Per-Packet Traffic Tracking Mechanism for Variable Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication networks charge customers a fixed fee regardless of usage time, leading to network congestion during peak hours and idle bandwidth during off-peak hours, as they cannot track traffic statistics on a per packet basis.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a mechanism in edge gateways to track traffic statistics on a per packet basis, where network processors extract packet headers to generate keys for indexing into statistics tables, updating records with each packet, and transmitting these records to a central billing system for variable pricing based on time, volume, and quality of service.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If fixed fee billing is used, then gateway infrastructure cost is reduced, but network congestion occurs during peak hours and bandwidth is wasted during off-peak hours
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic pricing mechanisms that adjust billing based on real-time traffic conditions and time of day. The system dynamically monitors packet statistics and applies different pricing rates for peak versus off-peak hours, allowing the gateway to optimize bandwidth utilization while maintaining infrastructure efficiency. This dynamic approach resolves the contradiction by enabling the gateway to charge more during peak times (reducing congestion) and offer discounts during off-peak times (increasing utilization).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the billing parameter from a static fixed fee to variable pricing based on multiple parameters including time of day, packet count, byte count, and traffic patterns. By introducing these variable parameters into the billing model, the system can incentivize customers to shift traffic to off-peak hours, thereby optimizing bandwidth utilization without requiring additional gateway infrastructure investment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If per packet traffic tracking is implemented, then variable pricing capability is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs packet copying techniques where the gateway creates a copy of each incoming packet for statistical tracking purposes, while the original packet continues through the normal forwarding process. This copying mechanism enables detailed per-packet monitoring and variable pricing calculation without disrupting the primary data flow, thereby reducing the operational complexity burden on the gateway infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer within the gateway that handles statistical tracking and billing calculations separately from the main packet forwarding function. This intermediary module collects packet statistics, determines pricing, and generates billing records, thereby isolating the complexity of variable pricing implementation from the core networking functions and reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system and computer program product for generating variable price billing whereby a customer may balance its data traffic in response to such billing. A subsystem in an edge gateway may extract the packet header from a copy of a received packet of data associated with a session between a customer and a server and generate a key based on the extracted packet header. The key may be used to index into a table that may store pointers to particular statistics records associated with particular sessions. Once the subsystem identifies the statistics record associated with the current session, the subsystem may execute a per packet statistics update for the statistics record associated with the session. A per packet statistics update may include one or more of the following: time stamping arrival of the packet, updating packet count, updating byte count, determining transfer rate, determining distance packet traveled.