Accounting and billing based on network use

• US 6,208,977 B1
• Filed: 09/10/1999
• Issued: 03/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Evident Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apogee Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Kusnetsov, Dmitry, Tapia, Pablo E., Hernandez, Milton B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US09/394,004
• Time in Patent Office: 564 Days
• Field of Search: 377/13, 377/14, 377/15, 377/16, 379/100.04, 379/111, 379/114, 705/30, 705/34, 705/400, 705/418
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1432 Metric aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1471 splitting of costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/81 Dynamic pricing, e.g. change of tariff during call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8214 Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/825 based on the number of used channels, e.g. bundling channels, frequencies or CDMA codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0112 Dynamic pricing, e.g. change of tariff during call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/782 Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7853 Based on the number of used channels, e.g. bundling channels or frequencies or CDMA codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7886 Apply cheapest or best package, e.g. selection among available tariffs or packages

Abstract

A method and a system determines billing information for use of a network. For a data transmission on a path between a pair of node locations, the price for the transmission depends, inter alia, on the amount of data transported and the price of using the path. The method collects traffic data for data transmissions sent over links of the network, selects a set of paths connecting each pair of node locations, and determines a price for data transported between the pairs. The method bills an allocated portion of the total price for each pair to each node location of the pair.

Claims

1. A method of billing users according to their usage of a network having a plurality of links interconnecting a plurality of node locations, comprising:

determining a usage price per unit bandwidth for a virtual path between a first and second node locations, the usage price being proportional to a sum of usage prices of links of a set of paths between the first and second node locations;

collecting traffic date for an amount of data transported between the first and second node locations;

calculating a total price equal to the amount of data transported times the usage price per unit bandwidth; and

transmitting a bill including the total price to each of the users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of apportioning includes using a price responsibility level matrix to determine the apportionment of the total price.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining nominal usage for each link, the bandwidth of a specific link being a full bandwidth of the specific link times the nominal usage of the specific link.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set comprises shortest paths of links between the first and second node locations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the act of collecting traffic data comprises:

retrieving the traffic data from a set of collection units distributed in the network; and

removing double counting of traffic from the received traffic data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an effective bandwidth of the virtual path, the usage price per unit bandwidth being the sum divided by the effective bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the effective bandwidth of the virtual path equals an equivalent bandwidth of a virtual link produced from the set of links by:

replacing a serially connected pair of links of the set by a first new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a minimum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

replacing a pair of links of the set connected in parallel by a second new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a sum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

repeating said acts of replacing on remaining links of the set until one link remains, the one remaining link being the virtual link.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

apportioning the total price between the first and second locations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of apportioning includes:

deciding which of the first or second node locations is responsible for initiating the data transport therebetween; and

apportioning the total price to the responsible node address.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of billing apportions unequal portions of the total price to the first and second node locations in response to the node locations belonging to different billing classes.

11. A method of billing users according to usage of a network, the network having a plurality of links interconnecting, at least, two node locations, comprising:

determining a usage price per unit bandwidth for transmitting data between first and second node locations;

collecting traffic data for the amount of data transported from the first node address to the second node location;

calculating a total price for the data transported, the total price being the usage price per unit bandwidth times the amount of data transported;

apportioning the total price between the first and second node locations according to one of a price responsibility matrix and a rate plan; and

transmitting a bill, according to one of the price responsibility matrix and the rate plan, to each of the users, the bill including the apportioned total price.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of apportioning includes:

deciding which of the first or second node locations is responsible for initiating the data transport therebetween; and

apportioning the total price to the responsible node location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of collecting traffic data comprises:

receiving the traffic data from a set of collection units distributed in the network; and

removing double counting of traffic from the received traffic data.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the usage price per unit bandwidth is proportional to a sum of usage prices of a set of links of shortest paths between the first and second node locations.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

measuring nominal usage data for each link of the set; and

defining the bandwidth of each specific link to be a full bandwidth of the specific link times the nominal usage of the specific link.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining an effective bandwidth of the virtual path, the usage price per unit bandwidth being the sum divided by the effective bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the effective bandwidth of the virtual path equals an equivalent bandwidth of a virtual link produced from the set of links by:

replacing a serially connected pair of links of the set by a first new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a minimum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

replacing a pair of links of the set connected in parallel by a second new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a sum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

repeating said acts of replacing on remaining links of the set until one link remains, the one remaining link being the virtual link.

18. A system for billing use of a network having a plurality of links interconnecting nodes of the network, at least two of said node having node locations, comprising:

a plurality of collection units, each collection unit coupled to a separate link of the network and adapted to accumulate traffic data on the amount of data transported over the coupled link between pairs of node locations; and

a subsystem coupled to receive the data accumulated by the collections units and adapted to determine a total price for data transported from a first to a second node location, the total price being the amount of data transported from the first to the second node location times a usage price for a virtual path between said first and second node locations, the subsystem further adapted to transmit a bill, which includes the total price, to each of the users.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the subsystem is adapted to produce billing information for a particular node location based on the total prices for data transported from the particular node location to other node locations.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the subsystem is adapted to apportion the total prices between the first and second node locations of each pair based on billing classes of the node locations.

21. An article comprising a computer-readable medium which stores computer-executable instructions for a method of billing users according to their usage of a network, the network having a plurality of links interconnecting a plurality of node locations, the instructions causing a computer to:

determine a usage price per unit bandwidth for a virtual path between a first and second node locations, the usage price being proportional to a sum of usage prices of links of a set of paths between the first and second node locations;

collect traffic date for an amount of data transported between the first and second node locations;

calculate a total price equal to the amount of data transported times the usage price per unit bandwidth; and

transmit a bill including the total price to each of the users.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the act of apportioning includes using a price response matrix to determine the apportionment of the total usage.

23. The device of claim 21, the method further comprising:

determining nominal usage for each link, the bandwidth of a specific link being a full bandwidth of the specific link times the nominal usage of the specific link.

24. The device of claim 21, wherein the set comprises shortest paths of links between the first and second node locations.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the act of collecting traffic data comprises:

receiving the traffic data from a set of collection units distributed in the network; and

removing double counting of traffic from the received traffic data.

26. The device of claim 21, the method further comprising:

determining an effective bandwidth of the virtual path, the usage price per unit bandwidth being the sum divided by the effective bandwidth.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the effective bandwidth of the virtual path equals an equivalent bandwidth of a virtual link produced from the set of links by:

replacing a serially connected pair of links of the set by a first new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a minimum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

replacing a pair of links of the set connected in parallel by a second new link having an equivalent bandwidth equal to a sum of the bandwidths of the links replaced; and

repeating said acts of replacing on remaining links of the set until one link remains, the one remaining link being the virtual link.

28. The device of claim 21, the method further comprising:

apportioning the total price between the first and second locations.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein the act of billing apportions unequal portions of the total price to the first and second node locations in response to the node locations belonging to different billing classes.

30. The device of claim 28, wherein the act of apportioning includes:

deciding which of the first or second node locations is responsible for initiating the data transport therebetween; and

apportioning the total price to the responsible node location.