KR20050061257A - System and method for managing a charge - Google Patents

Abstract

A billing management system and method thereof are disclosed. The portal sub-unit registers service information and billing information from the service provider, and when receiving a service request from the service user, transmits the service application corresponding to the requested service to the service user. The interface sub-unit receives service start information including a start time and service identification information of a service when a service is started through a service application, and receives service end information including end time and service identification information when a service ends. The processing engine sub unit receives the information on the service user and the requested service from the portal sub unit, receives the service start information and the service end information from the interface sub unit, and then generates charging data based on the received information. do. As a result, by linking various service providers and various in-house service users, it is possible to provide accurate service and collect billing information promptly.

Description

System and method for managing a charge

The present invention relates to a billing management system and method thereof, and more particularly, to a system and method for managing billing of a multimedia service provided in a digital home service.

Digital home service distribution management technology is a technology that provides various services desired by the user from outside the home conveniently and securely due to the rapid spread of the high speed communication network and the development of the home communication means. Conventional digital home service technology simply provides a predetermined service according to a predetermined program through a home gateway installed in the home.

However, with the diversification of user's service needs and the emergence of various services, there is a need for a system for effectively providing a digital home service, and a conventional service system is related to communication regardless of a client receiving a service for collecting billing information. The system is batched and managed.

In order to effectively provide a digital home service, there is a service gateway installed in a user's home and effectively executing various services. The service gateway downloads and manages and executes a service application from the outside.

Related to the charging method according to the paid content through the conventional Internet, there is a Korean Patent Publication No. 2001-0007893. This is a method of charging usage fee by providing paid contents to the user through the Internet, and the supplier establishes the billing system so that the content can be classified reasonably and the user can get the maximum use effect on the classified content products. By utilizing economical and reasonable content system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a billing management system for efficiently and accurately charging a multimedia service by interworking with a service gateway, which is a subscriber-side device, for a service provided by a service provider to provide a digital home service in the home. To provide a way.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, an embodiment of a billing management system according to the present invention includes registering service information and billing information from a service provider, and receiving a service request from a service user, the service application corresponding to the received service. A portal sub unit for transmitting the service to the service user; Receiving service start information including a start time of the service and the service identification information when a service is started through the service application, and receiving service end information including an end time and the service identification information when the service ends. An interface sub-part; And receiving information about the service user and the requested service information from the portal sub unit, receiving the service start information and the service end information from the interface sub unit, and based on the received information. A processing engine sub-unit that generates charging data.

One embodiment of a billing management method according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, billing management method in a billing management system consisting of a portal sub-section, an interface sub-section and a processing engine sub-section, wherein the portal sub-section Receiving service information and billing information from a service provider and transmitting a service application corresponding to the requested service to the service user when receiving a service request from a service user; The interface sub-unit receives service start information including a start time of the service and the service identification information when a service is started through the service application, and ends a service including an end time and the service identification information when the service ends. Receiving information; And generating the charging data based on the information on the service user, the information on the requested service, the service start information, and the service end information.

As a result, by linking various service providers and various in-house service users, it is possible to provide accurate service and collect billing information promptly.

Hereinafter, a billing management system and method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network for a digital home service to which a billing management system according to the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 1, a service provider 100, a billing management system 110, a subscriber side device 130, and a user 140, 150 are connected through a network 120.

The service provider 100 provides a digital home service, and the digital home service includes a VoD (Video on Demand) service, which is a service that delivers desired content (video) to a user at a desired time, and a service related to home security. As a kind of remote control, the user who is away from home is a hop viewer service that monitors the inside of his / her house in real time with a camera installed in the house through PDA, laptop, mobile phone, etc. Control services and telemedicine services.

The users 140 and 150 may be provided with a digital home service through a subscriber device in the home or may be provided with the service outside the home.

The subscriber-side device 130 receives and installs an application for the service 160 from the service provider 100 and then provides the service 160 to the user 140 or 150.

The billing management system 110 according to the present invention is a system for charging a fee according to the case where a user uses a digital home service. Interconnect with 130 to generate billing information accurately and quickly.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of a charging management system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the charging management system 110 according to the present invention includes a portal sub unit 200, a processing engine sub unit 210, an interface sub unit 220, and a charging database 230.

The portal sub unit 200, the processing engine sub unit 210, and the interface sub unit 220 are each distributed in a geographically distributed system for distributing management loads of users who are geographically separated.

The portal sub unit 200 is a window to which the service provider and the service user access. When the service provider and the service user access the Internet, the portal sub unit 200 configures and provides a web page for the service provider and a web page for the service user, respectively. In addition, the portal sub unit 200 may be connected to a service provider and a service user through various terminal devices such as a digital TV.

In detail, the portal sub unit 200 registers service information and billing information for a service to be provided from a service provider, and receives a service request from a service user. In addition, the portal sub unit 200 transmits a service application corresponding to the service requested from the service user to the service user.

The interface sub unit 220 receives the service start and end information from the subscriber side device of the user, generates charging data, and transmits the charging data to the processing engine sub unit 210. In detail, the interface sub unit 220 receives service start information including a service start time and service identification information from the subscriber device when the service is started through the service application at the subscriber device, and ends when the service is terminated. And service termination information including service identification information from the subscriber device.

The processing engine sub unit 210 receives user information from the portal sub unit 200, receives charging data including service start and end information from the interface sub unit 220, and uses the received charging data as a service for each user. For each storage and management in the billing database 230.

In the billing management system 110 according to the present invention, in order to efficiently manage a plurality of service users, each configuration of the billing management system may be locally distributed.

For example, portal sub-unit 200 is installed at any point in the network for access of multiple service providers and multiple service users, and interface sub-unit 220 checks service start and end of service users. And it may be installed adjacent to the service user side or provided with the user-side device to generate service start and end information. Alternatively, the interface sub unit 220 may be connected to at least one service user grouped locally to generate respective service start and end information. The processing engine sub unit 210 is installed between the portal sub unit 200 and the at least one interface sub unit 220 to receive data from each of them to generate and store service billing data for each user.

In the billing management system 110 according to the present invention, since billing information for each service is calculated through a user's service usage time, each configuration performs time synchronization when the billing management system is separately installed. In addition, time synchronization with the subscriber-side device 130 is performed.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a charging management method according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the service provider 100 registers the information about the service 160, that is, the service information and the charging information, to the portal sub unit 200 so that the service user can use it (S300). .

Since the billing information is generated through the usage time, the billing management system 110 performs time synchronization for the subscriber-side device 130 held by the subscriber as well as the synchronization of each component of the billing management system (S305 to S315).

First, the portal sub unit 200 transmits a time synchronization message to the processing engine sub unit 210, which is the main processing device for billing processing (S305), and the processing engine sub unit 210 transmits the portal through the received time synchronization message. After performing time synchronization with the sub unit 200, the time synchronization message is transmitted to the interface sub unit 220 (S310). The interface sub unit 220 performs time synchronization through the received time synchronization message and transmits the time synchronization message to the subscriber-side device 130 (S315). Finally, the subscriber-side device 130 performs time synchronization through the received time synchronization message, thereby completing time synchronization between each component of the billing management system 110 and the subscriber-side device 130.

Each configuration of the billing management system 110 and the time synchronization of the subscriber-side device 130 may be achieved by the portal sub-unit 200 sending a time synchronization message directly to the subscriber-side device 130, and by other possible methods. Can be done.

After the time synchronization is completed, the user 140 applies for the desired service through the portal sub-unit 200 (S320). The portal sub unit 200 provides service information registered by the service provider 100 to a user who accesses the portal sub unit 200, and the user 140 provides service information provided by the portal sub unit 200. Apply for the services you want as a basis.

If there is a service request by the user 140, the portal sub unit 200 downloads the service application for performing the service requested by the user 140 to the subscriber-side device 130 (S325). In addition, the portal sub unit 200 transmits the information of the user who applied for the service and the requested service information to the processing engine sub unit 210 (S330).

The subscriber-side device 130 downloads and installs the service application received from the portal sub-unit 200 to start the service and notifies the interface sub-unit 220 of the service start information (S335). The service start information includes service start time, service identification information, and the like. Then, the service 160 of the service provider 100 is serviced to the user 140 through the service application (S340).

When all the services requested by the user are provided to meet the end of the service (S345), or when the user stops the service (S350), the subscriber-side device 130 generates service termination information including service termination time and service identification information. To the interface sub-220 (S355). When the subscriber side device 130 is turned off, the interface sub-unit automatically generates service termination information.

The interface sub unit 220 generates a billing record for each service after the service is terminated and receives or automatically generates a service termination message, and transmits it to the processing engine sub unit 210 (S360).

The processing engine sub unit 210 processes the user information and service information received from the portal sub unit 200 and the charging information received from the interface sub unit 220 to charge accounting data for each service for each user. To store and manage.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of another embodiment of the charging management method according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the portal sub unit 200 receives information about a service and billing information for each service from the service provider 100 (S400). Service-specific billing is calculated over time. Portal sub-200, interface sub-210, processing engine sub-220, and user-side device 130, which is a system related to billing, synchronize time between respective devices in order to accurately calculate billing over time. It performs (S405).

When receiving a service request from the service user 140 (S410), the portal sub unit 200 downloads the service application to the subscriber-side device 130 and notifies start of service (S415).

Upon receiving the service start notification, the subscriber-side device 130 transmits service start information including a service start time, an application service number, and the like to the interface sub-unit 220 (S420).

The service is provided to the user through the service application (S425), and when the service is provided, the subscriber-side device transmits the service termination information to the interface sub-unit 220 (S430). The service termination information is generated even when the user stops the service or the subscriber device is turned off.

The processing engine sub unit 210 calculates the usage time for each service based on the service start information and the service end information to generate billing data for the service, and stores and manages billing data for each user service in the billing database 230. (S435).

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, and may also be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet). Include. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

According to the present invention, the billing management system generates billing information by interworking with the subscriber-side device and manages billing through the portal sub-unit, the processing engine sub-unit, and the interface sub-unit rather than a single system, thereby providing accurate and rapid billing according to rapid service provision. Information collection is possible. In addition, it is possible to collect accurate and fast billing information by linking various service providers and various service users.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network for a digital home service to which a billing management system according to the present invention is applied;

2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a charging management system according to the present invention;

3 is a view showing a flow of an embodiment of a charging management method according to the present invention, and

4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of another embodiment of the charging management method according to the present invention.

Claims (5)

A portal sub unit configured to register service information and billing information from a service provider, and transmit a service application corresponding to the requested service to the service user when receiving a service request from a service user; When a service is started through the service application, service start information including a start time of the service and identification information of the service is received, and when the service is terminated, service end information including an end time and the service identification information is received. An interface sub-part; And After receiving the information on the service user and the requested service from the portal sub unit, and receives the service start information and the service end information from the interface sub unit, and based on the received information And a processing engine sub-unit for generating data. The method of claim 1, And a subscriber side device which performs a service application received from the portal sub unit, provides a service to the service user, and transmits the service start information and the service end information to the interface sub unit. system. The method of claim 2, And the portal sub unit, the interface sub unit, the processing engine sub unit, and the subscriber-side device are connected through a network, respectively, and perform call over time synchronization with the network. The method of claim 1, And the interface sub-part is connected with at least one service subscriber, and the processing engine sub-part connects the portal sub-part with at least one interface sub-part. In the charging management method in the charging management system which consists of a portal sub part, an interface sub part, and a processing engine sub part, Receiving, by the portal sub-unit, service information and billing information from a service provider, and transmitting a service application corresponding to the requested service to the service user when receiving a service request from a service user; The interface sub-unit receives service start information including a start time of the service and identification information of the service when the service is started through the service application, and a service including end time and the service identification information when the service is terminated. Receiving termination information; And And the processing engine sub-unit generating charging data based on the information on the service user, the information on the requested service, the service start information and the service end information.