System and Methods for Time Dependent Internet Pricing
First Claim
1. A system and methods of enabling, optimizing, and leveraging time-dependent pricing for mobile data traffic in wireless and wireline networks, wherein the system comprises:
- (i) a price-optimization computational module that takes in historical and current network congestion and historical and predicted user reactions to compute the best time-dependent prices for a plurality of upcoming timeslots so as to minimize the total cost incurred to the wireless network operator,(ii) a user profiling module that takes in user reaction data to characterize a model of how much traffic each user s application will be willing to defer to a later point in time under a given pricing incentive,(iii) a user interface module that displays the computed prices that vary over time, so that a user, or an automatic agent acting on behalf of the user, can choose which time it should use a certain amount of mobile data,(iv) a network measurement module that collects the actual traffic coming from each application, or a group of applications, from each user and device, over each period of time.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatuses, systems and methods for implementing time-dependent pricing for Internet data traffic in wireless/broadband access networks are disclosed. Such systems may include: (i) A price-optimization computational module that takes in historical and current network congestion and historical and predicted user reactions to compute the best time-dependent prices to minimize the total cost incurred to the wireless network operator; (ii) A user profiling module that takes in user reaction data to characterize a model of how much traffic that may be defer to a later point in time under a given pricing incentive; (iii) A user interface module that displays the computed prices that vary over time, so that a user (or their agent) can choose which time it should use a certain amount of mobile data; and (iv) A network measurement module that collects the actual traffic coming from each application over each period of time.
23 Citations
9 Claims
-
1. A system and methods of enabling, optimizing, and leveraging time-dependent pricing for mobile data traffic in wireless and wireline networks, wherein the system comprises:
-
(i) a price-optimization computational module that takes in historical and current network congestion and historical and predicted user reactions to compute the best time-dependent prices for a plurality of upcoming timeslots so as to minimize the total cost incurred to the wireless network operator, (ii) a user profiling module that takes in user reaction data to characterize a model of how much traffic each user s application will be willing to defer to a later point in time under a given pricing incentive, (iii) a user interface module that displays the computed prices that vary over time, so that a user, or an automatic agent acting on behalf of the user, can choose which time it should use a certain amount of mobile data, (iv) a network measurement module that collects the actual traffic coming from each application, or a group of applications, from each user and device, over each period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. The system is further programmed to:
-
Allow network operators to dynamically, over a plurality of possible timescales, adjust the price charged for each unit of data traffic based on user preferences, time of day, congestion conditions in historical records and current conditions, and application needs. Allow users to see, understand, and respond with decisions of deferring an application or not, to the dynamically adjusted prices with the help of visualization, recommendation, prediction, and automatic agents that take into account both price sensitivity and delay tolerance of each application at each time. - View Dependent Claims (9)
-
-
8. The system is further programmed to:
Allow a feedback loop between the user reactions and the network operator'"'"'s user profiling and price optimization.
Specification