CHARGING DIVERSIFICATION USING A MODIFIED ONLINE CHARGING INDICATOR

• US 20130054428A1
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: SHAIKH, Imtiyaz
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,043 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1467 involving prepayment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/64 On-line charging system [OCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/65 Off-line charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/02 Coin-freed or check-freed systems , e.g. mobile- or card-operated phones, public telephones or booths
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A system is configured to receive an indication that a session, associated with a user device, is to be established; obtain a profile, associated with the user device, that identifies one or more services to which a user, of the user device, has subscribed; determine that a service, associated with the session, corresponds to one of the services, where the profile identifies one or more charging actions that correspond to the service; instruct a first device to initiate online charging, when the service corresponds to a first type of service; instruct a second device to initiate offline charging, when the service corresponds to a second type of service; and instruct a third device to not initiate online charging or offline charging when the service corresponds to a third type of service.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a server device in an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) core, an indication that a session, associated with a user device, is to be established;

obtaining, by the server device and in response the indication, a subscriber profile, associated with the user device, that identifies one or more services to which a user, of the user device, has subscribed;

determining, by the server device and based on the subscriber profile, that a service, associated with the session, corresponds to one of the one or more services, where the subscriber profile identifies one or more charging actions that correspond to the service;

instructing a first device to initiate an online charging action, of the one or more charging actions, when the service corresponds to a first type of service;

instructing a second device to initiate an offline charging action, of the one or more charging actions, when the service corresponds to a second type of service; and

instructing a third device to not initiate the online charging action or the offline charging action when the service corresponds to a third type of service.

2. The method of claim 1, where the third type of service corresponds to at least a prepaid voice over IP (VoIP) service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

instructing another server device, associated with the IMS core, to identify a quantity of time associated with the session when the service corresponds to a third type of service, where the quantity of time is used to generate a bill for the session.

4. The method of claim 1, where instructing the first device to initiate the online charging action further includes:

instructing the first device to establish a communication with another server device, associated with the IMS core, to perform the online charging action, where instructing the first device to establish the communication with the other server device identifies a particular interface via which the communication is to be established.

5. The method of claim 1, where instructing the second device to initiate the offline charging action further includes:

instructing the second device to establish a communication with another server device, associated with the IMS core, to perform the offline charging action, where instructing the second device to establish the communication with the other server device identifies a particular interface via which the communication is to be established.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from the subscriber profile, that another service is to be provided when the service corresponds to the first type of service or the second type of service; and

instructing the second device to initiate the other service based on the determination that the other service is to be provided.

7. The method of claim 6, where the other service includes at least one of:

a real-time reporting (RTR) service that identifies a quantity of bandwidth or data used during the session, or

a usage control (UC) service that causes the second device to decrease available bandwidth or a data rate, associated with the session, when the quantity of bandwidth or data used during the session is greater than a threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, where the first type of service corresponds to a postpaid data service or a prepaid data service,

where the second type of service corresponds to at least the postpaid data service, and

where the third type of service corresponds to a prepaid voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service or a postpaid voice service.

9. The method of claim 1, where instructing the first device to initiate the online charging action causes the user device to be billed on a near real-time basis, based on a quantity of data that is transported, or bandwidth that is used, during the session;

and

where instructing the second device to initiate the offline charging action causes the user device to be billed after a period of time, based on a quantity of data that is transported, or bandwidth that is used, during the period of time.

10. A device, in an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) core, the device comprising:

a memory to store a subscriber profile that identifies one or more services to which a user, of a user device, has subscribed and a respective charging action to be performed that corresponds each of the one or more services; and

one or more processors to;

receive, from a first device within the IMS core, an instruction to generate policy control and charging (PCC) rules for a session, associated with the user device,

identify, based on the instruction, that a service, associated with the session, corresponds to one of the one or more services identified by the subscriber profile,

generate first PCC rules associated with an online charging action, when the service corresponds to a first type of service,

generate second PCC rules associated with an offline charging action, when the service corresponds to a second type of service,

generate third PCC rules that are not associated with the online charging action or the offline charging action when the service corresponds to a third type of service, and

transmit, to a second device, at least one of the first PCC rules, the second PCC rules, or the third PCC rules based on whether the service corresponds to the first type of service, the second type of service, or the third type of service,

where the first PCC rules cause the second device to initiate the online charging action,

where the second PCC rules cause the second device to initiate the offline charging action, and

where the third PCC rules does not cause the second device to initiate the online charging action or the offline charging action.

11. The device of claim 10, where the first PCC rules include at least one of:

a first instruction to perform the online charging action,

a second instruction to establish an interface with a third device, associated with the IMS core, that performs online charging operations,

information that identifies a maximum quantity of bandwidth that is permitted for the session, or

information that identifies a level of quality of service (QoS) associated with the session.

12. The device of claim 10, where, when generating the third PCC rules, the one or more processors are further to:

transmit, to the first device, a notification that a period of time, during which the session is established, is to be used to bill the user of the user device.

13. The device of claim 10, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine that the service, associated with the session, corresponds to the first type of service or the second type of service,

identify, from the subscriber profile, that another service is to be performed based on the determination that service corresponds to the first type of service or the second type of service,

generate the first PCC rules that include an instruction to perform the other service when the service corresponds to the first type of service, and

generate the second PCC rules that include the instruction to perform the other service when the service corresponds to the second type of service.

14. The device of claim 13, where the other service corresponds to at least one of:

a real-time reporting (RTR) service that reports, on a near real-time basis, a quantity of bandwidth or data used during the session, or

a usage control (UC) service that causes the second device to decrease available bandwidth or a data rate, associated with the session, when the quantity of bandwidth or data, used during the session, is greater than a threshold.

15. The device of claim 13, where the first PCC rules identifies a first interface that is to be used to communicate with a third device, associated with the IMS core, to perform the online charging action,

where the second PCC rules identify a second interface that is to be used to communicate with a fourth device, associated with the IMS core, to perform the offline charging action, and

where the second interface is different than the first interface.

16. The device of claim 15, where the first interface corresponds to a Gy interface, and where the second interface corresponds to a Rf interface.

17. The device of claim 10, where the one or more services correspond to:

a postpaid voice service,

a postpaid data service,

a prepaid data service, or

the prepaid voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service.

18. A system comprising:

a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) device to;

receive a notification that a communication session, associated with a user device, is being established,

obtain, from a first server device and in response to the notification, a subscriber profile that identifies whether a user, of the user device, has subscribed to a service associated with an online charging action or a service associated with an offline charging action based on a type of communication session that is being established,

instruct a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) device to establish a connection with a second server device to perform the service, associated with the online charging action, when a first type of communication session is being established,

instruct the PGW device to establish a connection with a third server device to perform the service, associated with the offline charging action, when a second type of communication session is being established, and

instruct a fourth server device to monitor a period of time associated with the communication session, when a third type of communication session is being established.

19. The system of claim 18, where the third type of communication session corresponds to at least a prepaid voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) session.

20. The system of claim 18, where the subscriber profile includes:

first information that identifies whether a real-time reporting (RTR) service is to be performed based on the type of communication session,

second information that identifies whether a usage control (UC) service is to be performed based on the type of communication session,

third information that indicates that the online charging action is to be performed when the type of communication session is associated with a prepaid data service,

fourth information that indicates that neither the online charging action nor the offline charging action is to be performed when the type of communication session corresponds to a prepaid voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) session or a postpaid voice service, or

fifth information that indicates that the offline charging action is to be performed when the type of communication session is associated with a postpaid data service.

21. The system of claim 18, where the fourth server device corresponds to a call session control function (CSCF) device that processes calls associated with a prepaid voice service or a prepaid voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) session, or

where the fourth server device corresponds to a mobility management entity (MME) device that processes traffic associated with a prepaid data service or a postpaid data service.

22. The system of claim 18, where, when obtaining the subscriber profile, the PCRF device is further to:

establish a communication, with the first server device and via a particular interface, that allows the subscriber profile to be obtained, and

obtain the subscriber profile, from the first server device, via the particular interface.

23. The system of claim 18, where, when instructing the PGW device to establish the connection with the second server device, the PCRF device is further to:

establish a communication, with the PGW device and via a particular interface, that allows PCRF device to instruct the PGW device to establish the connection with the second server device.

24. The system of claim 18, where, when instructing the fourth server device to monitor the period of time associated with the communication session, the PCRF device is further to:

instruct the PWG device not to establish the connection with the second server device or the third server device.

25. The system of claim 18 where the service include at least one of:

a first service to monitor a quantity of data or bandwidth used, by the user device, during the communication session that allows near real-time billing information to be generated,

a second service that provides near real-time reporting, to the PGW device, based on the quantity of data or bandwidth used by the user device, or

a third service that terminates the communication session or decreases the quantity of data or bandwidth, used by the user device, when the quantity of data or bandwidth is greater than a threshold.