OTT Gateway Unified Billing for IP Wireless Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network service providers face challenges in tracking and billing for over-the-top (OTT) application services, as existing systems lack the capability to provide unified billing that includes quality of service treatment for both OTT and non-OTT applications, making it difficult to generate accurate subscriber bills.
Innovation Solution
An OTT gateway is introduced to monitor OTT usage and quality of service levels, transmitting this information to a billing device, which aggregates data to provide unified billing that includes OTT and non-OTT application services, ensuring accurate billing and quality of service treatment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing billing systems are used for OTT applications, then billing can be performed, but unified billing that includes quality of service treatment for both OTT and non-OTT applications cannot be provided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the billing system into distinct functional components: an OTT gateway that specifically handles OTT application monitoring and quality of service tracking, and a billing device that aggregates data from multiple sources. This segmentation allows the system to achieve unified billing capability while managing complexity through modular architecture, where each component has a specialized function rather than requiring a complete system redesign.
2Measurement precision
If OTT usage is monitored separately from non-OTT usage, then tracking accuracy improves, but unified billing generation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of standardized data collection and aggregation processes that bridge separately monitored OTT and non-OTT usage data. The OTT gateway collects precise OTT usage information with quality of service metrics, while the billing device aggregates this with non-OTT data using unified billing rules. This intermediary aggregation layer enables both precise tracking and easy unified billing generation without requiring direct integration of all monitoring systems.
3Measurement precision
If quality of service treatment is tracked for OTT applications, then billing accuracy improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing quality of service tracking specifically where needed in the OTT application monitoring function, rather than uniformly across the entire billing system. The OTT gateway is equipped with quality of service treatment tracking capabilities tailored to OTT applications, while the billing device applies unified billing rules that incorporate this quality information. This localized approach to quality tracking improves billing accuracy for OTT services without requiring complex quality monitoring throughout the entire system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A system may receive a request to receive a particular quality of service level for traffic flow between a user device and an over-the-top application server that provides an over-the-top application service. The over-the-top application server may be outside of a service provider network. The system may determine that the user device is to receive the particular quality of service level for the over-the-top application service based on receiving the request. The system may cause the traffic flow to receive the particular quality of service level based on determining that the user device is to receive the particular quality of service level. The traffic flow may be transmitted using the service provider network. The system may determine usage information associated with the traffic flow, where the usage information identifies the user device and the particular quality of service level. The system may provide the usage information.