SYSTEM, DEVICE AND METHODS FOR BILLING A USER FOR THEIR CONSUMPTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICES AND VIRTUALIZED CLOUD RESOURCES

• US 20150327042A1
• Filed: 05/06/2014
• Published: 11/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Kempf, James, Persson, Mikael
• Granted Patent: US 9,473,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1432 Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1457 using an account
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1467 involving prepayment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/64 On-line charging system [OCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/888 severing connection after predetermined time or data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A system, a device, and various methods are described herein for billing a user for their consumption of mobile broadband services which are monitored by a mobile broadband charging system and for their consumption of virtualized cloud resources which are monitored by a cloud operating system. In one example, the system comprises a commercially available mobile broadband charging system and a commercially available cloud operating system and then incorporates the device to combine the commercially available mobile broadband charging system and the commercially available cloud operating system in order to bill the user for their consumption of mobile broadband services and virtualized cloud resources.

Claims

1. A device configured for billing a user for their consumption of mobile broadband services which are monitored by a mobile broadband charging system and for their consumption of virtualized cloud resources which are monitored by a cloud operating system, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions where the processor interfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executable instructions to enable following;

a usage reporting interface;

a data center charging adaptation module that (1) periodically queries the cloud operating system for stored metering data associated with a monitored virtual resource usage of the user, (2) receives the metering data, (3) converts the metering data into a format supported by the mobile broadband charging system, and (4) calls the usage reporting interface to forward the converted metering data to the mobile broadband charging system; and

a query interface that (1) receives a billing request associated with the user, (2) obtains billing information associated with stored charges of a mobile broadband usage of the user and stored charges of the virtual resource usage of the user from the mobile broadband charging system, and (3) outputs the obtained billing information associated with the user.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein data center charging adaptation module further monitors an account of the user, disables access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and passivizes any active virtual resource instance if the account is out of funds, and re-enables access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and reactives any passivised virtual resource instances if the account is replenished with funds.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the stored metering data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user comprises at least one of

virtualized Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources;

virtualized Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources; and

virtualized Software as a Service (SaaS) resources.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the usage reporting interface is a usage reporting Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming interface (API); and

the query interface is a query REST API.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the billing request is a Uniform Resource Locator; and

the outputted billing information is either a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page, a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) object, or text.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein:

the billing request comprises following parameters;

A-number, a Charge Control (CC)-Time, CC-Total-Octets, CC-Service-Specific-Units, a Charging-Context-Identifier, a Requested-Action, a Service-Identifier, and a Return Format; and

the outputted billing information comprises following parameters;

a Session-Identifier, a CC-Time, CC-Total-Octets, CC-Service-Specific-Units, Cost, and a Result-Code.

7. A method in a device for billing a user for their consumption of mobile broadband services which are monitored by a mobile broadband charging system and for their consumption of virtualized cloud resources which are monitored by a cloud operating system, wherein the device comprises a usage reporting interface, a data center charging adaptation module, and a query interface, and wherein the method comprising:

operating the data center charging adaptation module to (1) periodically query the cloud operating system for stored metering data associated with a monitored virtual resource usage of the user, (2) receive the metering data, (3) convert the metering data into a format supported by the mobile broadband charging system, and (4) call the usage reporting interface to forward the converted metering data to the mobile broadband charging system; and

operating the query interface to (1) receive a billing request associated with the user, (2) obtain billing information associated with stored charges of a mobile broadband usage of the user and stored charges of the virtual resource usage of the user from the mobile broadband charging system, and (3) output the obtained billing information associated with the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein further operating the data center charging adaptation module to monitor an account of the user, disable access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and passivize any active virtual resource instance if the account is out of funds, and re-enable access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and reactive any passivised virtual resource instances if the account is replenished with funds.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the stored metering data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user comprises at least one of

virtualized Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources;

virtualized Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources; and

virtualized Software as a Service (SaaS) resources.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the usage reporting interface is a usage reporting Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API); and

the query interface is a query REST API.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the billing request is a Uniform Resource Locator; and

the outputted billing information is either a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page, a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) object, or text.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the billing request comprises following parameters;

A-number, a Charge Control (CC)-Time, CC-Total-Octets, CC-Service-Specific-Units, a Charging-Context-Identifier, a Requested-Action, a Service-Identifier, and a Return Format; and

the outputted billing information comprises following parameters;

a Session-Identifier, a CC-Time, CC-Total-Octets, CC-Service-Specific-Units, Cost, and a Result-Code.

13. A system configured for billing a user for their consumption of mobile broadband services and virtualized cloud resources, the system comprising:

a graphical user interface;

a mobile broadband charging system that (1) monitors mobile broadband usage of the user, (2) rates the monitored mobile broadband usage of the user, and (3) stores charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user;

a cloud operating system that (1) monitors virtual resource usage of the user, (2) meters data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user; and

(3) stores the metered data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user;

a device comprising;

a processor; and

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions where the processor interfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executable instructions to enable following;

a usage reporting interface;

a data center charging adaptation module that (1) periodically queries the cloud operating system for the stored metered data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user, (2) receives the metered data, (3) converts the metered data into a format supported by the mobile broadband charging system, and (4) calls the usage reporting interface to forward the converted metered data to the mobile broadband charging system, wherein the mobile broadband charging system rates the converted metered data and stores charges of the rated converted metered data of the monitored virtual resource usage of the user; and

a query interface that (1) receives a billing request associated with the user, (2) obtains billing information associated with the stored charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user and the stored charges associated with the rated converted data of the virtual resource usage of the user from the mobile broadband charging system, and (3) outputs the obtained billing information associated with the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein data center charging adaptation module further monitors an account of the user, disables access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and passivizes any active virtual resource instance if the account is out of funds, and re-enables access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and reactives any passivized virtual resource instances if the account is replenished with funds.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile broadband charging system further comprises a charging database configured to store the charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user and the charges of the rated converted data of the monitored virtual resource usage of the user.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the cloud operating system further comprises:

a data center identity management module configured to handle an authentication and authorization of the user;

a data center virtualized compute module configured to manage virtualized computer resources;

an object storage module configured to manage virtualized storage resources;

a data center network virtualization module configured to manage virtualized network resources, wherein the data center identity management module is coupled to the data center virtualized compute module, the object storage module and the data center network virtualization module;

a network of servers and storage devices coupled to the data center virtualized compute module, the object storage module and the data center network virtualization module;

a first virtualized resource usage metering module configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources consumed by the user;

a second virtualized resource usage metering module configured to configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources consumed by the user; and

a third virtualized resource usage metering module configured to configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Software as a Service (SaaS) resources consumed by the user.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the mobile broadband charging system is configured to use a diameter protocol; and

the cloud operating system is configured to operate using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

18. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the usage reporting interface is a usage reporting Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API); and

the query interface is a query REST API.

19. A method in a system for billing a user for their consumption of mobile broadband services and virtualized cloud resources, wherein the system comprises a graphical user interface, a mobile broadband charging system, a cloud operating system, and a device, the method comprising:

operating the mobile broadband charging system to (1) monitor mobile broadband usage of the user, (2) rate the monitored mobile broadband usage of the user, and (3) store charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user;

operating the cloud operating system to (1) monitor virtual resource usage of the user, (2) meter data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user, and (3) store the metered data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user;

operating the device which comprises a usage reporting interface, a data center charging adaptation module, and a query interface, wherein the operating the device comprises;

operating the data center charging adaptation module to (1) periodically query the cloud operating system for the stored metered data associated with the monitored virtual resource usage of the user, (2) receive the metered data, (3) convert the metered data into a format supported by the mobile broadband charging system, and (4) call the usage reporting interface to forward the converted metered data to the mobile broadband charging system, wherein the mobile broadband charging system further operates to rate the converted metered data and store charges of the rated converted metered data of the monitored virtual resource usage of the user; and

operating the query interface to (1) receive a billing request associated with the user, (2) obtain billing information associated with the stored charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user and the stored charges associated with the rated converted data of the virtual resource usage of the user from the mobile broadband charging system, and (3) output the obtained billing information associated with the user.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein further operating the data center charging adaptation module to monitor an account of the user, disable access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and passivize any active virtual resource instance if the account is out of funds, and re-enable access by the user to the virtualized cloud resources and reactive any passivised virtual resource instances if the account is replenished with funds.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the mobile broadband charging system further comprises a charging database configured to store the charges of the rated mobile broadband usage of the user and the charges of the rated converted data of the monitored virtual resource usage of the user.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the cloud operating system further comprises:

a data center identity management module configured to handle an authentication and authorization of the user;

a data center virtualized compute module configured to manage virtualized computer resources;

an object storage module configured to manage virtualized storage resources;

a data center network virtualization module configured to manage virtualized network resources, wherein the data center identity management module is coupled to the data center virtualized compute module, the object storage module and the data center network virtualization module;

a network of servers and storage devices coupled to the data center virtualized compute module, the object storage module and the data center network virtualization module;

a first virtualized resource usage metering module configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources consumed by the user;

a second virtualized resource usage metering module configured to configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources consumed by the user; and

a third virtualized resource usage metering module configured to configured to interact with the network of servers and storage devices and collect virtual resource usage data comprising virtualized Software as a Service (SaaS) resources consumed by the user.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the mobile broadband charging system is configured to use a diameter protocol; and

the cloud operating system is configured to operate using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

24. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the usage reporting interface is a usage reporting Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API); and

the query interface is a query REST API.