KR101303485B1 - Apparatus for billing in wire/wireless integrated service network and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a billing service processing apparatus and a method thereof in a wired / wireless integrated network, wherein the billing service processing apparatus in a wired / wireless integrated network, the billing information pre-processing means for collecting the packet usage from the network connection device and verify the collected information And billing information processing means for managing the collected information for each subscriber station and content provider (CP) server, and generating basic information for generating a plan by using the packet usage and customer information, and using the basic information. A rate generation means for generating a new rate plan, a DB processing means for databaseting the packet usage, the subscriber information, and the rate information in association with the billing information preprocessing means, the billing information processing means, and the plan generation means. Use of network between subscribers of wired / wireless integrated network service and ISP (Internet Service Provider) , Discloses a technique for presenting a reasonable plan to the subscriber by the ISP between the CP (Content Provider) line Internet usage, collecting data on traffic used by a subscriber and CP analysis and to generate a network usage based pricing of.

Description

Billing service processing apparatus and method thereof in wired / wireless integrated network {APPARATUS FOR BILLING IN WIRE / WIRELESS INTEGRATED SERVICE NETWORK AND METHOD THEREOF}

1 is a configuration example of a wired and wireless integrated service network to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for processing billing in a wired / wireless integrated service network according to the present invention;

3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the charging information line processing module of FIG.

4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the charging information processing module of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a plan generation module of FIG. 2; FIG.

Figure 6 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment of the DB processing module of FIG.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging service processing method in a wired / wireless integrated service network according to the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

100: subscriber station 200: CP server

300: network connection device 400: billing service processing device

500: Plan proposal system 600: Customer system

410: billing information preprocessing module 420: billing information processing module

430: plan generation module 440: presence search unit

411: information transmission and reception block 412: charging information management block

421: charging information transmission and reception block 422: charging information processing block

431 charge information transmission and reception block 432 charge information processing block

441: DBMS access block 442: DBMS

The present invention relates to a billing service processing apparatus and a method thereof in a wired / wireless integrated network, and more particularly, a network usage between a wired / wireless integrated network service subscriber and an Internet service provider (ISP), an internet line between an ISP and a content provider (CP). It is a technology that presents reasonable rate plans to subscribers by collecting and analyzing data on usage, traffic used by subscribers and CP, and creating rate plans based on network usage.

In general, the rate system for high-speed Internet service for CP or the ISP service used by the subscriber is a flat fee service, regardless of how many packets the subscriber uses or the bandwidth of the line or port leased by the predetermined CP or the subscriber. The company will charge a monthly fee determined by the contract, and some companies, such as some Nespat products, will adopt a pay-as-you-go plan that is close to the partial fee plan.

Thus, conventionally, when the traffic actually used by the CP exceeds a specific ratio of the contracted total capacity or when the total traffic exceeds a predetermined amount, the traffic is restricted after notifying the CP as a temporary measure.

Regardless of the amount of network usage, the flat rate charges are deteriorating the ISP's revenue structure, while comprehensive cable operators are entering the high-speed Internet market by bundling low-cost and comprehensive cable broadcasting. It is having a big impact on the profit decline. This reduction in ISP sales and profits will eventually impede the construction of advanced Internet infrastructure through new investments, which will adversely affect the high-speed Internet service market.

Therefore, a reasonable rate plan is required according to network usage, but in the past, the network usage by subscriber and CP is not collected and managed mainly by ISP, so there is no data on network traffic usage of subscriber and CP, so that subscriber and CP can agree with each other. Development of the tariff is difficult.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to improve the revenue structure of the ISP by collecting and managing the network traffic usage of the packet subscriber and the CP to generate a reasonable rate plan based on this.

The billing service processing apparatus in the wired / wireless integrated network according to the present invention for achieving the above object, in the billing service processing apparatus in the wired / wireless integrated network, collects the packet usage from the network connection device and verifies the packet usage information collected Billing information preprocessing means for managing the verified packet usage information for each subscriber station and content provider (CP) server, and billing information processing for generating basic information for generating a plan using the packet usage information and customer information; Means, means for generating a new plan by using the basic information, billing information preprocessing means, billing information processing means, and the plan generating means in conjunction with the packet usage information, the customer information, the It is configured to include a DB processing means for storing information about the created plan It is gong.

In addition, the billing service processing method in a wired / wireless integrated network according to the present invention, the first step of collecting a packet for each subscriber station and content provider (CP) server in the network access device, and the subscriber station and the And a third process of managing packet usage for each CP server and transmitting the packet usage information to a billing service processing apparatus, and a third process of generating a bill according to the packet usage information at the billing service processing apparatus. do.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a wired / wireless integrated service network to which the present invention is applied.

Wired and wireless integrated service network to which the present invention is applied is a subscriber terminal 100, CP server 200, network access device 300, billing service processing device 400, plan proposal system 500, and customer system 600 It includes. Here, the wired / wireless integrated network includes a mega pass, a nespot, a wibro, and the like.

The subscriber station 100 uses an Internet service through a network, and the CP server 200 provides content through a network. At this time, the subscriber terminal 100 includes a wireless terminal equipped with a wireless LAN card or a wibro card or a wired terminal equipped with a LAN card and connected to the Internet after authentication through an authentication server (not shown). The service can be used and billing services such as network access start and end can be requested. No special authentication procedure is performed for the CP server 200.

The network access device 300 collects the packet usage of the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 by interworking with the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 and transmits it to the billing service processing unit 400. . That is, the network access device 300 receives the packets generated from the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 and counts and stores the packet usage by the subscriber station 100 or the CP server 200, and stores the subscriber terminal. Each time the Internet connection between the 100 and the CP server 200 is terminated, the packet usage is transmitted to the billing service processing apparatus 400. In addition, the network connection device 300 functions as an authentication and charging client, and processes an authentication and charging message.

The billing service processing apparatus 400 is connected to the subscriber terminal 100 and the server 200 of the CP using various network access devices 300 to use the service, service subscription, authentication, billing, and service management. And so on.

The plan proposal system 500 interoperates with the billing service processor 400 to request plan information and receives and stores the plan results from the billing service processor 400. At this time, the plan proposal system 500 in principle to provide a plan to the subscriber terminal 100 or CP server 200 successful authentication.

The customer system 600 stores and manages customer information and provides the customer information to the billing service processing device 400.

The wired / wireless integrated service network as described above collects packets generated by the subscriber terminal 100 or the CP server 200 when connecting to the Internet, from the network access device 300, and thus the amount of packets used by the subscriber terminal 100 and the CP server 200. It manages and transmits to the billing service processing apparatus 400. Accordingly, the billing service processing apparatus 400 generates and stores basic plan information using the packet usage and the customer information received from the customer system 600, and receives the plan information from the plan proposal system 500. The plan information is generated by using the basic plan information that is managed, and the result is transmitted to the plan proposal system 500.

2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a billing processing device 400 in a wired / wireless integrated service network according to the present invention.

The billing service processing apparatus 400 includes a billing information preprocessing module 410, a billing information processing module 420, a bill generation module 430, and a DB processing module 440.

The billing information preprocessing module 410 receives and analyzes packet usage information from the network access device 300, transmits the packet usage information to the billing information processing module 420, and the packet usage information received from the network access device 300 is abnormal. It verifies the absence and cleans up the unverified data.

The charging information processing module 420 receives the packet usage information verified from the charging information preprocessing module 410 and manages the packet usage information for each subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200. Do this. In addition, the charging information processing module 420 analyzes and corrects user packet usage information in real time or periodically.

In addition, the billing information processing module 420 is based on information such as the packet usage of the subscriber terminal 100 and the CP server 200, the user's subscription products, plans, access patterns, user's personal information, CP content usage pattern, etc. By applying a data mining technique to generate the basic information for a reasonable rate plan between the subscriber and the CP and stores in the DB processing module 440.

The plan generation module 430 receives basic information for the plan from the billing information processing module 420 to build a data warehouse (not shown), and when the plan request is received from the plan proposal system 500, the requested condition and The plan is generated based on the basic information for the plan generated by the billing information processing module 420, and the plan information is transmitted to the plan proposal system 500. In this case, the plan information is preferably stored in the DB processing module 440.

The DB processing module 440 stores the verification result of the packet usage information collected by the network access device in connection with the charging information preprocessing module 410, and the user's packet usage and subscription in connection with the charging information processing module 420. Data warehouse that stores the product, plan, access history, user's personal information, content usage history, and the relationship between these data obtained as a result of data mining, and is linked with the plan creation module 430 to create a plan (Not shown) and plan information is stored. In addition, the DB processing module 440 interoperates with the customer system 600 to store customer information such as basic information of the subscriber, subscription products, and fee information.

3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the charging information line processing module 410 of FIG. 2.

The charging information line processing module 410 includes an information transmission and reception block 411 and a charging information management block 412.

The information transmission / reception block 411 receives packet usage information from the network access device 300 and transmits the information verified in the charging information management block 412 to the charging information processing module 420.

The billing information management block 412 verifies whether the user packet usage information received from the information transmission / reception block 411 is correct information, stores the result in the DB processing module 440 together with the verification result, and stores the stored packet usage information. Transfer to the transmission and reception block 411. At this time, the charging information management block 412 verifies the validity of the packet usage information received from the network access device 300. For example, if a packet usage information is received more than 10x60x1Mbps, that is, 600Mbps or more for 10 minutes of a customer using a service that allows only 1Mbps, it is determined that the information is not correct, and a billing message with a reduced cumulative packet usage is received. Judging that it is not correct information.

4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the charging information processing module 420 of FIG. 2.

The billing information processing module 420 includes a billing information transmission and reception block 421 and a billing information processing block 422.

The charging information transmission / reception block 421 performs a function of transferring the verified packet usage information received by the charging information line processing module 410 to the charging information processing block 422.

The billing information processing block 422 performs data mining using the verified packet usage information received through the billing information transmission / reception block 421, customer information such as user information received from the customer system 600, CP content usage information, and the like. Create basic information for creating a plan. In this case, basic information for generating a plan such as related information generated by data mining is stored in the DB processing module 440. That is, by using the data mining technique, the average packet usage, average content usage, and packet for each customer class classified based on the packet usage collected from the network access apparatus 300, the customer classification information according to the customer information, and the content usage information. It extracts information such as time zones with high usage and days of the week with high packet usage and stores them as basic information. This information is reconfigured from time to time as needed, and is used as information to find out the knowledge and propensity that can be used to generate plan information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the plan generation module 430 of FIG. 2.

The plan generation module 430 includes a plan information transmission and reception block 431 and a plan information processing block 432.

When the plan information transmission / reception block 431 receives a plan request from the plan proposal system 500, the plan information transmission / reception block 431 transmits the plan creation conditions received together with the plan information processing block 432 and is generated from the plan information processing block 432. Receives the plan information and serves to return the results to the plan proposal system (500).

The plan information processing block 432 constructs a data warehouse (not shown) using basic information for generating a fee payment received through the billing information processing block 422, and requests a plan request from the plan proposal system 500. In the case of receiving the service plan, the plan information according to the network usage is generated by using the condition information received from the plan proposal system 500 and the information of the data warehouse (not shown).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the DB processing module 440 of FIG. 2.

The DB processing module 440 includes a DBMS (DataBase Management System) connection block 441 and a DBMS 442.

The DBMS access block 441 provides a history management function and a DBMS interface function (DBIF) for user's packet usage information and operation. Here, the DBIF provides various operational functions using SQL statements or web functions input by the operator 700. The DBIF analyzes the syntax and semantics of the commands input through the console, and requests execution of the corresponding commands in the normal case. If an input error occurs, this function provides an error message. In this case, the command execution method provides immediate execution and reservation execution. After processing the command, the processing contents are stored in the history database and used as the system access history.

The DBMS 442 interoperates with the customer system 600 to construct a subscription information and fee information database (not shown), and interlocks with the billing information preprocessing module 410 to determine the amount of packet usage received by the network access device 300. A verification history data warehouse (not shown) is constructed, and an interworking data warehouse (not shown) generated by packet mining database and data mining is constructed in cooperation with the billing information processing module 420. In addition, the DBMS 442 establishes a data warehouse (not shown) for generating plan information by interworking with the plan generation module 450 and works with the customer system 600 such as basic subscriber information, product information, and subscription information. Store customer information.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging service processing method in a wired / wireless integrated service network according to the present invention.

First, the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 transmits the packet according to the network use to the network access device 300 (S101). That is, after authentication for various wired / wireless converged networks, packets used by the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 are collected in the network access device 300.

Accordingly, the network access device 300 stores and manages the packet usage of the subscriber station 100 and the CP server 200 by using the collected packet information (S102).

After that, when the Internet connection of the subscriber station 100 or the CP server 200 is terminated, the network access apparatus 300 transmits the packet usage to the charging service processing apparatus 400 (S103), and the charging service processing apparatus 400. ) Processes the packet usage information (S104), and generates basic plan information using data mining (S105). That is, basic information for generating a new plan is configured through data mining on stored usage, subscriber information, network usage pattern, and the like. Accordingly, the billing service processing apparatus 400 constructs a data warehouse for generating plan information by using the generated plan basic information.

Subsequently, when the billing service processing apparatus 400 receives the plan information request from the plan proposal system 500, the billing service processing unit 400 generates a plan based on the plan basic information that has already been generated (S107), and the plan created in the plan proposal system 500. In operation S108, the billing service processing apparatus 400 generates a fee plan based on the data warehouse generated in step S105 and provides the result whenever a fee generation request is received.

 For example, using the technology of the present invention and analyzing the packet usage and content usage information of a customer in his 30s who are using the basic plan and have a laptop, he recommends that it is advantageous to introduce a discount plan called A. can do.

As such, the present invention provides a function of generating a plan based on the network usage of the Internet service subscribers of the ISP and the CP, thereby enabling the billing of reasonable Internet usage fees, which will be beneficial to all subscribers, CP, ISP, etc. To help.

As described above, according to the present invention, by generating a reasonable rate plan by providing a data mining technique and providing related information such as network usage, subscriber information, and usage patterns of the subscriber and the CP server, it is possible to prevent profit deterioration of the ISP and to experience the subscriber. There is an effect that can lay the foundation to prevent the deterioration of the Internet service quality, the CP of the content providing line quality.

In addition, the preferred embodiment of the present invention for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art will be able to various modifications, changes, replacements and additions through the spirit and scope of the appended claims, such modifications and changes are the following claims Should be seen as belonging to.

Claims (11)

In the billing service processing apparatus in a wired / wireless integrated network, Charging information preprocessing means for collecting packet usage from a network access device and verifying the collected packet usage information; Manage the verified packet usage information for each subscriber station and content provider (CP) server, and use the packet usage information, user's personal information, CP content usage pattern information, user's access pattern, and user's subscription product information. Billing information processing means for generating basic information for generating a plan; Rate generating means for generating a new rate using the basic information; And The packet usage information, the user's personal information, the CP content usage pattern information, the user's access pattern, and the user's subscription product in association with the billing information preprocessing means, the billing information processing means, and the bill generation means. Billing service processing apparatus in a wired / wireless integrated network, comprising a DB processing means for storing information, information on the created rate plan. The billing information preprocessing means according to claim 1, An information transmission / reception block for receiving the packet usage information from the network access device and for transmitting and receiving information with the charging information processing means; And And a charging information management block for verifying packet usage information received from the transmission / reception block and transferring the verification result to the information transmission / reception block. The billing information processing means according to claim 1, A billing information transmission / reception block configured to transfer the packet usage information to the billing information processing block in association with the billing information line processing means; And Data using the verified packet usage information received through the charging information transmission / reception block, the user's personal information, the CP content usage pattern information, the user's connection pattern, the user's subscription product information, and CP content usage information. And a billing information processing block configured to perform mining to generate basic information for generating a plan. delete The method of claim 3, wherein the rate generating means, A rate information transmission / reception block for transmitting and receiving rate related information in association with an external rate proposal system; And Billing service in a wired / wireless integrated network, comprising a plan information processing block for constructing a data warehouse using basic information for the plan generation and generating a plan according to the plan condition information received from the plan proposal system. Processing unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the DB processing means, A DBMS (DataBase Management System) access block that provides a history management function and a DBMS Interface Function (DBIF) for packet usage information and operation of a user; And In conjunction with the billing information preprocessing means, the billing information processing means, the bill generation means, and an external customer system, the user's packet usage, subscription products, plans, access history, user information, content usage history, data mining results Billing service processing apparatus in a wired / wireless integrated network, characterized in that it comprises a DBMS for storing association information between these data obtained. A first process of collecting a packet for each subscriber station and content provider (CP) server in a network access device; A second step of managing the packet usage by the subscriber station and the CP server from the collected packets and transmitting the packet usage information to a billing service processing apparatus; And  And a third process of generating a payment plan according to the packet usage information, the user's personal information, the CP content use pattern information, the user's access pattern, and the user's subscription product information in the billing service processing apparatus. How to handle billing service in the network. The method of claim 7, wherein the second process, The network access device counts and stores the packet usage generated by the subscriber station and the CP server for each user, and transmits the packet usage to the billing service processing apparatus whenever the user's Internet connection is terminated. How to handle billing services in The method of claim 7, wherein the third process, Step 3-1 of verifying the packet usage information; Step 3-2 of analyzing and correcting the verified packet usage information in real time or periodically; Step 3-3 of generating basic information for generating the plan by a data mining technique using the verified packet usage information and customer information; And And a third to fourth process of generating the rate plan by using the basic information. delete The method of claim 9, wherein the 3-4 process, If there is a request for plan information from an external plan proposal system, the billing service processing method in the wired / wireless integrated network, after generating the plan using the basic information and transmitting the plan.

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