KR100907612B1 - Method and system for charging after session termination in IP multimedia subsystem - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a billing processing method and system for a terminal that does not support the Internet protocol multimedia subsystem when providing a multimedia service in the Internet protocol multimedia subsystem.

According to the present invention, a billing processing method when processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), comprising: (a) a call from a called party's non-IMS terminal after a session of the originating IMS terminal which has sent a message is terminated; Receiving a completion message; (b) generating charging data through the received call completion message; And (c) transmitting the generated billing data to an IMS billing node. The billing processing method after session termination in the IP multimedia subsystem is disclosed.

IMS, Billing, Messaging, SIP

Description

Method and system for accounting after session closed in IP Multimedia Subsystem in IP Multimedia Subsystem

The following drawings attached to this specification are illustrative of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the invention to serve to further understand the technical spirit of the present invention, the present invention is a matter described in such drawings It should not be construed as limited to.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus for processing a bill after a session ends in an IP multimedia subsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a charging method after session termination in an IP multimedia subsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of processes for each node of a system according to a charging processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: gateway server

210: IMS terminal

220: IMS billing server

230: IMS application server

310: non IMS terminal

The present invention relates to providing a multimedia service in an internet protocol multimedia subsystem, and more particularly, to a billing processing method and system for a terminal that does not support the internet protocol multimedia subsystem.

In addition to the proliferation of Internet services and the rapid increase in Internet traffic, data traffic has recently surpassed voice traffic. As a result, the service is switched from a circuit switched service to a packet switched service. In addition, 3G mobile communication networks, which are being standardized around 3GPP and 3GPP2, are gradually evolving to All IP networks. Accordingly, future communication services based on wired and wireless are being integrated based on IP protocol. As one of the technologies for this purpose, a voice data integration technology (Voice over IP, VoIP) is used.

The VoIP technology is a technology for integrating voice and data into a packet form using IP technology to transmit in real time. Recently, VoIP technology has been developed to integrate and transmit video information. This VoIP technology implements a variety of next generation Internet application services such as Internet telephony services and multimedia messaging services. In order to implement such next-generation Internet application service, a connection establishment protocol (hereinafter referred to as SIP) technology is used among protocol technologies. The SIP is a protocol developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an Internet standard development organization, for the purpose of replacing the H.323 standard technology. The SIP is a call signaling protocol of an application layer in which terminals to communicate on the Internet identify each other to find a location, establish a multimedia communication session, and provide session information exchange and termination functions.

An example of a system for providing a multimedia service using such a protocol is an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (hereinafter referred to as an IP Multimedia Core Network subsystem), and the IMS is a core network for providing a multimedia service. It consists of (Core Network) elements.

The Internet Protocol Multimedia Core Network System (IM CN subsystem) provides a multimedia service location based service in a convenient, commercially available, and standardized way. Such an IMS can be provided by a 3rd party, and can provide various types of packet-based services to mobile subscribers simultaneously based on the IP transport protocol. In addition, IMS uses the SIP as a call establishment protocol for various services, and important functional elements include a call session control function (CSCF) and a home subscriber server (HSS).

For session-based multimedia messaging service, MSRP is used by using a session description protocol (hereinafter, abbreviated as SDP) transmitted by SIP. This MSRP is a protocol used to send a series of instant messages.

The IMS uses a method in which an originating terminal forms a session based message in an environment where an intermediate node is mainly used to establish a session for the multimedia messaging service. That is, in the method where the intermediate node is a sequential service determined by the user profile of the HSS in the environment where the intermediate node is located or maintains a recording path for future transactions, the calling terminal may be configured in an environment where there is no session based local policy. Form a session-based message. The intermediate node may be an application server (AS), a multimedia resource function controller (MRFC), or a multimedia resource function processor (MRFP).

In addition, the IMS processes the message transmission in the state where the session is established, performs the charging process, and then terminates the session. However, when processing messages between an IMS-based terminal and a non-IMS-based terminal, there may be a problem in billing processing. That is, if a session is established at an IMS terminal and a message is transmitted to a non-IMS terminal, and the session is terminated at the originating IMS terminal in a state in which normal reception is not completed due to a delay of the called party, the non-IMS terminal is late. Even if the incoming processing is completed, a problem arises in that it cannot be charged.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable the billing process smoothly when the IMS domain and the non-IMS domain interwork.

In addition, even if the caller's session in the IMS domain is terminated, there is another object to provide a method and system that can normally perform the charging process due to the IMS standard when the charge occurs in the non-IMS domain.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be described below and will be appreciated by the embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by means and combinations indicated in the appended claims.

In order to achieve the above object, in the IP multimedia subsystem according to the present invention, the billing processing method after the end of the session is a billing processing method when processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS). Receiving an incoming call completion message from the called party's non-IMS terminal after the session of the calling IMS terminal which has sent the message is terminated; (b) generating charging data through the received call completion message; And (c) transmitting the generated charging data to an IMS charging processing node.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a billing processing system for processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), relaying session formation and message transmission between an IMS terminal and a non-IMS terminal, and ending the session. After receiving the incoming completion message from the non-IMS terminal, the gateway server for transmitting the billing-related information including the caller / receiver information to the IMS application server; And an IMS application server that receives charging related information from the gateway server, generates charging data, and performs charging processing in association with an IMS charging processing server. A system is provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a billing processing device when processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), which receives an incoming call message from a non-IMS terminal when transmitting a message from an IMS terminal to a non-IMS terminal. Completion message receiving module; A session maintenance determination module for determining whether a session is maintained at an originating IMS terminal transmitting the message when a completion message is received by the completion message receiving module; And a billing processing module for transmitting billing data to the IMS billing processing server when it is determined that the session is terminated at the originating IMS terminal by the session maintenance determination module. The billing processing device after the session termination is provided in the IP multimedia subsystem. .

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system in which the present invention is implemented.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system in which the present invention is implemented has a structure in which an internet protocol multimedia subsystem 200 and another system 300 are interworked through a gateway server 100.

The Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem 200 (hereinafter referred to as IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystem) is a system for providing an IP-based multimedia service to the IMS-based mobile communication terminal 210. IMS billing processing server 220 to perform the processing and IMS application server 230 in charge of abnormal charging processing.

The IMS 200 is divided into a transport plane, a control plane, and a service plane area. The transport area is an IP based network. At this time, the IP-based network is not a public Internet but a closed communication network. In other words, it is an IP network that is built inside a carrier network. IP packet traffic such as video media or voice media flows between devices in the transmission area.

The control area has a call processing function for processing a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message. The Call Session Control Function (CSCF) provides the core call handling functionality. This includes multimedia call routing. This part corresponds to the soft-switch of BcN / NGN.

The service area provides call processing logic. Various types of multimedia call processing methods can be implemented for each subscriber. It can provide a service similar to the function provided by the intelligent network (IN) of the public telephone network. For example, different call processing services based on time of day. Unless the multimedia connection request coming in at midnight is an emergency, the subscriber creates a guide message and automatically connects to the multimedia message storage device to store the message. In the morning, a message indicating the arrival of the message is transmitted to the subscriber station. The application server AS exchanges signals with the call processing control unit CSCF and performs a call processing operation instructed by the application server.

The IMS billing processing server 220 serves to process billing for service usage of each terminal in the IMS. The IMS billing server 220 performs billing processing in a state in which a session is formed with one of the IMS-based nodes. In addition, when the session is terminated, the billing data is provided to perform billing processing based on the IMS standard. The charging data includes information on counting and information on the originating and transmitting terminals when the IMS-based terminals 210 use the service corresponding to the billing charge such as message transmission or data transmission with the non-IMS-based terminals 310. Data. The charging of each IMS terminal 210 is performed based on the charging data provided in this way.

The IMS application server 230 performs a charging process in an abnormal state when using a service between the IMS terminal 210 and the non-IMS terminal 310. When an abnormal state occurs, the IMS application server 230 collects billing related information on the non-IMS side and generates billing data. The generated billing data is provided to the IMS billing server 220 to proceed with the normal billing process. An example of the abnormal state may be a case where a message is delayed at the non-IMS terminal 310 after transmitting a message from the IMS terminal 210 to the non-IMS terminal 310. In this case, as the message reception processing is delayed at the non-IMS terminal 310, the session may be terminated before the message reception completion message is received at the IMS terminal 210. In this case, charging due to the normal IMS standard may occur. Processing is impossible.

The other system 300 may be a system other than IMS, such as a CDMA system or a GSM system. The terminal 310 included in the other system 300 may be interlocked through the IMS 200 and the gateway server 100. Through this, the non-IMS terminal 310 may use services such as video, voice call, and message transmission with the IMS terminals 210 based on the IMS 200.

The gateway server 100 connects the IMS 200 and the non-IMS 300, which is another system, and performs a service by interworking services with each other. An example of interworking with the service between the IMS 200 and the non-IMS 300 may include relaying session formation and message transmission between the IMS terminal and the non-IMS terminal. In addition, when the message reception completion message is received from the non-IMS terminal after the session is terminated from the IMS terminal 210, the gateway server 100 collects charging related information up to that time, and then returns to the IMS application server 230. It serves to transmit. That is, the message is transmitted after the session is established from the IMS terminal 210 to the non-IMS terminal 310, and when the message incoming processing is delayed from the non-IMS terminal 310, the message is separately charged. do. In addition, the gateway server 100 performs a protocol switching process for allowing different protocols to be applied to each other for interworking with the IMS 200 and the other system 300.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus for processing a bill after a session ends in an IP multimedia subsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the apparatus 100 for processing billing according to the present invention is an apparatus for processing an abnormal service charging component occurring at the non-IMS 300 side during a service interworking process between the IMS 200 and the non-IMS 300. , Completion message receiving module 110, session maintenance determination module 120, and the billing processing module 130. In this case, as an example of service interworking, a message transmission process from the IMS 200 to the non-IMS 300 and a charging process according thereto will be described as an example.

The completion message receiving module 110, when processing a message service from the IMS terminal to the non-IMS terminal, serves to receive a message incoming completion message from the non-IMS terminal. That is, the completion message receiving module 100 determines whether an incoming call completion message is received from a non-IMS terminal during message service processing.

When the completion message is received by the completion message receiving module 110, the session maintenance determination module 120 determines whether to maintain the session of the calling IMS terminal which has transmitted the message. That is, normal charging processing proceeds if the calling party's session is maintained when the incoming call completion message is received.However, if the completion message is received after the calling party's session is terminated due to delay in receiving processing, normal charging processing is not possible. To distinguish between sessions, it is determined whether to maintain the session.

The billing processing module 130 plays a role of handling a billing in an abnormal state rather than a normal billing processing due to the IMS standard. If the charging processing module 130 determines that the session of the calling IMS terminal is terminated even though the incoming call completion message is received from the session maintenance determination module 120, the charging processing module 130 may receive a call delay of the non-IMS 300. Judge it as abnormal and proceed with separate billing process. The separate billing process collects the charge related information including the call completion message and the sender and receiver information received by the completion message receiving module 110, and transmits it to the IMS application server 230 of the IMS 200. Request abnormal charging.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a charging method after session termination in an IP multimedia subsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, first, a session is established to use a message service between an IMS-based terminal and a non-IMS-based terminal, and a procedure of forming a session between both terminals is performed.

When a session is established, a message is transmitted between both terminals to use a message service. At this time, the IMS side transmits the message and confirms the message in the session due to the IP-based message transmission process. However, the non-IMS side is converted to the message transmission method applied to the system through the gateway server and processed. Therefore, the message sent from the IMS terminal is delivered to the non-IMS terminal through the relay of the gateway server, and after the incoming processing is completed, the incoming message is received to complete the message transmission processing (S20).

When the message is transmitted to the non-IMS terminal through the gateway, the non-IMS side responds by transmitting an incoming call completion message confirming the completion of the call. As such, when the IMS and the non-IMS interwork to process the message service, the non-IMS side may receive an incoming call completion message after the message is transmitted to determine that the message transmission process is completed, and to add the billing (S30).

If an incoming call completion message is received from the non-IMS side, a procedure for checking whether the caller maintains the session is performed. After checking whether the session is maintained, it is determined whether the session is established or not and provides the result. (S40, S50)

If the session of the calling terminal is maintained, i.e., if the session is established, charging processing based on the IMS standard is performed in the session based on the received call completion message (S55).

On the other hand, if the session of the calling terminal is not maintained, i.e., if the session is terminated, the charging related information including the call completion message and information of the calling party, the receiving terminal, and the like is collected, and the charging data is generated. Proceed. This is because normal IMS charging is not possible after session termination. Therefore, the charging data is generated to collect the charging related information even after the session is terminated so that the charging processing can be performed in the IMS charging processing server.

The generated billing data is transmitted to the IMS billing processing server to request billing processing.

Through such a procedure, an abnormal state of charge processing that cannot be charged according to the IMS-based standard procedure can be processed through a separate procedure.

Hereinafter, the charging processing method after the end of the session in the IP multimedia subsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of processes for each node of a system according to a charging processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, a calling IMS terminal wishing to transmit a message to a non-IMS terminal makes a session establishment request to a gateway server in charge of interworking with non-IMS. In this case, a request for a byte is made through SIP. (1)

The gateway server switches the session establishment request signal to the protocol according to the non-IMS side according to the invite request. (2)

When the switching process is performed by the gateway server to the protocol according to the non-IMS side, the session setup request signal is transmitted to the called terminal through the switched protocol.

Upon receiving the session establishment request signal, the called terminal accepts the session establishment request and performs a session establishment process, thereby establishing a session between both terminals.

Once the session is established, the calling terminal sends a message to the gateway server to send the message to the called terminal. In this case, the message is transmitted through the message session relay protocol.

The gateway server performs a process of converting the received message to be applied to the non-IMS side in order to deliver the received message to the non-IMS terminal.

The message thus converted in the gateway server is sent to the called terminal. This procedure may consist of, for example, a procedure such as SMS sending processing.

The receiving terminal receiving the message performs a message incoming process for confirming the incoming message. In this case, message incoming processing may be delayed. This may occur because the called party is a non-IMS terminal because the ALL-IP function is not supported. In other words, the non-IMS terminal activates the data channel via SMS to establish a TCP connection. If this time is too long, a delay occurs in the message receiving process.

If the calling terminal wants to stop using the message service while the incoming call is delayed, the calling terminal requests the session termination. That is, the calling terminal makes a BYE request to the gateway server through the SIP.

At the request of the called terminal, a session established and maintained between the calling terminal and the gateway server is released. In this case, the session is terminated, but the message transmitted to the called terminal is not received due to delayed processing. That is, the billing for the message transmission that is delayed in the incoming processing during the billing process for the corresponding calling terminal and the end of the session is missing.

After the end of the session of the calling terminal, the called terminal can be processed normally after a predetermined time delay for the previous message transmission.

The terminating terminal responds to the gateway server with the information which has been normally processed late. That is, in response to the previous message transmission, the incoming completion message is transmitted to the gateway server.

Since the gateway server receives the incoming call completion message and the session of the corresponding calling terminal is terminated, the gateway server requests the IMS application server for charging thereof. At this time, the billing-related information including the incoming call completion message, the originating terminal, and the information of the called terminal is collected and transmitted together with the billing processing request to the IMS application server. In this case, when charging related information is transmitted to the IMS application server, the corresponding information is stored and transmitted through the SIP message method.

Based on the received information, the IMS application server generates billing data used for billing processing according to the IMS standard.

The IMS application server transmits the generated billing data to the IMS billing processing server.

The IMS billing server performs the normal billing process according to the IMS standard according to the received billing data.

Through this procedure, even if abnormal charging occurs on the non-IMS side, the charging process can be performed in the same manner as the normal IMS charging process. Through this, it is possible to prevent a phenomenon in which billing processing is omitted due to service use.

The terms or words used in this specification and claims are not to be construed as limiting in their usual or dictionary meanings, and the inventors may appropriately define the concept of terms in order to best explain their invention in the best way possible. It should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

According to the present invention, when a message is transmitted from an IMS terminal to a non-IMS terminal, a charging process based on an IMS standard is performed to provide a more efficient charging system.

In addition, even if an abnormal state such as a message incoming processing delay occurs on the non-IMS terminal side, it performs an effective charging process and provides an effect of reducing the loss due to the omission of the charging.

Claims (15)

A billing method for processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), (a) receiving, at the gateway server, an incoming call completion message from the called party's non-IMS terminal after the session of the calling IMS terminal which has sent the message is terminated; (b) generating an accounting data by receiving an incoming call completion message received from the gateway server at an IMS application server; And (c) transmitting the generated billing data to an IMS billing server; billing processing after session termination in an IP multimedia subsystem. The method of claim 1, Step (b) is, (4) when the incoming completion message is received, transmitting charging related information including the caller / receiver information to the IMS application server (AS); And And (5) generating, at the IMS application server, the charging data using the received information. The method of claim 2, In the step (4), the charging information is transmitted through the message method of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) characterized in that the charging process after the session termination in the IP multimedia subsystem. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Step (a) is, A method for processing billing after session termination in an IP multimedia subsystem, characterized in that the gateway server converts an IMS protocol into a protocol of a non-IMS terminal. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Before step (a) above, (1) establishing a session with a destination non-IMS terminal at the request of the calling IMS terminal; (2) transmitting a message from the calling IMS terminal to the called non-IMS terminal; And (3) terminating the session established at the request of the calling IMS terminal; and the charging processing method after the end of the session in the IP multimedia subsystem further comprising. The method of claim 5, wherein step (1) comprises Method of processing after session termination in IP multimedia subsystem, characterized in that the session is established according to the invite request of the originating IMS terminal through the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The method of claim 6, The invite request of the SIP is converted to a protocol corresponding to the non-IMS terminal through the gateway server to request the session establishment to the called party's non-IMS terminal, and thus, the session is terminated in the IP multimedia subsystem. Post-Charge Handling Method. The method of claim 5, wherein step (2) Method for handling charging after session termination in IP multimedia subsystem, characterized in that the message is transmitted via message session relay protocol (MSRP). The method of claim 5, wherein step (3) A method for processing charging after a session is terminated in an IP multimedia subsystem, characterized in that the session is terminated at the request of the calling IMS terminal through a session initialization protocol (SIP). A billing processing system when processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), It relays the session establishment and message transmission between the IMS terminal and the non-IMS terminal and, when the reception completion message is received from the non-IMS terminal after the session is terminated, transmits the billing-related information including the caller / receiver information to the IMS application server. Gateway server; And And an IMS application server that receives charging related information from the gateway server, generates charging data, and performs charging processing in association with an IMS charging processing server. The method of claim 10, And an IMS billing server configured to receive billing data in association with the IMS application server to perform billing processing according to an IMS process procedure. The method of claim 10 or 11, The gateway server, And the charging related information is transmitted to the IMS application server through a message method of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The method of claim 10 or 11, The gateway server, A system for providing billing processing after session termination in an IP multimedia subsystem, characterized in that a session initialization protocol (SIP) of a calling party IMS terminal is converted to a protocol of a called party non-IMS terminal when the session is established. A billing processing device for processing a message service with a non-IMS terminal in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), A completion message receiving module for receiving an incoming completion message from the non-IMS terminal when transmitting a message from the IMS terminal to the non-IMS terminal; A session maintenance determination module for determining whether a session is maintained at an originating IMS terminal transmitting the message when a completion message is received by the completion message receiving module; And And a billing processing module for transmitting billing data to the IMS billing processing server when it is determined that the session is terminated by the session maintaining determination module at the calling IMS terminal. The method of claim 14, And the billing data of the billing processing module is generated through billing related information including a completion message and caller / receiver information received by the completion message receiving module.

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