Patent ID: 8103245

Claim:
A billing mediation system for use within a communications network that correlates session records pertaining to usage of network resources, wherein a record producer generates one or more session records during a session by a user, comprising: a record correlator that receives and correlates session records, wherein each received session record has a unique identifier and an indication whether the received session record was the first or last record in a session; a look ahead cache coupled to the record correlator that caches unique session identifiers for session records and a timestamp for each session identifier that indicates when the most recent record for that session was received; a set of buffers coupled to the record correlator that store session records, wherein the selection of a buffer for a record is based upon the number of records within a session and whether the received session record was a first received record within a session; and a session records database that stores correlated session records that are received from the set of buffers.