Multi-Tenant Billing System for Content Provider Data Fees
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data network billing models charge end users for every kilobyte of data, discouraging them from accessing feature-rich content and limiting the revenue potential for content providers, while also increasing costs for service providers and degrading the user experience.
Innovation Solution
Implement a multi-tenant billing system that redistributes data network usage fees from end users to content providers for designated 'free' content, using deep packet inspection servers to track and filter network usage, allowing end users to access select content without incurring data charges and incentivizing providers to promote their content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If end users are charged for every kilobyte of data consumed, then service providers can recover infrastructure costs, but end user access to content is discouraged and user experience degrades
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the billing responsibility by content type, distinguishing between traditional content (charged to end users) and enriched content (charged to content providers). This segmentation allows the system to simultaneously support both end user access and service provider cost recovery by applying different billing models to different content categories.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional billing model by charging content providers rather than end users for certain content categories. Instead of the conventional approach where end users pay for data consumption, the system enables content providers to pay for the delivery of their enriched content, thereby improving end user experience while maintaining service provider revenue streams.
2Ease of manufacture
If data access plans are implemented with fixed data allowances, then end users can control their costs, but content consumption is limited and revenue potential for content providers is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the billing parameter from end user data consumption to content provider content delivery. By shifting the billing basis from user-side metrics (data used) to provider-side metrics (content delivered), the system enables unlimited content consumption for end users while maintaining cost control mechanisms through content provider billing arrangements.
3Speed
If service providers invest in infrastructure expansion to meet increasing content demand, then network capacity and speed improve, but operational costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces content providers as intermediaries who assume responsibility for paying for the delivery of their enriched content. This intermediary arrangement allows service providers to expand infrastructure and improve network speed without bearing the full burden of operational costs, as content providers contribute to covering these expenses through the new billing model.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments provide multi-tenant billing systems and methods whereby data network usage fees that are associated with delivering select content of different content providers over a data network are passed to the content provider that originates or is the source for that select content instead of the end users that request and receive the select content. A deep packet inspection server or a billing server may be configured with a list of identifiers to distinguish between the network usage that is related to the delivery of the designated free content from the network usage that is not related to the delivery of the designated free content. The network usage can be distinguished by filtering or processing usage logs that track the network usage using the configured list of identifiers. Such filtering or processing can be done in real-time or in a delayed manner in a standalone or integrated system.