WO2008058484A1

WO2008058484A1 - Charging method, charging system and its apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2008058484A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/071040
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianhai Han
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-11-13
Filing date: 2007-11-09
Publication date: 2008-05-22

Abstract

A charging system includes a real time charging system (10), a quasi-real-time charging system (20), a transport operation supported system (30), a customer service system (40), a service charging point (50) and a calls ticket gathering system (60). The real time charging system (10) includes a preprocessing unit (11), a markup marshalling unit (12), a balance management unit (13) and an interface unit (14). The quasi-real-time charging system (20) includes a markup marshalling unit (21), a balance management unit (22), and an account processing unit (23). A charging method and its apparatus are also disclosed.

Description

Billing system, billing method and device thereof The application is submitted to the Chinese Patent Office on November 13, 2006 and November 24, 2006, and the application numbers are 200610138758.7 and 200610145263.7, respectively. The priority of the Chinese Patent Application, the "Billing System, Apparatus and Method" and "Billing System and Recharge Method" thereof, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to a method, a billing system and a device for implementing unified fee management in a telecommunications billing technology.

Background technique

In the field of telecommunications, telecommunications subscribers are involved in the use of telecommunications services, and telecommunications billing is the main line throughout the telecommunications development. It is not only directly related to the development of telecommunications companies, but also reflects the service level of telecom enterprises to the vast number of telecommunications users. With the continuous development of telecommunications technology, the continuous updating and growth of telecommunications services and the transformation of telecommunications business methods have put forward higher requirements for telecommunications billing. There are currently two types of payment methods for telecom users: real-time payment for prepaid users and quasi-real-time payment for post-paid users. In order to meet this service requirement, the charging system of the telecommunication network can be implemented in two ways: through the intelligent network and the mobile data service management platform, the real-time charging of the telecommunication users and the quasi-real-time charging of the telecommunication users are realized through the offline charging system.

Currently, there is a billing system in which all billing operations are uniformly handled by a quasi-real time billing system. The billing system has a single component and low cost, but the real-time performance is poor, the deduction period is long, real-time billing for the business cannot be realized, and there is a high risk of arrears.

At present, another billing system can realize real-time billing processing of prepaid users and quasi-real-time billing processing of post-paid users. The real-time charging of the charging system is implemented by the intelligent network service control point (SCP) and the data service management platform (MDSP) on the network side: a switching device (MSC/SSP) of the circuit domain is connected to the SCP, and is implemented by the SCP. Real-time charging of the circuit domain service, the GPRS service support node (SGSN) of the packet domain is connected to the MDSP through the SCP, and the bearer flow rate of the packet domain is implemented by the interface between the SGSN and the SCP, and the content charging is implemented by the MDSP; Real-time billing is implemented by a quasi-real-time billing system (Hotbilling). Hotbilling collects bills from the MSC of the circuit domain, the billing gateway (CG) of the packet domain, and the MDSP of the service network, and then charges the user.

Quasi-real-time billing includes the following steps: Step a: The user uses the circuit domain service or the packet domain service.

Step b: After the user completes the service, the related device, for example, the MSC of the circuit domain service, the CG and the MDSP of the packet domain service generate a user bill.

Step _{c: The} quasi-real-time billing system collects the bill from the related device and performs billing for the user. Real-time billing includes the following steps:

Step a: The user uses the circuit domain service or the packet domain service.

Step b: In the process of using the service by the user, related devices such as the MSC of the circuit domain service and the SGSN/SSP, MDSP and SCP of the packet domain service perform real-time interaction. The MSC and SGSN/SSP report the user's usage status such as traffic and duration in real time, and the SCP performs the pricing, deduction and reservation operations. The MDSP appends the content according to the user's service usage, and then the SCP deducts the fee.

Step c: After the user ends, the related device reports the usage of the user to the SCP, and the MDSP directly reports the usage fee, and the SCP performs a deduction and returns a deduction confirmation message to the related device.

In the charging system, the real-time billing account balance is stored by the intelligent network SCP, and the quasi-real-time billing account balance is stored by the HOTBILLING database, and the real-time billing account balance is stored separately from the quasi-real-time billing account balance, and is not associated with each other. If the user subscribes to the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service at the same time, when the quota of one of the accounts is insufficient, another account with sufficient balance cannot be shared, and thus the user cannot use the service corresponding to the account with insufficient credit.

In the billing system, the real-time billing recharge system and the quasi-real-time billing payment system are independent of each other, wherein the real-time billing, that is, the prepaid recharge process is as follows:

Step a: The user recharges the real-time billing account through the real-time billing recharge system;

Step b: The real-time charging and recharging system transmits the refill amount information to the intelligent network SCP;

Step c: Update the user account information in the SCP database of the intelligent network.

The quasi-real-time billing and post-paid billing process is as follows:

Step a: The user inputs the payment account and the payment amount through the quasi-real-time bill payment system; Step b: The quasi-real-time bill payment system transmits the account and amount information of the payment to

HOTBILLING;

Step c: HOTBILLING authenticates the paid account;

Step d: HOTBILLING recharges and changes the account information of the user account according to the payment account, the amount, and the like. In the above charging system, the real-time charging refill system and the quasi-real-time billing payment system are independent of each other, and the user cannot recharge the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system uniformly, which brings inconvenience to the user.

Summary of the invention

The present invention provides a method, a billing system and a device capable of realizing cost management, and uniformly managing the fees of a real-time billing system and a quasi-real-time billing system.

The embodiments of the present invention propose the following technical solutions:

A method for sharing a fee balance, between a real-time billing system and a quasi-real-time billing system, the method comprising:

The account balance and the real-time billing system account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system are uniformly stored and managed; the fees of the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user are deducted from the uniformly managed account balance.

A charging system for sharing a fee balance, the charging system comprising:

Real-time billing system, including:

a balance management unit, configured to uniformly store and manage balances of the user's quasi-real-time billing account and the real-time billing account; and deduct the corresponding fee from the balance according to the received deduction request;

The rating unit is configured to perform a cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user, obtain a fee generated by the user using the real-time charging service, and send a deduction request to the balance management unit;

An interface unit, configured to transfer information between a real-time billing system and a quasi-real-time billing system; a quasi-real-time billing system, including:

a rating unit, configured to perform a cost calculation on the quasi-real-time charging service used by the user, obtain a quasi-real-time charging service fee used by the user, and perform real-time charging to the real-time charging system through an interface unit in the real-time charging system. The system's balance management unit sends a deduction request.

A charging system for sharing a fee balance, the charging system comprising:

a balance management unit, configured to uniformly store and manage a real-time billing account and a quasi-real-time billing account balance; and deduct a corresponding fee from the balance according to the received deduction request;

The real-time charging system, including the rating unit, is configured to perform a cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user, obtain a fee generated by the user using the real-time charging service, and send a deduction request to the balance management unit; The quasi-real-time billing system includes a rating unit for performing cost calculation on the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user, obtaining a fee generated by the user using the quasi-real-time billing service, and sending a deduction request to the balance management unit.

A charging device, the charging device comprising:

An interface unit, configured to receive a debit request sent from a real-time billing system and a quasi-real-time billing system; a balance management unit, configured to uniformly store a real-time billing account and a quasi-real-time billing account balance, and according to the real-time billing system The deduction request sent by the quasi-real-time billing system deducts the cost of the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user.

A method for charging a charging system, the method comprising:

The account balance and the real-time billing system account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system are uniformly stored and managed; and the recharge amount is stored in the unified managed account balance according to the received recharge amount and the request to change the balance.

A billing system, the billing system comprising:

a balance management unit, configured to uniformly store and manage balances of the user's quasi-real-time billing system account and the real-time billing system account; change the uniformly managed account balance according to the received balance change request; and the recharge system is configured to receive the included Recharging the account of the user and the refilling request of the refill amount, and requesting the balance management unit to change the uniformly managed account balance according to the refill request.

The invention integrates the real-time billing system account and the quasi-real-time billing system account balance information based on the embodiment of the fee balance sharing, so that the balance of the account between the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system can be shared, and the user is solved. The problem of not being able to use the business when one account balance is insufficient and the other account has a balance.

The embodiment of the present invention is based on the charging system of the real-time charging system and the payment system of the quasi-real-time charging system, which enables the user to perform unified charging for the real-time charging system and the quasi-real-time charging system, and real-time charging. The system and the quasi-real-time billing system enjoy the same preferential ability, which increases the convenience of the billing system.

In summary, the present invention implements unified management of the fees of the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system.

DRAWINGS

1 is a structure of a first preferred embodiment of a charging system based on billing account balance sharing according to the present invention; Figure

2 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of mapping the quasi-real-time charging system account information of FIG. 1 to a real-time charging system according to the present invention;

3 is a flow chart of a first preferred embodiment of the billing system of FIG. 1 for charging; FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the first preferred embodiment of the quasi-real-time billing service deduction in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a second preferred embodiment of the quasi-real-time charging service deduction in FIG. 1; FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a user inquiry account balance based on a billing account balance sharing according to the present invention;

7 is a structural diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a charging system based on billing account balance sharing according to the present invention;

8 is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a charging apparatus based on charging account balance sharing according to the present invention applied to a charging system;

9 is a structural diagram of a first preferred embodiment of a charging system based on charging and charging according to the present invention; FIG. 10 is a flowchart of charging of a charging system in FIG. 9 according to the present invention;

11 is a structural diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a charging system based on charging and charging according to the present invention; FIG. 12 is a flowchart of charging of a charging system in FIG. 10 according to the present invention;

Figure 13 is a structural view showing a first embodiment of the recharging device of the present invention;

Figure 14 is a structural view showing a second embodiment of the recharging device of the present invention.

detailed description

The embodiment of the invention provides a billing system, method and device for realizing unified management of expenses, and the unified management of the fee includes operations of cost balance sharing and billing recharging. In order to make the present invention clearer, the detailed management of the cost of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

The following is a description based on cost balance sharing.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a structural diagram of a first preferred embodiment of a charging system based on billing account balance sharing according to the present invention. The billing system includes a real-time billing system 10, a quasi-real-time billing system 20, an operation support system 30, a customer service system 40, a service billing point 50, and a bill collecting system 60. The real-time charging system 10 includes a pre-processing unit 11, a rating unit 12, a balance management unit 13, and an interface unit 14, wherein the interface unit 14 is configured to receive a real-time charging request message sent from the service charging point 50. And obtaining quasi-real-time billing account information and balance information from the quasi-real-time billing system 20, The pre-processing unit 11 is configured to authenticate the real-time charging service used by the user, and the rating unit 12 is configured to perform the rating and cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user, and the user's use. The real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service fee deduction, the balance management unit 13 is configured to store and manage the user real-time billing account balance information and the quasi-real-time billing account balance information. The quasi-real-time billing system 20 includes a rating unit 21, a balance management unit 22, and a billing processing unit 23, wherein the rating unit 21 is configured to perform pricing and fees on the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user. The balance management unit 22 is configured to temporarily store the user's quasi-real-time billing account balance information, and the billing processing unit 23 is configured to process the account generated by the user using the quasi-real-time billing service and the real-time billing service.

The operational support system 30 interacts with the customer service system 40 through the quasi-real-time billing system 20, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance management of the telecommunications network. The service charging point 50 is a point for generating a charging when a value-added service is used in a telecommunication network, for example, an intelligent network, a data service management platform, a content charging gateway, and the like.

When the user uses the telecommunication service, if the service charging point 50 determines that the user is a prepaid user, the real-time charging request message is sent to the real-time charging system 10, and the pre-processing unit 11 of the real-time charging system 10 The service used by the user is authenticated, and after the authentication is passed, the rating unit 12 is used to perform the rating and cost calculation on the service used by the user, and the fee generated by the user using the real-time charging service is obtained, and the balance management unit is obtained from the balance management unit. The deduction of the balance of 13 is completed, and the real-time online charging for the prepaid user is completed; if the service charging point 50 determines that the user is a post-paid user, the service charging point 50 records the bill of the user using the service, and then the bill is set. The system 60 collects the bill from the service billing point 50, and delivers the bill to the quasi-real-time billing system 20, and the bidding unit 21 of the quasi-real-time billing system 20 performs the rating and cost calculation. And sending a chargeback request to the balance management unit 13 of the real-time billing system through the interface unit 14 of the real-time billing system 10, and deducting the corresponding amount in the balance management unit 13. The fee is finally obtained by the account processing unit 23 of the quasi-real-time billing system 20 from the balance management unit of the real-time billing system to obtain the bill list of the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service, and complete the service for the telecommunications user. Bill processing.

The balance management unit 13 of the real-time billing system 10 not only stores and manages the user real-time billing system account information but also stores information of the user's quasi-real-time billing system account. Therefore, when the user's quasi-real-time billing system account information changes, the real-time billing system account information is also changed accordingly. Referring to FIG. 2, a flowchart for mapping real-time billing system account information to a real-time billing system, The mapping process includes:

Step 201: The user's quasi-real-time billing system account information is changed;

Step 202: The quasi-real-time charging system writes the message of the account information change to the notification table between the quasi-real-time charging system and the real-time charging system;

Step 203: The real-time charging system interface program scans the notification table, and finds that the account information is changed, or the quasi-real-time charging system message notifies the real-time charging system that the account information is changed;

Step 204: The real-time billing system interface program obtains valid account information, balance book information, special account book information, and balance data information from the quasi-real-time billing system database;

Step 205: The real-time charging system interface program clears the balance data information in the quasi-real-time charging system database;

Step 206: The real-time charging system interface program obtains the group information of the user, the user ordering service agreement information, and the like;

Step 207: The real-time charging system calls the conversion program to convert the obtained account related information into a format required by the real-time charging system;

Step 208: The corresponding account information is changed in the real-time charging system database, and the balance data is stored in the real-time charging system database.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flow chart of charging according to a charging system in which a charging account balance is shared according to the present invention is provided. The charging process includes:

Step 301: The user starts to use the telecommunication service;

Step 302: The service billing point determines whether the user is a prepaid user or a postpaid user, if it is a prepaid user, step 303 is performed, and if it is a postpaid user, step 312 is performed;

Step 303: The service charging point sends a real-time charging request message to the real-time charging system. Step 304: The real-time charging system uses the pre-processing unit of the system and the rating unit to authenticate and rate the charging request. ;

Step 305: After the fee reservation is successful, the real-time charging system sends a message of the real-time charging request response to the service charging point;

Step 306: The service charging point performs real-time cost monitoring on the service used by the user according to the content of the message returned by the real-time charging system, thereby avoiding the user's arrears;

Step 307: After the user uses the service, the service charging point reports the real-time meter to the real-time charging system again. Fee request message;

Step 308: The real-time charging system reverses the cost of the service used by the user, and deducts the fee in real time, and then records the used bill;

Step 309: The real-time charging system returns a response message of the real-time charging request to the service charging point; Step 310: The real-time charging system transmits the real-time bill to the quasi-real-time charging system;

Step 311: The quasi-real-time billing system performs corresponding accounting processing according to the bill of the real-time billing system. The real-time billing process ends.

Step 312: The service charging point records the service usage of the user in the charging period, and generates a bill corresponding to the service;

Step 313: The service billing point transmits the bill to the quasi-real-time billing system.

Step 314: The quasi-real-time billing system uses the rating unit dialog of the system to perform the rating and the cost calculation;

Step 315: At the end of the billing period, the quasi-real-time billing system initiates a message of deduction request to the real-time billing system;

Step 316: Deducting the relevant fee from the account balance of the real-time charging system according to the usage fee that needs to be deducted in the deduction request message sent by the quasi-real-time charging system;

Step 317: The real-time charging system returns a charging response message to the quasi-real-time charging system. Step 318: The quasi-real-time charging system completes the accounting processing of the quasi-real-time charging service usage. The quasi-real-time billing process ends.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a flowchart of a first preferred embodiment of a quasi-real-time charging service deduction based on a billing account balance sharing according to the present invention. The deduction process includes:

Step 401: The quasi-real-time charging system forms a deduction charge file according to the service condition of the user; Step 402: The quasi-real-time charging system transmits the deduction charge file to the real-time charging system through a file transfer protocol;

Step 403: The real-time charging system pre-processing unit authenticates the debit charge file; Step 404: The real-time charging system calls the balance management unit to perform deduction of the service usage fee; Step 405: The real-time charging system applies the quasi-real-time charging The system returns a processing receipt file. Referring to FIG. 5, a flowchart of a second preferred embodiment of a quasi-real-time charging service deduction based on a billing account balance sharing according to the present invention includes: Step 501: The quasi-real-time charging system performs the rating according to the service condition of the user, and calculates the fee for the user to use the service;

Step 502: The quasi-real-time charging system sends the message with the user using the service fee to the real-time charging system through the interface unit of the real-time charging system;

Step 503: The real-time charging system calls the balance management unit to perform deduction of the fee according to the information of the fee in the message;

Step 504: After the deduction is completed, the interface unit is notified of the current deduction of the fee by the quasi-real time billing system.

Referring to FIG. 6, a flow chart for querying an account balance based on a user account balance account sharing, the query process includes:

Step 601: The user sends a balance inquiry request to the quasi-real-time charging system;

Step 602: The quasi-real-time billing system sends a balance inquiry request to the real-time billing system; Step 603: the real-time billing system balance management unit queries the user's account balance information; Step 604: The real-time billing system returns the checked balance information to the real-time billing system through the interface unit. Quasi-real-time billing system;

Step 605: The quasi-real time charging system returns the balance information to the user.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a structural diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a charging system based on billing account balance sharing according to the present invention. The billing system includes a real-time billing system 100, a quasi-real-time billing system 200, an operation support system 300, a customer service system 400, a service billing point 500, a bill collection system 600, and a balance management unit 700. The real-time charging system 100 includes a pre-processing unit 110, a rating unit 120, and an interface unit 140, where the interface unit 140 is configured to receive a real-time charging request message sent from the service charging point 500, the pre-processing The unit 110 is configured to authenticate the real-time charging service used by the user, and the rating unit 120 is configured to perform rating and cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user. The quasi-real-time billing system 200 includes a rating unit 210 and a billing processing unit 230, wherein the rating unit 210 is configured to perform rating and cost calculation on the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user. The service processing unit 230 is configured to process accounts generated by the user using the quasi-real-time charging service and the real-time charging service. The balance management unit 700 is connected to the real-time billing system 100 and the quasi-real-time billing system 200 for uniformly storing and managing user real-time billing account balance information and quasi-real-time billing account balance information, and performing real-time billing by users. Deduction of business and quasi-real-time billing business expenses Except.

When the user uses the telecommunication service, if the service charging point 500 determines that the user is a prepaid user, the real-time charging system 100 is initiated to the real-time charging system 100, and the real-time charging system 100 uses the user. The service performs authentication and pricing, and the balance management unit 700 deducts the real-time charging service used by the user to complete real-time online charging for the prepaid user. If the service charging point 500 determines that the user is a post-paid user, The service billing point 500 records the bills used by the user, and then the bill collecting system 600 collects the bills from the service billing point 500, and delivers the bills to the quasi-real-time billing system 200. The quasi-real-time billing system 200 dialog box performs the rating and cost calculation, deducts the corresponding fee from the account balance in the balance management unit 700, and completes the bill processing of the service used by the telecommunications user by the quasi-real-time billing system 200.

Compared with the first preferred embodiment of the billing system of the present invention, the real-time billing service fee and the quasi-real-time billing service fee in the billing system are uniformly deducted and inquired from the balance management unit 700.

It can be understood that FIG. 1 and FIG. 7 are only preferred embodiments. In practical applications, the pre-processing unit in the real-time billing system and the billing processing unit in the quasi-real-time billing system may be optional units.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a charging apparatus based on charging account balance sharing according to the present invention applied to a charging system. The billing system includes a real-time billing system 81, a quasi-real-time billing system 82, an operation support system 83, a customer service system 84, a service billing point 85, a bill collecting system 86, and a billing device 80. The real-time charging system 81 includes a pre-processing unit 811, a rating unit 812, and an interface unit 814. The interface unit 814 is configured to receive a real-time charging request message sent from the service charging point 85. The unit 811 is configured to authenticate the real-time charging service used by the user, and the rating unit 812 is configured to perform the rating and the cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user. The quasi-real-time billing system 82 includes a rating unit 821 and a billing processing unit 823, wherein the rating unit 821 is used for rating and calculating the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user. The processing unit 823 is configured to process accounts generated by the user using the quasi-real-time charging service and the real-time charging service. The charging device 80 includes an interface unit 801 and a balance management unit 802. The charging device 80 receives the debiting request sent by the real-time charging system 81 and the quasi-real-time charging system 82 through the interface unit 801, where the balance management unit 802 is configured to uniformly store and manage the user real-time charging account balance information and The quasi-real-time billing account balance information, and the deduction of the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service fee by the user according to the deduction request received by the interface unit 801. When the user uses the telecommunication service, if the service charging point 85 determines that the user is a prepaid user, the real-time charging system 81 is initiated to the real-time charging system 81, and the real-time charging system 81 uses the user. The service is authenticated and approved, and the debit request is sent to the balance management unit 802 through the interface unit 801 of the charging device 80, and the real-time charging service used by the user is deducted, and the real-time online charging for the prepaid user is completed. If the service billing point 85 determines that the user is a post-paid user, the service billing point 85 records the bill of the user using the service, and then the bill collecting system 86 collects the bill from the service billing point 85, and The bill is sent to the quasi-real-time billing system 82, and the quasi-real-time billing system 82 dialog box performs the pricing and cost calculation, and the billing unit 801 of the billing device 80 sends the deduction request to the balance management unit 802. The real-time charging service used by the user performs deduction, and then the deduction is sent to the accounting processing unit 823 of the quasi-real-time charging system 82 to complete the billing process for the service used by the telecommunication user.

The billing method provided by the foregoing embodiment, the system and the device thereof organically combine the account balance information of the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system, so that the balance between the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system can be shared. It solves the problem that the user cannot use the business when one account balance is insufficient and the other account has a balance.

The following is a unified management description for fees based on fee recharge.

Please refer to FIG. 9, which is a structural diagram of a first preferred embodiment of a charging system based on charging and charging according to the present invention. The billing system includes a real-time billing system 10, a quasi-real-time billing system 20, an operation support system 30, a customer service system 40, a service billing point 50, a bill collecting system 60, a refill system 70, and a refill access system 80. . The real-time billing system 10 includes a pre-processing unit 11, a rating unit 12, a balance management unit 13, and an interface unit 14. The interface unit 14 is configured to receive the real-time charging request message sent from the service charging point 50, and obtain the user's quasi-real-time charging account information and balance information from the quasi-real-time charging system 20. The pre-processing unit 11 is configured to authenticate the real-time charging service used by the user. The rating unit 12 is configured to perform rating and cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user. The balance management unit 13 is configured to store and manage the user real-time charging account balance information and the quasi-real-time charging account balance information, and the deduction of the real-time charging service and the quasi-real-time charging service fee used by the user. The quasi-real-time billing system 20 includes a rating unit 21, a balance management unit 22, a billing processing unit 23, and a pre-processing unit 24. The rating unit 21 is configured to perform rating and cost calculation on the quasi-real-time charging service used by the user. Balance management unit 22 is used for temporarily storing the user's quasi-real-time billing account balance information. The accounting processing unit 23 is configured to process accounts generated by the user using the quasi-real-time charging service and the real-time charging service. The pre-processing unit 24 authenticates the recharged user account, that is, determines the validity of the recharged user account.

The operational support system 30 interacts with the quasi-real-time billing system 20 and the customer service system 40, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance management of the telecommunications network. The service charging point 50 is a point for generating a charging when a value-added service is used in a telecommunication network, for example, an intelligent network, a data service management platform, a content charging gateway, and the like.

The refill access system 80 is a system for users to access when charging, such as an interactive voice response (IVR) system, a short message service (SMS) system, a wireless application (WAP) system, and an unstructured supplementary data service (USSD) ) and the business hall payment system. The refill system 70 is connected to the quasi-real-time billing system and is responsible for the management of the recharge card and the control of the recharge process.

When the user uses the telecommunication service, if the service charging point 50 determines that the user is a prepaid user, the real-time charging system 10 is initiated to the real-time charging system 10, and the real-time charging system 10 uses the user. The service performs operations such as authentication, pricing, reservation, and deduction, and completes real-time online charging for prepaid users. If the service charging point 50 determines that the user is a post-paid user, the service charging point 50 records the user's use. The bill of the service, then the bill collecting system 60 collects the bill from the service billing point 50, and delivers the bill to the quasi-real-time billing system 20, and the quasi-real-time billing system 20 dialog box is batched. The price and cost calculations are deducted from the real-time billing system 10 balance management unit 13, and the billing process for the services used by the telecommunications subscriber is completed by the quasi-real-time billing system 20.

When the user account balance is insufficient, the user needs to recharge the account to continue using the related business. The user accesses the refill system 70 through the refill access system 80 to recharge the user account, and the recharge system 70 sends the recharge amount and the like to the quasi-real-time billing system 20, which is processed by the pre-processing unit 24 of the quasi-real-time billing system 20. The recharged user performs authentication, that is, determines the validity of the recharged user account. After the authentication is passed, the balance management unit 13 of the real-time billing system 10 is requested to modify the balance of the user account and notify the balance of the quasi-real-time billing system 20. The management unit 22 modifies the account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system, and the charged amount is available for the user to use the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service. The following describes the process of user recharge in the above billing system. Referring to FIG. 10, it is a recharging flowchart of the charging system of the present invention in FIG. 9. The specific recharging process includes:

Step 1001: The user sends a refill request to the recharge system through the recharge access system, and provides the account of the recharged user and the amount of recharge. For example, if the user recharges through the recharge card, he or she will lose to the recharge system. Enter the account and password of the recharge card.

Step 1002: The recharge system authenticates the recharge card information provided by the user, determines whether the recharge card is valid, and if the recharge card is valid, deducts the balance on the recharge card.

Step 1003: The recharge system sends a refill request message to the quasi-real-time billing system, including the account of the recharged user, the account of the recharge card, and the recharge amount.

Step 1004: The quasi-real-time charging system queries the information of the recharged user, and the pre-processing unit authenticates the account of the recharged user to determine the legality and validity of the account.

Step 1005: The quasi-real-time billing system calculates the recharge discount according to the account of the recharged user, the account of the recharge card, and the recharge amount.

Step 1006: The balance management unit of the quasi-real-time billing system creates a balance book, and records the amount of the recharge generated in the balance book.

Step 1007: The quasi-real-time charging system sends the balance account and the balance information to the real-time charging system through the interface unit of the real-time charging system.

Step 1008: The real-time charging system changes the balance information in the balance management unit of the real-time charging system according to the balance account and the balance information sent by the quasi-real-time charging system.

Step 1009: The real-time charging system returns a message of the change result to the near real-time charging system.

Step 1010: The quasi-real-time charging system returns a refill response message to the recharge system.

Step 1011: The recharge system returns a recharge response message to the recharge access system.

Please refer to FIG. 11, which is a structural diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a charging system based on charging and charging according to the present invention. The billing system includes a real-time billing system 100, a quasi-real-time billing system 200, an operation support system 300, a customer service system 400, a service billing point 500, a bill collecting system 600, a refill system 700, and a refill system 800. . The real-time charging system 100 includes a pre-processing unit 110, a rating unit 120, a balance management unit 130, and an interface unit 140, wherein the interface unit 140 is configured to receive a real-time charging request message sent from the service charging point 500. And obtaining the user real-time charging account information and the balance information from the quasi-real-time charging system 200, and the pre-processing unit 110 is configured to authenticate the real-time charging service used by the user, and the rating unit 120 It is used for rating and calculating the real-time charging service used by the user, and the balance management unit 130 is configured to store and manage the real-time charging account balance information of the user and the quasi-real-time charging account balance information, and the user's use. Deduction of real-time billing services and quasi-real-time billing service charges. The quasi-real time billing system 200 includes a rating The unit 210, the balance management unit 220, and the account processing unit 230, wherein the rating unit 210 is configured to perform rating and fee calculation on the quasi-real-time charging service used by the user, and the balance management unit 220 is configured to temporarily The user's quasi-real-time billing account balance information is stored, and the billing processing unit 230 is configured to process the bill generated by the user using the quasi-real-time billing service and the real-time billing service. The refill system 700 is responsible for the management of the recharge card and the control of the recharge process, and the refill system 700 is used to determine the validity of the recharged user account.

The operational support system 300 interacts with the quasi-real-time billing system 200 and the customer service system 400, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance management of the telecommunications network. The service charging point 500 is a point for generating a charging when using a value-added service in a telecommunication network, such as an intelligent network, a data service management platform, a content charging gateway, and the like.

The refill access system 800 is a system for users to access when charging, such as an interactive voice response (IVR) system, a short message service (SMS) system, a wireless application (WAP) system, and an unstructured supplementary data service (USSD) ) System and business hall payment system.

When the user uses the telecommunication service, if the service charging point 500 determines that the user is a prepaid user, the real-time charging system 100 is initiated to the real-time charging system 100, and the real-time charging system 100 uses the user. The service performs operations such as authentication, rating, reservation, and deduction, and completes real-time online charging for prepaid users. If the service charging point 500 determines that the user is a post-paid user, the service charging point 500 records the user's use. The bill of the service, then the bill collecting system 600 collects the bill from the service billing point 500, and delivers the bill to the quasi-real-time billing system 200, and the quasi-real-time billing system 200 dialog box is batched. The price and fee calculations are deducted from the real-time billing system 100 balance management unit 130, and the billing process for the services used by the telecommunications subscriber is completed by the near real-time billing system 200.

In the above charging system, the refill system 700 directly charges the amount into the balance management unit 130 in the real-time billing system 100, and the charged amount is available for the user to use the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing. business. Referring to FIG. 12, it is a recharging flowchart of the billing system of the present invention in FIG. 11. The specific recharging process includes:

Step 1201: The user sends a refill request to the recharge system through the recharge access system, and provides the account of the recharged user and the amount of recharge. For example, if the user recharges through the recharge card, the account and password of the recharge card are input to the recharge system.

Step 1202: The recharge system provides the user with the recharge card information authentication, and determines whether the recharge card has Effect, if the recharge card is valid, the balance on the recharge card is deducted.

Step 1203: The recharge system queries the information of the recharged user, authenticates the account of the recharged user, and determines the legality and validity of the account.

Step 1204: The recharge system calculates the recharge offer according to the account of the recharged user, the account of the recharge card, and the recharge amount.

Step 1205: The recharge system sends a message of the balance change request to the real-time billing system according to the recharge amount and the recharge offer information.

Step 1206: The real-time billing system updates the balance information in the balance management unit, and notifies the balance management unit of the quasi-real time billing system to update the balance information.

Step 1207: The real-time billing system returns the balance update result to the recharge system.

Step 1208: The recharge system returns a recharge response message to the recharge access system.

Please refer to FIG. 13, which is a structural diagram of a first embodiment of the recharging device of the present invention. The refilling device 5 includes an interface unit 51, a refill flow processing unit 52, and a refill card management unit 53. The interface unit 51 is configured to interact with an interface of an interactive voice response (IVR) unit, other self-service unit, an online charging system/offline charging system, an operation support system, and the like. The recharge card management unit 53 obtains information such as an account number, a password, and a recharge amount of the recharge card input by the user through the interface unit 51, and authenticates the recharge card according to the information of the recharge card, and recharges the card according to the recharge amount. The amount is deducted. The refilling process processing unit 52 controls the refill card management unit 53 to perform authentication, deduction, and the like on the refill card.

Please refer to FIG. 14, which is a structural diagram of a second embodiment of the recharging device of the present invention. The refilling device 6 includes an interface unit 61, a refilling process processing unit 62, a recharge card management unit 63, a recharge discount calculation unit 64, and a customer profile storage unit 65. The interface unit 61 is configured to interact with an interface of a peripheral system such as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit, other self-service unit, an online charging system/offline charging system, and an operation support system. The customer profile storage unit 65 is configured to save customer profile information. The recharge card management unit 63 obtains information such as an account number, a password, and a recharge amount of the recharge card input by the user through the interface unit 61, and authenticates the recharge card according to the information of the recharge card, and recharges the card according to the recharge amount. The amount is deducted. The top-up discount calculation unit 64 performs a preferential calculation on the amount of the top-up card management unit 63 based on the user information stored in the customer file storage unit 65, and transmits the discount calculation result to the billing system through the interface unit 61. System. The refilling process processing unit 62 is configured to control the refill card management unit 63 to perform authentication and deduction of the refill card, and control the refill concession calculation unit 64 to perform recharge concession calculation.

The charging system and the recharging method provided by the embodiments of the present invention organically combine the recharging system of the real-time charging system and the payment system of the quasi-real-time charging system, so the user can be a real-time charging system and a quasi-real-time charging system. The unified recharge is performed, and the real-time billing system and the quasi-real-time billing system enjoy the same preferential ability, which increases the convenience of the use of the billing system.

The charging system and the charging method thereof provided by the present invention are described in detail above, and are used herein to help understand the method and core idea of the present invention. Meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, The details of the present invention and the scope of the application are subject to change. In the above description, the content of the specification should not be construed as limiting the invention.

Claims

Rights request

A method for sharing a fee balance, which is used between a real-time charging system and a quasi-real-time charging system, wherein the method includes:

2. The method of sharing a fee balance according to claim 1, wherein:

The step of uniformly storing and managing the account balance and the real-time billing system account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system includes storing the account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system and the real-time billing system account balance in an independent balance management unit, Managed by the balance management unit;

The fees for the real-time billing service and the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user are deducted from the account balance in the independent balance management unit.

3. The method of sharing a fee balance according to claim 1, wherein:

The step of uniformly storing and managing the account balance and the real-time billing system account balance in the quasi-real-time billing system includes storing the quasi-real-time billing system account balance data in a database of the real-time billing system account, and the real-time billing system The account balance is changed according to the change of the quasi-real-time billing system account balance;

The cost of the quasi-real time billing service used by the user is deducted from the balance of the real time billing system account.

The method for sharing a fee balance according to claim 3, wherein the step of deducting the quasi-real-time charging service from the balance of the real-time charging system account comprises: using the quasi-real-time charging system according to the user The quasi-real-time billing service calculates the fee to be deducted and notifies the real-time billing system to deduct from the account balance.

A billing system for sharing a fee balance, wherein the billing system comprises: a real-time billing system, comprising:

a rating unit, configured to perform a fee calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user, obtain a fee generated by the user using the real-time charging service, and send a deduction request to the balance management unit; An interface unit, configured to transfer information between a real-time billing system and a quasi-real-time billing system; a quasi-real-time billing system, including:

The charging system of the fee balance sharing according to claim 5, wherein the real-time charging system further comprises a pre-processing unit, configured to perform authentication, authentication, and real-time charging service used by the user. After passing, the rating unit of the real-time billing system is requested to perform cost calculation and deduction.

The charging balance sharing charging system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the quasi-real-time charging system further comprises a accounting processing unit, according to the user deducted in the real-time charging system balance management unit The corresponding account is generated by using the fees generated by the quasi-real-time billing service and the real-time billing service.

A billing system for sharing a fee balance, wherein the billing system comprises: a balance management unit, configured to uniformly store and manage a real-time billing account and a quasi-real-time billing account balance; according to the received deduction request Deducting the corresponding fee from the balance;

The real-time charging system, including the rating unit, is configured to perform a cost calculation on the real-time charging service used by the user, obtain a fee generated by the user using the real-time charging service, and send a deduction request to the balance management unit;

The quasi-real-time billing system includes a rating unit for calculating a fee for the quasi-real-time billing service used by the user, obtaining a fee generated by the user using the quasi-real-time billing service, and sending a deduction request to the balance management unit.

A charging device, wherein the charging device comprises:

A method for charging a charging system, characterized in that: the method comprises: uniformly storing and managing an account balance in a quasi-real-time charging system and a real-time charging system account balance; according to the received recharge amount and the change balance Request to store the recharge amount in the system A managed account balance.

11. The method of charging a charging system according to claim 10, wherein the step of receiving a request to change a balance comprises: receiving, by the real-time charging system, a request for a change balance from the refilling system;

The step of storing the refilled amount in the uniformly managed account balance includes the real-time billing system updating the user account balance of the unified management account according to the request to change the balance.

12. The method for charging a charging system according to claim 11, wherein before the charging system sends a request for changing the balance to the real-time charging system, the method further includes: the charging system receiving the user including the recharged user sent by the user After the account is refilled, the account of the recharged user is authenticated, and the recharge offer is calculated according to the recharge request.

13. The method for charging a charging system according to claim 10, wherein the step of receiving a request to change a balance comprises: the charging system transmitting a charging request to the near real-time charging system to trigger the quasi-real time charging a system, the real-time billing system receiving a request for a change balance from the quasi-real-time billing system;

The step of storing the refilled amount in the uniformly managed account balance includes the real-time billing system updating the balance of the real-time billing system user account according to the request to change the balance.

The method for charging a charging system according to claim 13, wherein the quasi-real time charging system further comprises: authenticating an account of the recharged user after receiving the refill request sent by the recharge system, and The refill offer is calculated based on the refill request.

The method for charging a charging system according to claim 13, wherein before the quasi-real-time charging system sends the request for changing the account balance to the real-time charging system, the method further includes: creating a charging amount for recording Balance book.

16. A billing system, wherein the billing system comprises:

The charging system according to claim 16, wherein the charging system further comprises a refilling access system, configured to send a refill request to the recharge system by the user through the refill access system.

The charging system according to claim 16, wherein the quasi-real-time charging system in the charging system further comprises a pre-processing unit that authenticates the recharged user account according to the recharge request sent by the refill system. After the authentication is passed, a balance change request is sent to the balance management unit.