Differential routing of communication-usage records
AssigneeSprint Spectrum L.P.
InventorsAnthony C. Wells, Roger Bartlett, Terry D. Nebergall
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method for differentially routing communication-usage records based on an identity of the base station that served the underlying communication. For example, if the base station is a home carrier base station, then the communication-usage records may be routed to a particular usage-tracking system, whereas, if the base station is an affiliate carrier base station, then the communication-usage records may be routed to a different usage-tracking system. Further, depending on the base station identity, the routing of the communication-usage records may be delayed or may be more immediate.
Claims22
An apparatus arranged to differentially route communication-usage records, the apparatus comprising:
- a network communication interface;
- a processor;
- and
- data storage,
- wherein the data storage contains a communication-usage record specifying an extent of communication by a wireless communication device (WCD), wherein the communication occurred via a base station serving the WCD, and
- wherein the processor determines an identity of the base station and uses the determined identity as a basis to select one of a plurality of usage-tracking systems to which to transmit the communication-usage record via the network communication interface, such that (i) the processor transmits the communication-usage record to a first usage-tracking system via the network communication interface if the processor determines that the base station has a first identity and (ii) the processor transmits the communication-usage record to a second usage-tracking system via the network communication interface if the processor determines that the base station has a second identity.
A system comprising:
- a packet data serving node (PDSN);
- an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server;
- a first usage-tracking system;
- and
- a second usage-tracking system,
- wherein the PDSN generates a communication-usage record specifying an extent of communication by a wireless communication device (WCD) served by the PDSN, wherein the communication occurred via a base station serving the WCD, and wherein the PDSN includes in the generated communication-usage record an identifier of the base station,
- wherein the PDSN transmits the generated communication-usage record to the AAA server,
- wherein the AAA server receives the communication-usage record and selects a destination for the communication-usage record based on the base station identifier in the received communication-usage record, wherein the AAA is arranged to select the first usage-tracking system as the destination if the base station identifier has a first class, and the AAA server is arranged to select the second usage-tracking system as the destination if the base station identifier has a second class, and
- wherein the AAA server transmits the usage-tracking record to the selected destination.
A method comprising:
- storing in data storage a communication-usage record that specifies an extent of communication by a wireless communication device (WCD), wherein the communication occurred via a base station serving the WCD, and
- executing machine language instructions to read the communication-usage record so as to determine an identity of the base station;
- using the determined identity as a basis to select one of a plurality of usage-tracking systems to which to transmit the communication-usage record;
- addressing the communication-usage record to the selected usage-tracking system and outputting the addressed communication-usage record via a network communication interface to transmit the communication-usage record to the selected usage-tracking system, so that the communication-usage record is transmitted to a first usage-tracking system if the determined identity is a first identity but the communication-usage record is transmitted to a second usage-tracking system if the determined identity is a second identity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.