Patent Application
20200118103
The present invention relates to a billing information generation support method, a billing information generation support program, and a billing information generation support apparatus.
In recent years, a monetization model for software services has been shifting to a measured rate system. Regarding the measured rate system, it is indispensable to measure a usage amount of a product (such as a back-end service) and calculate an amount of money from the usage amount and a price plan which is defined in advance (such as a unit price of the product). Meanwhile, for the purpose of enhancement of the convenience of an API (Application Programming Interface), API publication for back-end services by utilizing an API gateway service which provides certification and authorization, intermediation of requests, flow control, and so on has become the mainstream in recent years. When an API is to be published through the API gateway service, an efficient mechanism for the measured rate system is required between a back-end service business operator, an intermediation service business operator who operates the API gateway, and a back-end service utilization business operator.
PTL 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2016-224578
PTL 1 prepares cooperation processing for intermediating data input/output API's between SaaS's (Software as a Service: an example of a billing management service for executing charging processing based on billing information [which client has used what product to what extent]) and performs data cooperation between the SaaS's. PTL 1 performs input/output cooperation between API's of the same data format, but cannot deal with cases of converting ID information (example: when converting a Client ID to a client's name) or changing data input/output granularity.
The present invention was devised in consideration of the above-described circumstances and it is an object of the invention to automate charging by dynamically generating billing information required for a charging action, which is premised on management information of a contract and billing management system used by the back-end service business operator, from the usage amount of the back-end service.
In order to solve the above-described problems, provided according to the present invention is a billing information generation support method executed by a billing information generation support apparatus for supporting generation of billing information to be transmitted from an intermediation business operator to a billing and charging management apparatus of a provider business operator with respect to intermediation of function provision of a service program from the provider business operator to a user business operator through communication via an intermediation apparatus of the intermediation business operator, wherein the billing information generation support apparatus includes a storage unit that stores: usage amount information that retains a usage amount of a function publishing the service program regarding which the intermediation apparatus intermediates to provide the service program from the provider business operator to the user business operator; a billing information item generation method for determining an information item which is required to generate the billing information from a combination of the usage amount information and contract information retained by the billing and charging management apparatus; and a contract-related term data source that retains a method for acquiring a value of the information item from the usage amount information or the contract information; wherein a billing information generation processing unit of the billing information generation support apparatus accumulates the usage amount, which is determined by scanning intermediation history acquired from the intermediation apparatus with respect to one or more indexes, in the usage amount information and generates the billing information from the usage amount information and the contract information; wherein a billing information complementation processing unit of the billing information generation support apparatus determines the information item, which is required by the billing information generation processing unit when generating the billing information, on the basis of the combination with reference to the billing information item generation method and acquires the value of the information item from the usage amount information or the contract information by using the method for acquiring the value of the information item acquired on the basis of the determined information item with reference to the contract-related term data source; and wherein the billing information generation processing unit generates the billing information from the information item and the value of the information item which are determined by the billing information complementation processing unit.
Charging can be automated according to the present invention by dynamically generating the billing information required for the charging action, which is premised on management information of the contract and billing management system used by the back-end service business operator, from the usage amount of the back-end service.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention. Furthermore, the same reference numerals in the respective drawings to explain the following embodiments indicate constituent elements or processing equipped with the same or similar functions, so that any subsequent explanations will be omitted. Furthermore, a part or whole of every embodiment and every variation can be combined with the range of the technical idea of the present invention and within the range of conformity.
Regarding a contract relationship 134, the back-end service utilization business operator 100 enters into a back-end service use contract, which is based on a measured rate system for charging and payment according to a usage amount of a back-end service, with a back-end service providing business operator 120.
Regarding a contract relationship 135, the back-end service providing business operator 120 enters into a contract, which is based on the measured rate system for charging and payment according to the usage amount of the back-end service, with the intermediation service business operator 110 to publish a back-end service program 121 to the back-end service utilization business operator 100 through a service intermediation apparatus 111 such as an API gateway in order to provide the back-end service program 121 to the back-end service utilization business operator 100 in a convenient form such as an API.
Regarding a communication relationship 131, a back-end service utilization program 101 evokes a function publishing the back-end service program (such as an API), which is registered in the service intermediation apparatus 111, based on an HTTP communication or the like.
Regarding a communication relationship 133, the service intermediation apparatus 111 transfers a request content of the communication relationship 131 to the back-end service program 121 on the basis of policies for security, load distribution, and so on.
Regarding a communication relationship 132, the service intermediation apparatus 111 transmits a response (the execution result of the function provided by the back-end service program 121) to the request content, which has been transferred in the communication relationship 133, to the back-end service utilization program 101.
Billing and charging management apparatuses 122 and 112 provide necessary business process to implement the contract relationship 134.
A billing information generation support apparatus 113 generates billing information, which is required for a charging action among the business process provided by the billing and charging management apparatuses 112 and 122, and transmits the generated billing information to the billing and charging management apparatuses 112 and 122.
The service intermediation apparatus 111 and the billing and charging management apparatus 112, on which the billing information generation support apparatus 113 is premised, and a work terminal 114 for operating the billing information generation support apparatus 113 are connected via a network 115.
The service intermediation apparatus 111 includes intermediation history 201 as execution history of the communication relationships 131 to 133. The billing and charging management apparatus 112 includes: contract information 203 which retains contract-related information (such as a contract name, a client's name, and a product name); and billing information 204 used to execute charging. An intermediation history acquisition unit 202 of the billing information generation support apparatus 113 acquires the intermediation history 201 from the service intermediation apparatus 111 through the communication relationship 131 based on, for example, an API call on the HTTP.
The billing information generation support apparatus 113 has a billing information generation unit 200 implemented by execution of a program(s) and an intermediation history acquisition unit 202. The billing information generation unit 200 has a first information group 210 and a first processing group 220. The first information group 210 is, for example, information stored in a storage unit. The first processing group 220 is, for example, to be implemented by processing of each unit by an arithmetic processing unit executing a program(s).
The first information group 210 has: usage amount information 211 which retains the usage amount of the back-end service program 121 calculated from the intermediation history 201; billing information 212 which retains the billing information to be transmitted to the billing and charging management apparatus 112; a billing information item generation method 213 which manages a method for determining value of information item, on which the billing information 212 is premised, from the usage amount information 211 or the contract information 203; and a contract-related term data source 214 which manages a method for acquiring the value of the information item, which are required by the billing information item generation method 213, from the usage amount information 211 and the contract information 203.
The first processing group 220 has: a billing information generation processing unit 221 which generates final billing information; and a billing information complementation processing unit 222 which determines the respective values of the information items of the billing information generated by the billing information generation processing unit 221.
The transfer destination 301 is information, like an example of “SRV1/SERVICE-A” indicated in
The metrics 302 have one or more sub-columns and include, for example, a hit count 303 which is the number of times a request was transmitted to the transfer destination 301, and a response size 304 indicating the size of data returned by the back-end service.
The aggregation start date 402 and the aggregation end date 403 are used to filter the information of the intermediation history 201, which is a measurement object, based on date-and-time information in advance. In this embodiment, the aggregation start date 402 and the aggregation end date 403 are retained as year-month-date information, but they may be retained as date-and-time information.
The billing information generation processing unit 221 firstly evokes the intermediation history acquisition unit 202 and acquires the intermediation history 201 from the service intermediation apparatus 111 (step S800). The billing information generation processing unit 221 scans the acquired intermediation history 201 and determines the usage amount (step S801). Scanning is to, for example, count a specified keyword or acquire a metric value in the intermediation history 201.
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 accumulates the usage amount information 211 created from the usage amount which was determined in step S801 (step S802). Then, the billing information generation processing unit 221 acquires the access path 703 regarding the route item 704 from the contract-related term data source 214 (step S803). Subsequently, the billing information generation processing unit 221 acquires a value regarding the access path 703 whose type 700 is the environment-dependent information, from among the access paths 703 regarding the route item acquired in step S803, from its own local environment (step S804). The local environment indicates databases, files, API's and so on in an IT system in an on-premise or cloud environment of the intermediation service business operator and is the usage amount information 211 in this embodiment.
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 acquires a value regarding the access path 703 whose type 700 is the contract-related information, from among the access paths 703 regarding the route item acquired in step S803, from the contract information 203 (step S805). Then, the billing information generation processing unit 221 compares the values obtained in step S804 and step S805. If the value obtained in S805 is equal to the value obtained in S804, then only the value in S805 is kept (step S806).
Subsequently, the billing information generation processing unit 221 acquires the next entry (or the first entry upon the first execution) from the billing information item generation method 213 (step S807). The billing information generation processing unit 221 starts executing the processing of the billing information complementation processing unit 222 by using the entry acquired in step S807 as an argument and additionally stores its return value (step S808).
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 checks whether the current entry is the last entry of the billing information item generation method 213 or not; and in a case of YES, the processing proceeds to step S810; and in a case of NO, the processing proceeds to step S807 (step S809).
In step S810, the billing information generation processing unit 221 configures the billing information 212 from a set of return values stored through evoking the processing of the billing information complementation processing unit 222 in step S808 once or more times. Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 transmits the billing information 212 configured in step S810 to the billing and charging management apparatus 112 (step S811).
On the other hand, the billing information complementation processing unit 222 checks a value of the C-WRD-ID 601 of the entry which has been input from the billing information generation processing unit 221 (step S850). If the billing information complementation processing unit 222 finds, as a result of the check, that the value is N/A (or another defined value such as NULL or −1 indicating that there is no value) (step S851: YES), the processing proceeds to step S852; and if the value is not N/A (step S851: NO), the processing proceeds to step S855.
In step S852, the billing information complementation processing unit 222 acquires a value of the E-WRD-ID 602 of the entry which has been input from the billing information generation processing unit 221. Next, the billing information complementation processing unit 222 stores the value of the E-WRD-ID 602, which was acquired in step S852, as a search key for the contract-related term data source 214 (step S853).
On the other hand, in step S855, the billing information complementation processing unit 222 stores the value of the C-WRD-ID 601, which was acquired in step S850, as a search key for the contract-related term data source 214. The billing information complementation processing unit 222 acquires an entry of the contract-related term data source 214 regarding the search key stored in step S853 or step S855, acquires a target value from the usage amount information 211 or the contract information 203 by using the access path 703, and returns it to a caller (the billing information generation processing unit 221 which executes step S808) (step S854).
According to this embodiment, it is possible to generate the target billing information 212 by complementing the values of the respective items which are required to generate the billing information 212, through substitution, conversion, and reference, from the usage amount information 211 or the contract information 203 and the contract relationship 135 can be made efficient by generating the billing information for the back-end service providing business operator 120 who is a direct client of the intermediation service business operator 110.
Embodiment 2 describes a method for generating the billing information according to a billing model when the billing model of a product (that is, a usage amount to be presented as a billed amount) varies depending on a business operator who charges the relevant amount.
The second information group 910 has a billing target metric 911 which manages the metric based on which a billed amount should be presented. The second processing group 920 has a usage amount filtering processing unit 921 for executing filtering processing when generating the billing information 212 from the usage amount information 211 on the basis of the content of the billing target metric 911.
The billing information generation processing unit 221 firstly acquires one of the input service ID's 1000 and uses that service ID in subsequent steps (step S1100). Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 executes step S800 and step S801 which are the same steps as those in
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 starts executing the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 by using the metric ID acquired in step 31101 and the service ID in step S1100 as arguments and acquires its return value (step S1102).
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 judges whether the return value received in step S1102 is True (T) or False (F); and in a case of True, the processing proceeds to step S1104; and in a case of False, the processing proceeds to step S1105 (step S1103).
In step S1104, the billing information generation processing unit 221 newly stores the entry of the usage amount in step S1101. The billing information generation processing unit 221 checks whether the entry of the usage amount for which the metric ID was acquired in step S1101 is the last entry or not; and if it is the last entry, the processing proceeds to step S1106; and if it is not the last entry, the processing proceeds to step S1101 (step S1105).
Next, the billing information generation processing unit 221 executes steps S802 to S811, which are the same steps as those in
In step S1107 after step S811, the billing information generation processing unit 221 checks whether the processing in steps S1100, S800, S801, and S1101 to S1106 has been executed or not, with respect to all the service ID's 1000 which were input in advance; and if the processing has been executed (step S1107: YES), the processing illustrated in
On the other hand, the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 searches the billing target metric 911 for the metric ID and the service ID which are input from the billing information generation processing unit 221 (step S1150). Subsequently, in step S1151, if the relevant entry exists in the metric ID and the service ID which were input in step S1150 (step S1151: YES), the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 proceeds to processing in step S1152; and if the relevant entry does not exist (step S1151: NO), the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 proceeds to processing in step S1153.
In step S1152, the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 returns True (T) as a Boolean value to the caller. On the other hand, in step S1153, the usage amount filtering processing unit 921 returns False (F) as the Boolean value to the caller.
In this embodiment, even when the billing model for the product (that is, the metric for the usage amount which should be presented as the billed amount) varies for each back-end service providing business operator 120 who is an entity to be charged, it is possible to generate the billing information 212 in accordance with the relevant billing model.
Embodiment 3 describes a method for enhancing the efficiency of the contract relationship 134 between the back-end service utilization business operator 100 and the back-end service providing business operator 120 by generating the billing information in a state where the usage amount can be sorted for each back-end service utilization business operator 100 who is an indirect client.
Incidentally, the billing model management unit 900 can be omitted in the billing information generation unit 200C.
The third processing group 1200 has a usage amount division processing unit 1201 which divides (or segments) the usage amount information 211, for example, for each back-end service utilization business operator 100 who is an indirect client. The third information group 1210 has segmentation information 1211 for creating the details of the usage amount of the metric such as the back-end service utilization business operator 100, the back-end service utilization program 101, or its execution user.
Then, the billing information generation processing unit 221 executes steps S802 to S811, which are the same steps as those in
According to this embodiment, it is possible to generate the billing information in a state capable of further sorting the usage amount information 211 for each back-end service providing business operator 120, who is a direct client, into for each back-end service utilization business operator 100 who is an indirect client.
Incidentally, the program for implementing the billing information generation support apparatuses 113, 113B, 113C may be integrated with other programs for implementing the service intermediation apparatus 111, the billing and charging management apparatus 112, and so on.
Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments, and includes various variations. For example, the aforementioned embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the invention in an easily comprehensible manner and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations explained above. Furthermore, to the extent of no inconsistency, part of the configuration of a certain embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of a certain embodiment. Also, part of the configuration of each embodiment can be added, deleted, replaced, integrated, and divided. Furthermore, the respective apparatuses or the respective processing indicated in the embodiments may be distributed or integrated as appropriate. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs).
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-193901 | Oct 2018 | JP | national |
