Method and apparatus for performing an accounting network layer as a service
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsHoward Lang, Joseph Soryal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a plurality of accounting nodes, each accounting node being associated with a service node of a communication network, each accounting node being configured to collect data usage information for a network segment of the communication network including an associated service node, and an accounting server in data communication with accounting nodes of the plurality of accounting nodes, the accounting server configured to receive from the accounting nodes the data usage information for each service node and determine billing for data usage of each network segment. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a plurality of accounting nodes, each accounting node of the plurality of accounting nodes being associated with a respective service node of a plurality of network segments used to provide connectivity between an application provider and a user device, wherein at least two network segments of the plurality of network segments are operated by different network service providers, each accounting node configured to collect data usage information for the respective service node;
- and
- a plurality of accounting servers in data communication with accounting nodes of the plurality of accounting nodes, each accounting server of the plurality of accounting servers being configured to receive from the accounting nodes the data usage information for each service node in a respective network segment and determine billing for data usage of each network segment.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, by a processing system including a processor, network segment data usage information for a plurality of network segments used to provide connectivity between an application provider and a user device, wherein at least two network segments of the plurality of network segments are operated by different network service providers, and wherein the network segment data usage information is collected by accounting nodes associated with respective network segments of the plurality of network segments;
- receiving, by the processing system, accounting information, respective accounting information defining cost factors associated with billing for data usage in a respective network segment;
- and
- generating, by the processing system, respective billing information for respective network service providers that operate the respective network segments according to the network segment data usage information and the respective accounting information.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- receiving, by the processing system, network segment data usage information for a plurality of network segments used to provide connectivity between an application provider and a user device, wherein at least two network segments of the plurality of network segments are operated by different network service providers, and wherein the network segment data usage information is collected by accounting nodes associated with respective network segments of the plurality of network segments;
- receiving, by the processing system, accounting information, respective accounting information defining cost factors associated with billing for data usage in a respective network segment;
- and
- generating, by the processing system, respective billing information for respective network service providers that operate the respective network segments according to the network segment data usage information and the respective accounting information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.