KR20050031175A - The charging system for the pop3 mail service in internet with usagebased pricing and charging method the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A charging system and method for applying a discriminated charge to a reception mail in an Internet network having a usage-based charging system are provided to discriminately charge each user by separately calculating the usage of POP3(Post Office Protocol 3) mails with respect to the usage of the Internet. A RADIUS(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server) agent authenticates Internet access of a user according to a RADIUS protocol and collects RADIUS accounting data of each user. A POP3 mail server(30) provides a POP3 mail service. A probe unit(40) measures mail traffic transmitted from the POP3 mail server(30) and outputs the measured mail traffic data. A collection server(50) collects the mail traffic data from the probe unit(30) and extracts mail service usage information of each user. An analyzing server(60) calculates the mail usage amount of an Internet access service of each user by mapping the RADIUS accounting data and the mail service usage information.

Description

The charging system for the POP3 mail service in internet with usagebased pricing and charging method the same}

The present invention relates to a billing method and a billing system in an internet access service using a pay-as-you-go service. More particularly, the mail traffic for POP3 mail use is measured separately and the result is measured in a pay-as-you-go internet access service. The present invention relates to a billing method and a billing system using the method.

Recently, with the general use of the Internet, various charging methods for using the Internet have been applied. As one of the billing methods, a pay-as-you-go system that charges different rates for each user by counting the total amount of data packets used by the user terminal (client) for the time of accessing the network.

This pay-as-you-go system is used as a way to solve the problem of a flat rate that charges a constant fee regardless of the Internet usage of each subscriber.

However, in the case of using such a pay-as-you-go system, subscribers are expected to have a problem in that the user has to pay a fee for receiving information that is received regardless of the user's intention, as well as information that the user does not want. The representative one is the mail service.

Mail is usually in the form of text, but there are also a lot of content with videos attached. If these mails are received by the needs of the recipients, this is not a problem, but even unsolicited mails, such as spam, are charged to the user who receives the mail as much as the amount of traffic forwarded, causing user complaints. do.

In addition, if the user selectively downloads only the contents he / she wants, such as web mail, the chargeback may be reduced. However, the user can simultaneously access the mail server such as POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) mail. If all the mails in the mail server are downloaded to the user's computer regardless of the intention of the user, the user's complaints still exist.

In addition, as a billing source for pay-as-you-go pricing, RADIUS data, which contains network resource usage information for all customers of an Internet service provider (ISP), is used. I have a problem that is not suitable for my application.

Therefore, an object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to minimize the subscriber's complaints by improving the charging method by the introduction of pay-as-you-go in charging for Internet-enabled services.

The billing system to which the differentiation plan for the received mail according to the present invention for achieving the above object is applied, authenticates the Internet access of the Internet access service user according to the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server) protocol, and is connected to the Internet. A RADIUS agent that collects RADIUS accounting data for each Internet access service user; A mail server providing a POP3 type mail service; A probe device for measuring mail traffic transmitted from the mail server and outputting the measured mail traffic data; A collection server which collects the mail traffic data from the probe device and extracts the mail service usage information for each mail service user; And an analysis server that maps the RADIUS accounting data and the mail service usage information to calculate mail usage for Internet access service usage for each Internet access service user.

The billing method to which the differentiated rate system for the received mail of the present invention is applied is a billing method in an Internet access service having a usage-based billing system using RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server) accounting data. A first step of collecting and collecting mail usage information for each mail service user; A second step of calculating mail usage among the internet access service usage by mapping the RADIUS accounting data and the mail usage information; And a third step of charging a fee for the Internet access service usage according to the mail usage.

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

1 is a configuration diagram briefly showing the overall configuration of a charging system according to the present invention.

The system of FIG. 1 includes a user terminal 12, 14, a RADIUS agent 20, a POP3 mail server 30, a probe device 40, an analysis server 50, and a charging server 60.

The user terminals 12 and 14 access the Internet through an Asymmetric Digital Subsciber Line (ADSL) / Very High-bit Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) modem and use the Internet, such as Web, File Transform Protocol (FTP), and mail. A terminal that can use an application level of service.

The RADIUS agent 20 authenticates the Internet connection of the user terminals 12 and 14 based on the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server) protocol, and access time information for the user terminals 12 and 14 connected to the Internet. Collects and manages accounting data including IP information, user information, and transmitted / received traffic information. The RADIUS agent 20 is a RADIUS client (hereinafter referred to as a network access server (NAS) 22) that generates and outputs a RADIUS authentication packet and a RADIUS accounting packet when the user terminals 12 and 14 attempt to access the Internet. RADIUS server 24 for receiving the authentication packet from the NAS 22 to authenticate the user's Internet connection, and receives and manages the accounting packets for the authenticated user terminals (12, 14).

The POP3 mail server 30 provides a POP3 type mail transmission / reception service to the user terminals 12 and 14 that are provided with Internet services through a specific Internet service provider (hereinafter referred to as an ISP). Since the POP3 type mail service method is already widely used, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The probe device 40 measures mail traffic transmitted from the POP3 mail server 30 and transmits the measured mail traffic data to the collection server 50.

The collection server 50 receives and collects mail traffic data from the probe device 40, and analyzes this to extract mail usage for each mail user ID.

The analysis server 60 maps the data extracted from the collection server 50 and the RADIUS data from the RADIUS server 24 to separately manage POP3 mail usage among total Internet usage and Internet usage for each user, and accordingly, charge recorder accordingly. Create

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of an entire system according to a RADIUS protocol in the structure of FIG. 1.

The Internet access method using the RADIUS protocol consists of an authentication step and an accounting step as described in RFC 2865 and RFC 2866.

First, when a user wants to access the Internet using his terminal 12, the NAS 22 inputs his ID and password to request Internet access. Then, the NAS 22 transmits the ID and password input by the user to the RADIUS server 24 through the network (Internet) to request authentication for the user. The RADIUS server 24 uses the ID and password received together with the authentication request from the NAS 22 to perform an authentication operation on whether the user having the ID is a genuine subscriber subscribed to the Internet access service, and outputs the result. Transfer to 22.

If authentication succeeds, the NAS 22 assigns an idle IP to the user terminal 12 to allow the user terminal 12 to access the Internet, and requests an accounting start request for the user terminal 12 to the RADIUS server 24. The packet is transmitted to continuously monitor the state of use of the Internet access service for the user terminal 12. When the user terminal 12 terminates the Internet connection, the NAS 22 transmits an account termination request packet to the RADIUS server 24.

Here, the account start request packet and the account end request packet have session information and internet usage information of the user. That is, the account start request packet includes information such as an occurrence time, a user ID, a user session number, and an IP allocated from the NAS 22. The account end request packet includes information on Internet use time, amount of transmission / reception traffic, etc., in addition to the information that the accounting start request packet has.

For example, the terminal 12 of the user whose ID is "foo" is assigned an IP of 1.1.1.1, and the RADIUS server records that the user connected to the Internet to transmit and receive data of x1 byte and y1 byte, respectively. Are recorded at 24.

And, "occurrence time" may be generated or not generated according to commercial equipment implementing the NAS 12. If it is not generated, it is assumed that the time when the accounting STOP packet is received by the RADIUS server 24 determines the time as the occurrence time and records the "occurrence time" field in the RADIUS server 24.

When a user connected to the Internet executes a mail client program (for example, Outlook Express) installed in his terminal 12 to check mail received by the user, the user terminal 12 sets a preset POP3 mail server 30. ). At this time, the ID and password for access authentication of the POP3 mail server 30 are stored in advance in the mail client, and are transmitted to the POP3 mail server 30 together with the connection attempt.

The POP3 mail server 30 authenticates the user with the ID and password of the connected user terminal 12, and if the authentication succeeds, the POP3 mail server 30 transmits the received mail to the user terminal 12, and the user terminal 12 The requested mail from the server will be sent to another mail server with the requested mail address.

At this time, the probe device 40 installed on the POP3 mail server 30 and the connection line of the Internet measures all packets transmitted through the corresponding line and transmits them to the collection server 50.

The collection server 50 collects the packets received from the probe device 40, extracts the amount of mail used for each mail user ID, and transmits them to the analysis server 60. The analysis server 60 analyzes the amount of POP3 mail usage among the total Internet usage of each user in the RADIUS data recorded in the RADIUS server 24 using the data extracted from the collection server 50 to generate a record for billing. do.

At this time, the function of the collection server 50 may be performed in the RADIUS server 24 for collecting RADIUS data, if the system does not take much load.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of generating a record for charging by mapping RADIUS data and mail traffic data in the present invention.

As described above, when the user accesses the Internet, the RADIUS server 20 collects RADIUS data for the user terminals 12 and 14 in association with the NAS 22 according to the RADIUS protocol (step 301).

At this time, the collected RADIUS data includes the user's ID and assigned IP. Connection start time and end time, transmission traffic amount, and reception traffic amount are included.

Then, the RADIUS server 24 classifies the collected data in the order of user ID, IP, connection time, end time, transmission traffic amount, reception traffic amount (group A), and forms a record as shown in Table 1 (step 302). ).

TABLE 1

Network ID Use IP Connection time (st) End time (et) Outgoing traffic amount Incoming traffic foo1 1.1.1.1 2002-12-30-24-00-00 2003-01-01-01-00-00 10 Mbyte 5 Mbyte foo1 2.2.2.2 2003-01-01-23-40-00 2003-01-02-10-00-00 10 Mbyte 10 Mbyte foo2 1.1.1.1 2003-05-03-00-00-00 2003-05-03-01-10-00 1 Mbyte 1 Mbyte foo3 1.1.1.1 2003-07-01-00-00-00 2003-07-01-01-10-00 1 Mbyte 5 Mbyte

This record configuration for each user ID is performed in the same manner as that used in the conventional pay-as-you-go system.

Then, the collection server 50 collects the mail traffic data from the probe device 40 (step 303), and classifies them in the order of mail access ID, IP, access time, end time, and mail receiving amount (group) B) to form a record as shown in Table 2 (step 304).

TABLE 2

Mail connection ID Use IP Connection time (Start_T) End time (End_T) Receive Mail (BM) twin1 1.1.1.1 2003-01-01-00-00-00 2003-01-01-00-00-10 1 Mbyte twin1 2.2.2.2 2003-01-02-00-00-00 2003-01-02-10-00-40 2 Mbyte twin2 1.1.1.1 2003-01-04-00-00-00 2003-01-04-00-10-00 1 Mbyte twin3 1.1.1.1 2003-01-05-00-00-00 2003-01-05-00-10-00 1 Mbyte

Here, a method of extracting a mail reception amount for each mail access ID will be described with reference to FIG. 4. At this time, the mail receiving amount is characterized in that it is processed only for the mail normally received by the POP3 mail server (30).

To receive the mail, the user terminals 12 and 14 transmit the ID and password for authentication to the POP3 mail server 30 (①, ③). If the ID and password match, the POP3 server 30 notifies the user terminals 12 and 14 that the authentication succeeds with a " + OK " signal, and if it fails, informs that the failure has occurred with the " -ERR " ④). If the authentication is successful, the user terminals 12 and 14 check the details of the file existing in the POP3 mail server 30 by the command "LIST" (⑤). In response to this, the POP3 mail server 30 informs the user terminals 12 and 14 of the number and size (octets) of mails in their mailboxes (6). The user terminals 12 and 14 receive the mails of the corresponding mailboxes by using the "RETR" command to receive the corresponding mails (⑦ ~ ~). When the mail reception is finished, the user terminal 12, 14 sends a "QUIT" command to the POP3 mail server 30 (i), and the POP3 mail server 30 sends "+ OK" in response thereto. The connection to the POP3 mail server 30 is terminated (iii).

In the mail receiving process, the mail receiving amount is calculated by summing all the mail sizes shown in ⑥ when the operation of ⑤ to ⑫ is normal.

The data collected in steps 302 and 304 described above is sent to the analysis server 60. The analysis server 60 first reads (ID, IP, [Start_T, End_T], BM) from the first record of group B as shown in Table 2 transmitted from the collection server 50, and stores it in a memory (not shown) called current RECORD. Temporarily store (step 305). At this time, the ID of the record stored in the memory (current RECORD) is called ID1.

Next, the analysis server 60 has the same IP as ID1, and as shown in FIG. 5, the time [st, et] at which the user terminals 12 and 14 are connected to the Internet is connected to the POP3 mail server 30. The record containing the time [Start_T, End_T] that existed is found in group A (step 306).

That is, since many users use different IDs ID1 for using a mail service and IDs ID2 for using an Internet access service, two IDs ID1 and ID2 of the same user must be found. For this purpose, the same IP is used, and as shown in FIG. 5, the case where the mail use time is included in the Internet use time on the time axis is found.

In this case, when different IDs satisfying the above conditions exist, the users of the two IDs ID1 and ID2 may be determined to be the same user, and thus, data about records satisfying the above conditions is stored as shown in Table 3 below. (Step 307).

TABLE 3

Network ID Use IP Connection time End time Outgoing Traffic Incoming traffic Mail volume foo1 1.1.1.1 2002-12-30-24-00-00 2003-01-01-01-00-00 10 Mbyte 5 Mbyte 1 Mbyte foo1 2.2.2.2 2003-01-01-23-40-00 2003-01-01-10-00-00 10 Mbyte 10 Mbyte 2 Mbyte foo2 1.1.1.1 2003-05-03-00-00-00 2003-05-03-01-10-00 1 Mbyte 1 Mbyte 1 Mbyte foo3 1.1.1.1 2003-07-01-00-00-00 2003-07-01-01-10-00 5 Mbyte 1 Mbyte 1 Mbyte

Next, when a record matching the above condition is found, the record is deleted from the group A and the group B, respectively, to update the data (step 308).

The search in steps 306 to 308 continues until all the records in group B are gone (step 309).

When the mail usage for the total Internet usage is calculated according to the above-described method, the analysis server 60 generates a charging record according to a predetermined billing system for the amount of traffic subtracted from the total internet usage.

As described above, in the present invention, POP3 mail usage for Internet usage is calculated for each user separately, and the POP3 mail usage is not considered collectively according to the total Internet usage when charging according to the pay-as-you-go. By being able to charge differently, it is possible to minimize the dissatisfaction with the payment of Internet users.

1 is a configuration diagram briefly showing the overall configuration of a charging system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation process of an entire system according to a RADIUS protocol in the structure of FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of generating a record for charging by mapping RADIUS data and mail traffic data in the present invention.

4 is a view for explaining a method of extracting mail reception amount for each mail connection ID;

5 is a view for explaining a method of mapping the Internet use time and the mail use time.

Claims (8)

A RADIUS agent that authenticates Internet access of an Internet access service user according to a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server (RADIUS) protocol and collects RADIUS accounting data for each Internet access service user connected to the Internet; A mail server providing a POP3 type mail service; A probe device for measuring mail traffic transmitted from the mail server and outputting the measured mail traffic data; A collection server which collects the mail traffic data from the probe device and extracts the mail service usage information for each mail service user; And A billing system to which differentiation plans for received mails are applied, comprising an analysis server that maps the RADIUS accounting data and the mail service usage information to calculate mail usage for Internet access service usage for each Internet access service user. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection server A billing system to which a differentiation plan for received mail is applied, wherein the mail service user extracts information including mail usage time and mail usage by user. The method of claim 2, wherein the analysis server In the use of the mail, the charge applied to the differentiation plan for the received mail, characterized in that the use of the IP assigned for the Internet access service, and calculates the amount of mail that the mail service use time is included in the Internet access service use time system. The method of claim 3, wherein the analysis server The billing system to which the differentiation plan for the received mail is applied, characterized in that a billing record for the traffic volume is subtracted from the total Internet access service usage of the Internet access service user. In the billing method in the Internet access service having a usage-based billing system using RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server) accounting data, Collecting mail usage information for each mail service user by collecting POP3 mail traffic data; A second step of calculating mail usage among the internet access service usage by mapping the RADIUS accounting data and the mail usage information; And And a third step of charging a fee for the Internet access service usage according to the mail usage. The method of claim 5, wherein the first step Probe device installed in front of POP3 mail server collects all traffic data transmitted from the POP3 mail server, and extracts the mail usage time and mail usage for each mail service user from the collected data. Charging method with differentiation plan. The method of claim 6, wherein the second step In the use of the mail, using the IP assigned for the Internet access service, calculating the amount of mail in which the mail service use time is included in the use time of the Internet access service, and calculates the use of mail among the use of the Internet access service. Charging method with differentiation plan for incoming mail. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the third step is A charging method using a differentiation plan for an incoming mail, characterized in that a predetermined unit fee is charged for the amount of traffic subtracted from the mail usage in total internet access service usage.