Patent ID: 7222165
Filing Date: 2007-05-22
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A communications system comprising a plurality of client side and server side computing elements, each computing element supported by a distributed processing environment whereby distributed software objects in different physical parts of the system interact by passing messages via data communications links, the communications system including service generic code and service specific code, which is distributed between said plurality of computing elements during a service session, wherein the service generic code supports a plurality of differing types of service during a service session, said service generic code when in use comprising: a session manager which performs functions generic to said plurality of differing types of service during service sessions; for each type of said differing types of service, said session manager is arranged during a service session in which a plurality of participants participate, to generate a separate event message in response to each discrete change of a session-related status of an individual one of the plurality of participants in the session, the discrete changes in the session-related status of each of the individual participants including each individual participant joining the session and that same individual participant leaving the session, separate event messages respectively indicating the joining and leaving of the session of that same individual participant, wherein a service-session event handler receives logically uncombined events transmitted in the separate event messages respectively generated in response to each change in the session-related status of said plurality of participants without any historical data; and the service session event handler determines respective charges for each particular participant's participation in the session based on that participant's discrete changes in status including that individual participant's joining and leaving the session as well as each of the other participant's changes in status including each of the other participant's joining and leaving the session.