METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING POLICY AND CHARGING RULE FUNCTION ENTITY

• US 20140307589A1
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: LI, Chunsheng, WU, Feng, TIAN, Xuejin
• Granted Patent: US 9,661,151 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/259
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus, and a system for determining a policy and charging rule function entity. The method includes: receiving, by a first PCRF, a first request message transmitted by a first routing agent device, where the first request message carries an IP address of a user; inquiring a pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and an identity of a PCRF currently serving the user according to the IP address of the user, and determining an identity of a second PCRF currently serving the user; and transmitting a message carrying the identity of the second PCRF to the first routing agent device. The method realizes that session information of the same user can be routed to the same PCRF when a biplane DRA is under a multi-PCRF networking, and provides reliable DRA signaling network networking.

Claims

1. A method for determining a policy and charging rule function entity (PCRF), comprising:

receiving, by a first PCRF, a first request message transmitted by a first routing agent device, wherein the first request message carries an IP address of a user;

inquiring, by the first PCRF, a pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and an identity of a PCRF currently serving the user according to the IP address of the user, and determining an identity of a second PCRF currently serving the user; and

transmitting, by the first PCRF, a message carrying the identity of the second PCRF to the first routing agent device, so that the first routing agent device transmits the first request message to the second PCRF according to the identity of the second PCRF.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the inquiring the pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user, specifically comprises:

inquiring, by the first PCRF, the pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user in the first PCRF itself or in a subscription profile repository (SPR).

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the first PCRF or the SPR, the corresponding relationship transmitted by the second PCRF, wherein the corresponding relationship is between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, and updating, by the first PCRF or the SPR, the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user with the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by a second routing agent device, a second request message transmitted by a policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF), wherein the second request message carries a user identity of the user and the IP address of the user;

determining, by the second routing agent device, the second PCRF serving the user according to the user identity or an algorithm;

transmitting, by the second PCRF, the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF to the first PCRF or the SPR;

wherein the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are the same routing agent device, or the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are different routing agent devices.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pre-stored corresponding relationship is corresponding relationship among the IP address of the user, a network identity and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user;

correspondingly, the first request further carries the network identity.

6. An apparatus for determining a policy and charging rule function entity (PCRF), comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first request message transmitted by a first routing agent device, wherein the first request message carries an IP address of a user;

a determining unit, configured to inquire a pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and an identity of a PCRF currently serving the user according to the IP address of the user, and determine an identity of a second PCRF currently serving the user; and

a transmitting unit, configured to transmit a message carrying the identity of the second PCRF to the first routing agent device, so that the first routing agent device transmits the first request message to the second PCRF according to the identity of the second PCRF.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a storage unit, configured to store the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the determining unit is specifically configured to inquire the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user according to the IP address of the user carried in the first request message, and determine the identity of the second PCRF currently serving the user, wherein the corresponding relationship is pre-stored in the apparatus itself.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, wherein the corresponding relationship is transmitted by the second PCRF.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

the storage unit is further configured to update the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user with the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF received by the receiving unit.

11. A system for determining a policy and charging rule function entity (PCRF), comprising a first routing agent device, a first PCRF and a second PCRF, wherein:

the first PCRF is configured to receive a first request message transmitted by the first routing agent device, wherein the first request message carries an IP address of a user;

inquire a pre-stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and an identity of a PCRF currently serving the user according to the IP address of the user, and determine an identity of the second PCRF currently serving the user; and

transmit a message carrying the identity of the second PCRF to the first routing agent device, so that the first routing agent device transmits the first request message to the second PCRF according to the identity of the second PCRF;

the first routing agent device is configured to transmit the first request message carrying the IP address of the user to the first PCRF;

receive the message transmitted by the first PCRF, wherein the message carries the identity of the second PCRF, and transmit the first request message to the second PCRF according to the identity of the second PCRF.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein:

the first PCRF is further configured to store the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein:

the first PCRF is further configured to receive the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, and update the stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user with the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, wherein the corresponding relationship is transmitted by the second PCRF.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprising a subscription profile repository (SPR), wherein:

the SPR is configured to store the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein:

the SPR is further configured to receive the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, and update the stored corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the PCRF currently serving the user with the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF, wherein the corresponding relationship is transmitted by the second PCRF.

16. The system according to claim 13, further comprising a second routing agent device, configured to receive a second request message transmitted by a policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF), wherein the second request message carries a user identity of the user and the IP address of the user;

determine the second PCRF serving the user according to the user identity or an algorithm; and

transmit the second request message carrying the IP address of the user to the second PCRF;

wherein the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are the same routing agent device, or the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are different routing agent devices; and

the second PCRF is configured to transmit the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF.

17. The system according to claim 15, further comprising a second routing agent device, configured to receive a second request message transmitted by a policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF), wherein the second request message carries a user identity of the user and the IP address of the user;

determine the second PCRF serving the user according to the user identity or an algorithm; and

transmit the second request message carrying the IP address of the user to the second PCRF;

wherein the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are the same routing agent device, or the first routing agent device and the second routing agent device are different routing agent devices; and

the second PCRF is configured to transmit the corresponding relationship between the IP address of the user and the identity of the second PCRF.