Patent ID: 9432211
Filing Date: 2016-08-30
CPC Classification: H04L,H04M

Claim Text:
1. A method, performed by an edge router in an Access/Network Service Provider (ANP) network, of accounting for content delivered from a Content Provider (CP) through the ANP network to user devices, the method comprising: responsive to determining that a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of an incoming packet matches an IP address of a CP, determining if the incoming packet belongs to one of a plurality of ongoing content delivery sessions from the CP by comparing a Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) value of the incoming packet to a plurality of DSCP values associated with the plurality of ongoing content delivery sessions from the CP; responsive to determining that the incoming packet does not belong to any of the plurality of ongoing content delivery sessions from the CP, initiating a new accounting session for a new content delivery session with an accounting server, the new content delivery session and the new accounting session being associated with a new DSCP value that is different from the plurality of DSCP values associated with the plurality of ongoing content delivery sessions; and responsive to determining that the incoming packet belongs to a first ongoing content delivery session from the CP, incrementing a packet count of an accounting session associated with a first DSCP value of the first ongoing content delivery session, so that the ANP can charge the CP for delivery of content corresponding to the first DSCP value of the first ongoing content delivery session; wherein the method further comprises: determining that the first ongoing content delivery session has terminated; in response to the termination determination, closing the accounting session associated with the first ongoing content delivery session with the accounting server; and wherein determining that the first ongoing content delivery session has terminated comprises: starting a timer upon initiating the accounting session associated with the first ongoing content delivery session with the accounting server; resetting the timer each time the packet count for the first ongoing content delivery session is incremented; and determining that the first ongoing content delivery session has terminated when the timer reaches a predetermined value.