Method and system for detailed accounting of packet data

Abstract

A method and apparatus for detailed accounting of packet data are disclosed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, on receiving a duplicated HTTP request from a packet duplication apparatus, a billing apparatus extracts an access address to generate a first hash value. Then, on receiving a converted HTTP response from the packet duplication apparatus, the billing apparatus extracts a second hash value from the duplicated HTTP response to compare with the first hash value. If the first hash value and the second hash value are the same, the billing apparatus sets the HTTP REQUEST and the converted HTTP response as a transaction to generate billing data. Thus, the billing apparatus can generate accurate billing data.

1 . A method of generating billing data for use of mobile data services, the method comprising:
 obtaining an acknowledgement (ACK) number included in a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) response that corresponds to a HTTP request and is transmitted from a content server to a user terminal as a first parameter;   obtaining a content-length field value included in the HTTP response as a second parameter;   obtaining a header length that is calculated from a transmission control protocol (TCP) payload of a first packet of the HTTP response as a third parameter;   obtaining an ACK number included in an ACK message that corresponds to the HTTP response and is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server as a fourth parameter;   determining whether or not the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than a fifth parameter that is a sum of the first parameter, the second parameter and the third parameter; and   generating billing data if the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than the fifth parameter, wherein the header length is generated by calculating an octet size from the beginning of a TCP payload of the first packet of a HTTP response to the first blank line of the first packet.   
     
     
         2 . The method in  claim 1 , further comprising deferring a generation of the billing data until a new ACK message, including the fourth parameter equal to or greater than the fifth parameter, is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server if the fourth parameter is less than the fifth parameter. 
     
     
         3 . The method in  claim 1 , wherein the HTTP request and the HTTP response are a TCP packet data. 
     
     
         4 . The method in  claim 1 , wherein the blank line comprises only CRLF in one line. 
     
     
         5 . The method in  claim 1 , wherein the first parameter is a serial number indicating the first octet of the HTTP response. 
     
     
         6 . The method in  claim 1 , wherein the billing apparatus is located on a transmission line between the user terminal and the content server, wherein the HTTP request and the HTTP response are transmitted via the billing apparatus. 
     
     
         7 . The method in  claim 1 , wherein the billing apparatus receives a duplicated data corresponding to the HTTP request and the HTTP response from a packet duplication apparatus located on a transmission line between the user terminal and the content server. 
     
     
         8 . A method of generating billing data for use of mobile data services, the method comprising:
 obtaining an acknowledgement (ACK) number included in a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) response that corresponds to a HTTP request and is transmitted from a content server to a user terminal as a first parameter, a content-length field value included in the HTTP response as a second parameter, a header length that is calculated from a transmission control protocol (TCP) payload of a first packet of the HTTP response as a third parameter;   obtaining an ACK number included in an ACK message that corresponds to the HTTP response and is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server as a fourth parameter;   determining whether or not the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than a fifth parameter that is a sum of the first parameter, the second parameter and the third parameter; and   generating billing data if the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than the fifth parameter, wherein the header length is generated by calculating an octet size from the beginning of a TCP payload of the first packet of a HTTP response to the first blank line of the first packet.   
     
     
         9 . A billing apparatus for determining billing data for use of mobile data services, the apparatus comprising:
 a parameter collector configured to obtain an acknowledgement (ACK) number included a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) response that corresponds to a HTTP request and is transmitted from a content server to a user terminal as a first parameter, a content-length field value included in the HTTP response as a second parameter, a header length that is calculated from a transmission control protocol (TCP) payload of a first packet of the HTTP response as a third parameter, and an ACK number included in an ACK message that corresponds to the HTTP response and is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server as a fourth parameter;   a header-length calculator configured to generate the header length of the HTTP response;   a comparator configured to determine whether or not the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than a fifth parameter that is a sum of the first parameter, the second parameter and the third parameter; and   a billing data generator configured to generate the billing data if the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than the fifth parameter,   wherein the header length is generated by calculating an octet size from the beginning of a TCP payload of the first packet of a HTTP response to the first blank line of the first packet.   
     
     
         10 . The billing apparatus in  claim 9 , wherein the billing apparatus is located on a transmission of packet data between the user terminal and the content server, wherein the HTTP request and the HTTP response are transmitted via the billing apparatus. 
     
     
         11 . The billing apparatus in  claim 9 , wherein the billing apparatus receives a duplicated data corresponding to the HTTP request and the HTTP response from a packet duplication apparatus located on a transmission line between the user terminal and the content server. 
     
     
         12 . A method of generating billing data for use of mobile data services, the method comprising:
 receiving content request data from a user terminal via a wireless network;   providing the request data to a content server;   receiving requested content data from the content server;   providing the requested content data to the user terminal;   determining whether all of the content data have been received by the user terminal; and   generating billing data for the content data if all of the content data have been received by the user terminal,   wherein the determining comprises:
 obtaining an acknowledgement (ACK) number from a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) response as a first parameter, wherein the HTTP request is sent to from the user terminal to the content server and the HTTP response is sent from the content server to the user terminal in response to the HTTP request; 
 obtaining a content-length field value included in the HTTP response as a second parameter; 
 obtaining a header length that is calculated from a transmission control protocol (TCP) payload of a first packet of the HTTP response as a third parameter; 
 obtaining an ACK number included in an ACK message that corresponds to the HTTP response and is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server as a fourth parameter; and 
 determining whether or not the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than a fifth parameter that is a sum of the first parameter, the second parameter and the third parameter, 
 wherein the billing data is generated if the fourth parameter is equal to or greater than the fifth parameter, and wherein the header length is generated by calculating an octet size from the beginning of a TCP payload of the first packet of a HTTP response to the first blank line of the first packet. 
   
     
     
         13 . A method of determining a billing time for a billing apparatus to generate billing data for using a mobile data service, comprising:
 acquiring a sequence number included in a HTTP Request that is transmitted from a user terminal to a content server as a first parameter;   acquiring an ACK number (Acknowledgement number) included a HTTP Response that corresponds to the HTTP Request and is transmitted from the content server to the user terminal as a second parameter;   acquiring a content-length field value included in the HTTP Response as a third parameter;   acquiring a header length that is calculated from a TCP payload of a first packet of the HTTP Response as a fourth parameter;   acquiring an ACK number included in an ACK message that corresponds to the HTTP Response and is transmitted from the user terminal to the content server as a fifth parameter;   determining whether or not the fifth parameter is not less than a sixth parameter that is a sum of the first parameter, the second parameter, the third parameter and the fourth parameter; and   generating billing data if the fifth parameter is not less than the sixth parameter.   
     
     
         14 . The method in  claim 13 , wherein the first parameter is a serial number indicating the first octet of the HTTP request.