BILLING ENGINE AND METHOD OF USE

摘要

A wireless communication device associated with a mobile operator network transmits an authentication request for network access via a wireless access point (AP) using a transceiver other than the cellular network transceiver. Device authentication can occur directly with the mobile operator network via a proxy server or using a stand-alone authentication system that is not part of the mobile operator network. Upon authentication, the requesting device may access a wide area network in a data off-load operational mode and the data flow to and from the device via the AP is monitored and reported to mobile operator network associated with the requesting device. The wireless communication device can communicate with any of a plurality of APs distributed in a venue during the data off-load operational mode.

主权项

1. A method for data utilization tracking in a plurality of wireless communication devices, each of the plurality of wireless communication devices being associated with a respective one of a plurality of mobile operator networks and using a cellular network transceiver to communicate therewith, the method comprising:
transmitting a predetermined signal from a plurality of wireless access points distributed throughout the venue; at least one of the plurality of wireless access points receiving an authentication request from each of the plurality of wireless communication devices, using a second transceiver different from the cellular network transceiver, the authentication requests including identification information that uniquely identifies each of the plurality of wireless communication devices and identifies the mobile operator network associated with each of the plurality of wireless communication devices; in response to the authentication requests, transmitting at least a portion of the identification information of each of the plurality of wireless communication devices requesting authentication to an authentication server; the authentication server performing an authentication process for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices requesting authentication based on the identification information of each of the plurality of wireless communication devices; receiving an authentication response from the authentication server for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices requesting authentication and, if the wireless communication devices are authenticated, establishing communication links between the wireless communication devices and a wide area network via the wireless access point to thereby initiate operation of the wireless communication devices in a data off-load operational session; generating a log corresponding to each of the plurality of authenticated wireless communication devices to monitor data utilization of each of the plurality of authenticated wireless communication devices during the respective data off-load operational sessions; and establishing communication links with the mobile operator network associated with each of the plurality of wireless communication devices to provide the session log for each of the plurality of authenticated wireless communication devices to the respective mobile operator networks.