Distributed and localized policy and charging control in cellular networks to enable route flexibility

• US 10,057,739 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2015
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kothari, Ravi, Krishnaswamy, Dilip, Madhavan, Mukundan, Gabale, Vijay Purushottam
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez-Gutierrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pannell, Mark G.
• Application Number:
  US14/918,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20170118616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 455406
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8214 Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for distributed and localized policy and charging control in cellular networks are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes configuring, within a network, (i) policy and charging enforcement functionality and (ii) policy and charging rules functionality by: implementing (i) remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the network, wherein each of the remote components executes in a virtual machine on a compute node that is co-located with an evolved node B; and retaining (i) centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) centralized policy and charging rules functionality components within the network; and executing transactions on the network via: implementing an interaction between (a) the centralized components and (b) the remote components to transmit information to a billing system associated with the telecommunications network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

configuring, within a telecommunications network, (i) policy and charging enforcement functionality and (ii) policy and charging rules functionality by;

implementing (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network, wherein each of (i) the one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components executes in a virtual machine on a compute node that is co-located with an evolved node B within the telecommunications network; and

retaining (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network; and

executing one or more transactions on the telecommunications network via;

implementing (a) an interaction between (i) one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) an interaction between (i) one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to transmit information pertaining to one or more policies and billing information related to a user data flow to a billing system associated with the telecommunications network; and

wherein said executing comprises routing the user data flow through a path that optimizes multiple metrics, wherein the metrics comprise (i) congestion in the telecommunications network and (ii) end-to-end delay, and wherein said routing comprises implementing, to ensure billing consistency during one or more hand-offs across (a) at least one of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) at least one of the (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components, one or more synchronization protocols for pre-paid calls within the telecommunications network and one or more synchronization protocols for post-paid calls within the telecommunications network;

wherein said configuring and said executing are carried out by at least one computing device in communication with the telecommunications network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said telecommunications network comprises a cellular network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the path does not share a network path between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components comprises:

(c) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components committing information in a delayed manner to (d) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components comprises:

(c) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components aggregating information across multiple users before communicating the aggregated information to (d) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said aggregating comprises:

combining usage information associated with each of one or more communication sessions into a total usage measure for all of the one or more communication sessions for a given period of time; and

converting the total usage measure to an aggregate message that reflects (i) type of usage and (ii) total amount of usage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components with one or more rules associated with one or more users served by (a) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (b) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components interact with (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to determine one or more policy rules on the user data flow.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components interact with (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to enforce one or more policy rules on the user data flow.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said implementing the interaction comprises executing a hand-off of the information pertaining to one or more policies and/or the billing information based on said configuring, wherein said executing a hand-off comprises executing a hand-off between (a) a first instance of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and the (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network, and (b) a second instance of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and the (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network.

11. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a device to cause the device to:

configure, within a telecommunications network, (i) policy and charging enforcement functionality and (ii) policy and charging rules functionality by;

implementing (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network, wherein each of (i) the one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components executes in a virtual machine on a compute node that is co-located with an evolved node B within the telecommunications network; and

retaining (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network; and

execute one or more transactions on the telecommunications network via;

implementing (a) an interaction between (i) one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) an interaction between (i) one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to transmit information pertaining to one or more policies and billing information related to a user data flow to a billing system associated with the telecommunications network; and

wherein said executing comprises routing the user data flow through a path that optimizes multiple metrics, wherein the metrics comprise (i) congestion in the telecommunications network and (ii) end-to-end delay, and wherein said routing comprises implementing, to ensure billing consistency during one or more hand-offs across (a) at least one of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) at least one of the (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components, one or more synchronization protocols for pre-paid calls within the telecommunications network and one or more synchronization protocols for post-paid calls within the telecommunications network.

12. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured for;

configuring, within a telecommunications network, (i) policy and charging enforcement functionality and (ii) policy and charging rules functionality by;

implementing (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network, wherein each of (i) the one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components executes in a virtual machine on a compute node that is co-located with an evolved node B within the telecommunications network; and

retaining (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network; and

executing one or more transactions on the telecommunications network via;

implementing (a) an interaction between (i) one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) an interaction between (i) one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to transmit information pertaining to one or more policies and billing information related to a user data flow to a billing system associated with the telecommunications network; and

wherein said executing comprises routing the user data flow through a path that optimizes multiple metrics, wherein the metrics comprise (i) congestion in the telecommunications network and (ii) end-to-end delay, and wherein said routing comprises implementing, to ensure billing consistency during one or more hand-offs across (a) at least one of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) at least one of the (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components, one or more synchronization protocols for pre-paid calls within the telecommunications network and one or more synchronization protocols for post-paid calls within the telecommunications network.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

configuring, within a telecommunications network, (i) policy and charging enforcement functionality and (ii) policy and charging rules functionality by;

implementing (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network, wherein each of (i) the one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components executes in a software container on a compute node that is co-located with an evolved node B within the telecommunications network; and

retaining (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components within the telecommunications network; and

executing one or more transactions on the telecommunications network via;

implementing (a) an interaction between (i) one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) an interaction between (i) one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to transmit information pertaining to one or more policies and billing information related to a user data flow to a billing system associated with the telecommunications network; and

wherein said executing comprises routing the user data flow through a path that optimizes multiple metrics, wherein the metrics comprise (i) congestion in the telecommunications network and (ii) end-to-end delay, and wherein said routing comprises implementing, to ensure billing consistency during one or more hand-offs across (a) at least one of the (i) one or more remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more remote policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) at least one of the (i) one or more centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) one or more centralized policy and charging rules functionality components, one or more synchronization protocols for pre-paid calls within the telecommunications network and one or more synchronization protocols for post-paid calls within the telecommunications network;

wherein said configuring and said executing are carried out by at least one computing device in communication with the telecommunications network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the path does not share a network path between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the interaction between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components comprises:

(c) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components committing information in a delayed manner to (d) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the interaction between (a) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components and (b) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components comprises:

(c) (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components aggregating information across multiple users before communicating the aggregated information to (d) (i) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components with one or more rules associated with one or more users served by (a) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging enforcement functionality components and (b) the one or more of the centralized policy and charging rules functionality components.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components interact with (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to determine one or more policy rules on the user data flow.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein (i) the one or more of the remote policy and charging enforcement functionality components interact with (ii) the one or more of the remote policy and charging rules functionality components to enforce one or more policy rules on the user data flow.