JP2014164546A - Service usage amount collection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correspond to variation increase of service usage amount collection without expanding size of a system.SOLUTION: Primary collection is performed between closing periods of time capable of dynamically adding and deleting the closing periods of time. Secondary collection is performed on the basis of values of the primary collection at each closing periods of time.

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for totaling service usage logs in order to charge for usage-based billing on a cloud service.

  In recent years, cloud computing systems and technologies such as SaaS (Software as a Service) have been used as modes for performing various processes on the server computer side. With this technology, software providers can start providing services to users while reducing the investment cost of computer resources. On the other hand, the user can suppress the software introduction cost by charging according to the use of the software. Therefore, both the software provider and the user have the effect of lowering the barrier to software provision and introduction. Such a software provider records a usage log for each user in order to charge the user of the software. Then, the billing amount is determined according to the recorded usage amount.

  Another characteristic of cloud computing is that one software is provided as a service regardless of country or region.

  On the other hand, usage contracts differ from country to region. In particular, the billing unit aggregation period and closing time differ depending on the contract of the country or the sales company. For this reason, the billing information needs to be tabulated in consideration of the time zone of the contract area. Conventionally, there is one that adds area information to billing information and collects billing information in a plurality of installation areas with one system (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-263467 A

  Having billing information for each contract may be inconvenient, for example, when a sales company wholesales software usage licenses to a subcontracting sales company, and the time for closing the counting results is shifted or the counting period is different. Moreover, in the time zone corresponding to daylight saving time, it is necessary to dynamically adjust the counting time and the counting period. Therefore, regardless of the contract, it can be considered that the usage log is totaled a plurality of times at different closing times, or a plurality of total values are taken in advance at different closing times.

  However, since the closing time will increase every time the type of contract or contract area increases, implementing multiple aggregation processes will increase the system load monotonously. . Normally, these system load increases are dealt with by scaling up and scaling out the system. However, collecting and aggregating usage logs is not the primary function directly linked to the benefits that customers receive from the service. Therefore, it is a part where it is difficult to simply cope with the increase in cost.

  An object of the present invention is to cope with an increase in variations in service usage aggregation without increasing the scale of the system.

In order to solve the above problems, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention records the usage amount of the service every time the service is used by the service user, and the recorded usage amount of the service for a specified period. In the service usage aggregation system that performs aggregation,
Closing time table (10) holding a list of total closing times,
Performs a primary aggregation of the service usage during each of the closing times (FIG. 9) primary aggregation means (6),
A scheduler (7) for operating the primary counting means according to the closing time table;
Primary aggregation holding means (5) for holding the result of the primary aggregation;
The secondary aggregation means (11) performs aggregation for a predetermined period from the primary aggregation based on the aggregation closing time (FIG. 10),
Closing time updating means (12) for updating the closing time table,
It is characterized by having a service usage totaling system characterized by comprising.

While avoiding an increase in system costs, an increase in usage log aggregation load can be avoided.
After the service is started, that is, after the usage log collection is started, the closing time can be increased to a plurality of times. You can start with a single closing time, and then add up the closing times as needed.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of a service usage-amount total system. It is an example of tenant information. It is an example of a usage log. It is an example of the timing of primary totalization and secondary totalization, and an aggregation object period. It is an example of a primary count result. It is an example which shows a total result. It is an example of a closing time list. It is an example of a closing time use end date list. It is a flowchart which shows the process in primary aggregation. It is a flowchart which shows a secondary total process.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a service usage totaling system according to the present invention.

  In this embodiment, the seller provides a printing service (1) and a form service (2) on the Internet to the customer by concluding a license agreement with the customer. The seller accesses the management service (12) from the client PC (13) via the external network. The seller registers the license of the service contracted with the customer as tenant information via the management service (12), thereby making the service available to the customer. Further, the seller determines the amount billed to the customer based on the usage amount total value for each customer acquired through the management service (12).

  The management service (12) stores the tenant information input from the seller in the tenant management information database (9). Further, according to the license agreement concluded with the customer, the closing time of the aggregation that becomes the basis of the billing amount is stored in the closing time database (10). The printing service (1) and the form service (2) provide services only to customers permitted by an authentication unit (not shown) according to information stored in the tenant management information database (9). A user having a service use license accesses and uses the print service (1) or the form service (2) from the client PC (14) via the external network.

  When the user uses the service, the print service (1) and the form service (2) record the service usage for each customer via the log collection unit (3). The service usage is recorded in the usage log database (4).

  When a new type of closing time is registered from the management service (12), the total closing time addition designating unit (8) acquires it from the closing time database (10) and adds the total timing to the scheduler (7).

  The scheduler (7) calls the primary tabulation unit (6) at a predetermined timing determined by the tabulation closing time. The primary totalization unit (6) totals the usage amount recorded in the usage amount log database (4) for each customer, for each service, and at a closing time interval. The aggregation results are stored in the primary aggregation database (5).

  The secondary aggregation unit (11) acquires the primary aggregation value from the primary aggregation database (5) according to the tenant ID and service ID specified by the management service. The secondary tabulation unit (11) further performs tabulation in units of one day according to the closing time corresponding to the tenant ID and service ID. The seller acquires the usage amount total value for a predetermined period (for example, one month) through the management service (12).

  FIG. 2 is an example of tenant information held in the tenant management information database (9). The sales tenant ID corresponds to the sales company that sells the service. The customer tenant ID corresponds to the group of customers who sold the service. The customer tenant includes a plurality of users who use the service. The license indicates the type of service sold. The closing time is an external key that refers to the ID column in FIG. 7 that shows the closing time corresponding to the combination of the sales tenant ID, customer tenant ID, and license. With reference to the table shown in FIG. 2, the secondary tabulation unit (11) performs tabulation corresponding to a combination of a predetermined sales tenant ID, customer tenant ID, and license as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is an example of a usage log held in the usage log database (4). The use date and time indicates the date and time when the service was used in UTC. The tenant ID is an ID of a customer tenant to which a user who uses the service belongs. The user ID is an identifier of a user who uses the service. The service used indicates the type of service used at that date and time. The usage amount indicates the usage amount using the service at the date and time. In this embodiment, both the form service and the print service represent the number of pages.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the timing of the primary aggregation, the aggregation target period, and the aggregation target period of the secondary aggregation. In the figure, corresponding to FIG. 3, the counting timing from September 2 to 6 in UTC is shown from top to bottom. On the right side of the figure, an example of the counting timing of the primary counting unit (6) activated by the scheduler (7) is shown. On the left side of the figure, the aggregation target period of the secondary aggregation is shown. Reference numeral 101 denotes an aggregation period from 0:00 on UTC2 to 0:00 on the next UTC3, and this aggregation is performed at 0:00 on UTC3. Reference numeral 102 denotes an aggregation period from 0:00 on UTC3 to 5:00 on UTC3, and this aggregation is performed at 5:00 on UTC3. In the same manner, the tabulation is performed as shown in the figure.

  In FIG. 4, the time in the time zone of EST (American East Coast) and JST (Japan) is also shown alongside UTC. In the figure, the aggregation of the timing from 5:00 on UTC3 (that is, 0:00 on EST3) to EST 0:00 is also added. Furthermore, the aggregation of timing from 15:00 on UTC5 (that is, 0:00 on JST6) to JST 0:00 has also been added. As described above, the primary aggregation timing and the primary aggregation target period are dynamically updated.

  On the other hand, as shown on the left side in FIG. 4, 200, 201, 202, and 203 indicate the aggregation target period for one day from UTC0: 00 on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, respectively. Similarly, 204 to 206 indicate the aggregation target period of EST0: 00 closing, and 207 indicates the aggregation target period of JST0: 00 closing.

  FIG. 5 is an example of the primary count result held in the primary count database (5). FIG. 5 corresponds to the example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The aggregation date / time indicates the date / time when the aggregation was executed in UTC. Aggregate from the previous aggregation date and time in units of combination of tenant ID and service used. The total value is a total value of the usage amount corresponding to the combination of the tenant ID and the use service at the total date and time. The numbers shown on the right correspond to the same counting period as the numbers in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is an example showing the result of counting in the secondary counting unit (11). FIG. 6 corresponds to the example shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5. The date and time of aggregation indicates the date of aggregation and the closing time for aggregation in UTC. The sales tenant ID indicates the sales tenant to be aggregated. The customer tenant ID indicates a customer tenant to be aggregated. Use service indicates the service to be counted. The total value is a total value of the usage amount of the total date and time in the combination of the target customer tenant and the usage service. For example, in the example of September 2 in the figure, the total usage amount of Tenant1 and form service for the period of 200 in FIG. 4 is shown.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a list of closing times stored in the closing time database (10). ID is an identifier of the entry of the closing time, and is referred to from FIG. 2 and FIG. The aggregation closing time indicates the timing of performing aggregation in UTC time. The closing time use start date / time indicates in UTC the date / time at which counting at the closing time starts. Daylight saving time is a flag indicating whether or not daylight saving time needs to be considered in the time zone. When the daylight saving time is TRUE, the scheduler (7) also refers to the daylight saving time start date and the daylight saving time end date, and corrects the closing time of the period according to the daylight saving time.

FIG. 8 is an example of a closing time use end date and time list held in the closing time database (10). The ID is an identifier for identifying an entry of the closing time material end date and time. The closing time use end date and time indicates the date and time when the execution of aggregation at the closing time indicated by the closing time index is ended in UTC. The closing time index indicates the closing time that is the end of use as an ID value in FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing of the scheduler (7) and the primary tabulation unit (6) in the primary tabulation. The scheduler (7) is activated in a predetermined time by a system timer event. The scheduler (7) acquires information about the closing time and daylight saving time from the closing time list shown in FIG. 7, and compares the information with the current time (steps S1001 to S1003). If it is determined that the closing time coincides with the counting time, it is further compared with FIG. 8 to determine whether it is a valid counting time (step S1005). If it is a valid counting time, the processing of the primary counting unit (6) is executed (steps S1008 to S1012). If it is not a valid counting time, the scheduler (7) repeats the determination of the next counting time (step S1006). The primary aggregation unit (6) performs aggregation up to the aggregation time for each tenant ID and use service (step S1010). When the process of the primary tabulation unit (6) is completed, the process returns to the scheduler, and the scheduler (7) completes the process (step S1007). The scheduler (7) repeats the closing time counting process for each tenant ID and service used.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the secondary tabulation process in the secondary tabulation unit (11). The secondary tabulation unit (11) acquires the closing time from the tabulation target tenant ID and the tenant management information (FIG. 2) and the closing time list (FIG. 7) input from the management service (12) (step S1101). The secondary tabulation unit (11) repeats tabulation in units of one day for a predetermined period of tabulation input from the management service (12) (steps S1102 to S1112). For each aggregation date (d), the number of primary aggregation values to be secondarily aggregated is calculated (n) from the closing time list (FIG. 7) (steps S1103 and S1104). Furthermore, the number of total values to be subtracted from the number of primary total values is calculated (N) based on the closing time use end date and time list (FIG. 8) and subtracted (steps S1105 to S1109). The secondary tabulation unit (11) totals the number of primary tabulation values obtained in this way to obtain secondary tabulation values (steps S1110 to S1111).

  With the above configuration, it is possible to avoid an increase in usage log aggregation load while avoiding an increase in system cost. Furthermore, after the service is started, that is, after the usage log collection is started, the closing time can be increased to a plurality of times. Specifically, it is possible to start counting at one closing time at the start of the service and increase the closing time as necessary.

  The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print service 2 Form service 3 Log collection part 4 Usage log database 5 Primary aggregation database 6 Primary aggregation part 7 Scheduler 9 Tenant management information database 10 Closing time database 11 Secondary aggregation part 12 Management service

Claims (1)

Each time a service is used by a service user, the usage amount of the service is recorded, and the recorded service usage amount is counted for a specified period.
Closing time table (10) that holds a list of total closing times,
Performs a primary aggregation of the service usage during each of the closing times (FIG. 9) primary aggregation means (6),
A scheduler (7) for operating the primary counting means according to the closing time table;
Primary aggregation holding means (5) for holding the result of the primary aggregation;
The secondary aggregation means (11) performs aggregation for a predetermined period from the primary aggregation based on the aggregation closing time (FIG. 10),
Closing time updating means (12) for updating the closing time table,
A service usage totaling system characterized by comprising: