Charging control and transaction accounting mechanisms using IRTL (Information resource transaction layer) middleware for P2P services

One of the many challenges associated with p2p computing is providing mechanisms for control over accounting transactions among peers. With the increase in the number and variety of p2p applications, there is a need to distinguish between services that can be charged and services that can operate without charging mechanisms. In this paper we present an Information Resource Transaction Layer (IRTL) middleware architecture that addresses some of the technical challenges associated with heterogeneous resource transactions in the p2p-computing environment. We propose to handle charge control, transaction accounting, reputation management and several other p2p parameters through the IRTL.