Patent Grant
12003661
With the advent of mass market digital communications and content distribution, many access networks such as wireless networks, cable networks and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) networks are pressed for user capacity, with, for example, EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized), HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), and Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) wireless networks increasingly becoming user capacity constrained. Although wireless network capacity will increase with new higher capacity wireless radio access technologies, such as MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output), and with more frequency spectrum being deployed in the future, these capacity gains are likely to be less than what is required to meet growing digital networking demand.
Similarly, although wire line access networks, such as cable and DSL, can have higher average capacity per user, wire line user service consumption habits are trending toward very high bandwidth applications that can quickly consume the available capacity and degrade overall network service experience. Because some components of service provider costs go up with increasing bandwidth, this trend will also negatively impact service provider profits.
Various embodiments are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or a processor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task may be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’ refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores configured to process data, such as computer program instructions.
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.
There are many new types of digital devices where it is becoming desirable, for example, to connect these devices to wireless networks including wireless wide area networks (WWAN, such as 3G and 4G) and/or wireless local area (WLAN) networks. These devices include, for example, consumer electronics devices, business user devices, and machine to machine devices that benefit from flexible wide area data connections and the Internet. Example devices include netbooks, notebooks, mobile Internet devices, personal navigation (e.g., GPS enabled) devices, music and multimedia players, eReaders, industrial telemetry, automotive emergency response and diagnostics, 2-way home and industrial power metering and control, vending machines, parking meters, and many other devices. For example, it is highly advantageous to offer service usage and service billing plans for such devices that are more optimal for each type of device and each type of desired user experience. To accomplish this, more sophisticated service usage measuring and service usage billing systems are needed as compared to the conventional network based techniques in existence today. By providing more flexibility in service measurement and billing, more advantageous and cost effective service plans can be created for, for example, the new WWAN connected devices cited above for all three markets (e.g., consumer, business and machine to machine) that still maintain the necessary profit margins for the WWAN carriers to be successful with these various service businesses.
Accordingly, various embodiments disclosed herein provide for a new and flexible augmentation or replacement for existing carrier network service usage measurement, service usage accounting, and service usage billing systems and techniques.
In some embodiments, network user capacity is increased and user service costs are reduced by managing and billing for service consumption in a more refined manner (e.g., to satisfy network neutrality requirements). By managing service consumption in a user friendly manner, the overall service capacity required to satisfy the user device needs can be tailored more closely to the needs of a given user thereby reducing user service costs and increasing service provider profits. For example, managing service usage while maintaining user satisfaction includes service usage policy implementation and policy management to identify, manage and bill for service usage categories, such as total traffic consumption, content downloads, application usage, information or content subscription services, electronic commerce transactions, people or asset tracking services or machine to machine networking services. As described herein, service activity is used to refer to any service usage or traffic usage that can be associated with, for example, an application; a network communication end point, such as an address, uniform resource locator (URL) or other identifier with which the device is communicating; a traffic content type; a transaction where content or other material, information or goods are transacted, purchased, reserved, ordered or exchanged; a download, upload or file transfer; email, text, SMS, IMS or other messaging activity or usage; VOIP services; video services; a device usage event that generates a billing event; service usage associated with a bill by account activity (also referred to as billing by account) as described herein; device location; device service usage patterns, device user interface (UI) discovery patterns, content usage patterns or other characterizations of device usage; or other categories of user or device activity that can be identified, monitored, recorded, reported, controlled or processed in accordance with a set of verifiable service control policies. As will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the embodiments described herein, some embodiments identify various service activities for the purpose of decomposing overall service usage into finer sub-categories of activities that can be verifiably monitored, categorized, cataloged, reported, controlled, monetized and used for end user notification in a manner that results in superior optimization of the service capabilities for various levels of service cost or for various types of devices or groups. In some embodiments, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the terms service activity or service usage are associated with categorizing and possibly monitoring or controlling data traffic, application usage, communication with certain network end points, or transactions, and it will also be apparent that in some embodiments the term service activity is intended to include one or more of the broader aspects listed above. The shortened term service usage can be used interchangeably with service activity, but neither term is intended in general to exclude any aspect of the other. In some cases, where the terms service usage or service activity are used, more specific descriptors such as traffic usage, application usage, website usage, and other service usage examples are also used to provide more specific examples or focus in on a particular element of the more encompassing terms.
A charging data record (CDR) is a term that as used herein defines a formatted measure of device service usage information, typically generated by one or more network functions that supervise, monitor, and/or control network access for the device. CDRs typically form the basis for recording device network service usage, and often form the basis for billing for such usage. Various embodiments are provided herein for device assisted CDR creation, mediation, and billing. There are many limitations to the capabilities of service usage recording, aggregation and/or billing when CDRs are generated exclusively by network based functions or equipment. Accordingly, by either augmenting network based service usage measures with device based service usage measures, or by replacing network based service usage measures with device based service usage measures, it is possible to create a CDR generation, aggregation, mediation and/or billing solution that has superior or more desirable capabilities/features. While in theory, many of the service usage measures that can be evaluated on a device can also be evaluated in the network data path using various network equipment technologies including but not limited to deep packet inspection (DPI), there are many examples where measuring service usage at the device is either more desirable or more practical, or in some cases it is the only way to obtain the desired measure. Such examples include but are not limited to the following:
In some embodiments, techniques, such as a system and/or process, that utilize device assisted service usage measures include one or more of the following: (1) receiving a service usage measure from a device in communication with a wireless network, (2) verifying or protecting the validity of the service usage measure, (3) generating a CDR based on the service usage measure (e.g., device assisted CDR), (4) aggregating CDRs, and (5) mediating the CDR with network CDRs. In some embodiments, the techniques also include providing a design and provisioning of devices/network equipment to recognize the CDRs. In some embodiments, the techniques also include provisioning to recognize that the device belongs to a Device Assisted Services (DAS) device group and that corresponding CDRs should be accepted and mediated. In some embodiments, the device assisted CDRs are also generated using formats, network communications protocols, network device authentication and/or provisioning to allow device assisted CDRs into the network CDR system, encryption, and/or signatures as required by the network (e.g., to comply with network generated CDR requirements or based on any other network and/or service provider requirements and/or standards).
In some embodiments, mediation rules include multi device, multi user, single user devices, and/or intermediate networking devices that can be single user or multi user, as described herein.
In some embodiments, a device assisted CDR generator collects device based service usage measures that are used as the basis for, or as an enhancement (e.g., as a supplement or in addition) to, one or more (e.g., network generated) CDRs that provide one or more networking functions with properly formatted service usage reports that the network function(s) accepts as being transmitted from an authorized source, read, and utilized for helping to determine the service usage of a device or group of devices. In some embodiments, the network functions that the device assisted CDR generator shares CDRs with typically include one or more of the following: service usage/CDR aggregation and/or mediation servers, gateways, routers, communication nodes, Mobile Wireless Centers (MWCs, including HLRs), databases, AAA systems, billing interfaces, and billing systems. For example, the process of CDR creation in the CDR generator typically includes either using one or more device based measures of service usage, or one or more device based measures of service usage in combination with one or more network based measures of service usage, possibly processing one or more of such service usage measures according to a set of CDR creation, CDR aggregation, and/or CDR mediation rules to arrive at a final device usage measure that is, for example, then formatted with the proper syntax, framed, possibly encrypted and/or signed, and encapsulated in a communication protocol or packet suitable for sharing with network functions. In some embodiments, the CDR generator resides in the device. In some embodiments, the CDR generator resides in a network server function that receives the device assisted service usage measures, along with possibly network based usage measures, and then creates a CDR (e.g., in the service controller 122).
In some embodiments, the device assisted CDR generator can reside in the service processor (e.g., service processor 115), for example, in the service usage history or billing server functions. In some embodiments, the device assisted CDR generator resides in the device itself, for example, within the service processor functions, such as the billing agent or the service monitor agent.
There are several factors that are considered in the various embodiments in order to create a useful, reliable, and secure device assisted CDR system, including, for example, but not limited to:
In some embodiments, verification of the relative accuracy of the device assisted service usage measure is provided. Given that, for example, the service usage measure is often being generated on an end user device or a device that is readily physically accessed by the general public or other non-secure personnel from a network management viewpoint, in some embodiments, the device agents used in one or more of the service processor 115 agents are protected from hacking, spoofing, and/or other misuse. Various techniques are provided herein for protecting the integrity of the agents used for generating the device assisted service usage measures.
In some embodiments, the service usage measures are verified by network based cross checks using various techniques. For example, network based cross checks can provide valuable verification techniques, because, for example, it is generally not possible or at least very difficult to defeat well designed network based cross checks using various techniques, such as those described herein, even if, for example, the measures used to protect the device agents are defeated or if no device protection measures are employed. In some embodiments, network based cross checks used to verify the device assisted service usage measures include comparing network based service usage measures (e.g., CDRs generated by service usage measurement apparatus in the network equipment, such as the base stations (BTS/BSCs) 125A, 125B, 125E, 125F, and 125G, RAN Gateways 410, Transport Gateways 420, Mobile Wireless Center/HLRs 132, AAA 121, Service Usage History/CDR Aggregation, Mediation, Feed 118, or other network equipment), sending secure query/response command sequences to the service processor 115 agent(s) involved in device assisted CDR service usage measurement or CDR creation, sending test service usage event sequences to the device and verifying that the device properly reported the service usage, and using various other techniques, such as those described herein with respect to various embodiments.
In some embodiments, one or more of the following actions are taken if the device based service usage measure is found to be in error or inaccurate: bill the user for usage overage or an out of policy device, suspend the device, quarantine the device, SPAN the device, and/or report the device to a network administration function or person.
In some embodiments, the CDR syntax used to format the device assisted service usage information into a CDR and/or network communication protocols for transmitting CDRs are determined by industry standards (e.g., various versions of 3GPP TS 32.215 format and 3GPP2 TSG-X X.S0011 or TIA-835 format). In some embodiments, for a given network implementation the network designers will specify modifications of the standard syntax, formats and/or network communication/transmission protocols. In some embodiments, for a given network implementation the network designers will specify syntax, formats, and/or network communication/transmission protocols that are entirely different than the standards.
In some embodiments, within the syntax and formatting for the CDR the device assisted service usage is typically categorized by a transaction code. For example, the transaction code can be similar or identical to the codes in use by network equipment used to generate CDRs, or given that the device is capable of generating a much richer set of service usage measures, the transaction codes can be a superset of the codes used by network equipment used to generate CDRs (e.g., examples of the usage activities that can be labeled as transaction codes that are more readily supported by device assisted CDR systems as compared to purely network based CDR systems are provided herein).
In some embodiments, the device sends an identifier for a usage activity tag, an intermediate server determines how to aggregate into CDR transaction codes and which CDR transaction code to use.
In some embodiments, the device service processor 115 compartmentalizes usage by pre-assigned device activity transaction codes (e.g., these can be sub-transactions within the main account, transactions within a given bill-by-account transaction or sub-transactions within a bill-by-account transaction). The device implements bill-by-account rules to send different usage reports for each bill-by-account function. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 programs the device to instruct it on how to compartmentalize these bill-by-account service usage activities so that they can be mapped to a transaction code.
In some embodiments, the device reports less compartmentalized service usage information and the service controller 122 does the mapping of service usage activities to CDR transaction codes, including in some cases bill-by-account codes.
In some embodiments, the CDR sent to 118 or other network equipment, for example, can include various types of transaction codes including but not limited to a raw device usage CDR, a bill-by-account (e.g., a sub-activity transaction code) CDR, a billing offset CDR, and/or a billing credit CDR. For example, the decision logic (also referred to as business rules or CDR aggregation and mediation rules) that determines how these various types of CDR transaction codes are to be aggregated and mediated by the core network and the billing system can be located in the network equipment (e.g., a network element, such as service usage 118), in the service controller 122, and/or in the billing system 123.
In some embodiments, the device assisted CDR generator uses the device assisted service usage measures to generate a CDR that includes service usage information, service usage transaction code(s), and, in some embodiments, network information context. In some embodiments, the service usage information, transaction code, and/or network information context is formatted into communication framing, syntax, encryption/signature, security and/or networking protocols that are compatible with the formatting used by conventional networking equipment to generate CDRs. For example, this allows networking equipment used for CDR collection, recording, aggregation, mediation, and/or conversion to billing records to properly accept, read, and interpret the CDRs that are generated with the assistance of device based service usage measurement. In some embodiments, the device assisted service measures are provided to an intermediate network server referred to as a service controller (e.g., service controller 122). In some embodiments, the service controller uses a CDR feed aggregator for a wireless network to collect device generated usage information for one or more devices on the wireless network; and provides the device generated usage information in a syntax (e.g., charging data record (CDR)), and a communication protocol (e.g., 3GPP or 3GPP2, or other communication protocol(s)) that can be used by the wireless network to augment or replace network generated usage information for the one or more devices on the wireless network.
In some embodiments, mediation rules include multi device, multi user, single user devices, intermediate networking devices that can be single user or multi user. For example, the device assisted CDRs can be formatted by the device assisted CDR generator to include a transaction code for one user account, even though the CDRs originate from multiple devices that all belong to the same user. This is an example for a multi-user device assisted CDR billing solution. In another example for a multi-user device assisted CDR billing solution, device assisted CDRs from multiple devices and multiple users can all be billed to the same account (e.g., a family plan or a corporate account), but the bill-by-account CDR transaction records can be maintained through the billing system so that sub-account visibility is provided so that the person or entity responsible for the main account can obtain visibility about which users and/or devices are creating most of the service usage billing. For example, this type of multi-user, multi-device device assisted CDR billing solution can also be used to track types of service usage and/or bill for types of service usage that are either impossible or at least very difficult to account and/or bill for with purely network based CDR systems. In some embodiments, bill-by-account CDR transaction records can be used to provide sponsored transaction services, account for network chatter, provide service selection interfaces, and other services for multi-user or multi-device service plans.
In addition to conventional single user devices (e.g., cell phones, smart phones, netbooks/notebooks, mobile internet devices, personal navigation devices, music players, electronic eReaders, and other single user devices) device assisted service usage measurement and CDRs are also useful for other types of network capable devices and/or networking devices, such as intermediate networking devices (e.g., 3G/4G WWAN to WLAN bridges/routers/gateways, femto cells, DOCSIS modems, DSL modems, remote access/backup routers, and other intermediate network devices). For example, in such devices, particularly with a secure manner to verify that the device assisted service usage measures are relatively accurate and/or the device service processor 115 software is not compromised or hacked, many new service provider service delivery and billing models can be supported and implemented using the techniques described herein. For example, in a WiFi to WWAN bridge or router device multiple user devices can be supported with the same intermediate networking device in a manner that is consistent and compatible with the central provider's CDR aggregation and/or billing system by sending device assisted CDRs as described herein that have a service usage and/or billing code referenced to the end user and/or the particular intermediate device.
In some embodiments, the device assisted CDRs generated for the intermediate networking device are associated with a particular end user in which there can be several or many end users using the intermediate networking device for networking access, and in some embodiments, with each end user being required to enter a unique log-in to the intermediate networking device. For example, in this way, all devices that connect using WiFi to the intermediate networking device to get WWAN access generate CDRs can either get billed to a particular end user who is responsible for the master account for that device, or the CDRs can get billed in a secure manner, with verified relative usage measurement accuracy to multiple end users from the same intermediate networking device. In another example, an end user can have one account that allows access to a number of intermediate networking devices, and each intermediate networking device can generate consistent device assisted CDRs with transaction codes for that end user regardless of which intermediate networking device the end user logs in on.
In some embodiments, some of the services provided by the intermediate networking device are billed to a specific end user device assisted CDR transaction code, while other bill-by-account services are billed to other transaction code accounts, such as sponsored partner transaction service accounts, network chatter accounts, sponsored advertiser accounts, and/or service sign up accounts. For example, in this manner, various embodiments are provided in which intermediate networking devices (e.g., a WWAN to WiFi router/bridge) can sold to one user but can service and be used to bill other users (e.g., and this can be covered in the first purchasing user's service terms perhaps in exchange for a discount), or such intermediate networking devices can be located wherever access is desired without concern that the device will be hacked into so that services can be acquired without charge.
In some embodiments, various types of service usage transactions are billed for on the intermediate networking device, to any of one or more users, in which the information required to bill for such services is not available to the central provider or MVNO network equipment, just as is the case with, for example, conventional single user devices. In view of the various embodiments and techniques described herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that similar service models are equally applicable not just to WWAN to WiFi intermediate networking devices, but also to the Femto Cell, remote access router, DOCSIS, DSL and other intermediate WWAN to WiFi networking devices.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) provides a device/network level service usage information collection, aggregation, mediation, and reporting function. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) collects device generated usage information for one or more devices on the wireless network (e.g., devices 100); and provides the device generated usage information in a syntax and a communication protocol that can be used by the wireless network to augment or replace network generated usage information for the one or more devices on the wireless network. In some embodiments, the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the communication protocol is selected from one or more of the following: 3GPP, 3GPP2, or other communication protocols. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) includes a service usage data store (e.g., a billing aggregator) and a rules engine for aggregating the collected device generated usage information. In some embodiments, the syntax is a charging data record (CDR), and the network device is a CDR feed aggregator, and the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) also aggregates CDRs for the one or more devices on the wireless network; applies a set of rules to the aggregated CDRs using a rules engine (e.g., bill by account, transactional billing, and/or any other billing or other rules for service usage information collection, aggregation, mediation, and reporting), and communicates a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system (e.g., providing a CDR with a billing offset by account/service). In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) communicates a new set of CDRs for the one or more devices on the wireless network to a billing interface or a billing system. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) communicates with a service controller to collect the device generated usage information for the one or more devices on the wireless network. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) communicates with a service controller, in which the service controller is in communication with a billing interface or a billing system. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) communicates the device generated usage information to a billing interface or a billing system. In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) communicates with a transport gateway and/or a Radio Access Network (RAN) gateway to collect the network generated usage information for the one or more devices on the wireless network. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 communicates the device generated service usage information to the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements).
In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) performs rules for performing a bill by account aggregation and mediation function. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 in communication with the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) performs a rules engine for aggregating and mediating the device generated usage information. In some embodiments, a rules engine device in communication with the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (and/or other network elements or combinations of network elements) performs a rules engine for aggregating and mediating the device generated usage information.
In some embodiments, the rules engine is included in (e.g., integrated with/part of) the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118. In some embodiments, the rules engine and associated functions, as described herein, is a separate function/device. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 performs some or all of these rules engine based functions, as described herein, and communicates with the central billing interface 127. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 performs some or all of these rules engine based functions, as described herein, and communicates with the central billing system 123.
In some embodiments, duplicate CDRs are sent from the network equipment to the billing system 123 that is used for generating service billing. In some embodiments, duplicate CDRs are filtered to send only those CDRs/records for devices controlled by the service controller and/or service processor (e.g., the managed devices). For example, this approach can provide for the same level of reporting, lower level of reporting, and/or higher level of reporting as compared to the reporting required by the central billing system 123.
In some embodiments, a bill-by-account billing offset is provided. For example, bill-by-account billing offset information can be informed to the central billing system 123 by providing a CDR aggregator feed that aggregates the device based service usage data feed to provide a new set of CDRs for the managed devices to the central billing interface 127 and/or the central billing system 123. In some embodiments, transaction billing is provided using similar techniques. For example, transaction billing log information can be provided to the central billing interface 127 and/or the central billing system 123.
In some embodiments, the rules engine (e.g., performed by the service usage 118 or another network element, as described herein) provides a bill-by-account billing offset. For example, device generated usage information (e.g., charging data records (CDRs)) includes a transaction type field (e.g., indicating a type of service for the associated service usage information). The rules engine can apply a rule or a set of rules based on the identified service associated with the device generated usage information to determine a bill-by-account billing offset (e.g., a new CDR can be generated to provide the determined bill-by-account billing offset). In some examples, the determined bill-by-account billing offset can be provided as a credit to the user's service usage account (e.g., a new CDR can be generated with a negative offset for the user's service usage account, such as for network chatter service usage, or transactional service usage, or for any other purposes based on one or more rules performed by the rules engine).
As another example, for a transactional service, a first new CDR can be generated with a negative offset for the user's service usage account for that transactional service related usage, and a second new CDR can be generated with a positive service usage value to charge that same service usage to the transactional service provider (e.g., Amazon, eBay, or another transactional service provider). In some embodiments, the service controller 122 generates these two new CDRs, and the service usage 118 stores, aggregates, and communicates these two new CDRs to the central billing interface 127. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 generates these two new CDRs, and the service usage 118 stores, aggregates, and communicates these two new CDRs to the central billing interface 127, in which the central billing interface 127 applies rules (e.g., performs the rules engine for determining the bill-by-account billing offset).
In some embodiments, the service controller 122 sends the device generated CDRs to the rules engine (e.g., service usage 118), and the rules engine applies one or more rules, such as those described herein and/or any other billing/service usage related rules as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. In some embodiments, the service controller 122 generates CDRs similar to other network elements, and the rules (e.g., bill-by-account) are performed in the central billing interface 127. For example, for the service controller 122 to generate CDRs similar to other network elements, in some embodiments, the service controller 122 is provisioned on the wireless network and behaves substantially similar to other CDR generators on the network) as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.
In some embodiments, the service controller 122 is provisioned as a new type of networking function that is recognized as a valid and secure source for CDRs by the other necessary elements in the network (e.g., the Service Usage History/CDR Aggregation and Mediation Server 118). In some embodiments, in which the network apparatus typically only recognize CDRs from certain types of networking equipment (e.g., RAN Gateway 410 or Transport Gateway 420 (as shown in
In some embodiments, the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 discards the network based service usage information (e.g., network based CDRs) received from one or more network elements. In these embodiments, the service controller 122 can provide the device based service usage information (e.g., device based CDRs) to the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 (e.g., the CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 can just provide a store, aggregate, and communication function(s)), and the device based service usage information is provided to the central billing interface 127 or the central billing system 123.
In some embodiments, the device based CDRs and/or new CDRs generated based on execution of a rules engine as described herein is provided only for devices that are managed and/or based on device group, service plan, or any other criteria, categorization, and/or grouping.
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In some embodiments, provisioning of various network equipment is provided to recognize a given device as belonging to a device group that supports a service usage and/or billing plan that relies upon and/or utilizes device assisted CDRs.
In some embodiments, the CDR formats, transaction codes, and CDR transmission destinations are programmed for each device that generates CDRs, including the service controller 122 (e.g., in some embodiments, the service controller 122 is the intermediary for CDRs) and/or service processor 115 (e.g., in some embodiments, the device sends CDRs to network CDR aggregation or billing interface 127/billing system 123 with no intermediate server function).
In some embodiments, device assisted CDRs are sent from the service controller 122 to CDR storage, aggregation, mediation, feed 118 and communicated to the billing system 123, as shown in solid lines with arrows in
In some embodiments, service controller 122 sends DAS CDRs to billing for various uses by the billing system 123. In some embodiments, the billing system 123 uses DAS service usage CDRs to augment network based CDRs with bill-by-account transaction codes. In some embodiments, the billing system 123 implements aggregation and/or mediation rules to account for DAS CDR usage amount in a new bill-by-account transaction code and removes the same service usage amount from the bulk device account transaction code. In some embodiments, a first DAS CDR is sent for the new bill by account transaction code, and a second DAS CDR is sent to be used as a correction (credit) to the main device usage account transaction code, and the billing system 123 implements the rules to perform this mediation. In some embodiments, a first DAS CDR is used for a given bill-by-account transaction code, and a second is used as the main device account transaction code, in which the service controller 122 (or device) has already implemented the mediation rules so that the billing system 123 simply passes such DAS CDRs after aggregating them.
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In some embodiments, the service control device link 1691 agent messages are transmitted asynchronously as they are generated by one or more of the service agents. In some embodiments, the service control device link 1691 performs collection or buffering of agent messages between transmissions. In some embodiments, the service control device link 1691 determines when to transmit based potentially on several parameters including, for example, one or more of the following parameters: periodic timer trigger, waiting until a certain amount of service usage or traffic usage has occurred, responding to a service controller message, responding to a service controller request, initiated by one or more agents, initiated by a verification error condition, initiated by some other error or status condition. In some embodiments, once a transmission trigger has occurred, the service control device link 1691 assembles all buffered agent communications and frames the communications.
In some embodiments, the transmission trigger is controlled by waiting for an amount of service usage, such as waiting until a certain amount of data traffic has passed, which reduces the control plane communication channel traffic usage to a fraction of the data plane traffic. For example, this approach preserves network capacity and reduces service cost even in traffic scenarios in which data traffic is light.
In some embodiments, the transmission trigger is based on waiting for an amount of service usage, and also including a minimum transmission rate that triggers a transmission according to one or more of the following parameters: a maximum time between transmissions clock to keep the service processor 115 in communication with the service controller 122 when little or no service usage is occurring, a polling request of some kind from the service controller 122, a response to a service controller heartbeat, a transmission generated by a service verification error event, or a transmission generated by some other asynchronous event with time critical service processor 115 (or service controller 122) messaging needs, such as a transaction or service billing event or a user request. For example, service control plane traffic down is reduced to a relatively inexpensive and capacity conserving trickle when device 100 data traffic is not significant. At the same time, this approach also provides an effective flow of real time or near real-time service control plane traffic that is both cost and capacity efficient, because the service control plane traffic is a relatively small percentage of the data plane traffic when data plane traffic usage is heavy. For example, when data plane traffic usage is heavy is generally the time when close monitoring of service policy implementation verification or compromise prevention can be particularly important and by keeping the control plane overhead to a fraction of data plane traffic close monitoring and control of services are maintained at a reasonable cost in terms of percentage of both bandwidth used and network capacity. In some embodiments, the service usage or service activity trigger occurs based on some other measure than traffic usage, such as a number of messages transacted, one or more billing events, number of files downloaded, number of applications run or time that an application has been running, usage of one or more specified applications, GPS coordinate changes, roaming event, an event related to another network connection to the device and/or other service related measures.
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In some embodiments, the service control server link 1638 provides for securing, signing, encrypting and/or otherwise protecting the communications before sending such communications over the service control link 1653. For example, the service control server link 1638 can send to the transport layer or directly to the link layer for transmission. In another example, the service control server link 1638 further secures the communications with transport layer encryption, such as TCP TLS SSH version 1 or 2 or another secure transport layer protocol. As another example, the service control server link 1638 can encrypt at the link layer, such as using IPSEC, various possible VPN services, other forms of IP layer encryption and/or another link layer encryption technique.
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In some embodiments, the access control integrity server 1654 (and/or some other agent of service controller 122) acts on access control integrity agent 1694 reports and error conditions. Many of the access control integrity agent 1654 checks can be accomplished by the server. For example, the access control integrity agent 1654 checks include one or more of the following: service usage measure against usage range consistent with policies (e.g., usage measure from the network and/or from the device); configuration of agents; operation of the agents; and/or dynamic agent download.
In some embodiments, the access control integrity server 1654 (and/or some other agent of service controller 122) verifies device service policy implementations by comparing various service usage measures (e.g., based on network monitored information, such as by using IPDRs or CDRs, and/or local service usage monitoring information) against expected service usage behavior given the policies that are intended to be in place. For example, device service policy implementations can include measuring total data passed, data passed in a period of time, IP addresses, data per IP address, and/or other measures such as location, downloads, email accessed, URLs, and comparing such measures expected service usage behavior given the policies that are intended to be in place.
In some embodiments, the access control integrity server 1654 (and/or some other agent of service controller 122) verifies device service policy, and the verification error conditions that can indicate a mismatch in service measure and service policy include one or more of the following: unauthorized network access (e.g., access beyond ambient service policy limits); unauthorized network speed (e.g., average speed beyond service policy limit); network data amount does not match policy limit (e.g., device not stop at limit without re-up/revising service policy); unauthorized network address; unauthorized service usage (e.g., VOIP, email, and/or web browsing); unauthorized application usage (e.g., email, VOIP, email, and/or web); service usage rate too high for plan, and policy controller not controlling/throttling it down; and/or any other mismatch in service measure and service policy. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the access control integrity server 1654 (and/or some other agent of service controller 122) provides a policy/service control integrity service to continually (e.g., periodically and/or based on trigger events) verify that the service control of the device has not been compromised and/or is not behaving out of policy.
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In some embodiments, the policy management server 1652 provides adaptive policy management on the device. For example, the policy management server 1652 can issue policy settings and objectives and rely on the device based policy management (e.g., service processor 115) for some or all of the policy adaptation. This approach can require less interaction with the device thereby reducing network chatter on service control link 1653 for purposes of device policy management (e.g., network chatter is reduced relative to various server/network based policy management approaches described above). This approach can also provide robust user privacy embodiments by allowing the user to configure the device policy for user privacy preferences/settings so that, for example, sensitive information (e.g., geo-location data, website history) is not communicated to the network without the user's approval. In some embodiments, the policy management server 1652 adjusts service policy based on time of day. In some embodiments, the policy management server 1652 receives, requests or otherwise obtains a measure of network availability and adjusts traffic shaping policy and/or other policy settings based on available network capacity.
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In some embodiments, the service processor 115 and service controller 122 are capable of assigning multiple service profiles associated with multiple service plans that the user chooses individually or in combination as a package. For example, a device 100 starts with ambient services that include free transaction services wherein the user pays for transactions or events rather than the basic service (e.g., a news service, eReader, PND service, pay as you go session Internet) in which each service is supported with a bill by account capability to correctly account for any subsidized partner billing to provide the transaction services (e.g., Barnes and Noble may pay for the eReader service and offer a revenue share to the service provider for any book or magazine transactions purchased from the device 100). In some embodiments, the bill by account service can also track the transactions and, in some embodiments, advertisements for the purpose of revenue sharing, all using the service monitoring capabilities disclosed herein. After initiating services with the free ambient service discussed above, the user may later choose a post-pay monthly Internet, email and SMS service. In this case, the service controller 122 would obtain from the billing system 123 in the case of network based billing (or in some embodiments the service controller 122 billing event server 1622 in the case of device based billing) the billing plan code for the new Internet, email and SMS service. In some embodiments, this code is cross referenced in a database (e.g., the policy management server 1652) to find the appropriate service profile for the new service in combination with the initial ambient service. The new superset service profile is then applied so that the user maintains free access to the ambient services, and the billing partners continue to subsidize those services, the user also gets access to Internet services and may choose the service control profile (e.g., from one of the embodiments disclosed herein). The superset profile is the profile that provides the combined capabilities of two or more service profiles when the profiles are applied to the same device 100 service processor. In some embodiments, the device 100 (service processor 115) can determine the superset profile rather than the service controller 122 when more than one “stackable” service is selected by the user or otherwise applied to the device. The flexibility of the service processor 115 and service controller 122 embodiments described herein allow for a large variety of service profiles to be defined and applied individually or as a superset to achieve the desired device 100 service features.
In some embodiments, the device 100 is capable of connecting to more than one network and device service policies are potentially changed based on which network the device is connected to at the time. In some embodiments, the network control plane servers detect a network connection change and initiate the service policy implementation established for the second network. In some embodiments, the device based adaptive policy control agent, as described herein (e.g., policy control agent 1692), detects network connection changes and implements the service policies established for the second network.
In some embodiments, when more than one access network is available, the network is chosen based on which network is most preferred according to a network preference list or according to which network that optimizes a network cost function. For example, the network preference list can be pre-established by the service provide and/or the user and/or later modified/adjusted by either the service provider and/or the user. For example, the cost function can be based on determining a minimum service cost, maximum network performance, whether or not the user or device has access to the network, maximizing service provider connection benefit, reducing connections to alternative paid service providers, and/or any other cost related criteria for network selection purposes.
In some embodiments, the device 100 detects when one or more preferred networks are not available, implements a network selection function or intercepts other network selection functions, and offers a connection to the available service network that is highest on a preference list. For example, the preference list can be set by the service provider, the user and/or the service subscriber. In some embodiments, a notification is provided to the device/user when the device is not connected to a network (e.g., indicating in a pop-up/bubble or other UI based display a notification, such as “You are not connected to the network. Click here to learn more, get free trial, use a session, sign-up for service”). In some embodiments, the notification content can be determined based on usage service patterns, locally stored and/or programmable logic on the device and/or a server (e.g., device reports that user is not connected and WWAN is available). Decisions on what bubble to present when may be in pre-stored logic on device.
In some embodiments, service policies are automatically adapted based on the network to which device 100 is connected. For example, the device can be a cellular communication based device connected to a macrocell, a microcell, a picocell, or a femtocell (e.g., femto cells generally provide a low power, small area cellular network used, for example, in homes or offices, which, for example, can be used as an alternative to Wi-Fi access). In some embodiments, service monitoring agent 1696 and/or billing agent 1695 modify service usage counting and/or billing based on whether the device is connected to a macrocell, microcell, picocell or femtocell. In some embodiments, the device recognizes which type of network it is currently connecting to (e.g., looking up in a local or network table for the current base station connected to, and/or the information is broadcast to the device upon the connection with the base station), that is, whether it is a macrocell, microcell, picocell or femtocell. In other embodiments, the device does not recognize which type of network it is currently connected to, but reports its current base station, and the network uses a network lookup function to determine which type of network it is connected to. In some embodiments, the device adjusts the billing based on the type of network it is connected to, or in other embodiments, the device calculates an offset to such billing based on the type of network it is connected to, and/or in other embodiments, the device records such service usage associated with the type of network it is connected to and the network billing can adjust the billing accordingly. For example, the billing can be lower for service data usage over a femtocell versus a macrocell. In some embodiments, service policies are adjusted based on the type of network that the device is connected, such as billing, user notification, data usage/bandwidth, throttling, time of day, who owns the cellular network connection (e.g., user's home femtocell, or user's work femtocell, or a commercial business's femtocell like a coffee shop or any other common area like an airport) and/or any other service policy can be different for a femtocell connection (or for any other type of connection, such as a macrocell, microcell, or picocell). In some embodiments, the local service usage counter is adjusted based on the type of network (and/or based on the time of day of such service activity) that the device is connected, such as billing, user notification, data usage/bandwidth, and/or any other service policy can be different for a femtocell connection (or for any other type of connection, such as a macrocell, microcell, or picocell). In some embodiments, the service policies and/or billing policies are adjusted based on network congestion.
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In some embodiments, device assisted services (DAS) techniques for providing an activity map for classifying or categorizing service usage activities to associate various monitored activities (e.g., by URL, by network domain, by website, by network traffic type, by application or application type, and/or any other service usage activity categorization/classification) with associated IP addresses are provided. In some embodiments, a policy control agent (not shown), service monitor agent 1696, or another agent or function (or combinations thereof) of the service processor 115 provides a DAS activity map. In some embodiments, a policy control agent, service monitor agent, or another agent or function (or combinations thereof) of the service processor provides an activity map for classifying or categorizing service usage activities to associate various monitored activities (e.g., by Uniform Resource Locator (URL), by network domain, by website, by network traffic type, by application or application type, and/or any other service usage activity classification/categorization) with associated IP addresses. In some embodiments, a policy control agent, service monitor agent, or another agent or function (or combinations thereof) of the service processor determines the associated IP addresses for monitored service usage activities using various techniques to snoop the DNS request(s) (e.g., by performing such snooping techniques on the device 100 the associated IP addresses can be determined without the need for a network request for a reverse DNS lookup). In some embodiments, a policy control agent, service monitor agent, or another agent or function (or combinations thereof) of the service processor records and reports IP addresses or includes a DNS lookup function to report IP addresses or IP addresses and associated URLs for monitored service usage activities. For example, a policy control agent, service monitor agent, or another agent or function (or combinations thereof) of the service processor can determine the associated IP addresses for monitored service usage activities using various techniques to perform a DNS lookup function (e.g., using a local DNS cache on the monitored device 100). In some embodiments, one or more of these techniques are used to dynamically build and maintain a DAS activity map that maps, for example, URLs to IP addresses, applications to IP addresses, content types to IP addresses, and/or any other categorization/classification to IP addresses as applicable. In some embodiments, the DAS activity map is used for various DAS traffic control and/or throttling techniques as described herein with respect to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the DAS activity map is used to provide the user various UI related information and notification techniques related to service usage as described herein with respect to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the DAS activity map is used to provide service usage monitoring, prediction/estimation of future service usage, service usage billing (e.g., bill by account and/or any other service usage/billing categorization techniques), DAS techniques for ambient services usage monitoring, DAS techniques for generating micro-CDRs (e.g., also referred to as service usage partition, service usage recording partition, service charging bucket, device generated CDRs, such as in the case where the device and not a network component are generating the usage records, ambient usage records, specialized service usage records, or other terms to indicate a service usage data record generated to provide a more refined or detailed breakdown of service usage for the device), and/or any of the various other DAS related techniques as described herein with respect to various embodiments.
In some embodiments, all or a portion of the service processor 115 functions disclosed herein are implemented in software. In some embodiments, all or a portion of the service processor 115 functions are implemented in hardware. In some embodiments, all or substantially all of the service processor 115 functionality (as discussed herein) is implemented and stored in software that can be performed on (e.g., executed by) various components in device 100. In some embodiments, it is advantageous to store or implement certain portions or all of service processor 115 in protected or secure memory so that other undesired programs (and/or unauthorized users) have difficulty accessing the functions or software in service processor 115. In some embodiments, service processor 115, at least in part, is implemented in and/or stored on secure non-volatile memory (e.g., non volatile memory can be secure non-volatile memory) that is not accessible without pass keys and/or other security mechanisms. In some embodiments, the ability to load at least a portion of service processor 115 software into protected non-volatile memory also requires a secure key and/or signature and/or requires that the service processor 115 software components being loaded into non-volatile memory are also securely encrypted and appropriately signed by an authority that is trusted by a secure software downloader function, such as service downloader 1663 as shown in
In some embodiments, the service monitor agent and/or other agents implement virtual traffic tagging by tracking or tracing packet flows through the various communication stack formatting, processing and encryption steps, and providing the virtual tag information to the various agents that monitor, control, shape, throttle or otherwise observe, manipulate or modify the traffic. This tagging approach is referred to herein as virtual tagging, because there is not a literal data flow, traffic flow or packet tag that is attached to flows or packets, and the book-keeping to tag the packet is done through tracking or tracing the flow or packet through the stack instead. In some embodiments, the application interface and/or other agents identify a traffic flow, associate it with a service usage activity and cause a literal tag to be attached to the traffic or packets associated with the activity. This tagging approach is referred to herein as literal tagging. There are various advantages with both the virtual tagging and the literal tagging approaches. For example, it can be preferable in some embodiments to reduce the inter-agent communication required to track or trace a packet through the stack processing by assigning a literal tag so that each flow or packet has its own activity association embedded in the data. As another example, it can be preferable in some embodiments to re-use portions of standard communication stack software or components, enhancing the verifiable traffic control or service control capabilities of the standard stack by inserting additional processing steps associated with the various service agents and monitoring points rather than re-writing the entire stack to correctly process literal tagging information, and in such cases, a virtual tagging scheme may be desired. As yet another example, some standard communication stacks provide for unused, unspecified or otherwise available bit fields in a packet frame or flow, and these unused, unspecified or otherwise available bit fields can be used to literally tag traffic without the need to re-write all of the standard communication stack software, with only the portions of the stack that are added to enhance the verifiable traffic control or service control capabilities of the standard stack needing to decode and use the literal tagging information encapsulated in the available bit fields. In the case of literal tagging, in some embodiments, the tags are removed prior to passing the packets or flows to the network or to the applications utilizing the stack. In some embodiments, the manner in which the virtual or literal tagging is implemented can be developed into a communication standard specification so that various device or service product developers can independently develop the communication stack and/or service processor hardware and/or software in a manner that is compatible with the service controller specifications and the products of other device or service product developers.
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A complication arises when upper layer reliable communication protocols, such as TCP, are employed in the networking stack in which the downstream transmitting end repeats the packet transmission if the receiving TCP protocol stack does not send a packet receipt acknowledge (ACK) within a certain period of time. If packets are arbitrarily delayed or dropped, then the TCP re-transmission traffic can reduce, completely eliminate or even reverse the network capacity advantage gained by reducing the average traffic speed or other transmission quality measure for one or more service activities. To solve this problem, in some embodiments, the packet traffic control parameters (e.g., downstream delay, drops, burst length, burst frequency and/or burst jitter) are optimized for TCP re-transmission efficiency so that changes in traffic control access bandwidth or speed for one or more service activities are implemented in such a manner that the TCP re-transmission delay at the network transmitting end adapts to be long enough so that wasted packet re-transmission bandwidth is reduced. In addition, and either in combination or in isolation, in some embodiments, the packet traffic control parameters (e.g., downstream delay, drops, burst length, burst frequency and/or burst jitter) can be adjusted so that the access network downstream MAC and/or PHY efficiencies are optimized.
Numerous other embodiments for the detailed implementation of packet flow processing in both downstream and upstream will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the various embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, as described herein, the following are provided: (A) traffic shaping is performed in a verifiable manner, (B) traffic shaping is performed in a manner that results in improved network capacity by taking into account to some degree the manner in which the access network PHY layer and/or MAC layer responds to packet parameters (e.g. burst delay, burst drops, burst length, burst frequency and/or burst jitter), (C) traffic shaping is performed in a manner that results in improved network capacity by taking into account how the packet parameters (e.g., burst delay, burst drops, burst length, burst frequency and/or burst jitter) impact layer 3 and higher ACK protocol or other network protocol network capacity efficiencies, (D) packet shaping is performed in a manner that is aware of and optimized for the particular type of communication protocol or packets being sent (e.g., TCP packets can be dropped to slow the application rate of transfer whereas UDP packets are never dropped, because there is no re-transmission), (E) a virtual or literal packet tagging system is used in a verifiable traffic shaping service control system to provide a deeper level of service monitoring and control or to simplify the processing of the packets, and/or (F) starting with these low level packet processing, traffic control or access control building blocks one or more additional layers of higher level policy control can be added on the device or in the network to create service profiles for the service provider network that define complete services, such as ambient services and many other variations of service profile settings that each define a device or user service experience and can be associated with a billing plan. For example, the use of higher layers of service profile control to form more complete service solutions starting with these relatively simple low-level traffic control, access control or firewall processing steps or functions is also described herein.
In some embodiments, device 100 includes a 3G and/or 4G network access connection in combination with the Wi-Fi LAN connection to the device 100. For example, the intermediate device or networking device combination can be a device that simply translates the Wi-Fi data to the WWAN access network without implementing any portion of the service processor 115 as shown in
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In some embodiments, it may not be possible to accurately identify every network service access attempt or service usage (e.g., or traffic access) as belonging to a given service usage partition (e.g., a given ambient service usage, background network chatter usage, user service plan usage, emergency service usage, and/or other type of service usage). As used herein, the terms service usage partition, service usage recording partition, service charging bucket, and micro-CDRs are used interchangeably. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a service charging bucket for traffic that is allowed and not definitively identified as belonging to a known service charging bucket. This allows for techniques to employ an “allow but verify” approach to traffic that is likely to be legitimately associated with an ambient service or a user service or a network service that is intended to be allowed, but is not definitively identified as being associated with an allowed service.
As an example, there may be a web site access associated with an ambient service that does not have a reference identifier or other traffic parameter that allows the service processor to associate it with the correct ambient service. In this case, a set of rules can be applied to determine if it is likely that the web site access is a legitimate access given the access control policies that are in place, and if it is the access can be allowed and the traffic usage either recorded in the ambient service charging bucket that it is suspected to be associated with, or the traffic usage can be charged to a network chatter service usage bucket, or the traffic usage can be charged to the user service usage bucket, or the traffic usage may be recorded in a “not classified but allowed” service charging bucket. In some embodiments, in which such traffic is charged to the “not classified but allowed” service usage charging bucket, additional verification measures are employed to ensure that the amount of traffic that is not classified but allowed does not grow too large or become a back-door for service usage errors. For example, the access control policy rules for allowing unclassified traffic can be relatively loose as long as the amount of service usage charges accumulating in the not classified charging bucket remains within certain bounds, and/or the rate of service usage charged to the not classified bucket remains within certain bounds, but if the not classified traffic becomes large or the rate of not classified traffic growth becomes large then the rules governing when to allow not classified traffic can be tightened.
As another example, a browser application can access a web site that is known to be an ambient service website, and that web site might serve back a series of traffic flows, some of which are associated with the ambient service website through URL identifiers that are known to be part of the website, and other traffic can be associated with the ambient service website by virtue of a referring website tag or header, and some traffic can be returned to the same application with a relatively close time proximity to the other traffic as being identified as ambient traffic. In this example, as long as the not classified traffic service charging bucket does not exceed a given pre-set policy limit on its size, and/or does not grow faster than a given pre-set policy rate, and/or is received within a certain pre-set policy period of time difference from the time that other ambient service charging bucket traffic is received, then the not classified traffic is continued to be allowed. However, if the not classified traffic amount or rate of growth exceeds the pre-set policy limits, or if the period of time between when verified ambient service traffic is received and the not classified traffic is received exceeds policy limits, then the not classified traffic can be blocked or other action can be taken to further analyze the not classified traffic.
In some embodiments, it is important to provide a hierarchy of service usage charging rules for the various service usage partitions on a device. As an example, for a given service plan there can be two ambient service charging buckets, a network chatter (e.g., or network overhead) service charging bucket, and a user service plan service charging bucket and it is desirable to make sure that no ambient services or network overhead service or unclassified service is charged to the user service plan, and it is also desirable to ensure that all known ambient service traffic is charged to the appropriate ambient service partner, and it is desirable to ensure that no network overhead service or unclassified service is charged to ambient service partners. In such situations, a service charging bucket hierarchy can be provided as follows: determine if a traffic flow (e.g., or socket) is associated with network overhead, and if so allow it and charge that service bucket, then determine if a traffic flow (or socket) is associated with ambient service #1, and if so allow it and charge that service bucket, then determine if a traffic flow (or socket) is associated with ambient service #2, and if so allow it and charge that service bucket, then determine if a traffic flow (or socket) is associated with not classified traffic, and if so allow it and charge that service bucket, then if the traffic is not associated with any of the above service charging buckets allow it and charge it to the user service plan charging bucket. In another example, if the user has not yet chosen to pay for a user service plan, then the same hierarchical access control and service charging policy can be used except the final step would be: then if the traffic is not associated with any of the above service charging buckets block the traffic. Hierarchical service charging bucket identification such as depicted in these examples can be a crucial aspect of a robust access control policy and/or service charging policy system. Many other access control policy hierarchies and service charging bucket policy hierarchies will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.
In some embodiments, the not classified traffic is charged according to service charging rules that rely on the most likely candidate service charging bucket for the traffic. As another example, if the not classified traffic is being delivered to the same application as other known ambient service traffic and the time difference between delivery of the known ambient service traffic and the not classified traffic is small, then the not classified traffic can be charged to the ambient service in accordance with a pre-set charging policy rule specifying these conditions. Other embodiments that will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, another charging rule for not classified traffic could be to perform a pro-rata allocation of the not classified traffic to all of the other service charging buckets with the pro-rata allocation being based on the percentage of the total traffic used by the device for each service charging bucket. As another example, the not classified traffic can be charged to a subset of the service charging buckets for the device (e.g., all ambient services plus the network overhead service) in accordance with the pro-rata share for each service included in the pro-rata split.
In some embodiments, the user service plan agreement is structured so that the user acknowledges that ambient services in which the access connection to the service is sponsored, paid for, and/or partially subsidized by an entity other than the user are a benefit to the user, and/or the user acknowledges that there is no inherent right to free ambient services, and that the service usage accounting system may not always properly characterize usage for a sponsored or subsidized ambient service (e.g., or some other specialized service) in the correct accounting service charging bucket, and, thus, the user service plan account can be charged and/or billed with some of this traffic. By having the user acknowledge a service use agreement of this form then some ambient traffic can be charged to the user service plan account, including, for example, allowed but not classified traffic, excess ambient service usage beyond pre-set policy limits, ambient service usage during busy network periods or on congested network resources, and/or other criteria/measures. In some embodiments, the user might be notified that they are being charged for service activities that are sometimes subsidized or free to the user. As discussed above, it is important to ensure that a not classified service charging bucket does not become a back door for service charging errors or hacking. It will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the not classified service usage charges can be verified in a variety of manners, including, for example, observing the size of the not classified service charging bucket as compared to other service usage charges on the device (e.g., total device service usage, ambient service usage, user bucket service usage, and/or other criteria/measures), capping the not classified bucket, and/or capping the rate of growth of the not classified bucket.
In some embodiments, it is important to verify not only that the total device service usage amount is correct, but that the service usage is being reported in the proper service charging buckets. For example, if the service processor software can be hacked so that it correctly reports the total service usage, but reports user service plan traffic under one or more ambient service buckets, then simply verifying that the total amount of service usage is correct will not be sufficient to prevent the device from obtaining free user service that can be charged to ambient service partners. There are a variety of direct and indirect embodiments to accomplish this verification of service charging bucket divisions. For example, in direct verification embodiments, one or more alternative measures of service usage are employed to cross-check the accuracy of the service charging bucket divisions. In indirect embodiments one of two classes of verification are employed: the size and rate of growth for service charging buckets is analyzed and compared to a pre-set group of policies to detect and/or modify service charging bucket growth that is out of policy; and/or the proper operation of the service processor elements involved in service charging bucket partitioning is verified.
Various embodiments involving direct verification of service charging bucket usage and/or accounting include the use of network based service usage measures such as CDRs, IPDRs, flow data records (e.g., FDRs—detailed reports of service usage for each service flow, such as network socket connection, opened and used to transmit data to or from the device), accounting records, interim accounting records or other similar usage records to verify that the device is within service policy and/or the device based service usage reports are accurate. Use of such network generated service usage records to directly verify service charging and/or proper service usage policy adherence are described herein. When network address destination and/or source information is available in these records, as described herein, this can be used in some embodiments to verify the service charging bucket accounting provided by the device service processor. In some embodiments, some types of service usage records include real-time data but not necessarily all of the useful information needed to help verify service charging bucket accounting, while other types of service usage records provide more detail (e.g., IP address for destination and source) but do not always arrive in real-time. For example, in some embodiments, FDRs are created each time a new service flow (e.g., network socket connection) is opened and then closed. At the time the service flow is closed, a (e.g., possibly time stamped) data usage record indicating source address, destination address and amount of data transmitted is created and sent to a charging aggregation function in the network. The charging aggregation function can then forward the FDRs to the service controller for verification or direct accounting of service charging bucket accounting. By comparing the FDR addresses with known ambient service traffic address associations, the partitioning of service charging buckets between one or more ambient services and other services such as a user service plan service charging bucket may be verified. However, in some cases it can be a long period of time for an FDR to be generated when a device service flow (e.g., socket) remains open for a long period of time, as in the case for example with a long file download, a peer to peer connection with a socket keep alive, or a proxy server service with a socket keep alive. In such cases, it can be disadvantageous to have large amounts of data to be transferred without an FDR to confirm device service processor based reports, and in some cases this can provide an opportunity for service processor service reporting hacks. This can be remedied in a variety of ways by using other network reported service usage information to augment the FDR information. For example, start and stop accounting records can sometimes be obtained in some embodiments from a network element such as a service gateway or the AAA servers (e.g., or other network equipment elements depending on the network architecture). Although start and stop records do not possess the detail of service usage information that FDRs, CDRs, IPDRs, interim accounting records or other service usage records posses, they do inform the service controller that a device is either connected to the network or has stopped connecting. If a device is connected to the network and is not transmitting device usage reports or heartbeats, then the service controller is alerted that an error or hacking condition is likely. As another example of how two or more types of network reported service usage information may be used to create a better real time or near real-time check on device service usage, if both FDRs and start/stop accounting records are available, the service controller can send a stop-then-resume service command to the device (e.g., or alternatively send a stop then resume service command to a network equipment element), which will cause the device to terminate all open service flows before re-initiating them, and once the service flows are stopped then the FDR flow records will be completed and transmitted for any service flows that were in process but unreported when the stop service command was issued. This will cause any long term open socket file transfers to be reported in the FDR flow records thus plugging the potential back door hole in the FDR service usage accounting verification method.
As another example showing how multiple types of network generated service usage accounting records may be used to complement each other and strengthen the verification of service charging bucket accounting partitions, interim data records can be used with FDRs. Interim data records are available in accordance with some embodiments, n which the interim data records are generated on a regularly scheduled basis by a network element (e.g., gateway, base station, HLR, AAA, and/or other network element/function). Interim data records are typically near real time records that report the aggregate traffic usage for the device as of a point in time, but often do not include traffic address information or other traffic details. In embodiments in which both interim accounting records and FDRs are available, when the interim accounting records are indicating service usage that is not being reported in the FDR stream this is evidence that a device has one or more long term socket connections that are open and are not terminating. In this case, the service controller can verify that the device based usage reports are properly accounting for the total amount of service usage reported by the interim accounting records, and/or the service controller can force an FDR report for the open sockets by issuing a stop-resume service command as similarly discussed above.
As described herein, other embodiments involving direct verification of service charging bucket accounting can be provided. One example is to route ambient service traffic to a proxy server or router programmed to support only the network access allowed for the ambient service and to account for the ambient service usage. Additional proxy servers or routers can be similarly programmed for each ambient service that is part of the device service plan, and in some embodiments, another proxy server or router is programmed to support traffic control and account for the user service plan service access. By comparing the service usage accounting for each of these proxy servers or routers, the device generated service charging bucket accounting can be directly verified. In some embodiments, the usage accounting provided by the proxy servers or routers is used directly for service usage accounting.
In some embodiments, ambient service partner feedback is used to verify service charging bucket accounting. For example, web servers used by ambient service partners to provide ambient services can identify a user device based on header information embedded in the HTML traffic, and then account for either the service used by the device during the ambient service sessions or account for the number of transactions the user completes. If service usage is recorded, then it can be reported to the service controller and be used directly to verify ambient service charging bucket accounting. If transactions are all that are recorded, then this can be reported to the service controller and the amount of ambient service used by the device can be compared with the number of transactions completed to determine if the ambient service usage is reasonable or should be throttled or blocked. It will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments can be provided that employ more than one type of network generated service usage records to verify service usage accounting and/or verify service charging bucket accounting.
Other embodiments involving indirect methods for verifying or controlling service charging bucket accounting include monitoring the size and/or growth rate of ambient service usage. In some embodiments, the access control policy rules call for restricting a given ambient service access when the amount of service usage charges accumulating in the ambient service charging bucket exceed a pre-set policy limit, and/or when the rate of service usage for the ambient service exceeds a pre-set policy limit. For example, once these limits are reached, the ambient service can be throttled back for a period of time, blocked for a period of time, or charged to the user service plan charging bucket. In some embodiments, before these actions are taken the user UI can be used to notify the user of the service policy enforcement action. In some embodiments, indirect verification of service charging bucket accounting includes the various techniques described herein for verifying proper operation of the service processor agent software and/or protecting the service processor agent software from errors, manipulation, or hacking.
In some embodiments, the device service processor directs traffic destined for a given ambient service to a proxy server or router programmed to support that ambient service, and any traffic control policies and/or access control policies for the ambient service are implemented in the proxy server or router. For example, in such embodiments the proxy server or router can be programmed to only allow access to one or more ambient services that are authorized by the device service plan, with the proxy server or router controlling device access so that other network destinations cannot be reached. Continuing this example embodiment, the proxy server or router can account for the ambient service usage in an ambient service charging bucket as discussed elsewhere. In such proxy server or router ambient service control embodiments, the same traffic association techniques described elsewhere that allow incoming traffic associated with an ambient service website or other service to be identified, allowed or blocked, potentially throttled, and accounted for in a service charging bucket can be implemented in the proxy server or router programming. Such proxy server or router embodiments can also implement user service plan service charging buckets, user service plan traffic controls, and user service plan access control as discussed herein. In some embodiments, the proxy server or router analyzes the HTML traffic content of the traffic flows as described herein to perform such associations, traffic control and/or service usage accounting. Similarly, in some embodiments, a proxy server or router can provide the “surf-out” capabilities described herein by performing the same surf-out traffic associations (e.g., HTML branch reference associations and/or other branch associations) described herein. It will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many of the adaptive ambient service control and service usage charging functions described herein for a service processor can be readily implemented with a proxy server or router that is appropriately programmed.
In some embodiments, routing of device traffic for one or more ambient services and/or user service plan services to a proxy server or router is accomplished by the device service processor using the device service processor traffic control embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, routing of device traffic for one or more ambient services and/or user service plan services to a proxy server or router is accomplished by dedicated network equipment such as the gateways (e.g. SGSN, GGSN, PDSN, or PDN), home agents, HLRs or base stations, with the network equipment being provisioned by a service controller (e.g., or other interchangeable network element with similar functions for this purpose) to direct the device traffic to the proxy server or router. In some embodiments, the ambient service traffic or the user service plan traffic is controlled by the proxy server according to a service plan policy set supplied by the service controller (e.g., or equivalent network function for this purpose). The traffic control service policy thus implemented by the proxy server can control traffic based on one or more of the following: period of time, network address, service type, content type, application type, QoS class, time of day, network busy state, bandwidth, and data usage.
In some embodiments, a proxy server or router is used to verify accounting for a given service, for example, an ambient service. In some embodiments, this is accomplished by the device service processor directing the desired service flows to a proxy server or router programmed to handle the desired service flows, with the proxy server or router being programmed to only allow access to valid network destinations allowed by the access control policies for the desired service, and the proxy server or router also being programmed to account for the traffic usage for the desired services. In some embodiments, the proxy service usage accounting may then be used to verify device based service usage accounting reported by the service processor. In some embodiments, the accounting thus reported by the proxy server or router can be used directly to account for service usage, such as ambient service usage or user service plan service usage.
In some embodiments, in which a proxy server is used for device service usage accounting, the proxy server maintains a link to the device service notification UI via a secure communication link, such as the heartbeat device link described herein. For example, the proxy server or router can keep track of device service usage versus service plan usage caps/limits and notify the user device UI through the device communication link (e.g., heartbeat link) between the service controller and the device. In some embodiments, the proxy server/router communicates with a device UI in a variety of ways, such as follows: UI connection through a device link (e.g., heartbeat link), through a device link connected to a service controller (e.g., or other network element with similar function for this purpose), presenting a proxy web page to the device, providing a pop-up page to the device, and/or installing a special portal mini-browser on the device that communicates with the proxy server/router. In some embodiments, the UI connection to the proxy server/router is used as a user notification channel to communicate usage notification information, service plan choices, or any of the multiple services UI embodiments described herein.
In some embodiments for the proxy server/router techniques for implementing service traffic/access controls and/or service charting bucket accounting, it is desirable to have the same information that is available to the service processor on the device, including, for example, application associated with the traffic, network busy state, QoS level, or other information about the service activity that is available at the device. For example, such information can be used to help determine traffic control rules and/or special services credit is due (e.g., ambient services credit). In some embodiments, information available on the device can be communicated to the proxy server/router and associated with traffic flows or service usage activities in a variety of ways. For example, side information can be transmitted to the proxy server/router that associates a traffic flow or service activity flow with information available on the device but not readily available in the traffic flow or service activity flow itself. In some embodiments, such side information may be communicated over a dedicated control channel (e.g., the device control link or heartbeat link), or in a standard network connection that in some embodiments can be secure (e.g., TLS/SSL, or a secure tunnel). In some embodiments, the side information available on the device can be communicated to the proxy server/router via embedded information in data (e.g., header and/or stuffing special fields in the communications packets). In some embodiments, the side information available on the device can be communicated to the proxy server/router by associating a given secure link or tunnel with the side information. In some embodiments, the side information is collected in a device agent or device API agent that monitors traffic flows, collects the side information for those traffic flows, and transmits the information associated with a given flow to a proxy server/router. It will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other techniques can be used to communicate side information available on the device to a proxy server/router.
For example, just as the hierarchy of charging rules can be important for implementations in which the service processor is creating the service charging bucket accounting, it can also important in implementations that use a proxy server or router for service charging bucket accounting. Accordingly, various embodiments described herein for creating a hierarchy of service usage charging rules can be applied to proxy server or proxy router embodiments. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the service charging bucket embodiments and traffic control and access control embodiments described herein for allowed but not classified buckets apply equally to the proxy server/router embodiments. For example, pre-defined service policy rules can be programmed into the proxy server/router to control the traffic flows and/or place usage limits or access limits on an ambient service, or a user service plan service. It will also now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein disclosing an initial allowed service access list, temporarily allowing additional service activities until they are determined to be allowed or not allowed, expanding the allowed service activity list, maintaining a not allowed service activity list and expanding the not allowed service activity list also apply equally to proxy server/router embodiments. Similarly, it will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the proxy/server router embodiments can be employed to directly generate the service charging bucket (or micro-CDR) usage reports used to provide further detail and/or billing capabilities for service usage. In some embodiments, in which the device service processor directs traffic to a proxy server/router, there are advantageous design feature embodiments available that can reduce the need to provision network to detect and force specialized device service traffic to the appropriate proxy server/router. For example, this can be done by creating a “usage credit” system for the services supported by the proxy server/outer. Total service usage is counted on the one hand by the device service processor, or by other network equipment, or by both. Credit on the other hand for ambient service or other specialized access service usage that is not charged to the user is then provided for services that the device directs through the proxy server/router destination (e.g., URL or route hop) supporting the particular ambient service or other specialized access service. If the device correctly directs traffic to the proxy server/router, then the counting and/or access rules are correctly implemented by the proxy server/router. The service can be thus controlled and/or accounted for. When the service is accounted for, the proxy server/router reports the service charging bucket accounting back to the service controller (e.g., or other network equipment responsible for service charging bucket/micro CDR mediation) and the user service plan service charging bucket account can be credited for the services. Traffic that reaches the proxy server/router is controlled by the access rules and/or traffic control rules and/or QoS control rules of the proxy server/router programming, so there is no question regarding the type of service that is supported with the service charging buckets that are reported to mediation functions (e.g., mediation functions can be performed by one or more of service controller, usage mediation, billing, AAA, and/or HLR/home agent). As the proxy server/router is in the network and can be physically secured and protected from hacking, there is high confidence that the service control and/or charging rules intended for ambient services or some other specialized service are properly implemented and that the proxy server/router connection is being used for the intended service and not some other unintended hacked service. If the device is somehow hacked or otherwise in error so that the traffic is not directed through the appropriate proxy server/router, then the proxy server/router does not log the traffic in micro CDRs/buckets and no specialized service usage credit is sent to the mediation functions, so there is no usage credit deducted from the device user service plan service usage totals. Thus, the user pays for the services when the device is hacked to avoid the proxy server/router. The user account service agreement can specify that if the user tampers with software and traffic is not routed to servers then credit will not be provided and user plan will be charged.
In some proxy server/router embodiments, the usage credit is sometimes recorded by the proxy server/router detecting which device is performing the access. Device identification can be accomplished in a variety of ways including a header/tag inserted into the traffic by the device, a route in the network specified for that device, a secure link (e.g., TLS/SSL, IP Sec, or other secure tunnel), a unique device IP address or other credential (e.g., where proxy server/router has access to an active IP address look up function), a unique proxy server/router address and/or socket for the device.
In some embodiments, the coordination of the device service controller traffic control elements with a proxy server/outer can make it simpler to locate, install, provision and operate the proxy servers. The proxy server/routers do not need to be located “in line” with the access network because it is the device's responsibility to make sure the traffic is routed to the servers/routers or else there is not credit and the user account is charged. In some embodiments, this makes it unnecessary or reduces the need to force device traffic routes in carrier network. In some embodiments, the proxy server/routers can be located in carrier network or on the Internet. If the proxy server/routers are on Internet, then traffic can be authenticated in a firewall before being passed to server/routers to enhance security to attack.
In some embodiments, the service charging bucket recording software in the proxy server/router can be programmed into an ambient service partners network equipment directly thus eliminating the need for special apparatus. The ambient service partner's equipment (e.g., a web server, load balancer or router) can recognize the device using one of the techniques described above, aggregate the device service charging bucket accounting, and periodically send the usage accounting to the service controller or other network service usage mediation function.
Programming and/or provisioning the types of ambient services, user service plan services and/or specialized services disclosed in various embodiments described herein can be a complex process. In some embodiments, a simplified user programming interface, also referred to herein as a service design interface, is used to program the necessary policy settings for such services is desirable. For example, a service design interface is provided that organizes and/or categorizes the various policy settings that are required to set up an ambient service (e.g., or other service) including one or more of the following: a policy list of service activities that are allowed under the ambient service (e.g., or other service), access control policies, rules for implementing and/or adapting an allowed list of network destinations, rules for implementing and/or adapting a blocked list of network destinations, service charging bucket policies, user notification policies, service control, and/or service charging bucket verification policies, actions to be taken upon verification errors. In some embodiments, the required information for one or more of these policy sets is formatted into a UI that organizes and simplifies the programming of the policies. In some embodiments, the UI is partly graphical to help the user understand the information and what settings need to be defined in order to define the service. In some embodiments, the UI is created with an XML interface. In some embodiments, the UI is offered via a secure web connection. In some embodiments, a basic service policy for an ambient service (e.g., or another service) is created that includes one or more of the above service policy settings, and then this service policy set becomes a list or an object that can be replicated and used in multiple service plan policy set definitions (e.g., “dragged and dropped” in a graphical UI). In some embodiments, the resulting set of policies created in this service design interface are then distributed to the necessary policy control elements in the network and/or on the device that act in coordination to implement the service policy set for a given device group. For example, if a service processor is used in conjunction with a service controller, then the service design interface can load the service policy settings subsets that need to be programmed on the service controller and the device service processor into the service controller, and the service controller loads the service controller policy settings subset into the service controller components that control the policies and loads the device policy settings subset to the devices that belong to that device group. In embodiments in which a proxy server/router is used to help control and account for services, in some embodiments, the service design interface loads the service policy settings subsets that need to be programmed on the proxy server/router into the proxy server/router. In embodiments where other network equipment (e.g., gateways, base stations, service usage recording/aggregation/feed equipment, AAA, home agent/HLR, mediation system, and/or billing system) need to be provisioned or programmed, in some embodiments, the service design interface also loads the appropriate device group policy subsets to each of the equipment elements. Accordingly, various techniques can be used as described herein to greatly simplify the complex task of translating a service policy set or service plan into all the myriad equipment and/or device settings, programming, and/or provisioning commands required to correctly implement the service. It will now be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that several of these techniques can similarly be used for the VSP service design interface.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various other rules can be provided for the rules engine as described herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that the functions described herein can be implemented using various other network architectures and network implementations (e.g., using various other networking protocols and corresponding network equipment and techniques).
Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limited to the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive.
This application incorporates by reference the following U.S. Non-Provisional Applications: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/695,019, entitled DEVICE ASSISTED CDR CREATION, AGGREGATION, MEDIATION AND BILLING, filed Jan. 27, 2010 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,275,830); U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/380,778, entitled VERIFIABLE DEVICE ASSISTED SERVICE USAGE BILLING WITH INTEGRATED ACCOUNTING, MEDIATION ACCOUNTING, AND MULTI-ACCOUNT, filed on Mar. 2, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,321,526); and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/380,771, entitled VERIFIABLE SERVICE BILLING FOR INTERMEDIATE NETWORKING DEVICES, filed on Mar. 2, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,023,425).
This application also incorporates by reference the following U.S. Provisional Applications: U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/206,354 entitled SERVICES POLICY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD filed Jan. 28, 2009; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/206,944 entitled SERVICES POLICY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD filed Feb. 4, 2009; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/207,393 entitled SERVICES POLICY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD filed Feb. 10, 2009; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/207,739 entitled SERVICES POLICY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD filed on Feb. 13, 2009; U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/270,353 entitled DEVICE ASSISTED CDR CREATION, AGGREGATION, MEDIATION AND BILLING filed on Jul. 6, 2009; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/264,126 entitled DEVICE ASSISTED SERVICES ACTIVITY MAP filed on Nov. 24, 2009.
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| 8032182 | Bennett | Oct 2011 | B2 |
| 20030096641 | Odinak | May 2003 | A1 |
| 20090258670 | Juang | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20100151822 | Medvinsky | Jun 2010 | A1 |
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