# US 11,909,610 B2 · Method and system for resource counter tracking > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,909,610 B2 - Document ID: US11909610B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/809,654 - Filed: 2022-06-29 - Published: 2024-01-04 - Granted: 2024-02-20 - Earliest claimed: 2022-06-29 - Assignees: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. - Applicants: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. - Inventors: Madhan Muralimanohar; Muthukumar Retnasamy; Hans Raj Nahata - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11909610B2 ## CPC - H04L 43/065: related to network devices - G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects} - H04L 12/14: Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework - H04L 12/1403: {Architecture for metering, charging or billing} - H04L 12/1407: {Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture} - H04L 43/0817: by checking functioning - H04L 43/0882: Utilisation of link capacity - H04L 43/0894: Packet rate - H04M 15/00: Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication {; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP} - H04M 15/58: {based on statistics of usage or network monitoring} - H04M 15/61: {based on the service used} - H04M 15/66: {Policy and charging system} - H04W 4/24: Accounting or billing - G06F 2009/45595: {Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances} - H04L 43/08: Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters - H04L 43/20: the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium are described in which a resource counter tracking service is provided. The service may include the collection of resource information by a charging function from a virtualized device. The resource information may include information pertaining to hardware usage, quality of service, and transport resources associated with the virtualized device, a cluster, or a data center of relevance. The charging function may generate event information based on the resource information, and make available the event information to third party devices. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: receiving, by a Fifth Generation (5G) charging function of a core network from a virtualized device, resource information pertaining to the virtualized device, wherein the resource information includes hardware usage, which includes a processor, a memory, a storage, and a communication interface usage of the virtualized device, and at least one quality of service metric pertaining to the virtualized device including at least one of latency or application availability; generating, by the 5G charging function, a resource value for each resource of the resource information; generating, by the 5G charging function, event information for each resource value; and storing, by the 5G charging function, the event information. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the resource information is received from a container manager or a hypervisor of the virtualized device that is subject to being charged. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the virtualized device is a radio access network device, a core network device, or a device of an application layer network that hosts an end device application service or a microservice. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the 5G charging function, the event information to a third party device of a third party associated with the virtualized device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the resource information indicates a number of active containers or a number of active virtual machines, and a corresponding application service or microservice. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes transport resource information pertaining to resources that communicatively couples the virtualized device to one or more other virtualized devices or an end device. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the event information includes data indicating a state of each resource and one or multiple resource identifiers. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one quality of service metric further includes a bit rate or an error rate. ### Claim 9 A network device comprising: a processor configured to: receive from a virtualized device, resource information pertaining to the virtualized device, wherein the resource information includes hardware usage, which includes a processor, a memory, a storage, and a communication interface usage of the virtualized device, and at least one quality of service metric pertaining to the virtualized device including at least one of latency or application availability, wherein the network device is a Fifth Generation (5G) charging function of a core network; generate a resource value for each resource of the resource information; generate event information for each resource value; and store the event information. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the resource information is received from a container manager or a hypervisor of the virtualized device that is subject to being charged. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the virtualized device is a radio access network device, a core network device, or a device of an application layer network that hosts an end device application service or a microservice. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit the event information to a third party device of a third party associated with the virtualized device. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the resource information indicates a number of active containers or a number of active virtual machines, and a corresponding application service or microservice. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the resource information includes transport resource information pertaining to resources that communicatively couples the virtualized device to one or more other virtualized devices or an end device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the event information includes data indicating a state of each resource and one or multiple resource identifiers. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The network device of claim 9, wherein the at least one quality of service metric further includes a bit rate or an error rate. ### Claim 17 A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a Fifth Generation (5G) charging function of a core network, wherein the instructions are configured to: receive from a virtualized device, resource information pertaining to the virtualized device, wherein the resource information includes hardware usage, which includes a processor, a memory, a storage, and a communication interface usage of the virtualized device, and at least one quality of service metric pertaining to the virtualized device including at least one of latency or application availability; generate a resource value for each resource of the resource information; generate event information for each resource value; and store the event information. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the resource information is received from a container manager or a hypervisor of the virtualized device that is subject to being charged. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the virtualized device is a radio access network device, a core network device, or a device of an application layer network that hosts an end device application service or a microservice. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further configured to: transmit the event information to a third party device of a third party associated with the virtualized device.