WO2013070346A2

WO2013070346A2 - Application enabled bandwidth billing system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2013070346A2
Application number: PCT/US2012/058768
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Sachson; Hieu Tran; Anita TAFF-RICE
Original assignee: Freeband Technologies, Inc.
Priority date: 2011-10-05
Filing date: 2012-10-04
Publication date: 2013-05-16
Also published as: WO2013070346A3

Abstract

The invention pertains to specialized software code that is incorporated within one or more subject software and/or applications resident on an electronic communications device that monitors, audits, provisions, and bills for bandwidth paid for by any one or more of a bandwidth provider, a third-party, or an end-user, individually or in unison.

Description

APPLICATION ENABLED BANDWIDTH BILLING SYSTEM AND METHOD

SPECIFICATION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Applications No. 61/543,699, by Thomas Sachson and Hieu Tran, entitled Application Enabled Bandwidth Billing System and Method, filed on October 5, 201 1 by Thomas Sachson and Hieu Tran the disclosures of which Application is incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR

DEVELOPMENT

[0002] Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM

LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX

[0003] Not Applicable

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention is in the field of electronic communications device software design and consists of software or one or more applications residing on any one or more electronic communications devices (e.g. mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, PDAs, laptop computers, desktop computers, TV sets, set top boxes, game consoles, digital video recorders, watches, embedded systems, household appliances, vehicles, industrial devices, medical devices, or analogous electronic communications devices) where such electronic

communication device is connected to the Internet or an analogous network through either wireless and/or wired means (e.g. cellular, DSL, Wi-Fi, etc.) and utilizes the electronic communication device's operating system (e.g. Linux, BSD, QNX) to enable bandwidth usage monitoring and billing in an atomatic manner to ensure the integrity of the transactions. The atomatic property of the invention prevents incomplete transactions from occurring (e.g. if payment has already been made but the credited bandwidth value failed to be stored in persistent storage due to an error, the entire transaction would be considered aborted, and the payment reversed). [0005] For purposes of this invention, the concept of the subject software or application functionality is to be construed broadly and can relate to a variety of performance capabilities associated with such subject software component or subject application, including but limited to the processing of and/or monitoring of: bandwidth activities on such electronic communication device, application activities on such electronic communication device, credit activities on such electronic communication device, bandwidth provisioning activities on such electronic communications device, billing activities on such electronic communication device, and order processing activities on such electronic communication device.

[0006] The invention enables one or more parties to atomatically monitor, regulate, and bill for bandwidth provided to and/or consumed on such electronic communication device so as to access online and offline content, goods, and services associated via a "sponsored application" (an application or analogous software component that possesses self- monitoring, auditing, billing, and performance control capabilities as enabled and determined by the creator of such application at the time of its creation), as well as other functionalities associated with a sponsored application that can be reasonably envisioned by those versed in the art. The bandwidth may be regulated and billed according to single or multiple criteria including: the amount of data; the speed at which data is transmitted or consumed by the subject app; time frame in which data is consumed by the subject app available; the number of parties participating in the transaction associated with the consumption of bandwidth of the electronic communication device; the location of the end-user consuming data; the source, location and/or type of such data consumption (e.g. video, audio, artist, studio, etc.), or any other analogous basis that can be reasonable envisioned by those versed in the art.

[0007] The invention consists of four subsystems. Three of the subsystems execute in kernel mode: (a) bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem subsystem, (b) application monitoring subsystem, and (c) credit monitoring subsystem. The bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem subsystem tracks the amount of data used by processes and

applications executing on the electronic communications device. The application monitoring subsystem subsystem tracks the life cycles of processes and applications executing on the electronic communications device. The credit monitoring subsystem subsystem securely transacts with remote payment services including, but not limited to, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, or like variants.

Ί [0008] The fourth subsystem, order processing middleware, executes in user mode and provides to end-users of the electronic communications device an interface to purchase or, in the alternative otherwise negotiate for and secure, additional bandwidth on a per unit or other granular basis for selective one or more applications.

[0009] Given the current state of art in which (a) end-users pay for all bandwidth consumed to access content, goods, services, and (b) the limitations inherent in the existing monitoring and billing systems that reside in carrier networks or on network equipment and devices, an invention that enables bandwidth usage monitoring, provisioning, and billing via a sponsored application resident on an end-user electronic communications device (and does so in a dynamically changing manner) is novel, non-obvious, and highly useful.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The features, aspects and advantages of the disclosed and claimed subject matter of the present patent application are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the aspects, features and advantages of the disclosed and claimed subject matter will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth what are meant to be only illustrative embodiments and not limiting disclosures, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings of which:

[0011] Fig. 1 illustrates the status quo (current day) bandwidth purchasing and billing process, which is complex and inflexible because it is carried out from within the bandwidth providers' network equipment. The end-user 1 subscribes to a standard data plan from the provider, which processes 2 pre-paid payment, or establishes a post-paid debt, charge, or other payment arrangement based on the end-user's credit or other acceptable arrangement for payment of bandwidth directly by the end-user. The bandwidth provider's network equipment 3 and payment system establishes an account for the end-user reflecting the payment arrangement. The bandwidth provider 4 authorizes the end-user's electronic communications device to access the provider's network that monitors and bills the end-user for bandwidth usage by the provider in the provider's network cloud. The end-user maintains an account or other acceptable direct financial arrangement with the bandwidth provider, which authorizes the end-user's electronic communications device to access the bandwidth provider^'s network. The bandwidth provider's network carries out all monitoring of set blocks of data usage (but not price per byte) consumed by the end-user's electronic communication device 5 established in the end-user's pre-set data plan, which is secured by the end-user's credit or other financial arrangements ( end-user payment / credit processing function 6) and thereafter resulting in a payment function 7. Next the end-user account is authorized 8 by the carrier and the electronic communication device is granted access to the network 9. Thereafter the network monitors data usage (bytes), but not price per byte 10 and data consumption is recorded and charges (including overages) are determined 1 1. Next the carrier prepared a bill for bandwidth use (standard charges and overage) 12 and delivers the same the end-user 13.

[0012] Fig. 2 illustrates the three possible scenarios in which one or more parties may participate in the purchase or sponsorship of bandwidth. To begin, there is an inducement 14 by the carrier that results in the creation of a particular type of sponsored application called a carrier pays sponsored application 15 that delivers 16 its data (bytes consumed by the electronic communication device that the carrier has agreed to pay for) to a bytes usage registry and settlement engine 23. Next, there is an inducement 17 by a third-party payer that results in the creation of a particular type of sponsored application called a third-party pays sponsored application 18 that delivers 19 its data (bytes consumed by the electronic communication device that the third-party has agreed to pay for) to the bytes usage registry and settlement engine 23. Finally, there is an inducement 20 by an end-user payer that results in the creation of a particular type of sponsored application called a end-user pays sponsored application 21 that delivers 22 its data (bytes consumed by the electronic communication device that the third-party has agreed to pay for) to the bytes usage registry and settlement engine 23. In all three scenarios, each sponsored application (each a subsidized data monitoring & metering application) reports to the usage registry and settlement engine 23 the actual bytes consumed according to the in-application embedded use parameters (time of day / length of usage / quantity of data / speed of data / permissive data sources); relieving the carrier network of monitoring bytes that are subsidized (i. e. , various prices per byte depending on how they are used). Based on business rules embedded in the sponsored application, the usage registry and settlement engine instructs 24 the carrier or other bandwidth provider to make adjustments to the end-user's bill (removing or netting out free/cheaper bytes consumed by the end-user through sponsored applications.

[0013] Fig. 3 illustrates the evolution of bandwidth payment scenarios (listed in the figure as a possible chronological order, but for purposes herein the order may be altered with different phases happening at different or identical times) possibly using sponsored applications, in Phase I 25, carriers induce data usage traffic from the end-user and their sponsored applications monitor and manage data usage. In this phase, the bandwidth provider pays for bandwidth via the carrier pays sponsored application 15 and may elect to offer free or reduced cost bandwidth to end-users to stimulate traffic, create customer loyalty or to shift data consumption traffic patterns by time of day, type of network, location of network, etc. In Phase II 26, a third-party other than the bandwidth provider induces payment for or subsidized bandwidth for the end-user via the third-party pays sponsored application in order to induce data interaction, consumption, and patterns. The third-party data interactions are monitored and managed by sponsored applications according to rules embedded in the third- party sponsored application. In Phase III 27, the end-user pays for network access and data consumption via end-user pays sponsored applications, which enable distinctions in data charges (e.g. peak hour data bytes; off peak hour traffic bytes; limited time access; enhanced data transmission speeds; or any combination). In Phase IV 28, billing for bandwidth usage for all three scenarios 15, 18, 21 are handled by sponsored applications residing on the end- user's electronic communications device. This comprehensive monitoring and billing solution at the edge of the bandwidth provider's network gradually replaces the existing "carrier network-centric" bandwidth pricing model with a dynamic "application-centric" billing model based on the sponsored application ecosystem.

[0014] Fig. 4 illustrates the eventual replacement of the legacy network-centric bandwidth- billing model (Fig. 1 ) with the sponsored application-centric bandwidth-billing model.

Sponsored applications reside on the electronic communications device (i.e. at the edge of, rather than internal to, the bandwidth provider's network equipment),and as such the bandwidth provider's legacy in-network billing systems are discarded and thereafter no long monitor data usage (bytes consumed) for billing purposes (becoming more of a true "open pipe" 29). Instead, the bandwidth provider's network is now focused on managing (a) device authentication / security; and (b) network efficiency. Sponsored applications therefore manage (a) end-user initiation; (b) end-user payments; (c) byte flow reporting; and (d) network controls (turning applications on and oft) per instructions of the bandw idth provider 29. Sponsored applications and updates can thus enable new reverse billing or multiple party payment business and revenue models for bandwidth. [0015] Fig. 5 illustrates that the core functions of sponsored applications are assured by the invention's system sentinel 30, which manages monitoring and billing for all three bandwidth payment scenarios illustrated in Fig. 2. In a sponsored application ecosystem where the carrier network is "always open" to an authenticated electronic communication device, it is critical that: (a) the sponsored applications resident on such a electronic communication device are capable of being "turned on" only following a verified sponsored application authentication event (e.g., acceptance of end-user credit card or bank account debit instructions); (b) once the sponsored application has been enabled its operational parameters (e.g., time periods when the app is to be used, max amounts to be downloaded by the app, sites to be accessed by the app, bytes to be paid for by the end-user using the app, prices to be paid by the end-user for bytes consumed by the app, requisite "shut down" and "reset" functions) are strictly adhered to by the sponsored application; and (c) all sponsored application activities are accurately reported to the usage registry and settlement engine.

[0016] To implement this level of control over the sponsored applications, a byte billing management system and method (a "system sentinel" 30) will be needed to ensure that the sponsored applications run as intended and are protected from unauthorized tampering.

[0017] Fig. 6 illustrates the location of the system sentinel 30 identified in Fig. 5 on the electronic communication device 5, and its four subsystems 33, 34, 35, 36 on the end-user's electronic communications device. The system sentinel is embedded within the kernel and electronic communication device operating system 31 (including but not limited to Linux, BDS, QNX, etc.). Fig. 6 also shows the one or more self-monitoring sponsored applications resident therein, each benefitting from bandwidth usage parameters and operational rules already being coded ("pre-bundled") into each sponsored application (e.g., carrier pays sponsored application 15, third-party pays sponsored application 18, end-user pays sponsored application 21 - each a type of sponsored application). The system sentinel 30 (a key enabler of the software billing system) residing on the end-user electronic communications device is comprised of a billing agent 32 executing in the kernel mode and an order processing application subsystem 36 executing in the user mode. The billing agent 32 is comprised of a bandwidth monitor subsystem 33, an application monitor subsystem 34, and a credit monitor subsystem 35. The order processing application subsystem 36 resides outside the kernel but within the operating system 31 on the electronic communications device 5. [0018] Each of these subsystem and components perform key specific roles within the overall system. Specifically:

(A) The bandwidth monitor subsystem 33 functions comprising: (i) maintenance of bandwidth consumption records for all sponsored applications (e.g., carrier pays sponsored application 15, third-party pays sponsored application 18, end-user pays sponsored application 21 ); (ii) the secure and periodic reporting of such records to one or both of the application monitor subsystem 34 or the credit monitor subsystem 35 upon a request thereof and/or by on its own accord; (iii) disrupting bandwidth usage by sponsored applications upon requests by the application monitor subsystem 34 or the credit monitor subsystem 35 and/or by on its own accord; and (iv) securely and periodically reporting (to the cloud hosted registry), internally backing up, restoring, and/or resetting bandwidth consumption records on its accord and/or upon request by the application monitor subsystem 34 or the credit monitor subsystem 35.

(B) Application monitor subsystem 34 functions comprising: (i) tracking for all sponsored applications (e.g., carrier pays sponsored application 15, third-party pays sponsored application 18, end-user pays sponsored application 21 ) starting and terminating events, as well as the time of execution; (ii) securely reporting of such events to queries by the credit monitor subsystem 35: (iii) disallowing sponsored applications starting upon requests by the credit monitor subsystem 35; and (iv) securely backing up, restoring, or resetting sponsored applications events records.

(C) Credit monitor subsystem 35 functions comprising: (i) Providing an application level programming interface to the order processing application 36; (ii) securely transacting on behalf of order processing application 36 the settling of payments between the sponsored application end-users and the remote payment services such as (but not limited to) Visa, PayPal, bank accounts, etc.; (iii) maintaining a bandwidth credit resulting from successful payment transactions; (iv) securely querying bandwidth usages from the bandwidth monitor subsystem 33 and deducting the bandwidth credit against the amount used; and (v) securely (and optionally) have the bandwidth monitor subsystem disrupt bandwidth usage by the electronic communication device and/or sponsored applications (e.g., carrier pays sponsored application 15, third-party pays sponsored application 18, end-user pays sponsored application 21 ) upon the expiration of bandwidth credit. (D) Order processing application 36 functions comprising: (i) providing a user interface allowing the sponsored application end-users to pre-purchase bandwidth for consumption by an end-user pays sponsored application 21 ; and (ii) transacting said pre-purchase via the interface exported by the credit monitor subsystem 35.

[0019] While additional figures depicting the internal workings of the invention's software and/or applications' and their interaction with the electronic communications device or bandwidth provider's network are possible, the six figures set forth should serve to those well-versed in the art as suitable examples for envisioning other potential implementations that are wider in breadth and scope of the invention's examples set forth herein and how these and other embodiments can be reduced to practice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The present invention is in the field of electronic communications device software design and consists of software or one or more applications residing on any one or more electronic communications devices (e.g. mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, PDAs, laptop computers, desktop computers, TV sets, set top boxes, game consoles, digital video recorders, watches, embedded systems, household appliances, vehicles, industrial devices, medical devices, or analogous electronic communications devices) where such electronic

communication device is connected to the internet or an analogous network through either wireless and/or wired means (e.g. cellular, DSL, Wi-Fi, etc.) and utilizes the electronic communication device's operating system (e.g. Linux, BSD, QNX) to enable bandwidth usage monitoring and billing. For purposes of this invention, the concept of the subject software or application functionality is to be construed broadly and can relate to a variety of performance capabilities associated with such subject software component or subject application, including but limited to the processing of and/or monitoring of: bandwidth activities on such electronic communication device, application activities on such electronic communication device, credit activities on such electronic communication device, billing activities on such electronic communication device, and order processing activities on such electronic communication device.

[0021] The invention enables one or more parties to monitor, regulate, and bill for bandwidth provided to and/or consumed on such electronic communication device so as to access online and offline content, goods, and services associated via a "sponsored application" (an application or analogous software component that possesses self-monitoring, auditing, billing, and performance control capabilities as enabled and determined by the creator of such application at the time of its creation), as well as other functionalities associated with a sponsored application that can be reasonable envisioned by those versed in the art. The bandwidth may be regulated and billed according to single or multiple criteria including the amount of data and/or the speed of data consumed by the subject app, time frame in which data is consumed by the subject app available, the number of parties participating in the transaction associated with the consumption of bandwidth of the electronic communication device, the source, location and/or type of such data consumption (e.g. video, audio, artist, studio, etc.), or any other analogous basis that can be reasonable envisioned by those versed in the art.

[0022] The invention consists of four subsystems. Three of the subsystems: (a) bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem, (b) application monitoring subsystem, and (c) credit monitoring subsystem, each of which execute in kernel mode. The bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem subsystem tracks the amount of data used by processes and applications executing on the electronic communications device. The application monitoring subsystem subsystem tracks the life cycles of processes and applications executing on the electronic

communications device. The credit monitoring subsystem subsystem securely transacts with remote payment services including, but not limited to, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, or like variants.

[0023 j The fourth subsystem executes in user mode and provides to end-users of the electronic communications device an interface to purchase or, in the alternative otherwise negotiate for and secure, additional bandwidth for selective one or more applications.

[0024] Given the current state of art in which (a) end-users pay for all bandwidth consumed to access content, goods, services, and (b) the limitations inherent in the existing monitoring and billing systems that reside in carrier networks or on network equipment and devices, an invention that enables bandwidth usage monitoring, provisioning, and billing via a sponsored application resident on an end-user electronic communications device (and does so in a dynamically changing manner) is novel, non-obvious, and highly useful. [0025] In various broad embodiments, the present invention is more advantageous than existing technologies utilizing techniques generally referred to as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) that are limited to bandwidth monitoring and billing within the bandwidth provider's network equipment:

1 ) The present invention enables rapid development and deployment of billing services by carriers and contents providers compared to approaches that utilize DPI technology

2) The present invention enables bandwidth consumption by applications and electronic communication devices to be debited with finer degrees of granularity compared to DPI-based techniques, and

3) The present invention does not require carriers to update or upgrade in-network

equipment to deploy

[0026] Given the functional potential of the subject invention, this new technology can be used to great effect in a variety of use cases and electronic communication device form factors (whether that device is a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, PDA, laptop computer, desktop computer, TV set, set top box, game console, digital video recorder, watch, embedded system, household appliance, vehicle, industrial device, medical device, or analogous electronic communications device).

[0027] Given the current state of art with regard to DPI functions inherent in existing bandwidth monitoring, auditing, provisioning and billing practice and implementation, the current invention with its dynamic and various methods and techniques for application bandwidth monitoring and control is novel, non-obvious, and highly useful.

[0028] While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein and it will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the enclosed claims. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention and the specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense. |0029] In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific claims set forth herein.

Claims

CLAIM OR CLAIMS

1 . A software method and system that enables an electronic communications device with an operating system, including but not limited to Linux, BSD, QNX or like variants to monitor, authenticate, report, provision, and bill for bandwidth consumed on such electronic communications device by utilizing a bandwidth usage monitoring and billing system resident on such electronic communications device.

The method and system in claim 1 , further comprising of:

a. a bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem executing in kernel mode and

tracking data usage by any associated processes and any applications executing on the electronic communications device;

b. An application monitoring subsystem executing in kernel mode tracking the life cycles of any associated processes and any applications executing on the electronic communications device;

c. A credit monitoring subsystem executing in kernel mode securely transacting with remote payment services including, but not limited to. Visa, Mastercard, Paypal. or like variants; and

d. An order processing middleware executing in user mode providing to end- users of the electronic communications device an interface to purchase or otherwise secure bandwidth for selective one or more applications.

3. A method and system where the bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem of claim 2 intercepts selective kernel system calls that create, destroy, and switch executions of operating system processes, as well as further intercepting kernel system calls that transmit and receive data packets to effect the desired goals of the disclosed invention.

4. A method and system where the bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem of claim 2 further correlates the life cycle of any associated processes and associated data packets transmitted and received, saving said records in the operating system internal memory, and upon requests by other subsystems and middleware periodically archiving said records to persistent storages including but not limited to flash memory, magnetic drive, or remote network server.

5. A method and system where the bandwidth usage monitoring subsystem of claim 2 further disallows data bandwidth consumption of given associated processes upon requests by the other noted invention subsystems and middleware set forth in claim 2 by rejecting calls to transmit or receive data by said processes.

6. A method and system where the application monitoring subsystem of claim 2 accesses data bandwidth records associated with associated processes and correlates instances of said processes with given applications accounting for bandwidth used by said applications, doing so upon requests by the credit monitoring subsystem to enable or disable data consumption of one or more processes associated with said applications.

7. A method and system where the application monitoring subsystem of claim 2 alerts the credit monitoring subsystem upon the event that processes associated with given one or more applications have exceeded pre-set data bandwidth thresholds as previously determined by other subsystems or middleware.

8. A method and system where of claim 7 wherein the pre-set data bandwidth thresholds are applied toward aggregated bandwidth consumption use by all of the applications resident on the electronic communications device.

9. A method and system where the credit monitoring subsystem of claim 2 atomatically and securely transacts with remote payment services on behalf of the order processing middleware and applications to maintain a bandwidth credit on the electronic communications device, comprising of the initiation and completion of one or more of the following steps in an atomatic manner:

a. Transaction begins;

b. Transmission of end-user's payment information to remote payment services; c. Receipt of positive acknowledgement from remote payment services;

d. Update of bandwidth credit on persistent storage of the electronic

communications device; and

e. Transaction ends.

10. A method and system where the order processing middleware of claim 2 presents an application programming interface (API) usable by an order processing application residing on the electronic communication device.

1 1 . A method and system where the order processing middleware of claim 2 presents an application programming interface (API) usable by a remote purchasing agent initiated by a sponsoring third-party.

12. A method and system where the order processing middleware of claim 2 further comprises an API to present bandwidth pricing, options for purchase of bandwidth, options to secure bandwidth, and pricing variation pending a variety of factors, including but not limited to the time of day, availability of network bandwidth, speed of bandwidth, nature of use of bandwidth, quality of bandwidth, quantum of bandwidth purchased or otherwise secured, and the ability of third-parties to wholly or partially subsidize a portion of the associated cost of bandwidth.