Charging database with class of service (COS)

• US 8,213,411 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2005
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ayers, John I., Askerup, Anders H., Kenyon, Bradley T., Chilukuri, Srinivas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Assistant Examiner(s): GUADALUPE CRUZ, AIXA AMYR
• Application Number:
  US11/212,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20070046253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,503 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/352
• 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

Abstract

Systems, methodologies, media, and other embodiments associated with provisioning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) are described. One exemplary system embodiment includes logic for provisioning an IMS charging database with charging data and logic for provisioning an IMS user database with user data. The exemplary system embodiment may also include logic for provisioning an IMS call session control function (CSCF) logic with data that relates a user to charging information based, at least in part, on a charging class of service (COS) identifier.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a charging database (CDB) to store charging information concerning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) user, the charging information being stored in a charging record in the CDB, the charging record including a charging class of service (COS) identifier, the CDB employing the charging COS identifier as a primary key; and

a user database to store user information concerning an IMS user, the user information being stored in a user record in the user database, the user record including a charging COS entry, wherein the charging COS entry includes the charging COS identifier;

the CDB and the user database being operably connectable via a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic to a call session control function (CSCF) hardware logic, wherein the FESS hardware logic to;

retrieve the user record from the user database;

retrieve charging information concerning the user from the CDB using the charging COS identifier provided in the user record to select the charging record associated with the charging COS identifier from the charging database; and

configure the CSCF hardware logic for charging the user based, at least in part, on the charging information retrieved from the CDB.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the HSS hardware logic is to update the CSCF hardware logic upon determining that charging information concerning the user has changed in the CDB.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the HSS hardware is to update the CSCF hardware logic using a Push Profile Request (PPR) message defined in a Cx protocol.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the charging record further comprises:

a primary event charging function address; and

a primary charging collection function address.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the charging record further includes:

a secondary event charging function address; and

a secondary charging collection function address.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user record further comprises:

a user identifier.

7. The system of claim 1, the CDB and the user database being organized in an HSS database, wherein the CSCF hardware logic is to communicate with the HSS database using a Cx protocol.

8. A method for configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS), comprising:

creating a user record, the user record including a charging class of service (COS) entry, wherein the charging COS entry includes a charging COS identifier;

creating a charging record, the charging record including the charging COS identifier;

establishing, using a home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic, a relationship between the user record and the charging record using the COS identifier;

storing the user record, including the charging COS identifier, in a user database;

storing the charging record, including the charging COS identifier, in a charging database (CDB);

retrieving the user record from the user database;

retrieving charging information concerning the user from the CDB using the charging COS identifier provided in the user record to select the charging record associated with the charging COS identifier from the CDB;

providing the user record to a call session control function (CSCF) logic, the CSCF configured to charge the user; and

providing the charging record to the CSCF logic, the charging record being related to the user, the charging record being selected based, at least in part, on the charging COS identifier in the user record.

9. The method of claim 8, including providing an updated user record to the CSCF upon determining that the user record in the user database has changed since being provided to the CSCF logic.

10. The method of claim 9, including providing an updated charging record to the CSCF logic upon determining that a charging record in the charging database has changed since being provided to the CSCF logic.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the storage medium storing processor executable instructions which when executed by a processor are to perform a method for configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS), the method comprising:

creating a user record, the user record including a charging class of service (COS) entry, wherein the charging COS entry includes a charging COS identifier;

creating a charging record, the charging record including the charging COS identifier;

establishing a relationship between the user record and the charging record using the COS identifier;

storing the user record, including the charging COS identifier;

storing the charging record, including the charging COS identifier;

retrieving charging information concerning the user from the stored charging record using the charging COS identifier provided in the user record to select the charging record associated with the charging COS identifier in the stored charging record;

providing the user record to a call session control function (CSCF) logic; and

providing the charging record to the CSCF, the charging record being related to the user, the charging record being selected based, at least in part, on the charging COS identifier in the user record.

12. A system, comprising:

means for provisioning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network sub-system (IMS) charging database (CDB) with charging data associated with a charging class of service (COS) identifier;

means for provisioning an IMS user database with user data associated with the charging COS identifier;

the CDB and the user database being operably connectable via a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic to a call session control function (CSCF) hardware logic, wherein the HSS hardware logic comprises;

means for retrieving a user record from the user database;

means for retrieving charging information concerning a user from the CDB using the COS identifier provided in the user data to select the charging data associated with the charging COS identifier from the CDB; and

means for provisioning the CSCF with the user data, the charging data, and data that relates a user to charging data based, at least in part, on the charging COS identifier.

13. The system of claim 12, including:

means for selectively updating the CSCF upon determining that one or more of, the user data has changed since provisioning the CSCF, and the charging data has changed since provisioning the CSCF.

14. A system, comprising:

a server capabilities database (SCDB) to store server capabilities information (SCI) relating a user and a serving call session control function (S-CSCF), the SCI being stored in a server capabilities record in the SCDB, the server capabilities record including a server capabilities class of service (COS) identifier, the SCDB employing the server capabilities COS identifier as a primary key; and

a user database to store user information concerning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) user, the user information being stored in a user record in the user database, the user record including a server capability COS entry, wherein the server capability COS entry includes the server capabilities COS identifier;

the SCDB and the user database being operably connectable, via a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic, to a call session control function (CSCF) hardware logic, wherein the HSS logic is to;

retrieve the user record concerning the user from the user database;

retrieve the server capabilities record from the SCDB using the server capabilities COS identifier provided in the user record; and

selectively provision the S-CSCF based, at least in part, on the server capabilities record.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the MSS hardware logic is to update the CSCF hardware logic upon determining that server capabilities information has changed since the server capabilities record was retrieved.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the HSS hardware logic is to update the CSCF logic using a Push Profile Request (PPR) message defined in a Cx protocol.

17. The system of claim 16, including a mandatory capabilities database to store information concerning a CSCF capability required by a user.

18. The system of claim 17, including a capabilities database to store information concerning a CSCF capability desired by a user.

19. The system of claim 18, including a server name capabilities database to store information concerning the name of a CSCF preferred by a user to provide a set of capabilities.

20. The system of claim 19, the SCDB including one or more server capabilities records, a server capabilities record comprising:

a mandatory capabilities COS identifier to link a server capabilities record to a mandatory capabilities record in a mandatory capabilities database;

a capabilities COS identifier to link a server capabilities record to a capabilities record in a capabilities database; and

a server name capabilities COS identifier to link a server capabilities record to a server name capabilities record in a server name capabilities database.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the user database further comprises:

a user identifier.

22. The system of claim 14, the SCDB and the user database being organized in an HSS database, wherein the CSCF hardware logic is to communicate with the HSS database using a Cx protocol.

23. A method for configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS), comprising:

creating a user record, the user record including a server capability class of service (COS) entry, wherein the server capability COS entry includes a server capabilities COS identifier;

creating a server capabilities record, the server capabilities record including the server capabilities COS identifier, wherein the server capabilities COS identifier is a primary key;

establishing, using a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic, a relationship between the user record and the server capabilities record using a server capabilities class of service (COS) identifier;

storing the user record, including the server capabilities COS identifier, in a user database;

storing the server capabilities record, including the server capabilities COS identifier, in a server capabilities database (SCDB); and

retrieving the server capabilities record from the SCDB using the server capabilities COS identifier provided in the user record.

24. The method of claim 23, including:

creating a mandatory capabilities record;

establishing a relationship between a server capabilities record and the mandatory capabilities record using a mandatory capabilities COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

creating an optional capabilities record;

establishing a relationship between the server capabilities record and the optional capabilities record using an optional capabilities COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

creating a server name record;

establishing a relationship between the server capabilities record and the server name record using a server name COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

storing the mandatory capabilities record;

storing the optional capabilities record; and

storing the server name record.

25. The method of claim 24, including:

providing a user record to a call session control function (CSCF) logic; and

providing a server capabilities record to the CSCF, the server capabilities information record being related to the user record by a COS identifier.

26. The method of claim 25, including providing an updated user record to the CSCF upon determining, that a user record has changed since being provided to the CSCF.

27. The method of claim 26, including providing an updated server capabilities record to the CSCF upon determining that a server capabilities record has changed since being provided to the CSCF.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the storage medium storing processor executable instructions which when executed by a processor are operable to perform a method for configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS), the method comprising:

creating a user record;

creating a server capabilities record;

establishing a relationship between the user record and the server capabilities record using a server capabilities class of service (COS) identifier;

storing the user record;

storing the server capabilities record, including the server capabilities COS identifier;

creating a mandatory capabilities record, including the server capabilities COS identifier;

establishing a relationship between the server capabilities record and the mandatory capabilities record using a mandatory capabilities COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

creating an optional capabilities record;

establishing a relationship between the server capabilities record and the optional capabilities record using an optional capabilities COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

creating a server name record;

establishing a relationship between the server capabilities record and the server name record using a server name COS identifier in the server capabilities record;

storing the mandatory capabilities record;

storing the optional capabilities record; and

storing the server name record.

29. A system, comprising:

means for provisioning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) server capabilities database (SCDB) with server capabilities information (SCI) data associated with a server capabilities class of service (COS) identifier;

means for provisioning an IMS user database with user data associated with the server capabilities COS identifier;

the SCDB and the user database being operably connectable via a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) hardware logic to a call session control function (CSCF), wherein the HSS comprises;

means for retrieving the user record concerning the user from the user database;

means for retrieving SCI from the SCDB using the a server capabilities COS identifier provided in the IMS user database; and

means for provisioning the Call Session Control Function (CSCF) with data that relates a user to a SCI data based, at least in part, on the a server capabilities COS identifier.

30. The system of claim 29, including:

means for selectively updating the CSCF upon determining that one or more of, the user data has changed since provisioning the CSCF, and the capabilities data has changed since provisioning the CSCF.

31. A system, comprising:

means for provisioning an internet protocol (IP) multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) charging database with charging data associated with a charging class of service (COS) identifier;

means for provisioning an IMS user database with user data associated with the charging COS identifier;

means for provisioning an IMS server capabilities database with server capability information associated with a service capabilities class of service (COS) identifier;

means for provisioning the IMS user database with user data associated with the service capabilities COS identifier;

means for retrieving service capabilities information from the IMS capabilities database using the service capabilities COS identifier provided in the IMS user database;

means for retrieving charging information concerning the user from the IMS charging information using the charging COS identifier provided in the IMS charging database;

means for provisioning a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) with a first data that relates a user to charging data based, at least in part, on the charging COS identifier; and

means for provisioning the CSCF with a second data that relates the user to server capabilities data based, at least in part, on the service capabilities COS identifier.