Handling charging information in interworking structure of mobile communication and wireless local area networks

• US 7,221,929 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2003
• Issued: 05/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Yeo, Woon-Young, Cho, Ki-Hyoung, Lee, Wan-Yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost; William
• Application Number:
  US10/682,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20040132427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.3, 455/414.1, 455/406, 455/408, 455/405, 455/411, 455/414.4, 455/426.1, 455/428, 379/114.01, 379/114.03, 379/114.28, 379/115.01, 379/121.02, 379/121.03, 379/126, 705/34
• US Class Current: 455/408
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1446 inter-operator billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/53 using mediation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/55 for hybrid networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8228 Session based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/854 Available credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0164 Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0172 Mediation, i.e. device or program to reformat CDRS from one or more switches in order to adapt to one or more billing programs formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2033 WLAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2046 Hybrid network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/44 Charging/billing arrangements for connection made over different networks, e.g. wireless and PSTN, ISDN, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7833 Session based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/8166 Available credit

Abstract

When interworking two or more networks, such as a wireless local access network (WLAN) and a mobile communication network, user billing and service charging should be accurately collected and processed. To do so, certain types of service usage and charging information for certain users can be deleted depending upon the type of service provided to the user. Also, service usage and charging information can be periodically collected depending upon the type of service being provided. Furthermore, WLAN wireless access service usage and charging information, as well as mobile communication network service charging information can be collected upon correlation therebetween.

Claims

1. A method of collecting charging information for both use of services from a wireless local area network (WLAN) and use of services from a mobile communication network, the method comprising:

using a WLAN service provided by a WLAN network;

using additional services simultaneously during a same session with the use of the WLAN service, the additional services being provided by a mobile communication network through an additional service provision node of the mobile communication network and through the WLAN network, the additional services comprising data services with a third network;

sending bits of a WLAN charging identifier (ID) to the additional service provision node of the mobile communication network; and

mapping the bits of the WLAN charging ID into bits of a mobile communication network charging ID, in order to facilitate the collecting of charging information for both the use of the WLAN service provided by the WLAN and the use of the additional services provided by the mobile communication network,

wherein if the WLAN charging ID length is less than the length of the mobile communication network charging ID, the WLAN charging ID can be copied into a portion of the mobile communication network charging ID and then specific values may be inserted into the remaining bits to create a correlated charging ID, and

wherein an internetworking provider can accurately calculate usage fees during each session for users using wireless access services of the WLAN network and additional services of the mobile communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication network charging ID includes a specific data bit to indicate whether the charging information is from the WLAN network or from the mobile communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the mobile communication network charging ID by comparing bit lengths of the WLAN charging ID bits and the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

replacing the WLAN charging ID with the mobile communication network charging ID, if the length of the WLAN charging ID bits is equal to the length of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

copying the WLAN charging ID into a portion of the mobile communication network charging ID, if the length of the WLAN charging ID bits is less than the length of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

inserting specific data bits into any remaining bits of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

inserting a bit value of 0 into all remaining bits of the mobile communication network charging ID bits except a first bit.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

indicating the charging information is from the WLAN network when the first bit is 1.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

indicating the charging information is from the mobile communication network when the first bit is 0.

10. A method of collecting charging information for an interworking network including a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a mobile communication network, the method comprising:

using a WLAN service provided by a WLAN network;

using services provided by a mobile communication network simultaneously during a same session with the use of the WLAN service and through the WLAN network, the services comprising data services with a third network;

sending charging identifier (ID) bits of the WLAN service to the mobile communication network;

mapping the charging ID bits of the WLAN service into bits of a mobile communication network charging ID to generate a charging ID bits for the mobile communication network service; and

collecting charging information for both use of the WLAN service and use of the mobile communication network service, by using the generated charging ID bits of the mobile communication network service,

wherein if the WLAN charging ID length is less than the length of the mobile communication network charging ID, the WLAN charging ID can be copied into a portion of the mobile communication network charging ID and then specific values may be inserted into the remaining bits to create a correlated charging ID, and

wherein an internetworking provider can accurately calculate usage fees during each session for users using wireless access services of the WLAN network and additional services of the mobile communication network.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating a mobile communication network charging ID by comparing the lengths of the WLAN charging ID bits and of the mobile communication charging ID bits.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

replacing the WEAN charging ID with the mobile communication network charging ID, if the length of WEAN charging ID bits is equal to the length of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

copying the WEAN charging ID into a portion of the mobile communication network charging ID, if the length of the WEAN charging ID bits is less than the length of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

inserting specific data bits into any remain bits of the mobile communication network charging ID bits.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

padding certain reserved bits of the mobile communication network charging ID.

16. An interworking network structure including a first network and a second network for billing a user, the network structure comprising:

a first network, the first network providing a first service to a user, the first network receiving a request from the user to access a data service provided by the second network, the data service comprising transferring data between the user and a third network via the second network and through the first network and simultaneously during a same session with the providing of the first service;

an authentication, authorization, accounting (AAA) server in the second network and connected to the first network to determine whether the data service to be provided requires payment from the user upon cooperation with a home subscriber system/home location register (HSS/HLR) connected to the AAA server, and to approve the request to access the data service, and to provide the data service to the user based upon the determination of payment and approval of the request;

a charging gateway/charging collection function (CGw/CCF) element connected to the AAA server to collect a charging information from the first and second networks for use of the first service and the data service based upon the determination of payment and the data service being provided at AAA server, and

a second network element connected with the first network to process the collected charging information, which was generated by mapping bits of a first network charging ID associated with use of the first service into of a second network charging ID associated with use of the data service; and

to bill the user in accordance with the processed charging information,

wherein if the first network charging ID length is less than the length of the second network charging ID, the first network charging ID can be copied into a portion of the second network charging ID and then specific values may be inserted into the remaining bits to create a correlated charging ID, and wherein an internetworking provider can accurately calculate usage fees during each session for users using wireless access services of the first network and additional services of the second network.

17. The network of claim 16, wherein the first network is a wireless local area network (WLAN).

18. The network of claim 16, wherein the second network is a mobile communication network.

19. The network of claim 18, wherein the second network element is a mobile communication network additional service provision node.

20. The network of claim 16, wherein the second network charging ID includes a specific data bit to indicate whether the charging information is from the first network or from the second network.

21. The network of claim 16, further comprising:

generating the second network charging ID by comparing the lengths of the first charging ID bits and of the second charging ID bits.

22. The network of claim 16, further comprising:

replacing the first network charging ID with the second network charging ID, if a bit length of the first network charging ID bits is equal to the bit length of the second network charging ID bits.

23. The network of claim 16, further comprising:

copying the first network charging ID into a portion of the second network charging ID, if a bit length of the first network charging ID bits is less than the bit length of the second network charging ID bits.

24. The network of claim 23, further comprising:

inserting specific data bits into any remain bits of the second network charging ID.

25. The network of claim 23, further comprising:

padding certain reserved bits of the second network charging ID.

26. The network of claim 16, wherein the data service includes at least one of an Internet protocol multimedia service (IMS), a multimedia message service (MMS) or other multimedia service.

27. The network of claim 16, further comprising:

billing the user for using the data service during one call connection.

28. The network of claim 16, wherein the charging ID of the first network is provided to the additional service provision node of the second network.