Method and apparatus for generating and collecting a billing event object within an on-line network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of handling a billing event in an on-line network, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a class hierarchy of billing events wherein each defined billing event is indicative of a customer computer access to the on-line network;
generating a billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a server computer in the on-line network; and
serializing and collecting the billing event object generated on said server computer in the on-line network into a storage.
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Abstract
An event generation and collection system for a distributed network includes an event source which generates event objects and an event collector for gathering objects. Conversion routines are run on the event objects so that the data they carry can be converted to a format that is useful by other processes in the network.
401 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method of handling a billing event in an on-line network, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a class hierarchy of billing events wherein each defined billing event is indicative of a customer computer access to the on-line network; generating a billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a server computer in the on-line network; and serializing and collecting the billing event object generated on said server computer in the on-line network into a storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A billing event object generating system, comprising:
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a plurality of computing devices connected together into a network; a plurality of billing event object generators located in at least a portion of the computing devices, wherein billing event objects are generated which are indicative of actions within the network, and each billing event object generator serializes and stores a billing event object in a billing event generation file in a persistent storage; a billing event collector connected to the network which periodically retrieves the billing event generation files from the billing event object generators. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of handling a billing event in an on-line network generated from a plurality of computer servers within an on-line network, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a class hierarchy of billing events wherein each defined billing event is indicative of a customer computer access to the on-line network; generating a first billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a first server computer in the on-line network; generating a second billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a second server computer in the on-line network; storing the second billing event object in a second event object queue, removing the second billing event object from the second event object queue, serializing the second billing event object, and storing the serialized second billing event object in a local storage in the second server computer; and collecting by an event collecting computer the first and second billing event objects generated on said first and second server computers in the on-line network into a storage, including collecting the serialized second billing event object from the local storage. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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35. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method of handling a billing event in an on-line network, the steps comprising:
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providing a class hierarchy of billing events wherein each defined billing event is indicative of a customer computer access to the on-line network; generating a billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a server computer in the on-line network; and serializing and collecting the billing event object generated on said server computer in the on-line network into a storage. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method of handling a billing event in an on-line network generated from a plurality of computer servers within an on-line network, the steps comprising:
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providing a class hierarchy of billing events wherein each defined billing event is indicative of a customer computer access to the on-line network; generating a first billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a first server computer in the on-line network; generating a second billing event object from the billing event class in response to the customer computer accessing a second server computer in the on-line network; storing the second billing event object in a second event object queue, removing the second billing event object from the second event object queue, serializing the second billing event object, and storing the serialized second billing event object in a local storage in the second server computer; and collecting by an event collecting computer the first and second billing event objects generated on said first and second server computers in the on-line network into a storage, including collecting the serialized second billing event object from the local storage. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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Specification