Band Usage Reporting for Fair Wireless Charging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current charging systems for wireless communication fail to differentiate between data usage on licensed and unlicensed bands, leading to unfair pricing for users, as they charge equally for data volume regardless of the band used, which discourages the utilization of unlicensed bands despite their potential for lower costs and improved Quality of Service (QoS)/Quality of Experience (QoE).
Innovation Solution
A method for generating and reporting band usage information at the eNodeB (eNB) to the core network (CN), allowing for separate charging based on the usage of licensed and unlicensed bands, enabling more accurate and reasonable billing by tracking data volume, band usage ratio, or reference rates for each band.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If equal charging is applied for data volume regardless of band used, then charging system simplicity is maintained, but fairness and incentive for unlicensed band utilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the charging system by introducing band usage information collection and separate charging calculations for licensed and unlicensed bands. The charging system is divided into: (1) band usage information collection module that tracks data volume per band, (2) separate charging calculation modules for licensed band and unlicensed band, and (3) a billing module that combines these into final charges. This segmentation enables differentiated charging while maintaining overall system structure.
2Productivity
If unlicensed band is utilized more, then spectrum efficiency is improved, but QoS guarantee capability deteriorates due to contention-based channel access
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the advantages of both licensed and unlicensed bands through RAN offloading with a single bearer. The eNB dynamically assigns traffic to licensed or unlicensed bands based on channel conditions, traffic load, and QoS requirements. The licensed band provides QoS guarantee when needed, while the unlicensed band provides additional capacity and lower cost when available. This merging approach achieves both spectrum efficiency improvement and QoS guarantee.
3Reliability
If RAN offloading with single bearer is used, then QoS can be guaranteed by licensed band, but charging system cannot differentiate band usage leading to unfair pricing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the eNB collects and reports band usage information to the charging system. The eNB monitors the actual band usage for each packet and provides this information back to the charging system, which then uses it to calculate appropriate charges. This feedback loop ensures that the charging system has accurate band usage information for fair pricing while the QoS guarantee mechanism remains intact through licensed band support.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a band usage information generating and reporting method, a charging method, an eNB, a CN, a MME and a UE. The eNB and the UE can generate band usage information for charging, and report the band usage information to the CN, wherein the band usage information involves band usage of at least a first band and a second band, and traffic is assigned to respective bands by the eNB. The Counting entity at the eNB or UE can count the data volume of each band or ratio of data volume via different bands as the band usage information based on the scheduling information of the data. The Charging system located in the CN can process the charging and generate a bill according to the reported band usage information.