Data resiliency of billing information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10796348-B2
Application number	US-201615136436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2016
Priority date	Apr 22, 2016
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

Managing transaction data during times of low network connectivity by organizing billing information for prioritized processing during periods of higher network connectivity. During low connectivity events, billing information is organized based, at least in part, on a combination of age and revenue to communicate important billing information upon reconnection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
queuing a set of pending billing entries for transmittal over a remote network, each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries having an age and a revenue value;
determining that a time of decreased network bandwidth availability currently exists based on a determined processing delay over the remote network;
during the time of decreased network bandwidth availability and responsive to determining the processing delay:
generating a list of prioritized transactions for a plurality of transactions based on a reordering of the set of pending billing entries to form an ordered set of pending billing entries based, at least in part, on the age and the revenue value for each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries;
generating a replicated set of transactions by replicating the set of pending billing entries over a local network based, in part, on a dynamic availability of bandwidth on one or both of the remote network and the local network and the list of prioritized transactions;
determining an end of the processing delay; and
transmitting, responsive to determining the end of the processing delay, a first subset of the replicated set of transactions over the remote network, wherein the first subset of the replicated set of transactions are selected for transmission based, at least in part, on the ordered set of pending billing entries and the list of prioritized transactions;
wherein at least the determining the processing delay over the remote network is performed by computer software running on computer hardware.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second set of pending billing entries, wherein each pending billing entry in the second set of pending billing entries has a second age and a second revenue value; and
adding the second set of pending billing entries to the ordered set of pending billing entries based, at least in part, on the second age and the second revenue value for each pending billing entry in the second set of pending billing entries.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an acknowledgement of receipt of the first subset of the set of pending billing entries over the remote network;
storing the set of pending billing entries in a local storage; and
deleting, responsive to receiving the acknowledgement of receipt:
the set of pending billing entries replicated over the local network, and
the set of pending billing entries stored in the local storage.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ordered set of pending billing entries are transmitted to a master billing management sub-system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of pending billing entries are replicated to a local policy and charging enforcement sub-system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the ordered set of pending billing entries is based on a priority for each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries; and
a first priority of a first pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries is based on a sum of:
a first age for the first pending billing entry multiplied by a first coefficient, and
a first revenue value for the first pending billing entry multiplied by a second coefficient.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the end of the processing delay is performed on a dynamic basis and the revenue value is derived based, at least in part, on user billing profiles or business account profiles.

8. A computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium device having stored thereon:
first instructions executable by a device to cause the device to queue a set of pending billing entries for transmittal over a remote network, each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries having an age and a revenue value;
second instructions executable by the device to cause the device to determine that a time of decreased network bandwidth availability currently exists based on a determined processing delay over the remote network;
third instructions executable by the device to cause the device to respond to the time of decreased network bandwidth availability and a determination of the processing delay by:
generating a list of prioritized transactions for a plurality of transactions based on a reordering of the set of pending billing entries to form an ordered set of pending billing entries based, at least in part, on the age and the revenue value for each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries;
generating a replicated set of transactions by replicating the set of pending billing entries over a local network based, in part, on a dynamic availability of bandwidth on one or both of the remote network and the local network and the list of prioritized transactions;
determining an end of the processing delay; and
transmitting, responsive to determining the end of the processing delay, a first subset of the replicated set of transactions over the remote network, wherein the first subset of the replicated set of transactions are selected for transmission based, at least in part, on the ordered set of pending billing entries.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising:
fourth instructions executable by the device to cause the device to receive a second set of pending billing entries, wherein each pending billing entry in the second set of pending billing entries has a second age and a second revenue value; and
fifth instructions executable by the device to cause the device to add the second set of pending billing entries to the ordered set of pending billing entries based, at least in part, on the second age and the second revenue value for each pending billing entry in the second set of pending billing entries.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising:
fourth instructions executable by the device to cause the device to receive an acknowledgement of receipt of the first subset of the set of pending billing entries over the remote network;
fifth instructions executable by the device to cause the device to store the set of pending billing entries in a local storage; and
sixth instructions executable by the device to cause the device to delete, responsive to receiving the acknowledgement of receipt:
the set of pending billing entries replicated over the local network, and
the set of pending billing entries stored in the local storage.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the ordered set of pending billing entries are transmitted to a master billing management sub-system.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the set of pending billing entries are replicated to a local policy and charging enforcement sub-system.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein:
the ordered set of pending billing entries is based on a priority for each pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries; and
a first priority of a first pending billing entry in the set of pending billing entries is based on a sum of:
a first age for the first pending billing entry multiplied by a first coefficient, and
a first revenue value for the first pending billing entry multiplied by a second coefficient.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein fifth instructions to determine the end of the processing delay are performed on a dynamic basis.

15. A computer system comprising:
a processor set; and
a computer readable storage medium device;
the processor set being structured, located, connected, a

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Krishnaswamy Dilip
• Rajagopal Vinay G
• Shetty Rohit

Classifications

• H04L67/60

  Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources (admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04M15/00

  Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication {; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP} · CPC title

• H04M15/73

  Validating charges · CPC title

• H04L12/14

  Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework · CPC title

• H04M15/70

  Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges · CPC title