Content Control Gateway for Accurate Service Charging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing content charging systems require costly customized development and interconnection technologies, making it difficult for small-scale Internet Content Providers (ICPs) to implement charging services, and they struggle with accurate billing and dynamic bandwidth adjustment, especially for services like Video On Demand that require Quality of Service (QoS).
Innovation Solution
A method and system that includes a Portal Server, a Policy Server, and a Content Control Gateway, where the Policy Server determines and delivers service policies to the Content Control Gateway, enabling dynamic bandwidth adjustment and accurate charging based on user service consumption information, allowing for non-coding interconnection and reducing interconnection costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If customized development and joint debugging are required for interconnection, then charging accuracy is improved, but device complexity and interconnection cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway as an intermediary component that standardizes the interface between content servers and the charging system. This gateway handles protocol conversion and data formatting, allowing content servers to connect without customized development while maintaining charging accuracy through standardized information exchange.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway is designed with universal functionality to work with multiple types of content servers through standardized interfaces. It provides multi-functional capabilities including authentication, charging, and billing operations, eliminating the need for customized development for each specific content server type.
2Adaptability or versatility
If small-scale ICPs without technical strength are required to implement charging, then service coverage is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates due to lack of customization capability
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as a pre-configured intermediary that small-scale ICPs can deploy without requiring deep technical expertise. It encapsulates complex charging logic and provides ready-to-use standardized interfaces, enabling ICPs to implement charging services quickly without customization capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows small-scale ICPs to copy and deploy standardized gateway configurations rather than developing custom charging solutions. Pre-configured templates and standard interfaces enable rapid replication of charging functionality across different content providers without requiring technical strength for customization.
3Measurement precision
If strict interconnection requirements are imposed, then charging accuracy is improved, but productivity decreases due to lengthy development and testing cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway is pre-configured with standardized charging parameters, authentication mechanisms, and billing logic before deployment. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for lengthy customization and joint debugging phases, allowing rapid service deployment while maintaining charging accuracy through pre-validated configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The universal gateway design handles multiple charging scenarios and content server types through standardized interfaces, eliminating the need for separate development and testing cycles for each integration. This multi-functionality accelerates service deployment while maintaining consistent charging accuracy across different implementations.
4Measurement precision
If customized development is required for each ICP, then charging accuracy is improved, but loss of time increases due to extensive joint debugging and testing
Solution Approach 1:
The standardized gateway acts as a pre-tested intermediary that handles all complex charging operations between content servers and the billing system. This eliminates the need for extensive joint debugging between ICPs and the charging system, as the gateway's standardized interface has already been validated for charging accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
All charging logic, authentication mechanisms, and billing procedures are preliminarily configured and tested within the gateway before deployment. This pre-validation eliminates the need for lengthy joint debugging and testing phases when integrating new content servers, significantly reducing time loss while maintaining charging accuracy.
Data Source
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Figure 3~4
AI summary
A method for content charging includes: the portal server transmits the service activation request to the policy server based on the request for user using the service; the policy server determines the service policy corresponding to the service request after responding to the service activation request and distributes the service policy activation message to the content control gateway; the content control gateway performs the service policy and reports the user service usage message to the policy server; the policy server performs the charging according to the user service usage message. The solution provided by the present invention can realize the exact and low-cost charging for the content service and meet the requirement of QoS dynamic adjustment of the content service.