Method to obtain the cost of transmitting a set of data via a cellular packet radiocommunication network

ES 2 344 503 T3

DESCRIPTION

Billing method and device in a mobile packet radio communication network.

The invention relates to a method for billing services and especially Internet services used by a mobile telephone station in a mobile packet radio communication network.

This invention applies to mobile communication networks GPRS (General Packet Transmission Radio Services), EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for the Evolution of GSM), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System), CDMA 95 and 2000 (Multiple Access by Code Division), WCDMA (Broadband CDMA), 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Program - European Version), 3GPP2 (North American Model of 3GPP), or others.

In mobile radio communication systems such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), voice signals and data use the same transmission path: the infrastructure that is adequate enough for voice signals is not fast enough for the transmission of data. Mobile packet radio communication networks were therefore introduced into the process data.

However, a problem arises in mobile packet radio communication networks when the content and volume of the transmitted data must be measured.

The speeds applied to the various services, and especially Internet services, depend on the provider, the user, the various discounts or special offers available, the period during which the service is requested (peak hours / off-peak hours). Also, speeds are likely to change at any time, depending on the market situation.

Likewise, the volume and content of the transmitted data must be invoiced to the user client. Unlike connection networks of the GSM type, in which the measurement is carried out on the basis of the time elapsed during a connection between two points, the connection of packets involves the direct measurement of the volume of data transmitted, that is, of more specifically, the number of packets transmitted. In addition, the packets must be assigned to a certain origin, taking into account that several transmitters can be active simultaneously.

Therefore, billing in a packet network implies the instantaneous measurement and at each connection interface of the telephone network to the Internet, of the transmitted or received flow, consolidating and evaluating it according to complex rules as previously observed in a single point called the collection unit from which the invoice is issued.

In the event of deferred billing, even if it is complex and heavy, billing is nevertheless feasible since the collection unit has several days or hours to issue the bill. However, when the billing procedure is carried out in real time, a much more expensive infrastructure is required.

In this context, an objective of the present invention is to propose a method and a simple and inexpensive device for billing in real time of the services requested by the receiving means from the transmitting means in a mobile packet radio communication type network, Internet or others.

An object of the present invention is to propose a simple and inexpensive method and device for billing in real time for the services required by a mobile radio station in a mobile packet radio communication type network.

Other related prior art is listed below:

- EP 1 143 692 A2 describes a method for billing only a part of a digital content. In this method, the information on the cost per unit data volume is linked to the data on the digital content.

- WO 99 578 83 describes a method for controlling the expenses incurred by a communication terminal.

In this context, the present invention proposes a method for obtaining the cost of transmitting a set of data from a transmitting medium to a receiving medium according to claim 1.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent when reading the following description, provided for illustration and as a non-limiting example of the invention, and with reference to the drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the system according to the invention;

- Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the main steps of an embodiment of a method according to the invention;

ES 2 344 503 T3

- Figure 3 is a schematic view of the system according to Figure 1 in which the main steps of the method according to Figure 2 are shown;

- Figure 4 is a schematic view of the system according to Figure 1 in which another method is applied.

This invention applies, although not exclusively, to mobile phone stations in compliance with the "GPRS" standard. It should be clear, however, that the invention is not limited to this application alone. In particular, it can be used in other standards such as those listed above. It can also be applied to various fields of mobile telephony, eg. ex. to the field of data packet communication networks such as the Internet or others.

In the remainder of this document, the invention is described and illustrated in the context of the GPRS / Internet network.

As shown in the embodiment of the system according to the invention illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, the system 1 includes a receiving means 2, that is to say in the illustrated example a mobile telephone station 2 and a transmitting means 3 that In the illustrated example, it is a service provider 3. Station 2 and provider 3 are connected by a network 4. As shown in Figure 1, the network 4 includes a GPRS network 5 and an Internet network 6.

Station 2 is owned and used by a user 7. Mobile station 2 includes a mobile phone 8 and a SIM card 9.

SIM card 9 is a smart card provided with information processing and storage means, including a module known under the abbreviation "SIM" (Subscriber Identity Module). The SIM card stores a certain amount of data items related to the subscription to the phone as such (name (s) of the operator (s) with whom the subscription (s) has been made, subscription type, subscriber identification data, etc.), as well as the so-called integrated applications. In the particular embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, the SIM card 9 includes a cryptographic module 10 that allows said card to sign / authenticate and encrypt / decrypt the messages transmitted or received by the SIM card. According to a particular form of the invention, the SIM card 9 includes a module 11 that contains the access rights of the user 7 to all types of applications and, in this example, to the services of the service providers 3. Card 9 includes a module 12 containing the financial rights of user 7: module 12 takes the form, eg. ex. of an electronic purse that can be paid into a bank or other card inserted in an auxiliary reader of the telephone 8, or through a secured link with a financial organization capable of downloading a certain amount of money in said purse. The module 12 can also take the form of a counter of quantities consumed by the card 9 and invoiced periodically. Optionally, card 9 includes means 13 for storing a record. The card 9 stores in said register the most recent operations carried out by a certain provider. The record contains, p. ex. the date of the operation, the supplier's address, the financial value consumed by the card 9 and the number of packages.

In the rest of the document, a subscriber card 9 is a card that has the functions of the SIM card described above. Thus, the card of a subscriber can also be eg ex. a USIM card.

The telephone 8 and the subscriber card 9 include counters 14 provided to store the number of GPRS packets received, how they have been received, or any other information related to the receipt of information from the GPRS network. The counters 14 have various shapes, e.g. ex. GPRS packet counters.

As illustrated in Figure 4, the system also includes means 22 for storing a table 21 that sets the value of the data transmitted from station 2 in accordance with specific details.

The GPRS network 5 includes an antenna 15 for transmitting GPRS messages, an input / collection unit 16, hereinafter referred to as unit 16, in the form of a GGSN (GPRS Support Gateway Node) module 16 that acts as an interface between the network. GPRS and the Internet network. The GGSN module 16 is the access point to the GPRS network for provider 3: this is the reason why the GGSN module has been chosen as will be seen below to enter tickets in messages from provider 3 and collect the elements returned by the station. Module 16 can outsource all or some of the functions assigned to it in this invention. The functions of the unit 16 can therefore be performed by any other component under the control of the GGSN module 16 such as eg. ex. a SGSN module (GPRS Support Server Node) 17 or even by several components, each component performing some of said functions (eg a ticket input unit, a billing unit could be programmed, etc.). The GPRS network 5 includes various components between the antenna 15 and the GGSN module 16 such as the SGSN modules 17 for example.

The method used to bill the services sent to station 2 and illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 runs as follows.

In a first stage, for each of the providers 3, the price of sending a data set for said provider 3 is set and sent with the same data flow. In the example illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 therefore, the service provider 3 inserts a marker 18 in the service sent to the station 2. The marker 18 contains information about the value of the service, such as p. ex. "N euros or cents for packages."

ES 2 344 503 T3

In a second stage, the service is intercepted by unit 16. The purpose of unit 16 is to translate the messages received in a specific format of the Internet 6 (or other) network into messages with the format of the radiocommunication network of GPRS mobile packets 5. Unit 16 translates the service received into a set of packets with GPRS format and introduces into this set a packet, hereinafter called ticket 19, designed in particular to transmit the information from marker 18. The ticket can be placed at the beginning or at the end of a set of packages that correspond to a certain service, or even in said set. In the illustrated embodiment, the ticket is placed at the start of the transmission. The ticket contains in particular any one or all of the following elements: its rank in the set of transmitted packets, identity of the service provider 3, number of packets attached to said ticket, value of the content of said set (services can have different prices depending on their type), certificate of unit 16 (if the message is protected by asymmetric cryptography, as will be seen later), serial number of said packets, value of packets that must be returned to provider 3, and / or any other useful information, type of content of the transmitted packets (viewable by everyone, adults only, special professional categories (doctors, etc.)). In the example illustrated in Figure 3, ticket 19 contains the following information: rank = 1, identity = vendor 3, number = 2, value = 10F, and so on.

With regard to the serial number of the packets, the packets passing through unit 16 are sequentially numbered. Depending on their order of arrival, serial numbers can be mass produced or by transmitter type, and it is even possible to maintain a specific numbering for associated tickets.

With regard to the identity of the provider 3, the packets that transit through the Internet 6 using the TCP / IP protocol contain the address of the provider; Other information can be used to track the provider such as. ex. the serial number of the IP packets in order to find the type of information transmitted by reference to the predefined tables.

Advantageously and optionally, ticket 19 contains redundant information on packets already transmitted. Therefore station 2 can carry out checks upon receipt of said ticket 19 with respect to previously received packets (their number, their transmitter, etc.).

In case of free access to the service, the unit 16 uses a predetermined value, eg. ex. the value 0, which he introduces in ticket 19 to indicate to station 2 that access is free. In this case, the operator must contact the service provider regarding payment for the transport of the service. In all other cases, agreements are signed between the operator and the provider regarding the billing of the provider's services: p. ex. With periodic billing, the operator can present and send the bill to the user and charge it to the provider in question or can send the billing details to the provider and bill only the provider or user for the transport of the service. Many agreements are possible.

Unit 16 signs and encrypts the data it sends to station 2. According to a special embodiment, it uses a signature and encryption with secret keys; in this case, unit 16 and station 2 have secret keys. According to another embodiment, it uses asymmetric cryptography: in this case, ticket 19 contains the certificate of unit 16 as discussed above; collection unit 16 and station 2 have asymmetric key pairs.

Therefore, the first and second stages consist of creating and sending a ticket 19 to station 2.

The third stage below consists of the processing of said ticket 19 by the mobile phone 8.

In the third stage (Figures 2 and 3), station 2 and especially mobile phone 8 receive the set of packets in question. Each packet contains the identity of the provider 3 so that the phone 8 can independently process the flow of several providers 3 in simultaneous communication with the station 2. The phone 8 extracts the ticket 19 and sends it to the subscriber's card 9.

The cryptography module 10 of the subscriber card 9 first checks the signature of the unit 16 contained in the ticket 19. If the unit 16 is correctly authenticated, the contents of the packet set are decrypted. Phone 8 and subscriber card update counters 14.

The subscriber card checks the access rights and financial rights of the user 7 against the indications of the ticket 19. The card analyzes the type of content of the packages provided by the ticket 19 as well as the access rights of the user stored in module 11. Depending on the stored access rights and the type of content of the received packets, the user is granted or denied access to the service received by the card 9.

The subscriber card module 12 then checks the financial rights of the user. As discussed above, various solutions are possible.

If card 9 contains a prepaid wallet 12, the card charges the wallet for the amount corresponding to that indicated on the ticket. The amount indicated by ticket 19 is expressed in numbers of packages and / or with a financial value. Purse 12 is a hardware and / or software means used to store purchasing power.

ES 2 344 503 T3

If the billing to user 7 is periodic, two solutions are possible; the first is as follows. The subscriber's card totals and stores in module 12 the amounts corresponding to the volume and / or value of the transmitted packages indicated in the tickets for each provider 3. At the time of billing, the subscriber's card sends the total amount saved to the supplier 3. In the second solution, the supplier or the operator is responsible for the presentation of the invoice, as explained below.

According to a special embodiment of the invention, the provider 3 subcontracts the billing to a specific billing unit and / or to the components of the operator.

In the case of free access, the subscriber's card deduces from the ticket (value 0) that access is free. No financial operation is carried out.

Note that said operations in the third stage (some or all of the operations carried out by the subscriber's card) can also be carried out by a module included in the mobile phone.

Ticket 19 hereby allows station 2 to determine the volume and / or financial value of the content of all packets transmitted by provider 3.

If the user's access rights and financial rights authorize him to have access to the service received and that the amount necessary to execute the service has been charged or saved in an account, the subscriber's card 9 indicates it to the mobile phone 8: the mobile phone 8 executes the service in question using the received packets.

If the ticket is placed at the beginning of the transmission, as shown in Figure 3, the subscriber card 9 must contain a sufficient quantity to execute all the packages according to ticket 9. If not, those packages are not executed. Thus, the provider ensures that all packages executed are paid for and are loss-free. However, the execution of the packages must wait until the ticket 19 is processed by the subscriber card 9.

If the ticket is placed at the end of the transmission, all the packages are executed without taking into account the financial rights of the subscriber's card 9. The method is faster but the provider must have losses due to the execution of the packages without financial rights sufficient and therefore without the corresponding debit.

The subscriber's card 9 creates, encrypts and signs a “canceled” ticket 20 using the cryptographic module 10 and communicates it to the phone 8. The ticket 20 is “canceled” since it contains information that shows that the packages have been used and that indicates the consequent results.

Mobile phone 8 sends said canceled ticket to unit 16. According to the example illustrated in Figure 3, the transmission of the canceled ticket 20 means that the ticket 19 sent has been processed, that the purchasing capacity of user 7 was sufficient, that user 7 had access to the service (that is, the packages corresponding to ticket 19 sent were executed), that an amount corresponding to the execution of the received packages has been debited or taken into consideration.

According to a special embodiment, the canceled ticket 20 contains the accumulated total of the value and / or the volume of all the packages received for a certain provider. The ticket 20 can also contain the refusal of access to the user of the service received by the station 2. The ticket also contains statistical elements, and in particular the results of the counters 14 of the subscriber's card 9 and of the mobile phone 8, that is to say , p. ex. the number of packages received, the number of packages not fully received, etc.

In a fourth stage, the unit 16 receives the canceled ticket 20. A return item (canceled ticket) is generated for each of the tickets sent. If unit 16 does not receive a return item, it interrupts the traffic in progress for station 2 in question. If no return item is sent, it means that the user does not have sufficient purchasing power (if the rejection indication is not provided on a canceled ticket) or that a problem has arisen. Upon receipt of a canceled ticket, unit 16 authenticates said ticket 20, checking the signature of the subscriber's card. If the authentication is successful, the unit 16 decrypts said ticket 20 and stores it. If the ticket indicates that access to station 2 has been denied, unit 16 interrupts the transmission of the message from the affected provider 3 to station 2 in question.

In the case of periodic billing (eg monthly), according to the second solution (see the first, above), the operator responsible for the GPRS network 5 or the provider 3 consults all the units 16, one of their functions being the collection of canceled tickets in order to obtain all canceled tickets last received by said units for a specific user 7 and provider 3. As mentioned above, each ticket corresponds in the example described to the last billing status.

In addition, the unit 16 processes the statistical elements received to obtain information on the quality of the service or any other type of information obtained from the station 2. For example, it can compare the number of tickets 19 sent with the number of canceled tickets 20 received, or calculate statistics on how the tickets have been received by station 2.

The method for billing the messages sent from station 2 (illustrated in Fig. 4) runs as follows.

ES 2 344 503 T3

Station 2 transmits data, for example electronic mails. In the same way as the aforementioned, user 7 must pay for the transmission of this data over the GPRS 5 network. In this case, only the volume of data transmitted is billed. The financial value of this data is fixed since the data transmitter does not change and the user of the station 2 concerns us. However, other elements can be considered, such as the data transmission period. If the data is transmitted outside of peak hours, it is less expensive than if it is sent during peak hours. A table 21 is therefore programmed into the subscriber's card. Table 21 determines a value for the data transmitted by station 2 according to certain details such as the transmission period.

The mobile phone 8 needs a ticket 23 from the subscriber's card 9 to send a set of packets. The subscriber's card verifies that financial rights authorize the station to transmit the packages in question.

For a card 9 containing a purse 12, the subscriber's card charges the purse for the amount corresponding to the transmission of the packages in question.

For periodic billing, the subscriber's card totals and stores the amounts corresponding to the transmission of the packages in module 12. At the time of billing, the subscriber's card sends the saved total to the operator.

The subscriber's card generates a ticket 23 according to the number of packets to be transmitted as well as the information contained in said table 21 (if it exists). The mobile phone 8 sends the ticket 23 and the related packets. The ticket, sent at the beginning of the message, indicates in this case that the subscriber's card has charged the amount of the transmission or that it has taken it into account. Therefore, when unit 16 receives the ticket, it knows that it can pass the message. Billing was presented at mobile station 2.

According to a special embodiment of the invention, station 2 transmits to unit 16 the content of record 13 of subscriber card 9 during any communication from station 2. The information transmitted is certified and dated by card 9.

The report thus transmitted reduces subsequent billing operations. This special form of embodiment involves the transmission of a large amount of data from station 2. However, taking into account that the traffic is highly asymmetric, it does not represent any inconvenience: the volume of data received by station 2 is much larger than the volume of data it transmits.

The present invention therefore refers to a method for obtaining the cost of the services received by a mobile telephone station 2 in a mobile packet radiocommunication network 5, the service being transmitted from a service provider 3, characterized in that it consists in marking the price of the service requested by the provider by introducing a price marker in the data flow itself.

A unit in the network intercepts the dialer and the data received from the Internet-type network to reformat them as packets in which a packet called a ticket is inserted, to determine the volume and / or value of the transmitted data and / or any other useful information.

The present invention also refers to a method for obtaining the cost of the services received by a mobile telephone station in a mobile packet radiocommunication network, the service being transmitted from a service provider, characterized in that station 2 saves the cost of execution of a set of data received by said station using the information contained in a ticket received by station 2.

The running cost saved by station 2 simplifies billing.

The method saves the execution cost by debiting a wallet for an amount obtained through the receipt received.

The method saves the execution cost by storing the sum of the cost obtained from the received ticket and the total costs already saved.

The present application therefore refers to a method to obtain the cost of the services transmitted or received by a mobile telephone station 2 in a mobile packet radiocommunication network 5, characterized in that station 2 creates and sends with a set of data an additional data item called ticket 19, 23 in order to determine the volume and / or value of said data set transmitted by station 2.

The invention relates to systems used to apply said described methods especially in the field of mobile packet radiocommunication networks.

The application proposes a method to obtain the cost of transmitting a set of data from a transmitting medium 2, 3, 16 to a receiving medium 2, 3, 16 through a network 4, characterized in that it consists of creating and sending with the data set itself of a data item, called ticket 19, 23, used to determine the volume and / or value of said transmitted data set.

ES 2 344 503 T3

The method consists of checking the financial rights of the receiving medium and comparing the purchasing capacity of said medium with the amount necessary to execute said set of received data, the amount indicated by said ticket 19.

The method consists, before checking the financial rights, in checking the access rights of the receiving medium to said set of received data.

The method consists in storing in a module 12 of the receiving means the volume and / or the value of said set of transmitted data and in transmitting the stored data in order to determine the cost of the transmission.

Ticket 19 also contains one or more of the following items of information: its rank in the set of data transmitted with the ticket, the identity of the transmitting medium, the certificate of the transmitting medium, the serial number of said packets, the value of the packets to be returned to the receiving medium, the type of data transmitted.

The method consists of updating the information counters 14 with respect to the receipt of the ticket and of said data set in the receiving medium.

When the receiving means, which has received said ticket 19, has executed the transmitted data, said receiving means creates a canceled ticket 20 that it sends to the transmitting means that had sent the ticket 19 to indicate that the data had been received and executed.

The method consists of consulting all the transmitting means that have received said canceled ticket 20 and collecting all said tickets received lately, said canceled ticket containing the total sum of the value and / or volume of all the packages received by a station 2 for a given ticket transmitting means 19. The transmitting means and the receiving means sign and encrypt the data they transmit.

The present application refers to an integrated system designed to be installed in a mobile telephone station 2, which includes data processing and storage means, characterized in that the system comprises means to take into account the cost of executing the received data. by the station through the information contained in a ticket received by station 2 and / or the creation and sending of a data item, called ticket 23, to determine the volume and / or value of a set of data transmitted by said station. The system includes means for creating a data item called a canceled ticket which will be sent by station 2 to indicate that the data received by said station has been executed.

The present application refers to a mobile phone that includes an integrated system reader designed to receive an integrated subscriber system 4 that includes data processing and storage means, characterized in that it comprises means for extracting a data item from a set of received data , called a ticket, used to determine the volume and / or value of said set of received data and start the processing of said ticket in order to take into account the cost of executing said data.