System and method for a service metering framework in a network environment

• US 9,276,828 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2015
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ravi, Gunupuree, Joglekar, Meghana S., Sharma, Sahil, Xue, Yun, Batra, Alok
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US14/613,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20150149628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 391 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/51 for resellers, retailers or service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/82 Criteria or parameters used for performing billing operations

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment executed at a service metering framework (SMF) engine including a processor, and includes interfacing, by an event listener at the SMF engine, with an application being executed in a cloud by a remote client device, detecting a metering event associated with the application during execution of the application, receiving a value of at least one metering attribute associated with the metering event, and storing the at least one metering attribute and the value as a formatted metered record in a SMF database searchable according to the metering attribute. In a specific embodiment, the event listener exposes an application programming interface (API) of the SMF engine to the application to facilitate definitions of the metering event and the at least one metering attribute in the application.

Claims

1. A method executed at a service metering framework (SMF) engine including a processor, comprising:

interfacing, by an event listener at the SMF engine, with an application being executed in a cloud by a remote client device through a metering plugin tailored to the application, with different applications being associated with different metering plugins, the metering plugin being programmed to indicate metering events to the event listener;

detecting, by the event listener, a metering event associated with an operation in the application during execution of the application, the metering event including at least one metering attribute of the application, with different applications having correspondingly different metering attributes associated with respective functionalities inside application contexts;

receiving, at the metering plugin, a value of the at least one metering attribute associated with the metering event in a formatted metered record; and

storing the at least one metering attribute and the value as the formatted metered record in a SMF database searchable according to the metering attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event listener comprises at least one of a synchronous listener and an asynchronous listener.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the event listener exposes an application programming interface (API) of the SMF engine to the application facilitating definitions of the metering event and the at least one metering attribute in the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event listener interfaces with a metering client that sends information regarding the metering event to the event listener.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the metering client synchronously sends information regarding the metering event to the event listener during occurrence of the metering event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event listener comprises a metering consumer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the event listener comprises a REpresentational State Transfer (REST) module.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the metering plugin is configured to interface with a metering agent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is configured with a meterable object indicating the at least one metering attribute prior to execution of the application by the remote client device, wherein the value is populated during execution of the application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the metering event is detected based on at least one of metadata definitions added during execution of the application and metadata definitions added prior to execution of the application.

11. Non-transitory computer readable media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution by a processor of an SMF engine to perform operations comprising:

interfacing, by an event listener at the SMF engine, with an application being executed in a cloud by a remote client device through a metering plugin tailored to the application, with different applications being associated with different metering plugins, the metering plugin being programmed to indicate metering events to the event listener;

detecting, by the event listener, a metering event associated with an operation in the application during execution of the application, the metering event including at least one metering attribute of the application, with different applications having correspondingly different metering attributes associated with respective functionalities inside application contexts; and

receiving, at the metering plugin, a value of the at least one metering attribute associated with the metering event in a formatted metered record; and

storing the at least one metering attribute and the value as the formatted metered record in a SMF database searchable according to the metering attribute.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein the event listener comprises at least one of a synchronous listener and an asynchronous listener.

13. The media of claim 11, wherein the event listener exposes an API of the SMF engine to the application facilitating definitions of the metering event and the at least one metering attribute in the application.

14. The media of claim 11, wherein the event listener interfaces with a metering client that sends information regarding the metering event to the event listener.

15. The media of claim 11, wherein the application is configured with a meterable object indicating the at least one metering attribute prior to execution of the application by the remote client device, wherein the value is populated during execution of the application.

16. An apparatus implementing an SMF engine, comprising:

an event listener;

a metering plugin;

a memory element to store data; and

a processor to execute instructions associated with the data, wherein the event listener, the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

interfacing, by the event listener, with an application being executed in a cloud by a remote client device through the metering plugin, wherein the metering plugin is tailored to the application, with different applications being associated with different metering plugins, the metering plugin being programmed to indicate metering events to the event listener;

detecting, by the event listener, a metering event associated with an operation in the application during execution of the application, the metering event including at least one metering attribute of the application, with different applications having correspondingly different metering attributes associated with respective functionalities inside application contexts;

receiving, at the metering plugin, a value of the at least one metering attribute associated with the metering event in a formatted metered record; and

storing the at least one metering attribute and the value as the formatted metered record in a SMF database searchable according to the metering attribute.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the event listener comprises at least one of a synchronous listener and an asynchronous listener.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the event listener exposes an API of the SMF engine to the application facilitating definitions of the metering event and the at least one metering attribute in the application.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the event listener interfaces with a metering client that sends information regarding the metering event to the event listener.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the application is configured with a meterable object indicating the at least one metering attribute prior to execution of the application by the remote client device, wherein the value is populated during execution of the application.