Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Apparatus, methods and computer programs for metering and accounting for services accessed over a network
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Application No.: US12015160Application Date: 2008-01-16
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Publication No.: US08799491B2Publication Date: 2014-08-05
- Inventor: Vikas Agarwal , Neeran M. Karnik , Arun Kumar
- Applicant: Vikas Agarwal , Neeran M. Karnik , Arun Kumar
- Applicant Address: US NY Armonk
- Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
- Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
- Current Assignee Address: US NY Armonk
- Agency: Gibb & Riley, LLC
- Agent Arthur J. Samodovitz
- Main IPC: G06F15/16
- IPC: G06F15/16 ; G06Q20/10 ; G06Q30/02 ; G06Q30/04

Abstract:
Apparatus, methods and computer programs provided for metering and accounting in a commercial e-services infrastructure address the requirement for handling composite services in which higher-level services are built using simpler underlying services, each of which may be autonomously owned and operated. Metering records for each service underlying a composite service are correlated by a process associated with the composite service, and then sent to an accounting service where they can be aggregated. The correlation is performed in a distributed manner with correlated usage data provided on a per-request basis. Accounting services can take account of the usage and charges associated with the underlying services to provide accounting and billing on a per-request basis or per customer-provider pair for a billing period.
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