over a data network are passed to the content provider that originates or is the source for that select content instead of the end users that request and receive the select content. A deep packet inspection server or a billing server may be configured with a list of identifiers to distinguish between the network usage that is related to the delivery of the designated free content from the network usage that is not related to the delivery of the designated free content. The network usage can be distinguished by filtering or processing usage logs that track the network usage using the configured list of identifiers. Such filtering or processing can be done in real-time or in a delayed manner in a standalone or integrated system.

Claims

1. A data network that provides a plurality of end users metered access to content from an external data network that is communicably coupled to the data network, the data network comprising:

a caching server i) serving to at least one particular end user of the plurality of end users select content of a content provider on behalf of the content provider and ii) tracking data network usage that is related to serving the select content to the particular end user;

a deep packet inspection (DPI) server inspecting content that is passed to the plurality of end users in order to log usage of the data network by the plurality of end users, the DPI server i) configured with at least one identifier for identifying the select content and ii) configured to track usage of the data network that is not related to delivery of the select content by filtering usage of the data network that is related to delivery of content comprising the at least one identifier; and

a billing server i) interfacing with the caching server and the DPI server to identify the tracked data network usage, ii) assessing a usage fee to the particular end user for data network usage by the particular end user that is not related to the delivery of the select content to the particular end user and iii) assessing a usage fee to the content provider for data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content to the at least one end user.

2. The data network of claim 1, wherein the caching server tracks to a server log, the data network usage that is related to serving the select content.

3. The data network of claim 2, wherein the DPI server is configured to track to a plurality of end user usage logs, the usage of the data network that is not related to the delivery of the select content by filtering from the plurality of end user usage logs, the usage of the data network that is related to the delivery of content comprising the at least one identifier.

4. The data network of claim 3, wherein the billing server assesses the usage fee to the particular end user based on a particular end user usage log of the plurality of end user usage logs that is filtered to track data network usage by the particular end user that is not related to delivery of the select content to the particular end user.

5. The data network of claim 3, wherein the billing server assesses the usage fee to the content provider based on the server log that tracks the data network usage that is related to the delivery of the content provider'"'"'s select content.

6. The data network of claim 1, wherein the DPI server is configured with at least one identifier that comprises at least one of i) an identifier for identifying the content provider that provides the select content, ii) an identifier for identifying an application for accessing the select content from a network enabled device of the particular end user, iii) a DNS request for the select content, and iv) a URL identifying the select content.

7. For a data network that provides a plurality of end users metered access to content from an external data network that is communicably coupled to the data network, a billing system comprising a microprocessor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for billing for usage of the data network by the plurality of end user subscribers, wherein the program instructs the microprocessor to perform sets of instructions for:

tracking data network usage that is related to content that is delivered to the plurality of end users;

tracking data network usage that is related to delivery of designated content of a content provider by identifying a set of the plurality of end users the designated content is delivered to and by metering data network usage related to delivering the designated content to each end user of the set of end users;

processing the tracked data network usage to determine billable data network usage by a particular end user of the plurality of end users by removing data network usage that is related to delivery of the designated content to the particular end user from overall data network usage by the particular end user; and

billing the particular end user for the billable data network usage, wherein the billable data network usage includes data network usage by the particular end user that is not related to delivery of the designated content and does not include data network usage by the particular end user that is related to the delivery of the designated content.

8. The billing system of claim 7, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for billing the content provider for usage of the data network that is related to delivery of the designated content to the set of end users.

9. The billing system of claim 7, wherein the set of instructions for billing the particular end user comprises i) a set of instructions for deducting the data network usage by the particular end user that is not related to the delivery of the designated content from an allotted amount of usage that is provided as part of a data network access plan subscribed to by the particular end user and ii) a set of instructions for not deducting from the allotted amount of usage for the data network usage by the particular end user that is related to the delivery of the designated content.

10. The billing system of claim 7, wherein the set of instructions for billing the particular end user comprises i) a set of instructions for billing the particular end user on a per increment amount for the data network usage by the particular end user that is not related to the delivery of the designated content and ii) a set of instructions for not billing the particular end user for the data network usage by the particular end user that is related to the delivery of the designated content.

11. A data network that provides a plurality of end user subscribers of the data network metered access to content from an external data network, wherein the external data network is communicably coupled to the data network, the data network comprising:

a caching server i) serving to at least one particular end user subscriber of the plurality of end user subscribers, select content of a content provider on behalf of the content provider and ii) tracking to a server log, data network usage that is related to serving the select content to the particular end user subscriber;

a deep packet inspection (DPI) server tracking usage of the data network by each end user subscriber of the plurality of end user subscribers to an end user usage log of a plurality of end user usage logs; and

a billing server assessing a fee to a particular end user subscriber of the plurality of end user subscribers based on billable data network usage by the particular end user subscriber, the billable data network usage determined by filtering data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content to the particular end user subscriber from overall data network usage by the particular end user subscriber, wherein the overall data network usage by the particular end user subscriber is tracked to a particular end user usage log of the plurality of end user usage logs.

12. The data network of claim 11, wherein the billing server further assesses a fee to the content provider based on the tracked data network usage that is related to serving the select content of the particular end user subscriber.

13. The data network of claim 11, wherein the billing server further aggregates the particular end user log from the DPI server when assessing the fee to the particular end user subscriber.

14. The data network of claim 11, wherein the billing server is further configured with at least one identifier for identifying data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content from the particular end user usage log.

15. The data network of claim 14, wherein the billing server further filters the data network usage from the particular end user usage log that is related to delivery of content comprising the at least one identifier.

16. The data network of claim 11, wherein filtering data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content to the particular end user comprises removing the data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content from the particular end user log.

17. The data network of claim 11, wherein filtering data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content to the particular end user subscriber comprises zeroing out the data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content from the particular end user log.

18. The data network of claim 11, wherein filtering data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content to the particular end user subscriber comprises crediting the particular end user subscriber for the data network usage that is related to delivery of the select content.