M2M billing reconciliation for the internet of things

• US 9,787,853 B1
• Filed: 07/18/2013
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Inventors: Balakrishnan, Subramanian
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Voltaire, Jean F
• Application Number:
  US13/945,645
• Time in Patent Office: 1,545 Days
• Field of Search: 370259
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/12 Discriminative metering , charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/24 preventing metering of tax-free calls to certain lines, e.g. to fire or ambulance stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/70 Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/725 by the operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/73 Validating charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward networks and more particularly to a method and system for providing information related to reconciliation billing in such networks. In one more embodiments, a computer implemented method provides for identifying discrepancies in billable events of one or more of a customer'"'"'s network elements which have been compared with operator usage data.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for use in machine to machine (M2M) network for Internet of Things (IoT);

the method comprising;

receiving customer usage information regarding one or more billable activities from one or more network elements in relation to devices used on the associated network by a billing and analytic system;

receiving customer usage information usage regarding the one or more billable activities from one or more data sources of the operator in relation to the devices used on the associated network by the billing and analytic system;

comparing the received customer usage information from one or more network elements and the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator for one or more discrepancies in relation to the one or more billable activities by a reconciliation engine; and

reporting one or more identified discrepancies in accordance with the one or more billable activities.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the received customer usage information from one or more network elements and the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator further comprises:

rating the received customer usage information from one or more network elements in a predetermined order and comparing the rated customer information with the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator in accordance with the predetermined order.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined order is associated with the one or more billable events.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined order includes rating the one or more billable events by a predetermined hierarchy for arranging the one or more billable activities in relation thereto.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises providing the report to a customer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further includes updating a price plan system in response to the report.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the updated price plan system includes billing updates to reduce leakage errors regarding customer billing.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the report is generated by a report generator.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the network elements comprise any type of device, appliance, terminal, remote device, or wireless asset.

10. A system for use in an machine to machine (M2M) network for Internet of Things (IoT), the system comprising:

a reconciliation engine for comparing received customer usage information regarding one or more billable activities from one or more network elements in relation to devices used on the associated network by a billing and analytic system; and

received customer usage information regarding the one or more billable activities from one or more data sources of the operator for one or more discrepancies in relation to the one or more billable activities; and

a billing and analytics system for i) receiving the received customer usage information from one or more network elements and the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator and ii) generating one or more reports in response to the reconciliation engine identifying one or more discrepancies.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the network elements comprise any type of device, appliance, terminal, remote device, or wireless asset.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the billing and analytics system produces reports for the customer based upon the usage of the one or more network elements in relation to the one or more billable events.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the billing and analytics system includes a rating engine for rating the received customer usage information in relation to one or more billable activities in a predetermined manner.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the predetermined manner is associated with the one or more billable events.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the report is provided to one or more customers.

16. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for use in machine to machine (M2M) network for Internet of Things (IoT);

containing program instructions for;

receiving customer usage information regarding one or more billable activities from one or more network elements in relation to devices used on the associated network by a billing and analytic system;

receiving customer usage information regarding the one or more billable activities from one or more data sources of the operator in relation to the devices used on the associated network by the billing and analytic system;

comparing the received customer usage information from one or more network elements and the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator for one or more discrepancies in relation to the one or more billable activities by a reconciliation engine; and

generating one or more reports indicating one or more identified discrepancies in accordance with the one or more billable activities.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 which includes rating the received customer usage information from one or more network elements in a predetermined order and comparing the rated customer usage information from one or more network elements with the received customer usage information from one or more data sources of the operator in accordance with the predetermined order.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, further including a customer function, an accounting function, and a price plan system, wherein the report provides reconciliation information to an accounts department function and the accounts function provides for modifying the price plan system to optimize the one or billable events for the customer function.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the network elements comprise any type of device, appliance, terminal, remote device, or wireless asset.