Advice of charging method, system and mobile terminal

• US 8,326,262 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2009
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• 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: Duan, Haifeng, Li, Yimin, Chen, Dagang
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US12/545,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20090311989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• Field of Search: 455/406
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1414 in real-time
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/82 Advice-of-Charge [AOC], i.e. notify subscriber of charges/cumulative charge; meter at the substation

Abstract

An advice of charging (AoC) method, system, and mobile terminal thereof are provided. The method includes receiving AoC information sent by a service charging server, and then displaying the AoC information. The mobile terminal includes a receiving module adapted to receive AoC information sent by a service charging server, and a display module adapted to display the received AoC information. The system includes a terminal, a service charging server, a service gateway, and a charging engine. The present invention is applicable to pre-consumption prompt, post-consumption notification, and prompts for data services such as browsing, streaming media, and mail.

Claims

1. An advice of charging (AoC) method, comprising:

sending, by a mobile terminal, a service request to a service gateway, wherein a service type is identified by the service gateway according to the service request;

receiving, by a service charging agent in the mobile terminal, AoC information sent by a service charging server through an unified interface, wherein the service charging server is selected by the service gateway according to terminal information or service information; and

displaying, by the service charging agent, the AoC information to the mobile terminal;

wherein

the receiving, by the service charging agent in the mobile terminal, the AoC information sent by the service charging server specifically comprises;

receiving service fee information queried by a charging engine and forwarded by the service charging server; and

the querying, by the charging engine, the service fee information is triggered by the service gateway to the charging engine through the service charging server according to the service request;

the displaying, by the service charging agent, the AoC information to the mobile terminal specifically comprises;

displaying, by the service charging agent, the service fee information to the mobile terminal;

sending, by the mobile terminal, an acknowledgement message indicating use of a service to the service charging server; and

receiving, by the mobile terminal a service response sent by the service gateway, wherein the service response is sent based on service data acquired from a service data source according to the acknowledgement message indicating the use of the service forwarded by the service charging server.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving recharge information input by a user according to recharge prompt information;

sending the recharge information to the service charging server; and

receiving a recharge successful acknowledgement message forwarded by the service charging server, wherein the recharge successful acknowledgement message is a message returned by the charging engine after completing recharging procedure according to the recharge information forwarded by the service charging server.

13. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium, comprising software instructions for performing a method according to claim 1.

3. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a first sending module, adapted to send a service request to a service gateway, wherein a service type is identified by the service gateway according to the service request;

a receiving module, adapted to receive advice of charging (AoC) information sent by a service charging server through an unified interface, wherein the service charging server is selected by the service gateway according to terminal information or service information; and

a display module, adapted to display the AoC information;

wherein

the receiving module is further adapted to receive service fee information queried by a charging engine and forwarded by the service charging server and the querying by the charging engine the service fee information is triggered by the service gateway to the charging engine through the service charging server according to the service request;

the display module is further adapted to display the service fee information;

the first sending module is further adapted to send an acknowledgement message indicating use of service to the service charging server; and

the receiving module is further adapted to receive a service response sent by the service gateway, wherein the service response is sent by the service gateway based on service data acquired from a service data source according to the acknowledgement message indicating the use of the service forwarded by the service charging server.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the receiving module is further adapted to receive use fee information acquired by the service charging server by sending query information about a service fee to the charging engine according to a charging notification request message sent by a service gateway;

and

the display module is further adapted to display the use fee information.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the receiving module is further adapted to receive account status information acquired by the service charging server by sending query information of account status to a charging engine according to an account status request message sent by the service gateway;

and

the display module is further adapted to display the account status information.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the receiving module is further adapted to receive recharge prompt information sent by the service charging server when determining that a terminal is on-line, and the recharge prompt information is received by the service charging server and is sent by a charging engine when the charging engine identifies that the account balance is insufficient;

and

the display module is further adapted to display the recharge prompt information.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 6, further comprising:

a second sending module, adapted to send the recharge information to the service charging server;

wherein

the receiving module is further adapted to receive recharge information input by a user according to the recharge prompt information; and

the receiving module is further adapted to receive a recharge successful acknowledgement message forwarded by the service charging server, and the recharge successful acknowledgement message is a message returned by the charging engine after completing recharging procedure according to the recharge information forwarded by the service charging server.

8. An advice of charging (AoC) system, comprising:

a service gateway, adapted to receive a service request from a mobile terminal and identify a service type according to the service request;

a service charging server, adapted to send AoC information for a service charging agent in the mobile terminal through an unified interface to display the AoC information, wherein the service charging server is selected by the service gateway according to terminal information or service information;

wherein

the service gateway is further adapted to send a charge prompt triggering message to the service charging server according to the service request;

a charging engine, adapted to receive a charge query request sent by the service charging server and send service fee information to the service charging server according to the charge query request;

accordingly, the service charging server is further adapted to receive the charge prompt triggering message sent by the service gateway and send the charge query request to the charging engine according to the charge prompt triggering message; and

adapted to forward the acknowledgement message indicating the use of service sent by the mobile terminal; and

the service gateway is further adapted to send a service response to the mobile terminal based on service data acquired from a service data source according to the acknowledgement message indicating the use of the service forwarded by the service charging server.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein

the service gateway is further adapted to send a charging notification request message to the service charging server;

and

the AoC system further comprises;

a charging engine, adapted to receive query information of service fee sent by the service charging server and send use fee information to the service charging server according to the query information of the service fee;

wherein, accordingly, the service charging server is further adapted to receive the charging notification request message sent by the service gateway and send the query information of the service fee to the charging engine according to the charging notification request message.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein

the service gateway is further adapted to send an account status request message to the service charging server;

and

the AoC system further comprises;

a charging engine, adapted to receive query information of account status sent by the service charging server and send account status information to the service charging server according to the query information of the account status;

wherein, accordingly, the service charging server is further adapted to receive the account status request message sent by the service gateway and send the query information of the account status to the charging engine according to the account status request message.

11. The system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a charging engine adapted to identify an account balance and send recharge prompt information to the service charging server when the charging engine identifies that the account balance is insufficient;

wherein the service charging server is further adapted to receive the recharge prompt information sent by the charging engine, determine whether the mobile terminal is on-line or not, and send the recharge prompt information to the mobile terminal when determining that the mobile terminal is on-line.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the mobile terminal is further adapted to receive recharge information input by a user according to the recharge prompt information, and send the recharge information to the service charging server;

the service charging server is further adapted to forward the recharge information to the charging engine, and forward a recharge successful acknowledgement message sent by the charging engine to the mobile terminal; and

the charging engine is further adapted to receive the recharge information, complete recharging procedure according to the recharge information, and return the recharge successful acknowledgement message to the service charging server.