Communication network specific charging method and communication network specific charging apparatus

A communication network specific charging apparatus for performing a charging processing for data transmission in a communication network in which

• a plurality of positions are connected to each other through a wide area network,
• sub-networks are connected to the respective positions through local area networks, and
• sending of data from terminal stations in the sub-networks or receiving of data in the terminal stations is performed, the apparatus comprising:
• receiving means which is connected to a predetermined position of the communication network and which receives intermittently sampled traffic data collected from traffic measurement means connected to the local area networks;
• and
• charging processing means which decides a data transmission state in the communication network on the basis of the intermittently sampled traffic data received by the receiving means and which generates charging data for charging to users who use the respective sub-networks on the sending side or the receiving side of the data on the basis of the decided transmission state, wherein
• the charging processing means performs discrimination of charging to a sub-network user on the sending side from charging to a sub-network user on the receiving side on the basis of predetermined charging priorities of the sub-networks, and
• protocols of the same using purpose of the transmission states are collected into a certain application for management, and the types of applications of the transmission data are decided from the data of the transmission states, to discriminate charging to a sub-network user on the sending side from charging to a sub-network user on the receiving side on the basis of the decision.