DYNAMIC, SUBSCRIBER DRIVEN CHARGING MODELS FOR MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

• US 20090177536A1
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: ALEXANDER, Michael E., Ramanathan, Sri, Schaffa, Frank A., Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,934,519 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.690
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• 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

Abstract

A system and method is provided to implement charging models for subscriber driven media agnostic content delivery across same or different networks. The method includes receiving content of a first media type over a network from a sending client. The method further includes sending the content or a reference to the content to a receiving client in a preferred media type and to a preferred device in accordance with at least one preference of the receiving client. The method also includes generating a billing record based on the content and user preferences of a sending client and/or a receiving client.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving content of a first media type over a network from a sending client;

sending the content or a reference to the content to a receiving client in a preferred media type and to a preferred device in accordance with at least one preference of the receiving client; and

generating a billing record based on the content and user preferences of a sending client and/or a receiving client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing record is provided to at least one of the sending client and receiving client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying at least one of the receiving client and the sending client of a billing occurrence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting and receiving location information of the receiving client in order to determine a billing amount.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preferences include at least one of:

a device or devices which are to receive the content;

time sensitivity of the content;

number of devices in which the content is to be sent to the receiving client;

number of times the content is to be sent to the receiving client;

amount of content that is to be sent by the sending client and/or viewed by the receiving client; and

whether the receiving client is a prepaid client, ad hoc client or post paid client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing record is based on computer resources required to send the content to the receiving client.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing record includes a premium billing charge based on at least one of transcoding required to send the content to the receiving client, time sensitive nature of the content, location of the preferred device, routing of the content to the receiving party, and type of the preferred device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a premium billing charge is based on a route that the content is sent through in a Messaging Gateway Framework.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing record reflects no charge or a discount charge when the receiving client views an advertisement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing record reflects no charge when the receiving party does not view the content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider generates the billing record for a fee or on a subscription basis.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are provided on a computing infrastructure which is at least one of maintained, deployed, supported and created by a service provider.

13. A method of charging a subscriber for sending subscriber driven media agnostic content delivery across different networks, comprising a computer infrastructure being operable to generate a billing report based on at least one of a type of content to be delivered and one or more charging preferences of a sending client and/or receiving client.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more charging preferences include at least one of a number of devices in which the content is to be sent to the receiving client, a number of times the content is to be sent to the receiving client;

a type of the content, a route in which the content is sent to the receiving party and whether the receiving client is a prepaid client, ad hoc client or post paid client.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the computer infrastructure is operable to charge a premium amount based on computer resources expanded in order to send the content to the receiving client.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to charge the premium amount based on at least one of a time sensitive nature of the content, location of a receiving device, amount of content that is to be viewed by the receiving client, amount of content that is sent by the sending party, and type of the receiving device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer infrastructure is operable to make no charge or a discount charge based on an agreement with the receiving client to view an advertisement.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the computing infrastructure is at least one of maintained, deployed, supported and created by a service provider.

19. A computer program product for charging of subscriber driven media agnostic content delivery across networks, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable media;

first program instructions to send the content or a reference to the content to a receiving client in a preferred media type and to a preferred device in accordance with at least one preference of the receiving client; and

second program instructions to generate a billing report based on at least one of a type of content to be delivered to the receiving client and one or more charging preferences of a sending client and/or the receiving client;

wherein

the first and second program instructions are stored on the computer readable media.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the charging preferences include at least one of:

a device or devices which are to receive the content;

time sensitivity of the content;

number of devices in which the content is to be sent to the receiving client;

number of times the content is to be sent to the receiving client;

amount of content that is to be sent by the sending client and/or viewed by the receiving client; and

whether the receiving client is a prepaid client, ad hoc client or post paid client.