Evaluation of Charging and Accounting Extensions for RSVP

Abstract This description and evaluation document presents an overview of the experiences gained and evaluationsperformed with respect to the charging and accounting extensions designed, implemented, and made for theReservation Protocol RSVP. It provides different aspects of an answer to the question: Does RSVP-basedcharging result in a suitable and efficient solution for flow-based charging approaches?Basically, the conceptual extensions of RSVP are discussed, allowing for a flow-based approach of charging.This includes the review of the signaling approach required, including messages and their dedicatedsequences of exchange as well as objects. The integration of dynamic pricing models and their influences onflow-based charging are discussed in addition. The resulting implementation has been utilized to integrate acommercial IP phone application with charging extensions. Experiences gained in this progress as well asgeneral extensions capabilities of the flexible RSVP implementation are discussed. Finally, the particular inte-gration of a micro-payment scheme for correlated payments into RSVP is evaluated. Concluding remarks willsummarize and pin-point important advantages of the developed approach and implementation.