Providing service information for charging a subscriber for a service

• US 8,923,275 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Menditto, Louis F., Donovan, Steven R.
• Primary Examiner(s): JENSEN, NICHOLAS A
• Application Number:
  US11/742,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20080273523A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,800 Days
• Field of Search: 370352-356
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1453 Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/63 based on the content carried by the session initiation protocol [SIP] messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8228 Session based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8292 Charging for signaling or unsuccessful connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7833 Session based

Abstract

Providing service information includes receiving session initiation protocol (SIP) packets from a SIP proxy. Service information is extracted from the SIP packets. The service information describes a service provided to an access terminal associated with a subscriber. The service information is sent to a charging/enforcement point operable to charge the subscriber for the service.

Claims

1. A method for providing service information, comprising:

receiving a plurality of encrypted session initiation protocol (SIP) packets at a SIP edge proxy server;

decrypting the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server;

extracting service information from the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server, the service information describing a service provided to an access terminal associated with a subscriber;

sending the extracted service information to an access gateway from the SIP edge proxy server via a service charging interface functionally between the SIP edge proxy server and the access gateway, the access gateway unable to decrypt the encrypted SIP packets, the service charging interface operable to communicate information between the access gateway and the SIP edge proxy server, the access gateway operable to charge the subscriber for the service; and

receiving instructions at the SIP edge proxy server from the access gateway via the service charging interface functionality to execute SIP operations at the SIP edge proxy server in response to sending the extracted service information to the access gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the service information from the SIP packets further comprises:

determining a type of service provided to the access terminal based on the extracted service information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the service information from the SIP packets further comprises:

decompressing the SIP packets to extract the service information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service information identifies the service provided to the access terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service information describes usage of the service provided to the access terminal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, receiving an instruction at the SIP proxy via the service charging interface from the charging/enforcement point, the instruction requesting that the SIP proxy server perform one or more SIP operations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the service charging interface is separate from the SIP proxy server.

8. An apparatus for providing service information, comprising:

a memory operable to store service information describing a service provided to an access terminal associated with a subscriber; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory and operable to;

receive a plurality of encrypted session initiation protocol (SIP) packets at a SIP edge proxy server;

decrypt the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server;

extract service information from the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server, the service information describing a service provided to an access terminal associated with a subscriber;

send the extracted service information to an access gateway from the SIP edge proxy server via a service charging interface functionally between the SIP edge proxy server and the access gateway, the access gateway unable to decrypt the encrypted SIP packets, the service charging interface operable to communicate information between the access gateway and the SIP edge proxy server, the access gateway operable to charge the subscriber for the service; and

receive instructions at the SIP edge proxy server from the access gateway via the service charging interface functionality to execute SIP operations at the SIP edge proxy server in response to sending the extracted service information to the access gateway.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors operable to extract the service information from the SIP packets are further operable to:

determine a type of service provided to the access terminal based on the extracted service information.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors operable to extract the service information from the SIP packets are further operable to:

decompress the SIP packets to extract the service information.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service information identifies the service provided to the access terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service information describes usage of the service provided to the access terminal.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising logic for providing service information, the logic operable to:

receive a plurality of encrypted session initiation protocol (SIP) packets at a SIP edge proxy server;

decrypt the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server;

extract service information from the SIP packets at the SIP edge proxy server, the service information describing a service provided to an access terminal associated with a subscriber;

send the extracted service information to an access gateway from the SIP edge proxy server via a service charging interface functionally between the SIP edge proxy server and the access gateway, the access gateway unable to decrypt the encrypted SIP packets, the service charging interface operable to communicate information between the access gateway and the SIP edge proxy server, the access gateway operable to charge the subscriber for the service; and

receive instructions at the SIP edge proxy server from the access gateway via the service charging interface functionality to execute SIP operations at the SIP edge proxy server in response to sending the extracted service information to the access gateway.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the logic is further operable to:

determine a type of service provided to the access terminal based on the extracted service information.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the logic is further operable to:

decompress the SIP packets to extract the service information.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the service information identifies the service provided to the access terminal.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the service information describes usage of the service provided to the access terminal.