Method and apparatus for policy-based charging for telecommunications services

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: rating said call by said billing processor in response to said step of providing said at least one adjustment factor.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of calculating said measured QoS level of said call from said collection of measurements, further comprising the steps of: comparing each measurement of said collection of measurements with a target objective associated with said defined QoS level by said evaluation processor, said target objective specified in said service level agreement; and equating said measured QoS level to said defined QoS level by said evaluation processor, wherein said each measurement is within said target objective.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of: inputting said target objective that is associated with said defined QoS level through a SLA creation environment.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of determining, said step of calculating, said step of comparing, and said step of providing said at least one adjustment factor are executed for each of said at least one call segment.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one adjustment factor is determined by a set of factors comprising a time of day, a class of service, and said measured QoS level.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: providing a call detail record and said collection of measurements of said call to an external processor in response to said step of determining said collection of measurements associated with said call.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , wherein said telecommunications system is selected from a group consisting of a wireless communications system, a satellite-based communications system, and a terrestrial communications system.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , wherein said call is selected from a group consisting of a voice call and a data call.

Claim 11

The method of claim 9 , wherein said data call utilizes a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Claim 12

The method of claim 9 , wherein said data call comprises a multimedia call.

Claim 13

An article of manufacturing comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for determining a rate of a call associated with a subscriber, the computer readable program means in said article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code means for causing a computer to determine a collection of measurements associated with said call; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate a measured quality of service (QoS) level associated with said call from said collection of measurements; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare said measured QoS level with a defined QoS level specified in a service level agreement; and computer readable program means for causing the computer to provide at least one adjustment factor to a billing processor in accordance with said measured QoS level and said service level agreement.

Claim 14

An article of manufacturing comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for determining a rate of a call associated with a subscriber, the computer readable program means in said article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code means for causing a computer to determine a collection of measurements associated with said call; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate a measured quality of service (QoS) level associated with said call from said collection of measurements; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare said measured QoS level with a defined QoS level specified in a service level agreement; and computer readable program means for causing the computer to provide at least one adjustment factor to a billing processor in accordance with said measured QoS level and said service level agreement.

Claim 15

A memory for storing data for access by an application program being executed on a telecommunications system, said telecommunications system supporting a call associated with a subscriber, said memory comprising: a data structure stored in said memory, said data structure comprising: a grading database, said grading database containing a first data entry identified by a measured quality of service (QoS) level according to a service level agreement; and an adjusting database, said adjusting database containing a second data entry containing at least one adjustment factor of said call, said second data entry associated with said measured QoS level and a class of service assigned to said subscriber according to said service level agreement.

Claim 16

A memory for storing data for access by an application program being executed on a telecommunications system, said telecommunications system supporting a call associated with a subscriber, said memory comprising: a data structure stored in said memory, said data structure comprising: a grading database, said grading database containing a first data entry identified by a measured quality of service (QoS) level according to a service level agreement; and an adjusting database, said adjusting database containing a second data entry containing at least one adjustment factor of said call, said second data entry associated with said measured QoS level and a class of service assigned to said subscriber according to said service level agreement.

Claim 17

A telecommunications system, said telecommunications system charging a call by a billing processor, said telecommunications system comprising at least one network element, said call involving a subscriber, said call comprising at least one call segment, said telecommunications system comprising: means for determining a collection of measurements associated with said call from said at least one network element by a usage correlation processor; means for calculating a measured quality of service (QoS) level associated with said call from said collection of measurements by an evaluation processor; means for comparing said measured QoS level with a defined QoS level specified in a service level agreement by said evaluation processor; and means for providing at least one adjustment factor to said billing processor by said evaluation processor in accordance with said measured QoS level and said service level agreement.

Claim 18

A telecommunications system, said telecommunications system charging a call by a billing processor, said telecommunications system comprising at least one network element, said call involving a subscriber, said call comprising at least one call segment, said telecommunications system comprising: means for determining a collection of measurements associated with said call from said at least one network element by a usage correlation processor; means for calculating a measured quality of service (QoS) level associated with said call from said collection of measurements by an evaluation processor; means for comparing said measured QoS level with a defined QoS level specified in a service level agreement by said evaluation processor; and means for providing at least one adjustment factor to said billing processor by said evaluation processor in accordance with said measured QoS level and said service level agreement.

Claim 19

The telecommunications system of claim 14 , further comprising: means for rating said call by said billing processor in response to said means of providing said at least one adjustment factor.

Claim 20

The telecommunications system of claim 14 , wherein said means for calculating said measured QoS level of said call further comprising: means for comparing each measurement of said collection of measurements with a target objective associated with a defined QoS level by said evaluation processor; and means for equating said measured QoS level to said defined QoS level by said evaluation processor, wherein said each measurement is within said target objective.

Claim 21

The telecommunications system of claim 16 , further comprising: means for inputting said target objective associated with said defined QoS level through a SLA creation environment.

Claim 22

The telecommunications system of claim 14 , wherein said means of determining, said means of calculating, said means of comparing, and said means of providing said at least one adjustment factor are executed for each of said at least one call segment.

Claim 23

The telecommunications system of claim 14 , further comprising: means for providing a call detail record and said collection of measurements associated with said call to an external processor in response to said means of determining said collection of measurements.