Patent ID: 6741685
Filing Date: 2004-05-25
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
A method for billing use of a communications network, the communications network being configured to enable communication between sources and destinations and being adapted to provide differentiated services to users thereof such that data communicated from a first user is routed at a higher priority than data communicated from a second user, the higher priority corresponding to at least one of a higher data transfer rate, a higher reliability of data transfer, a lower latency of data transfer, and a lower loss rate of data from a respective source to a corresponding destination, said method comprising:receiving routing information corresponding to routing of data via the communications network; correlating the routing information with a transaction model, the transaction model comprising at least one billing formula configured to assess communications network utilization by the first user based upon correlating the actual routing of data of the first user via the communications network with the differentiated service to be provided to the first user by the communications network; and generating billing information based upon the routing information correlated with the transaction model such that the billing information includes a billing amount to be charged to the first user for using the communications network; wherein, in generating the billing information, the billing amount is increased if the actual data transfer rate of data associated with the first user is higher than the data transfer rate corresponding to the differentiated service that the communication network is to provide to the first user.