A generic and modular accounting and charging system for peer-to-peer applications

Abstract

Accountability is one of the keys to success for emerging P2P systems. In the absence of appropriate accounting and charging mechanisms, P2P applications may suffer from free-riders which benefit from other peers without contributing themselves. This paper describes a new Accounting and Charging system for P2P applications which separates generic accounting and charging functionality from individual underlying accounting mechanisms. The presented approach enables the design and implementation of different accounting schemes, independently from core accounting functionality. The approach has been implemented and successfully used with several accounting schemes in different P2P applications.