Patent ID: 8712883

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for facilitating quality-of-service (QoS)-based billing in a peer-to-peer overlay (P2P) network, the method comprising: identifying, by a computing device, a plurality of partner peer nodes in a P2P network that transiently stage subsequently requested streaming media data; receiving a plurality of streaming media segments, of the streaming media data, from the plurality of partner peer nodes in the P2P network; measuring QoS information including average playback time latency and data rate for the received streaming media data from the plurality of partner peer nodes in the P2P network, wherein the data rate is measured based on the streaming media data drawn from a sliding-window buffer, and wherein measuring the average playback time latency involves: determining playback times for the plurality of streaming media segments received from the plurality of partner peer nodes; and comparing a playback time of a respective streaming media segment to a timestamp of the streaming media segment, wherein the timestamp indicates an expected playback time for the steaming media segment; and communicating a report which indicates a QoS level computed based on the measured QoS information to a billing node, wherein communicating the report to the billing node facilitates the billing node to compare the QoS level in the report against a predefined threshold, to debit a corresponding user account based on the QoS level in response to the QoS level exceeding a predefined threshold, and to credit the corresponding user account in response to the QoS level not exceeding the predefined threshold.