Systems and methods for billing content providers for designated select content delivered over a data network

摘要

Some embodiments provide multi-tenant billing systems and methods whereby data network usage fees that are associated with delivering select content of different content providers over a data network are passed to the content provider that originates or is the source for that select content instead of the end users that request and receive the select content. A deep packet inspection server or a billing server may be configured with a list of identifiers to distinguish between the network usage that is related to the delivery of the designated free content from the network usage that is not related to the delivery of the designated free content. The network usage can be distinguished by filtering or processing usage logs that track the network usage using the configured list of identifiers. Such filtering or processing can be done in real-time or in a delayed manner in a standalone or integrated system.

主权项

1. A machine implemented method for offsetting usage of a service provider data network amongst end users and content providers, wherein the service provider data network provides a plurality of end users access to content of the content providers from an external data network, the machine implemented method comprising:
modifying operation of a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) server with a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of free-to-user first content of a particular content provider, wherein the free-to-user first content is delivered to any end user of the plurality of end users without a receiving end user incurring data network usage fees in receiving the free-to-user first content, wherein the PDN GW server comprises a microprocessor, memory, and a network interface, and wherein the PDG GW server connects the service provider data network to the external data network; inspecting by operation of the PDN GW server, a plurality of content passing from the external data network through the service provider data network to a particular end user of the plurality of end users, wherein said inspecting comprises scanning HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) headers of the plurality of packets, detecting presence or absence of the plurality of URLs in said headers, and serving said plurality of content to the particular end user over the service provider data network; differentiating from the plurality of content in response to said inspecting, a first subset of free-to-user content comprising one URL from the plurality of URLs from a second subset of user chargeable content omitting all URLs from the plurality of URLs; modifying usage allocation of the service provider data network based on said differentiating, wherein said modifying comprises metering to said PDN GW server memory, a first set of usage of the data network resulting from the particular end user receiving the first subset of free-to-user content comprising one URL from the plurality of URLs differently than a second set of usage of the data network resulting from the particular end user receiving the second subset of user chargeable content omitting all URLs from the plurality of URLs; transmitting the first set of the data network usage and the second set of the data network usage from the PDN GW server over a digital network to a billing server of the service provider; and performing at the billing server in response to said transmitting, offset billing based on the data network usage associated with delivering the plurality of content to the particular end user, wherein performing the offset billing comprises alerting the particular end user of network usage by (i) billing the particular end user according to the second set of data network usage incurred in delivering, to the particular end user, the second subset of user chargeable content and (ii) not billing the particular end user for the first set of data network usage incurred in delivering the first subset of free-to-user content.