System and Method for a SIP Server with Offline Charging

• US 20080147524A1
• Filed: 12/13/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Connelly, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,667,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04

Abstract

The SIP server can be comprised of an engine tier that is designed for high throughput processing of SIP communications and a state tier that maintains state information for access by the engine tier. A Java-based offline charging application can be deployed on the SIP server engine tier in order to allow the SIP server to generate offline charging events and transmit them to a charging data function (CDF) server. The state data for the offline accounting session can be maintained on the state tier. Furthermore, timers set to accounting interim interval value can be used to indicate expiration times for the accounting session. The SIP server can use the timers to send periodic interim requests in order to update and maintain the accounting session open.

Claims

1. A system for providing offline charging to a session initiation protocol (SIP) server, said system comprising:

a session initiation protocol (SIP) server that processes one or more SIP communications, said SIP server including a Java-based offline charging application deployed thereon; and

a SIP client that sends said SIP communications to said SIP server;

wherein said offline charging application receives a communication from said SIP client, generates at least one charging event in response to said communication and transmits said charging event to a charging data function server.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein said charging event is at least one of the following event types:

a start type configured to begin an accounting session;

an interim type configured to update said accounting session;

a stop type configured to stop said accounting session; and

an event type configured for event based accounting or configured to report unsuccessful session establishment attempts.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein said SIP server further includes:

an engine tier including at least one engine node that processes said SIP communications, said engine node having the offline charging application running thereon; and

a state tier including at least one state replica node that stores state data associated with said SIP communications, said state replica node including an offline charging session thereon wherein said offline charging session maintains per-session state data unique to each SIP communication

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein said offline charging application instantiates said offline charging session associated with said charging event.

6. The system according to claim 4 wherein said SIP server further includes:

an account interim interval timer used to indicate the expiration time of said offline charging session.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein said offline charging application is made available to any application deployed on said SIP server such that said any application is enabled to issue offline charging requests concurrently in multiple threads.

2. The system according to claim 2 wherein said offline charging application is further configured to receive at least one accounting answer message from said charging data function server in response to said charging event.

8. A computer implemented method for providing offline charging in a telecommunication environment, said method comprising:

deploying a Java-based offline charging application on a session initiation protocol (SIP) server;

receiving a SIP communication from a SIP client to said SIP server;

generating a charging event by said offline charging application upon receipt of said SIP communication; and

transmitting said charging event to a charging data function (CDF) server by said offline charging application.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving at least one accounting answer message from said CDF server in response to transmitting said charging event.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting said charging event to said CDF server further includes:

transmitting a start type charging event configured to begin an accounting session;

receiving a start type accounting answer message from said CDF server;

transmitting an interim type charging event configured to update said accounting session;

receiving an interim type accounting answer from said CDF server;

transmitting a stop type charging event configured to stop said accounting session; and

receiving a stop type accounting answer from said CDF server.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein said SIP server further includes:

an engine tier including at least one engine node that processes said SIP communications, said engine node having the offline charging application running thereon; and

a state tier including at least one state replica node that stores state data associated with said SIP communications, said state replica node including an offline charging session thereon wherein said offline charging session maintains per-session state data unique to each SIP communication

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein said offline charging application instantiates said offline charging session associated with said charging event.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein said SIP server further includes:

an account interim interval timer used to indicate the expiration time of said offline charging session.

14. The method according to claim 8 wherein said offline charging application is made available to any application deployed on said SIP server such that said any application is enabled to issue offline charging requests concurrently in multiple threads.

15. The method according to claim 8 wherein transmitting said charging event to said CDF server further includes:

modifying said charging event by setting a service information attribute-value pair that carries the service-specific parameters for the CDF server.

16. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed by one or more processors cause a system to:

deploy a Java-based offline charging application on a session initiation protocol (SIP) server;

receive a SIP communication from a SIP client to said SIP server;

generate a charging event by said offline charging application upon receipt of said SIP communication; and

transmit said charging event to a charging data function (CDF) server by said offline charging application.