QoS-Aware Billing Agent for Network Service Pricing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current billing systems do not accurately reflect the quality of service provided to subscribers, leading to dissatisfaction when quality is reduced without corresponding discounts or when higher quality is denied without additional premium payment.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a QoS-aware billing agent that receives quality of service difference data and sends it to a billing server to charge subscribers based on the actual quality of service delivered, ensuring appropriate pricing adjustments for contracted and delivered service levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If billing is based on contracted quality of service levels, then billing simplicity is maintained, but billing accuracy does not reflect actual service delivered
Solution Approach 1:
A QoS-aware billing agent is introduced as an intermediary component that sits between the network service delivery system and the billing system. This agent monitors actual QoS metrics, compares them against contracted levels, and generates adjusted billing information. The intermediary handles the complexity of QoS measurement and comparison, allowing the core billing system to remain relatively simple while achieving accurate reflection of actual service delivered.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring actual QoS performance and using this information to adjust billing charges. The QoS-aware billing agent receives QoS data, compares it with contracted levels, and feeds this information back to the billing system to modify charges accordingly. This closed-loop feedback ensures billing accuracy reflects actual service quality while maintaining systematic control.
2Reliability
If QoS monitoring and adjusted billing are implemented, then subscriber satisfaction is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The QoS-aware billing agent serves as a specialized intermediary that handles all QoS monitoring, measurement, and comparison operations. By concentrating this functionality in a dedicated component, the complexity is isolated and managed separately from the core billing and network delivery systems. This allows subscriber satisfaction to improve through accurate QoS-based billing while the overall system architecture remains modular and manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The QoS-aware billing agent performs multiple functions: monitoring QoS metrics, comparing actual performance against contracted levels, calculating adjustments, and interfacing with the billing system. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional component, the system achieves improved subscriber satisfaction without proportionally increasing overall complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving quality if service difference data. Quality of service difference data indicates how a particular flow of data packets between a first end node of a particular subscriber and a different second end node differs from a particular quality of service level. The particular quality of service level is one of multiple quality of service levels available over the network. Quality of service data based on the quality of service difference data is sent to billing server that charges the particular subscriber based on the quality of service data.