MEC Resource Charging via Intermediary System
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Solution Overview
Problem
The current MEC architecture does not support charging for resources used by MEC applications created by tenants, leading to a lack of billing and revenue management for consumed services and resources.
Innovation Solution
A resource charging method and system that involves the MEC management system collecting resource usage information from the MEC host and forwarding it to a charging system device, which then calculates and applies charges based on predefined policies and usage rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the MEC architecture is deployed to provide services and cloud-computing functions at the network edge, then network performance is improved with low delay and high bandwidth, but the architecture lacks resource charging and billing management capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a charging system as an intermediary component between the MEC application and the billing management infrastructure. This charging system collects resource usage information from the MEC application, calculates charges based on predefined policies, and forwards billing information to the billing system, thereby enabling charging management without disrupting the existing high-performance MEC architecture
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the charging management functionality into distinct modular components: a charging system module deployed at the MEC host for real-time resource monitoring and charge calculation, and a billing system module for financial management. This segmentation allows the charging capability to be independently added to the MEC architecture without affecting the core network performance functions
2Productivity
If MEC applications are deployed to consume system resources for providing services, then service delivery capability is improved, but there is no mechanism to charge for the consumed resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the charging system continuously monitors resource usage by MEC applications, calculates charges based on consumption levels and pricing policies, and provides billing information back to the billing system. This feedback loop enables dynamic charging that reflects actual resource consumption while maintaining service delivery performance
Solution Approach 2:
The charging system acts as an intermediary between the resource-consuming MEC applications and the billing management infrastructure. It collects resource usage data from applications, applies charging policies, and generates billing information without interfering with the applications' service delivery operations
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of this application disclose a resource charging method, a MEC management system, and a MEC host, to charge a resource consumed by a MEC application of a tenant. The method in the embodiments of this application includes: a multi-access edge computing MEC management system receives resource usage information of a tenant sent by a MEC host, where the resource usage information is information about a resource consumed by a MEC application created by the tenant; and the MEC management system sends the resource usage information to a charging system device, where the resource usage information is used by the charging system device to charge the resource consumed by the MEC application of the tenant.