Patent ID: 7505834

Claim:
A process displaying prior to transmission the transmission costs in the transmission of Internet data or on-line data by a services/information provider to a subscriber, including: prior to a pending transfer of data, transferring a protocol element by the services/information provider to the subscriber's terminal unit, wherein the protocol element contains an indication of the pending volume of data; recognizing the protocol element at one or more transit nodes of the telecommunications networks that are involved in the transmission; supplementing as needed the protocol element by a partial cost based on a transmission through the one or more transit nodes; wherein the supplementing step is performed by the one or more transit nodes; evaluating the protocol element at the subscriber's terminal unit to determine the value of a pending transmission; displaying the total of pending transmission costs at the subscriber's terminal unit via browser software to the subscriber, said browser software displaying a menu enabling the subscriber to institutes the transmission of the data or refuses the transmission of data based on the total of pending transmission costs.