초록 ▼

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 oper

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, enabling accounting which takes account of the usage and charges associated with the underlying services, on a per-request basis or on an aggregated basis for each customer-provider pair over a given billing period.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A computer-implemented method for metering usage of services which are accessed via a network, the method comprising the steps of: Measuring, using a computer, usage of each one of a set of services comprising a composite service and requested component services in response t

What is claimed is: 1. A computer-implemented method for metering usage of services which are accessed via a network, the method comprising the steps of: Measuring, using a computer, usage of each one of a set of services comprising a composite service and requested component services in response to a request for a composite service which requests at least one component service, wherein said requested component services are autonomous and independent of each other, and wherein each of said requested component services are autonomously operated; receiving measured usage data in a correlator; and obtaining and using an identification of the requests to component services, using said computer, to correlate the measured usage data for the set of services corresponding to said request for the composite service. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, using said computer, service usage accounting data for the set of services corresponding to said request using the correlated measured usage data. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising aggregating, using said computer, the service usage accounting data on a per customer and per provider basis to generate aggregate accounting records for a billing period. 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting, using said computer, per-request measured usage data generated by said correlator for the set of services corresponding to said request. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises: identifying a set of requests for component services, wherein said requests result from the request for the composite service; providing a set of request identifiers to the correlator; receiving a provided set of request identifiers; receiving usage data for the composite service and for the requested component services; and correlating the usage data by reference to the provided set of request identifiers. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the correlator comprises a component of an accounting service configured to receive measured usage data from a plurality of metering components which measure usage data for respective services, and wherein at least one metering component associated with said requested component services record measured usage data in association with respective ones of the set of request identifiers and send said measured usage data and associated request identifiers to the correlator. 7. The method of claim 5, further comprising: sending records of measured usage for each of the set of requested component services to the correlator, wherein each of the set of records contains a respective request identifier of the set of request identifiers; sending a partial record of measured usage data for the requested composite service to the correlator, wherein the partial record contains the set of request identifiers for the set of requested component services; and correlating said partial record and said set of records of service usage by reference to said set of request identifiers to generate a complete record of usage of said requested composite service and requested component services. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein information for communicating with the correlator is provided to each of the set of component services by the requested composite service when requesting the component services. 9. The method of claim 5, wherein said correlating comprises a step of determining, by reference to said set of request identifiers for the requested composite service, whether measured usage data is available for all of said set of requested component services, and wherein said method comprises outputting said correlated measured usage data in response to a positive said determination and deferring said output in response to a negative said determination. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising marking records, using said computer, as complete if any of the following conditions is satisfied: the request is for a transactional operation; the set of requested component services is empty; and measured usage data is available for all of the set of requested component services and has been successfully correlated to generate composite service usage data; wherein the method further comprises sending complete records to an accounting component for generating accounting data for the requested composite service. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein component services of a composite service are composite, and wherein said determining whether measured usage data is available for all of said set of requested component services is performed for each composite service within a set of composite services requested in response to an original request, and wherein said correlated measured usage data is output when said determination is positive for all of the set of composite services and respective component services corresponding to an original request. 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising forwarding, using said computer, the correlated measured usage data to an accounting component in response to the positive determination, wherein the accounting component aggregates the correlated service usage data on a per customer and per provider basis to generate accounting records. 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering, using said computer, said composite service and each of said at least one component services with a respective accounting service, wherein said registering comprises providing an identification of at least one charging model supported by the respective accounting service to the accounting service. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the accounting service determines a charging model for the composite service in accordance with a charging policy and charging models supported by the composite service and each one of the set of requested component services. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating, using said computer, charging data from said composite service usage data and said determined charging model. 16. The method of claim 13, wherein said registering further comprises providing, to the accounting service, an identification of a usage metric of a respective service to enable aggregation with usage data for other services of the composite service. 17. A computer program product comprising program code recorded on a recording medium for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus on which the program code executes, to perform a method for metering usage of services which are accessed via a network, the method comprising: measuring usage of each one of a set of services comprising a composite service and a requested component services in response to a request for a composite service which requests at least one component service, wherein said requested component services are autonomous and independent of each other, and wherein each of said requested component services are autonomously operated; sending measured usage data to a correlator; and obtaining and using an identification of the requests to component services to correlate the measured usage data for the set of services corresponding to said request for the composite service. 18. A computer-implemented method for generating service usage data for a requested composite service which invokes a set of at least one component services to satisfy the request, said method comprising: receiving measured usage data in a correlator for each one of a set of services comprising a composite service and the component services in response to a request for a composite service which invokes at least one component service, wherein said requested component services are autonomous and independent of each other, and wherein each of said requested component services are autonomously operated; obtaining and using, using said correlator, an identification of the requests to component services to correlate measured usage data for the set of services corresponding to said requests for the composite service; and outputting, for said correlator, the correlated measured usage data corresponding to said requests as a per-request service usage data for the requested composite service. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: receiving records of measured usage for each of the set of invoked component services in said correlator, wherein each of the set of records contains a request identifier from a set of request identifiers corresponding to invocations of a set of invoked component services; receiving a partial record of measured usage data for the requested composite service in said correlator, wherein the partial record contains a set of request identifiers for the set of invoked component services; and correlating said partial record and said set of records of service usage by reference to said set of request identifiers in said correlator. 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: measuring usage of each one of the set of services comprising the composite service and the requested component services in at least one metering component, and sending the measured usage data to the correlator, wherein the measured usage data for the requested composite service contains a list of request identifiers for the requests to component services and wherein records of measured usage data for the component services each contain a respective one of said set of request identifiers.