Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework
  • H04L12/1442—Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework at network operator level
  • H04L12/1446—Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework at network operator level inter-operator billing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
  • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
  • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
  • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/44—Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/68—Payment of value-added services
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/745—Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/75—Account location specifications
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/765—Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/765—Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
  • H04M15/7655—Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices shared by technologies
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/77—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges involving multiple accounts per user
  • H04M15/772—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges involving multiple accounts per user per service, e.g. prepay or post-pay
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/77—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges involving multiple accounts per user
  • H04M15/773—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges involving multiple accounts per user per technology, e.g. PSTN or wireless
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/22—Parsing or analysis of headers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
  • H04M2215/0104—Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
  • H04M2215/0108—Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
  • H04M2215/0168—On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
  • H04M2215/0196—Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/22—Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/72—Account specifications
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/72—Account specifications
  • H04M2215/724—Linked accounts
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/72—Account specifications
  • H04M2215/724—Linked accounts
  • H04M2215/725—Shared by technologies, e.g. one account for different access technologies
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/72—Account specifications
  • H04M2215/724—Linked accounts
  • H04M2215/7254—Multiple accounts per user
  • H04M2215/7263—Multiple accounts per user per service, e.g. prepay and post-pay
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/72—Account specifications
  • H04M2215/724—Linked accounts
  • H04M2215/7254—Multiple accounts per user
  • H04M2215/7268—Multiple accounts per user per technology, e.g. PSTN or wireless

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and system for billing a subscriber to a provider of access to a communication network, for example the Internet network or a private corporate network, for the use of services offered by providers.
• service providers' partner services The providers of access to a communication network wish to offer, in order to enrich their offer intended for their subscribers, value-added services. Indeed, the access providers want to set up systems of bouquets of partner services or kiosks, according to the model of the minitel®. These services will of course be chargeable. However, in order to set up such systems, access providers must be able to bill subscribers for consultations of these paid services.
• CDR Cost Detail
• the invention aims to provide a method and a system capable of generating charging information for providers of access to a network. communication, depending on the partner services consulted by subscribers. Also, according to the invention, there is provided a method of billing a subscriber to an access provider to a communication network for the use of services offered by service providers partner of the access provider. Charging information is generated from data comprising input identifiers each determining a start of consultation of a given service, consulted by the subscriber through the communication network. A network access provider will then be able to implement charging for services provided by partner service providers.
• each identifier of the start of consultation of a service consulted by the subscriber is recovered in a field in the header of the transfer streams of the web pages of the services.
• the access provider can thus retrieve the entry identifier in consultation with a service in order to be able to process it.
• the protocol Hyper Text Transfer Protocol or HTTP is used as the protocol for transferring the web pages of the services.
• we intercept and copy at least part of the header and body of the transfer flows from the home pages of the services. For example, we use the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol or ICAP to intercept and copy at least part of the header and body of the transfer flows from the home pages of services.
• information necessary for the generation of information is retrieved from the access provider's databases, using the service entry identifier, taken as the request key.
• the charging information including the pricing level of entry into the service. It also retrieves, by means of data concerning the connection address of the subscriber's terminal to the access provider, taken as the request key, information necessary for the generation of the charging information comprising an identifier. of the subscriber.
• the charging information is generated from data further comprising output identifiers each determining an end of consultation of a given service, consulted by the subscriber through the communication network. , from consultation times for a given service calculated by means of times associated respectively with the entry and exit of the service, and from a time-based pricing of the service, retrieved from said supplier's databases access.
• the access provider can then also invoice services whose consultation price is proportional to the time spent consulting it.
• the system comprises, linked in a network, a proxy platform for securing access to a local network of the access provider, a billing platform comprising means for generating and means for managing charging information, and databases containing information about subscribers and the services of partner service providers.
• the proxy platform comprises means for implementing an HTTP flow transfer protocol
• the billing platform comprises means for using said HTTP flow transfer protocol and suitable for analyzing data present in the transfer flow headers of the home pages of the services.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a network architecture for accessing services offered by service providers incorporating a billing system according to one aspect of the invention
• FIG. 1 represents a network for accessing services incorporating a billing system according to the invention.
• This device is intended to bill a subscriber to an access provider to a communication network, such as the Internet, for the use of services offered by service providers who are partners of the access provider.
• the billing system includes a platform or proxy server 1 installed in the network, which manages subscriber connections to the communication network 2.
• a subscriber uses a terminal 3 which includes means 4 for establishing communication with the proxy server 1, means 5 for exchanging data, and display means 6.
• the proxy platform 1 is connected to platforms -forms hosting services provided by service providers partners of the access provider.
• platforms 7, 8 hosting various services.
• These two platforms 7, 8 respectively comprise means 7a, 8a for inserting a field containing an entry identifier representative of a service consulted by a subscriber in the headers of the home pages of the service consulted and the transmit using a web page transfer protocol, for example the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) protocol.
• the system also includes a billing platform 9, which notably includes generation means
• processing means 12 to use an HTTP flow transfer protocol, for example the ICAP protocol ("Internet Content Adaptation Protocol" in English language).
• ICAP protocol Internet Content Adaptation Protocol
• processing means 12 are capable of analyzing the data present in the headers of the transfer flows of the home web pages of the services and in the headers of the transfer flows of HTTP flows.
• HTTP stream transfer streams are, for example, created using the ICAP protocol.
• the system comprises databases, 13, 14 which respectively comprise data relating to the access provider's subscribers, and data relating to the services provided by the service providers associated with the access provider. In this figure 1, only two databases have been represented.
• the proxy platform 1 also includes management means 15 for managing subscriber connections, transfer means 16 for transferring data which circulates between the various elements of the network, and means 17 for implementing the content personalization protocol.
• ICAP on the parts of the headers and bodies of the transfer flows from the home pages of the services transmitted to the billing platform 9.
• This charging procedure begins when the subscriber connects his terminal 3 to the proxy platform 1 of his access provider to the communication network 2 using the means 4 of the terminal 3 provided for this purpose, then requests to consult a service offered by the access provider and provided by a service provider partner of the access provider.
• the management means 15 manage the connection of the subscriber's terminal 3, and the transfer means 16 make a request to the service that the subscriber wishes to consult through the communication network 2.
• the platform hosting the requested service for example platform 7, returns a service home page.
• this home page is transmitted by means of the HTTP protocol conveying in the header a field implemented by the implementation means 7a, which contains an entry identifier representative of a service consulted by a subscriber.
• This entry web page arrives at proxy platform 1, which implements the HTTP stream transfer protocol, for example the protocol
• the proxy platform 1 includes, in the header of the ICAP protocol, a field containing the subscriber's connection IP address.
• the means 12 analyze the data received and extract the identifier characteristic of the service, as well as the connection IP address of the subscriber.
• the web page is also transmitted to the user, in order to limit the latency introduced, because the user does not need to wait for the generation of the tax receipt to receive his page.
• the charging information generation means 10 then recover data included in the access provider's databases 13, 14, including the pricing of entry into the service.
• the management means 1 1 then manage this charging ticket, for billing purposes of the subscriber.
• the processing means 12 then transmit to the proxy platform 1 the web page for entering the service. It is possible to wait for a generation of authorization to consult the web page before transmitting it to the user's terminal 3. It is also possible for the proxy platform 1 to transmit only the headers containing the information necessary for the billing platform 9, and to store the rest of the data, while waiting to be able to transmit them to the terminal 3 of the maid.
• FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of a system according to another aspect of the invention, for services billed at the consultation time. In this figure, elements identical to those of Figure 1 are designated by the same references.
• the architecture of the network represented also includes a proxy platform 1 which communicates via the communication network 2 with the service platforms 7, 8 also accessible by a terminal 3, and a platform -billing form 9.
• the platforms 7, 8 of the service providers include means 7b, 8b for implementing a field containing an exit identifier representative of the end of a consultation of a subscriber service, in the headers of the web pages where the subscriber leaves the service, and transmit them by means of a protocol for transferring web pages to the proxy server 1.
• the processing means 12 are then further able to extract the service exit identifiers and are therefore able to have information at the start and end of the consultation.
• the generation means 10 are then able to prepare a charging ticket as a function of the time separating the two instants corresponding to the entry and exit of the service, and function of time pricing present in databases 13, 14.
• the invention which has just been described, which makes it possible to develop charging information or charging tickets from data extracted from the data streams conveyed during of the provision of services, allows the generation of charging information for the consultation, by a subscriber, of a given service, without requiring authentication of the subscriber.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• Meter Arrangements (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 2003
  • 2003-09-04 FR FR0310486A patent/FR2859586B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2004
  • 2004-09-01 WO PCT/FR2004/002224 patent/WO2005025182A2/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2004-09-01 EP EP04787280A patent/EP1661369A2/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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