Operating system supporting cost aware applications

• US 8,971,841 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Menezes, Pascal, Piumatti, Marco, Parks, Upshur W., Rao, Ravi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US12/972,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20120157038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 455/406, 455/407, 455/408, 705/10, 705/30, 705/34
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/72 by the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8022 Determining tariff or charge band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/885 limit per application
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/886 limit per terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions

Abstract

A mobile computing device that supports cost-aware application components for operation over a metered network. A current basis for computing usage charges over one or more networks may be made available to the cost-aware application components through an application programming interface supported by an operating system service. That service may receive a policy for charging for data usage over a network and may also obtain information defining data usage for the mobile computing device. Based on this information, the service may determine a current basis for charging for data usage. With this information, the application component can determine a manner for executing network operations that involve data transmission over the network, such as deferring the operation or selecting an alternative network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

for each network of at least one network, receiving information defining a policy for charging for data usage;

for each network, determining data usage on the each network;

determining, by a computing device for an identified network based on the policy and data usage, a current basis for usage charges on the identified network; and

providing, to a user mode component executing on the computing device, current network information comprising at least the current basis for usage charges on the identified network, where the user mode component comprises a component configured for updating software, for deferring execution of a download until a free network is detected, and for indicating that usage of the identified network is over a cap for the network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting, by the user mode component, an action based on the current basis for usage charges.

3. The method of claim 2, where the selected action comprises deferring a network operation.

4. The method of claim 2, where the at least one network comprises a plurality of networks, and where the selected action comprises performing a network operation over an alternative network of the plurality of networks.

5. The method of claim 1, where the user mode component comprises one of an application or an operating system service.

6. The method of claim 1, where receiving the information defining the policy for charging comprises receiving the information from an operator of a network.

7. The method of claim 6, where the determining comprises tracking data exchanged over the network.

8. At least one computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, implement a user-mode component configured for performing an operation based on data obtained over a network, the user-mode component comprising computer-executable instructions configured for:

obtaining current network information comprising at least a current basis for usage charges on an identified network;

determining, in response to the current network information indicating that usage of the identified network is over a cap for the network, a characteristic of execution of the operation based on the current network information; and

selectively executing the operation with the determined characteristic, where the user mode component comprises a component configured for updating software and for deferring execution of a download until a free network is detected.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, where the current network information comprises at least one flag indicating a current state of a network connection, the current state indicating at least one of an over-cap or throttled state.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, where the current basis for usage charges comprises a value from an enumerated set of charging policies, the enumerated set comprising values indicating unrestricted usage, fixed-price usage up to a cap and a charge per unit of data.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, where the current basis for usage charges comprises an indication derived by applying a policy for charging for data usage to a determined amount of network usage.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, where the determining the characteristic of execution of the operation comprises identifying a later time when charges for data usage are lower than at a current time, and where the selectively executing the operation comprises deferring execution of the operation until the later time.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, where the determining the characteristic of execution of the operation comprises identifying an alternative network for which charges for data usage are lower than for the identified network, and where the selectively executing the operation comprises executing the operation over the alternative network.

14. A system comprising a computing device configured for receiving charging information comprising a value defining a policy for charging for data usage and a value indicating a state of data usage by each of a plurality of mobile computing devices, where the computing device is configured for updating software, for deferring execution of a download until a free network is detected, and for indicating that usage of an identified network is over a cap for the network.

15. The system of claim 14, where the charging information further comprises at least one flag indicating a state of at least one of the plurality of mobile computing devices relative to at least one threshold for data usage.

16. The system of claim 14, where the charging information further comprises:

an indication of data usage within a current billing cycle; and

an end date of the current billing cycle.

17. The system of claim 16, where the charging information further comprises a time stamp.