Billing in mobile communications system employing wireless application protocol

• US 7,885,637 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Data Advisors LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Huostila, Tero, Juntunen, Ari, Keinänen, Kimmo, Immonen, Marko
• Primary Examiner(s): Addy; Anthony S.
• Application Number:
  US11/511,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20070060102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,625 Days
• Field of Search: 455405-408, 455/414.1, 455/456.3, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455418-420, 705/1, 705/34, 705/40, 709/206, 709/226, 709/203, 709217-219, 709223-224, 379/114.03, 379/114.28, 725 1- 8
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• 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 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8214 Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2013 Fixed data network, e.g. PDN, ATM, B-ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2026 Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/204 UMTS; GPRS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2073 Multipoint, e.g. messaging, broadcast or group SMS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 : Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/28 : SMS billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 : Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/782 : Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 : Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 : Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

The invention relates to a network part and a method for generating billing data in a mobile communications system employing a wireless application protocol. The network part of the mobile communications system comprises: means for setting up a bi-directional wireless data transmission connection to a subscriber terminal; means for transmitting a service request sent by the subscriber terminal to a contents server providing the service; means for transmitting response data generated in the contents server on the basis of the service request to the subscriber terminal; identifying means for identifying transactions associated with the service from among the service requests and the response data on the basis of the identification of the Internet address of the service referred to in the service request and the response data; and billing means for generating billing data for the service using the transactions identified on the basis of the service'"'"'s Internet address.

Claims

1. A method adapted for use in a mobile communication system employing a wireless application protocol, the method comprising:

receiving, at a gateway, a service request from a mobile subscriber for a service associated with a contents server, said service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL);

transmitting, from the gateway, said service request received from the mobile subscriber to said contents server associated with the service;

receiving, at the gateway, associated response data generated by said contents server, at least in part, on the basis of said service request;

analyzing at least a part of said Internet address URL to identify a billable transaction for said service, wherein said analyzing comprises determining if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL;

if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL, attempting to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record;

if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no service parameters are present within the Internet address URL, determining the service name based on the Internet address URL; and

generating billing data based on the analyzing of at least part of said Internet address URL.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding said associated response data to said mobile subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the service parameters are identified based on separator characters placed in between the service parameters.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing one or more invoices from an invoice handling part of the gateway to an outside billing system or to the mobile subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL, a service parameter, a service priority, and a service name.

7. A method adapted for use in a mobile communication system employing a wireless application protocol, the method comprising:

receiving, at a billing node, a service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL) and response data;

analyzing, at the billing node, at least a part of said Internet address URL to identify a billable transaction, wherein said analyzing comprises determining if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL;

if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL, attempting to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record;

if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no service parameters are present within the Internet address URL, determining the service name based on the Internet address URL; and

generating billing data based on the analyzing of at least part of said Internet address URL.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising informing the gateway that the response data may be sent to the subscriber terminal.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the service parameters are identified based on separator characters placed in between the service parameters.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising directing one or more invoices to an outside billing system or to the mobile subscriber.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL, a service parameter, a service priority, and a service name.

13. An apparatus adapted for use in a mobile communication system employing a wireless application protocol, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a service request from a mobile subscriber for a service associated with a contents server, said service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL);

means for transmitting said service request received from the mobile subscriber to said contents server associated with the service;

means for receiving associated response data generated by said contents server, at least in part, on the basis of said service request;

means for analyzing at least a part of said Internet address URL to identify a billable transaction for said service, wherein the means for analyzing determines if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL,

wherein the means for analyzing attempts to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record if the means for analyzing identifies one or more service parameters within the Internet address URL, and

wherein the means for analyzing determines a service name based on the Internet address URL if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no service parameters are present within the Internet address URL; and

means for generating billing data based on the analyzing of at least part of said Internet address URL.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

means for forwarding said associated response data to said mobile subscriber.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the service parameters are identified based on separator characters placed in between the service parameters.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising means for directing one or more invoices to an outside billing system or to the mobile subscriber.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the data records each include an Internet address URL, a service parameter, a service priority, and a service name.

19. An apparatus adapted for use in a mobile communication system employing a wireless application protocol, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL) and response data;

means for analyzing at least a part of said Internet address URL to identify a billable transaction, wherein the means for analyzing comprises means for determining if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL,

wherein the means for analyzing attempts to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record if the means for analyzing identifies one or more service parameters within the Internet address URL, and

wherein the means for analyzing determines the service name based on the Internet address URL if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no service parameters are present within the Internet address URL; and

means for generating billing data based on the analyzing of at least part of said Internet address URL.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for informing a gateway that the response data may be sent to the subscriber terminal.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the service parameters are identified based on separator characters placed in between the service parameters.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more data records each include an Internet address URL.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for directing invoices to outside billing systems or to the mobile subscriber.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the data records each include an Internet address URL, a service parameter, a service priority, and a service name.

25. A gateway configured to:

receive a service request from a mobile subscriber for a service associated with a contents server, said service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL);

transmit said service request received from a mobile subscriber to said contents server associated with the service;

receive associated response data generated by said contents server, at least in part, on the basis of said service request;

analyze at least a part of said Internet address URL to identify a billable transaction for said service by determining if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL;

if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL, the gateway is configured to attempt to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record;

if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no parameters are present with the Internet address URL, the gateway is configured to determine the service name based on the Internet address URL; and

generate billing data based on the analysis of at least part of one of said Internet address URL.

26. A billing node configured to:

receive a service request associated with an Internet address Universal Resource Locator (URL) and response data;

determine if one or more service parameters can be identified within at least a part of the Internet address URL;

if one or more service parameters can be identified within the Internet address URL, attempt to determine a service name based on the one or more service parameters by comparing at least a portion of the one or more service parameters with one or more data records stored in a database in accordance with a service priority order that is set based on a number of service parameters associated with a particular data record;

if the service name cannot be determined based on the one or more service parameters or if no parameters are present with the Internet address URL, determine the service name based on the Internet address URL; and

generate billing data based on the analysis of at least part of said Internet address URL.