Prepaid Charging for QoS-enabled IP Services based on Time Intervals

Based on the analysis of existing prepaid charging solutions with their limitations, a novel approach prepaid charging for Internet Protocol (IP)-based services based on time intervals is introduced. This approach combines key advantages of hot billing with a tariff flexibility and the guarantee of minimal fraud for providers. The technical effort of real-time charging is reduced to a minimum and, therefore, ensures economic efficiency as well as scalability in large-scale environments for providers who achieve a better customer binding even in prepaid cases. Driven by the theoretical background being developed an application scenario shows the practicability of this approach of prepaid charging based on time intervals.