1. A method of detecting and billing a customer communication between a customer access device and a sewer of a network provider, the customer communication being generated at the customer access device on behalf of a customer of the network provider and transmitted using a secure network, the method comprising:
capturing, by a billing agent at the customer access device, each customer communication to be transmitted from the customer access device, by routing each customer communication through the billing agent;
encrypting the customer communication;
determining billing information about the communication before encrypting, wherein the billing information is based on access to the secure network through the network provider;
transmitting, from the access device, the billing information to a billing system;
receiving, at the billing system associated with the network provider, the billing information from the access device communicating on the network, the billing information including communication information for at least one communication transmitted from the access device; and
billing the customer of the network provider based at least in part on the billing information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing agent is integrated with an operating system of the customer access device.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the communication to a recipient.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the device billing agent operates at a layer between a user application on the access device and an encryption layer, further comprising before transmitting the communication, encrypting the communication.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the communication comprises transmitting the communication over a secure network.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the secure network comprises a virtual private network (VPN).
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a request from the billing system for the billing information; and
wherein transmitting the billing information comprises transmitting the billing information in response to the request.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the billing information comprises transmitting the billing information at a predetermined time.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
determining additional billing information for a plurality of communications transmitted during a predetermined time interval; and
transmitting the additional billing information at the predetermined time.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
capturing, at the access device, a second communication received at the access device;
determining second billing information, the second billing information including information about the second communication; and
transmitting the second billing information to the billing system.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising before transmitting the billing information, encrypting the billing information.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the billing information comprises determining a communication type associated with the communication.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the communication type comprises determining the communication is one of a Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS) message, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an Instant Message (IM), an email message, and a voice chat message.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the billing information comprises determining a length of the communication.
15. A method of detecting and billing a customer communication between a customer access device and a sewer of a network provider, the customer communication being generated at the customer access device by a customer of the network provider, the method comprising:
capturing, by a billing agent at the customer access device, each customer communication to be transmitted from the customer access device, by routing each customer communication through the billing agent;
monitoring each captured customer communication for billing information;
determining the billing information about the communication, wherein the billing information is based on access to the secure network through the network provider; and
transmitting, from the access device, the billing information to a billing system, the billing information including communication information for at least one communication transmitted from the access device, whereby, as a result of the transmitting step, the billing information is received by the billing system associated with the network provider and whereby the customer of the network provider is billed based at least in part on the billing information.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
finding categories of clients based on configuration data obtained from the clients; and
creating a configuration recommendation for a particular one of the categories based on configuration of one or more of the clients included in the particular category.
2. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the categories are defined by criteria that include which applications, files, settings and plug-in modules are included by clients in the respective categories.
3. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the categories correspond to hobbies or occupations of respective said clients.
4. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the configuration data describes actions taken by modules executed on respective said clients and reactions to the actions taken by the respective said clients.
5. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein:
the configuration data describes particular types of data that were backed-up by respective said clients; and
the configuration recommendation identifies at least one of the particular types.
6. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 5, wherein the particular types are identified via file extensions.
7. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein:
the configuration data describes network access that was permitted to modules included on respective said clients; and
the configuration recommendation identifies permissible or impermissible network access regarding the modules to clients included in the particular category.
8. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising:
communicating the configuration recommendation to at least one of the clients included in the particular category; and
determining by the at least one of the clients whether the configuration recommendation is applicable to the clients.
9. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising categorizing a new client by comparing configuration of one or more modules on the new client with configurations described in each of a plurality of categories.
10. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising:
when a previously undetected module is detected in subsequent configuration data obtained from the clients, determining which of the clients include the module;
ascertaining which categories correspond to the clients that include the previously undetected module; and
updating at least one of the ascertained categories to include the previously undetected module
11. A computer-implemented method comprising:
categorizing a client by comparing configuration of one or more modules on the client with configurations described in each of a plurality of categories; and
communicating a recommendation regarding configuration of at least one said module to the client based on the categorizing.
12. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 11, wherein the categories are defined by criteria that include which applications, files, settings and plug-in modules are included by clients in the respective categories.
13. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 11, wherein the categories correspond to hobbies or occupations of respective said clients.
14. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 11, wherein the categories correspond to actions taken by modules executed on respective said clients and reactions to the actions taken by the respective said clients.
15. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 11, further comprising:
communicating an identification of the category to the client; and
determining, by the client, whether a subsequent recommendation regarding configuration is pertinent to the client based on the identification of the category.
16. A method as described in claim 11, farther comprising:
determining which of the clients include a previously undetected module;
ascertaining which categories correspond to the clients that include the previously undetected module; and
updating at least one of the ascertained categories to include the previously undetected module.
17. A computer-implemented method comprising:
when a previously undetected module is detected in configuration data obtained from a plurality of clients, determining which of the clients include the module;
ascertaining which categories correspond to the clients that include the module, wherein each of the categories describes a configuration of one or more other modules; and
updating at least one of the ascertained categories to include the module.
18. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 17, wherein each of the categories was found based on previous configuration data obtained from one or more of the clients.
19. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 17, wherein the categories are defined by criteria that include which applications, files, settings and plug-in modules are included by clients in the respective categories.
20. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 17, further comprising:
communication at least one of the updated categories to the plurality of clients;
creating configuration recommendations based on the categories; and
communicating the configuration recommendations to the plurality of clients, such that, east said client is to determine whether each said configuration recommendation is pertinent to the client based on the updated categories.