Accounting system and method for a nominal bit rate network service
US6047326A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 20, 1997 |
| Grant date | Apr 4, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 20, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2012/5651
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system and method for charging for usage of a network service connection. The network includes access nodes which provide user access to core nodes of the network. At an access node, the traffic of connections associated with the access node is measured. A nominal bit rate (NBR) associated with the access node is used together with the traffic measurement to compute a priority level at the access node. The value of NBR represents an expected, but not guaranteed, bit rate associated with a particular user or connection. The connection may be a real-time or a non-real-time connection. Information elements, transmitted from the access node to a core network node, are each assigned one of several priority levels, and cells are either accepted or discarded based on priority level and the status of one or more buffers at the core node. A charging schedule, based on a maximum allowed NBR established for the user, accounts for both a fixed or non-fixed monthly fee and a time dependent fee portion. The charging scheme may take into account that the NBR may be different for upstream and downstream transmissions. A charging counter, which accounts for the cost of connection usage, may be up…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.