WO2011035639A1

WO2011035639A1 - Method and apparatus for upgrade protection

Info

Publication number: WO2011035639A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/075239
Authority: WO
Inventors: 陈建军; 田贞朗; 刘强; 钱建阳; 吴豫宁
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2009-09-24
Filing date: 2010-07-19
Publication date: 2011-03-31
Also published as: CN101662390A; CN101662390B

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for upgrade protection in the field of communications are disclosed by the present invention. The upgrade protection method can perform protection for the upgrade of the access device in an Online Charging System (OCS). The system includes: a client end for performing service logic management; the access device for performing session management; and a service end for performing charging management. The upgrade protection method involves the steps: sending an upgrade message to the client end to inform the client end that a new session is refused to accept; after accomplishing the processing for the session in the access device, sending a processing accomplishment message to perform the upgrade. Through the upgrade protection apparatus, information protection for the access device is performed, and the information loss due to the upgrade of the access device is avoided.

Description

Upgrade protection method and device

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to an upgrade protection method and apparatus in an online charging system. Background technique

The Online Charging System (OCS) can be used to implement online charging, providing prepaid and real-time account processing. The existing online charging system can separate the customer's traffic control function from the charging function, and establish a direct interaction between the charging mechanism and the session/service control, so that the charging can participate in the use of the service. In this way, the power of independent billing can be utilized to provide flexibility close to the quasi-real-time billing system, and the real-time characteristics of the participating processes can be utilized to minimize the cost of arrears.

At present, the Online Charging Protocol (OCP) used for accessing the online charging system is usually based on the Diameter protocol. The Diameter base protocol provides a secure, reliable, and easily scalable framework for a wide range of authentication, authorization, and billing services. Defining the Diameter application based on this, only need to define the application identifier of the application protocol, the network function entity participating in the communication, and the message content and protocol process between the functional entities communicating with each other, and can completely rely on the Diameter base protocol to complete the specific access and Application business.

Due to the fast software update, it is often necessary to upgrade the software in the online billing system. During the upgrade process, the upgraded device will not be available and other devices need to be notified in advance. If the upgrade timing is improper (for example, the message in the device is not processed), the message will be lost and the reliability of the online charging system will be reduced. Summary of the invention

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an upgrade protection method and apparatus, which can improve the reliability of an online charging system.

In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is achieved as follows:

An upgrade protection method for protecting an access device in an online charging system, where the online charging system includes a client that performs business logic management, an access device that performs session management, and performs charging management. Server, the method includes:

Refusing to receive a new session, and informing the client by sending an upgrade message to the client; after the session processing of the access device is completed, sending a processing completion message to perform an upgrade of the access device.

Before the sending process completion message is upgraded, the method further includes:

Detect whether there is an unprocessed session in the access device; if yes, continue the session processing until the session processing is completed; otherwise, send a processing completion message to upgrade.

The method also includes:

According to the processing completion message, a broken link message is sent to the client and the server.

After sending the broken link message to the client and the server, the method further includes:

Receiving the feedback message of the client and the server, shutting down the access device, and performing an upgrade. The method also includes:

Send an upgrade completion message to the client and server to notify the end of the upgrade.

An upgrade protection device that protects an upgrade of an access device in an online charging system, where the online charging system includes a client that performs business logic management, an access device that performs session management, and performs charging management. The server, the upgrade protection device includes:

Upgrading a protection module for protecting information in the access device upgrade; rejecting reception of a new session before upgrading, and notifying the client by sending an upgrade message to the client; and at the access device After the session processing is completed, sending a processing completion message to the access device. Upgrade.

The upgrade protection module includes:

a message sending unit, configured to send the upgrade message to the client, and refuse to receive a new session;

The session detecting unit is configured to detect whether the session is processed, and send a processing completion message to perform the upgrade when the detection session processing is completed.

The upgrade protection module further includes:

The chain breaking sending unit is configured to receive the processing completion message, and send a broken link message to the client and the server.

The upgrade protection module further includes:

And an upgrade startup unit, configured to: when receiving the feedback message of the client and the server, shut down the access device and perform an upgrade.

The message sending unit includes:

The end notification component is used to send an upgrade completion message to the client and server to notify the end of the upgrade.

The method and device for upgrading and protecting an access device in the online charging system of the present invention, sending an upgrade message to the client before the access device is upgraded, rejecting the new session reception; and detecting the access device, determining that the session processing is completed, The upgrade can be performed in the upgrade process of the access device, which will not cause information loss and improve the reliability of the online charging system. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic structural view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for reducing a call loss module according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is another schematic structural diagram of a device for reducing a call loss module according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an upgrade protection module of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a server protection module of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention; Schematic diagram of the steps of the method;

9 is a schematic flow chart of steps of a method according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

11 is another schematic structural diagram of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for reducing call loss according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for managing a link of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 14 is another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an upgrade protection module of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 16 is an upgrade of an access device of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention; Schematic diagram of the process flow in protection;

17 is a schematic diagram of a processing flow of a client in an upgrade protection system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

18 is a schematic structural diagram of a server protection module of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a processing flow of a server of a system in a restart protection according to another embodiment of the present invention;

20 is a schematic diagram of a processing flow of an access device of a system in a restart protection according to another embodiment of the present invention;

21 is a schematic diagram of a processing flow of a client in a system in a restart protection according to another embodiment of the present invention;

22 is a schematic flow chart showing the steps of a method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

23 is a schematic flow chart of another step of the method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 24 is a flow chart showing still another step of the method according to another embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The present invention connects a standalone access device between a client and a server of the OCS. The access device controls the application layer session and maintains the link between it and the server. The client (service control node) controls the business logic and maintains the link between it and the access device.

The above-mentioned client and the access device can use a custom message interface for connection communication; the access device and the OCS server can use the Diameter extended protocol interface for connection communication.

The access device establishes a physical connection with the server. After the capability exchange (CE, Capabilities-Exchange) is performed, the application layer link is established. After the link is stabilized, the client is notified to send the credit control (CC, Credit Control) Message, to avoid call loss caused by the link is not ready.

In the process of processing the CC message, the access device may dynamically adjust the message distribution policy according to the load condition of the server (multiple servers) to avoid message congestion caused by the server being too busy.

The access device can also detect the link through the Device-Watchdog message and find that the link is immediately notified to the client to prevent the message from being unreachable.

The access device may also resend the message after detecting the response timeout to avoid call loss.

After receiving the OCS broken link (DP, Disconnect-Peer) request, the access device may notify the client to correct the message sending policy according to the reason of the DP, and avoid the call loss caused by the server being too busy or restarting.

The access device reduces call loss by performing session management such as load balancing management of the session, and performing link management such as emergency management, link configuration, and detection on the link with the service end.

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus 30 for reducing call loss by online charging according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided. The device is connected to the online charging client 20 and the server 40, and the device 30 includes: an internal communication module 31, and communicates with the client 20 to perform information interaction;

The call loss module 32 is lowered, receives the information transmitted by the internal communication module 31, identifies the session message therein to distinguish the session, and performs session management;

The external communication module 33 is connected to the reduced call loss module 32 and the server 40 for information interaction.

The communication between the internal communication module 31 and the client 20 described above may be performed according to a custom protocol, which may be formulated according to specific needs.

The reduced call loss module 32 can communicate with the client 20 through the internal communication module 31 to receive the information transmitted by the client 20. The reduced call loss module 32 can identify and manage session messages to generate session identifiers. The above information may include a session message, an event message, a heartbeat message, an upgrade message, a broken link message, and the like. The above session management may include load balancing, etc., and separate the business logic management from the session management to reduce the call loss.

The external communication module 33 can be connected to reduce the call loss module 32 and the server 40 so that the two can exchange information. The external communication module 33 and the server 40 can communicate through the Diameter protocol.

Referring to FIG. 2, in an embodiment of the embodiment, the reduced call loss module 32 includes a session identification unit 321 and a load balancing unit 322. The session identification unit 321 can identify the session message to generate a session identifier, and distinguish the session; the load balancing unit 322 can detect the service load status of the server 40, and perform session allocation according to the service load condition; This can include traffic, and response time, and/or timeouts.

The session identification unit 321 identifies the received session message, generates a session identifier, and ensures the integrity and uniqueness of the session.

The load balancing unit 322 can detect the traffic load condition of the server 40 to which it is connected, and allocate the session according to the traffic load condition. In this way, the new session can be preferentially assigned to the service load light service. Terminal 40. The service traffic may be the communication traffic of the device 30 and the server 40 for reducing the call loss by the online charging; the response time may be a response time to the session request; the timeout number may be the number of times of responding to the session request, and the like. The service-loaded server 40 may be a server 40 that has less communication traffic with the online charging reduction call loss device, less response time to the session request, and/or less response timeout for the session request. The load balancing unit 322 can send the service group packet information in the session to the server 40 with the best load condition through the detection and selection of the server 40, thereby ensuring the session quality and reducing the call loss rate. To ensure the integrity of the above session, the service group package information of the same session can only be sent to the same server 40 for processing.

The above selection of the server 40 can also be determined by the client 20. The client 20 can select the server 40 through load balancing determined by a specific service. For example, the client 20 can select the server 40 for service processing according to the type of the telephone number.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the reduced call loss module 32 further includes a link management sub-module 325 for detecting and managing the link, and maintaining the link through the maintenance of the link. The link management sub-module 325 includes an emergency process unit 323 and/or a dynamic link unit 324. The emergency process unit 323 can check and process the link, and perform timeout retransmission, busy notification, and/or in session transmission. Or active/standby switchover.

The emergency process unit 323 can perform the emergency process specified by the Diameter protocol. The timeout retransmission may be an extension of the retransmission mode on the Diameter protocol, including a retransmission mode such as the original link retransmission and the same function link retransmission to implement session integrity; the emergency process unit 323 may notify the client. At the end 20, the client 20 adjusts the timeout period of the session to prevent the service group packet information of the session from being dropped due to the timeout. The above notification (internal message) to the client 20 can be performed by sending a Capabilities-Exchange-Request (CER) message.

The above busy notification is that when the return result of the server 40 is busy, the OCS replacement can be performed, and when the busy notification ends, the automatic rewind is performed.

The above-mentioned active/standby switchover is to divide the server 40 of the same function into groups, and mutually Active and standby.

The communication between the emergency process unit 323 and the server 40 may be a device monitoring request/device monitoring response (DWR/DWA, Device-Watchdog-Request/Device-Watchdog- Answer) process that is performed multiple times during link establishment. After that, the application layer message is allowed to be sent to prevent the link from being out of synchronization with the specific service process, and the call loss rate is reduced. This can be about 3 times.

The dynamic link unit 324 described above modifies the configuration and updates the link, allowing dynamic client 20 or server 40 replacement.

The dynamic link unit 324 can perform configuration modification after the dynamic link is added or removed. This configuration modification includes related information and configuration modification of the Diameter protocol related information. After the above modification is completed, the link can be updated, and then a message is sent to the client 20 and the server 40 to inform the two to resume communication. The message sent to the client 20 may be a quasi-message message; the message sent to the server 40 may be a CER message.

Referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the embodiment, the online charging reduction call loss device 30 further includes an upgrade protection module 34 for information protection in the device 30 upgrade; rejecting a new session before upgrading. Receiving, and performing the upgrade of the above device 30 after processing the completion message.

Referring to FIG. 6, the above upgrade protection module 34 includes a message transmitting unit 341, a session detecting unit 342, a broken link transmitting unit 343, and an upgrade starting unit 344. The message sending unit 341 sends an upgrade message to the client 20, and refuses to receive a new session. The session detecting unit 342 detects whether the session is processed, and sends a processing completion message. The link sending unit 343 receives the processing completion message. Sending the broken link message to the client 20 and the server 40; the upgrade starting unit 344 receives the feedback message from the client 20 and the server, and closes the device 30 to perform the upgrade.

The message sending unit 341 sends an upgrade message to the client 20, notifying the client 20 that it will refuse to receive a new session; the client 20 will search for another network element through heartbeat detection (online charging) The device 30 for reducing the call loss communicates. The session detecting unit 342 detects whether the session in the device 30 is processed; if the process is not completed, the process may continue; if the process is completed, the chain disconnecting unit 343 will send a disconnect message (DPR, Disconnect-Peer-Request) to The client 20 and the server 40 are upgraded. The client 20 continues to send an unprocessed session to the device 30 when the session requiring the upgrade device 30 is not processed, until the disconnection message sent by the device 30 is received; meanwhile, the client 20 can place a new session. Send to another network element you are looking for. After receiving the feedback message (DPA, Disconnect-Peer- Answer) of the DPR message by the client 20 and the server 40, the upgrade starting unit 344 closes the device 30 and performs upgrade to prevent information loss during the upgrade process. After the upgrade is completed, the end notification component 3410 of the above-described message transmitting unit 341 can transmit an upgrade end message to the client 20 to resume communication.

Referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the present embodiment, the device 30 for reducing the call loss in the online charging further includes a server protection module 35, configured to protect information in the restart of the server 40, and detect whether there is a backup server. 40 performs service switching, which can control the reception of new sessions before restarting.

Referring to FIG. 7, the server protection module 35 may include a receiving and detecting unit 351, a second sending unit 352, a second detecting unit 353, and a link establishing unit 354. The receiving and detecting unit 351 receives the disconnect sent by the server 40. a chain message (DPR), and detecting whether there is a backup server 40; the second sending unit 352, sending the server 40 to restart the message to the client 20, refusing to receive a new session; the second detecting unit 353, detecting whether the session is processed Upon completion, the processing completion message is sent; the link establishing unit 354 receives the server 40 link establishment message, re-establishes a link with the server 40, and sends a message to the client 20 to restore the new session.

The receiving and detecting unit 351 receives the broken link message (DPR) sent by the server 40, and detects whether there is a backup server 40. When the standby server 40 is present, the device 30 can directly switch the service to the standby server 40. When there is no standby server 40, the second sending unit 352 sends a server 40 to restart the message to the client 20 to reject the new session. The second detecting unit 353 detects whether the session in the device 30 is processed and sent. Processing completion message; if If the processing is not completed, the receiving and detecting unit 351 continues to detect whether there is a standby server 40. If the processing is completed, the second detecting unit 353 will send a DPA message to the server 40, and the monthly server 40 receives the DPA message. Restart after the DPA message to prevent loss of information during the restart process. The server 40 will send a link-building message to the device 30 after the restart is completed.

After receiving the link establishment message, the link establishing unit 354 sends a CER message to the server 40, and the server 40 returns a Capabilities Exchange Answer (CEA) message; then, the link establishing unit 354 redirects The server 40 sends a DWR message, and the server 40 returns a DWA message; after three DWR/DWA processes are continued, a link is established. Further, the link establishing unit 354 will send a message to restore the new session to the client 20 to resume the processing of the new session.

Referring to FIG. 8, the present invention provides a method for reducing call loss by online charging according to another embodiment, which is applied to a client that includes service logic management, an access device that performs session management, and an online server that performs charging management. In the billing system, the method includes:

Step S21: The access device receives the information sent by the client.

Step S22: Identify the session message in the received information to distinguish the session and perform session management.

Step S23: The access device sends the identifier and the managed session message to the server.

As described in the foregoing step S21, the client can load and control the business logic to group and identify the service information; the client can load at least one or more business logics, control the actual business process, and complete the deduction and authentication. And other business functions; and each business logic information group package, identification (allocating an identification code for each service) is differentiated and sent to the access device. Moreover, the client can also manage its link with the access device; the client can customize the internal communication mechanism, filter the unloaded service, encrypt the specific service information (assign the password to the information), and detect the link activity status. (釆Use heartbeat detection).

As described in the foregoing step S22, the access device may identify and manage the session message. Generate a session ID. The above information may include a session message or the like. The above session management may include load balancing, etc., and separate the business logic management from the session management to reduce the call loss.

The foregoing load balancing means that the access device can allocate a session to the corresponding server according to the service load condition by detecting the service load condition of the server (multiple servers) to which it is connected. This allows new session messages to be prioritized for servers with light traffic. The service-loaded server may be a server that has less communication traffic with the access device, has a shorter response time to the session request, and/or has fewer response times to the session request. The access device can send the service group packet information in the session to the server with the best load condition for processing by detecting and selecting the server, thereby ensuring the quality of the session and reducing the call loss rate. To ensure the integrity of the above session, the service group packet information of the same session can only be sent to the same server for processing.

As described in the foregoing step S23, the access device sends the session after the load balancing process to the server to perform the charging process.

Referring to FIG. 9, in an embodiment of the present embodiment, before step S23, the method further includes: Step S24: detecting a link and maintaining management.

As described in the foregoing step S24, the access device may also detect and maintain the link between the access device and the server; the detection and maintenance management of the link includes emergency management, link configuration, and detection, etc., to reduce the call. loss.

Emergency management means that the access device can check and process the link with the server, and perform timeout retransmission, busy notification and/or active/standby switchover during session transmission.

The access device can perform an emergency process specified by the Diameter protocol. The timeout retransmission may be an extension of the retransmission mode on the Diameter protocol, including retransmission mode such as the original link retransmission and the same function link retransmission, to implement session integrity; the access device may notify the client. Enables the client to properly adjust the timeout period of the session to prevent the service group packet information of the session from being dropped due to timeout. The above notification to the client can be performed by sending a CER message. The above busy notification is that when the return result of the server is busy, the OCS replacement can be performed, and when the busy notification ends, Automatically rewind. The above-mentioned active/standby switchover is to divide the server terminals of the same function into one group, and they can mutually serve each other.

The communication between the access device and the server may be performed multiple times when the link is established.

After the DWR/DWA process, application layer messages are allowed to be sent to prevent the link from being out of synchronization with the specific service process, and the call loss rate is reduced. This can be about 3 times.

The above link configuration and detection means that the access device can modify the configuration and update the link, allowing dynamic client or server replacement. The access device can perform configuration modification after the dynamic link is increased or decreased. This configuration modification includes related information and configuration modification of the Diameter protocol related information. After the above modification is completed, the link can be updated, and then a message is sent to the client and the server to notify the two to resume communication. The message sent to the client may be a quasi-message message; the message sent to the server may be a CER message.

Referring to FIG. 10, the present invention provides a system for online charging reduction call loss, which includes an online charging client 20 and a server 40, and an access device 50 for session control; The terminal 20 controls and manages the service logic. The access device 50 is connected to the client 20 and the server 40 to exchange information, and receives the information transmitted by the client 20, and identifies the session message to distinguish the session. And performing session management; the server 40 receives the session message and performs charging management.

The access device 50 described above can handle link maintenance, session control, and interface conversion. The online charging client 20 and the access device 50 can use a custom internal message interface, which can be physically connected. The client 20 can be any service control client 20 that needs to access the server 40 for online charging processing. A plurality of the access device 50 and the server 40 may be configured, and the number of the clients 20 may be determined according to the maximum load of the access device 50 and the server 40.

The access device 50 can separately manage the service logic control and the session maintenance, and protect the service message security through mechanisms such as device redundancy, dynamic load feedback, timeout retransmission, link abnormality, and busy notification. Referring to FIG. 11, in an embodiment of the present embodiment, the client 20 may include a service logic control module 21 and a first communication module 22; the service logic control module 21 loads and controls service logic to group service information. The first communication module 22 is connected to the service logic control module 21 and the access device 50 to perform information interaction.

The foregoing business logic control module 21 is configured to load at least one or more business logics, control an actual business process, and complete business functions such as deduction and authentication; and group and identify each business logic information group (one for each service) The identification code is differentiated and sent to the first communication module 22.

The first communication module 22 can manage the link between the client 20 and the access device 50; when there are multiple access devices 50, the redundancy of the multiple access device 50 can be implemented, and the access device 50 Communication between. The first communication module 22 can customize the internal communication mechanism, filter the non-loading service, encrypt the specific service information (assign the password to the information), and detect the link activity status (釆 intention ^).

The access device 50 includes an internal communication module 51, a reduced call loss module 52, and an external communication module 53. The internal communication module 51 is in communication with the first communication module 22 of the client 20 to perform information exchange; The module 52 receives the information transmitted by the internal communication module 51, identifies the session message to generate a session identifier, and performs session management. The external communication module 53 is connected to the reduced call loss module 52 and the server 40 respectively. , for information interaction.

12 and 13, the reduced call loss module 52 includes a session identification unit 521, a load balancing unit 522, and a link management submodule 525. The session identification unit 521 identifies a session message to generate a session identifier, and distinguishes the session; The equalization unit 522 detects the service load condition of the server 40, and performs session allocation according to the service load condition; the service load situation includes service traffic, response time, and/or timeout number; the link management submodule 525 includes an emergency process. The unit 523 and/or the dynamic link unit 524, the emergency process unit 523, checks and processes the link, performs timeout retransmission, busy notification, and/or active/standby switching in the session transmission; The dynamic link unit 524, modifying the configuration and updating the link, allows for dynamic client 20 or server 40 replacement.

Referring to FIG. 14 , in another embodiment of the present embodiment, the access device 50 further includes an upgrade protection module 54 for protecting the information in the upgrade of the access device 50; rejecting the reception of the new session before the upgrade, and After the completion message is processed, the upgrade of the access device 50 described above is performed. The upgrade protection module 54 includes a message sending unit 541, a session detecting unit 542, a chain disconnect sending unit 543, and an upgrade starting unit 544, as shown in FIG.

During the upgrade process, the processing flow of the access device 50, as shown in FIG. 16, mainly includes the following steps:

Step A: Send an upgrade message to the client 20.

The upgrade message is sent by the message sending unit 541 to the client 20 first, informing the client 20 that it will refuse to receive the new session.

Step B: Check if there is an unprocessed session.

The session detecting unit 542 performs processing on the session in the access device 50; if the processing is not completed, proceeds to step B1; otherwise, proceeds to step B2.

Step Bl, the access device 50 can continue the session processing until the session processing is completed. Step B2: Send a DPR message to the client 20 and the server 40 to perform an upgrade.

The disconnection sending unit 543 sends the DPR message to the client 20 and the server, disconnects from the client 20 and the server, and initiates the upgrade by the upgrade starting unit 544.

Step C: Send an upgrade end message to the client 20.

The end notification component 5410 of the above-described message transmitting unit 541 transmits an upgrade end message to the client 20 to notify the end of the upgrade of the access device 50.

During the upgrade process, the processing flow of the client 20 described above, as shown in FIG. 17, mainly includes the following steps:

Step D: Receive an upgrade message sent by the access device 50, and use the heartbeat detection to find another Heartbeat access device 50.

Step E: Determine whether the received session is a new session, and if yes, proceed to step E1; otherwise, proceed to step E2.

Step E1: Send the session to the found access device 50 for processing.

Step E2: Send the session to the access device that needs to be upgraded 50 to continue processing.

Step F: determining whether to receive the DPR message sent by the access device 50; if yes, proceed to step F1; otherwise, proceed to step F2.

Step Fl. Disconnect the link of the access device 50 to be upgraded, return a DPA message, and perform step Fl l.

Step F11, the session is sent to the sought access device 50 for processing.

Step F2: Determine whether an upgrade end message is received, and if yes, perform step G; otherwise, return to step Fl l.

Step G: Returning the feedback message, and reverting to the upgraded access device 50 for communication.

Referring to FIG. 14, in another embodiment of the present embodiment, the access device 50 further includes a server protection module 55, which is used for information protection in the restart of the server 40, and detects whether the backup server 40 performs service switching. The reception of new sessions can be controlled before restarting. The server protection module 55 can include a receiving and detecting unit 551, a second transmitting unit 552, a second detecting unit 553, and a link establishing unit 554, as shown in FIG.

During the process of restarting the server 40, the processing flow of the server 40, as shown in FIG. 19, mainly includes the following steps:

Step a. When restarting, send a DPR message to the access device 50; the cause of the DPR message may be written as Rebooting.

Step b: Receive a DPA message sent by the access device 50, and restart.

Step c: Receive a CER message sent by the access device 50, and send a CEA message to the access device 50. Step d: Receive three DWR messages sent by the access device 50, send three DWA messages to the access device 50, and establish a link with the access device 50.

During the process of restarting the server 40, the processing flow of the access device 50, as shown in FIG. 20, mainly includes the following steps:

Step e: The access device 50 receives the DPR message sent by the server 40.

The DPR message transmitted by the server 40 is received by the above receiving and detecting unit 551.

Step f. Determine whether there is a spare server 40; if yes, perform step fl; otherwise, proceed to step .

After receiving the DPR message, the receiving and detecting unit 551 detects whether the access device 50 is connected to the standby server 40.

Step fl, sending a server restart message to the client 20, refusing to receive a new session.

The server restart message is sent by the second sending unit 552 to the client 20, and the client 20 is notified to reject the new session.

Steps, switch to the alternate server 40 for processing.

Step g: Detect whether there is a session unprocessed; if yes, return to step f; otherwise, go to step gl.

The second detecting unit 553 detects whether there is an unprocessed session in the access device 50.

Step gl: Send a DPA message to the server 40, so that the server 40 performs step 13. Step h: The access device 50 sends a CER message to the server 40. If the server 40 restarts, step c is performed, and the access device 50 can receive the CEA message returned by the server 40.

The access device 50 transmits a CER message to the server 40 via the link establishing unit 554 to confirm the communication capability.

Step i: The access device 50 sends three DWR messages to the server 40, and receives three DWA messages returned by the server 40, establishes a link with the server 40, and sends a recovery message to the client. The terminal 20 resumes receiving a new session.

The access device 50 establishes a link with the server 40 through the link establishing unit 554 described above, and notifies the client 20 to resume new session reception.

During the process of restarting the server 40, the processing flow of the client 20, as shown in FIG. 21, mainly includes the following steps:

Step j: Receive a server restart message sent by the access device 50, and refuse to receive a new session. Step k. Process the incomplete session.

Step 1. Receive a recovery message sent by the access device 50, and resume receiving a new session.

Referring to FIG. 22, the present invention provides a method for reducing call loss by online charging according to another embodiment, which is applied to a client that includes service logic management, an access device that performs session management, and an online server that performs charging management. In the billing system, the above methods include:

Step S10: Control the business logic by using the client.

Step S11: Identify, by the access device, the session message in the client transmission information to distinguish the session and perform session management.

As described in the foregoing step S10, the client can load and control the business logic to group and identify the service information; the client can load at least one or more business logics, control the actual business process, and complete the deduction and authentication. And other business functions; and each business logic information group package, identification (allocating an identification code for each service) is differentiated and sent to the access device. Moreover, the client can also manage its link with the access device; the client can customize the internal communication mechanism, filter the unloaded service, encrypt the specific service information (assign the password to the information), and detect the link activity status. (釆Use heartbeat detection).

As described in the foregoing step S11, the access device may identify and manage the session message to generate a session identifier. The above information may include a session message or the like. The above session management may include load balancing, etc., and separate business logic management from session management to reduce call loss.

The access device can also detect and maintain the link between the access device and the server. The detection and maintenance management of the link includes emergency management, link configuration, and detection. The foregoing load balancing means that the access device can allocate a session to the corresponding server according to the service load condition by detecting the service load condition of the server (multiple server) to which it is connected. In this way, the new session message can be preferentially assigned to the server with light traffic load. The service-loaded server may be a server that has less communication traffic with the access device, has a shorter response time to the session request, and/or has fewer response times to the session request. The access device can send the service group packet information in the session to the server with the best load condition through the detection and selection of the server, thereby ensuring the session quality and reducing the call loss rate. To ensure the integrity of the above session, the service group package information of the same session can only be sent to the same server for processing.

The access device may also detect and maintain the link between the access device and the server; the detection and maintenance management of the link includes emergency management, link configuration, and detection, etc., to reduce call loss.

Emergency management means that the access device can check and process the link with the server, and perform timeout retransmission, busy notification, and/or active/standby switchover during session transmission.

The access device can perform the emergency process specified by the Diameter protocol. The timeout retransmission may be an extension of the retransmission mode on the Diameter protocol, including a retransmission mode such as the original link retransmission and the same function link retransmission to implement session integrity; the access device may notify the above client. To enable the client to properly adjust the timeout period of the session to prevent the service group packet information of the session from being dropped due to timeout. The above notification to the client can be performed by sending a CER message. The above busy notification is that when the return result of the server is busy, the OCS replacement can be performed, and when the busy notification ends, the automatic rewind is performed. The above-mentioned active/standby switchover is to divide the server terminals of the same function into one group, and they can be mutually active and standby.

The communication between the access device and the server may be performed after the DWR/DWA process is performed multiple times after the link is established, and the application layer message is allowed to be sent to prevent the link from being out of synchronization with the specific service process. Call loss rate. This can be about 3 times. The above link configuration and detection means that the access device can modify the configuration and update the link, allowing dynamic client or server replacement. The access device can perform configuration modification after the dynamic link is added or removed. The configuration modification includes related information and configuration modification of the Diameter protocol related information. After the above modification is completed, the link can be updated, and then a message is sent to the client and the server to notify the two to resume communication. The message sent to the client may be a quasi-message message; the message sent to the server may be a CER message.

Referring to FIG. 23, the foregoing step S10 may include:

Step S100: Perform selection of an access device by using a heartbeat detection of the client.

As described in the foregoing step S100, when there are multiple access devices, redundancy of the multiple access devices can be implemented, and the multiple access devices are selected by using the heartbeat detection mode.

Referring to FIG. 24, the foregoing step S11 may include:

Step S110: Perform upgrade protection by using the access device.

As described in the foregoing step S110, the foregoing upgrade protection process may be: first, the access device sends an upgrade message to the client, notifying the client that it will refuse to receive a new session; the client will search for another network through heartbeat detection. The element (access device) communicates. Then, the access device that needs to be upgraded detects whether the session is processed. If the processing is not completed, the access device can continue processing; if the processing is completed, it will send a DPR message to the client and the server for upgrade. When the client does not process the session of the access device, the client continues to send the unprocessed session to the access device until the disconnection message sent by the access device is received; meanwhile, the client may send the new session. To another network element that is looking for. After receiving the feedback message (DPA) of the client pair and the server to the DPR message, the access device to be upgraded closes the access device to perform the upgrade to prevent information loss during the upgrade process. Finally, after the upgrade is completed, the upgraded access device can send an upgrade end message to the above client to restart communication.

The above step S11 may further include:

In step S11, the server restart protection is performed by using the access device. As described in the foregoing step 111, the server restart protection process may be: First, the server sends a broken link message to the access device before restarting. The access device detects whether there is a backup server after receiving the broken link message sent by the server; when there is a backup server, the access device can directly switch the service to the standby server; when there is no standby server, the access device The ingress device will send a server restart message to the above client to refuse to receive a new session; and the access device can detect whether the session is processed successfully, and if the processing is not completed, continue to detect whether there is a backup server; if the processing is completed, then A DPA message will be sent to the server, and the server will restart after receiving the DPA message to prevent information loss during the restart process. After the server is restarted, the server will send a link-building message to the access device.

After receiving the above-mentioned link-building message, the access device sends a CER message to the server, and the server returns a CEA message; then, the access device sends a DWR message to the server, and the server returns a DWA message; After three DWR/DWA processes, a link is established. Then, the access device will send a recovery message to the client to resume processing of the new session.

The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and the equivalent structure or equivalent flow transformation made by the specification and the drawings of the present invention may be directly or indirectly applied to other related The technical field is equally included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

An upgrade protection method, which is characterized in that the upgrade of the access device in the online charging system is protected, and the online charging system includes a client that performs business logic management, an access device that performs session management, And a server for performing billing management, the method includes:

The method for upgrading the protection according to claim 1, wherein before the sending the processing completion message is upgraded, the method further includes:

The method for upgrading the protection according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises: sending a broken link message to the client and the server according to the processing completion message.

The upgrade protection method according to claim 3, wherein after the disconnection message is sent to the client and the server, the method further includes:

Receiving the feedback message of the client and the server, shutting down the access device, and performing an upgrade.

The method for upgrading the protection according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: sending an upgrade completion message to the client and the server, and notifying the end of the upgrade.

An upgrade protection device, which is characterized in that the upgrade of the access device in the online charging system is protected, and the online charging system includes a client that performs business logic management, an access device that performs session management, And a server that performs billing management, and the upgrade protection device includes:

The upgrade protection device according to claim 6, wherein the upgrade protection module comprises:

The upgrade protection device according to claim 7, wherein the upgrade protection module further comprises:

The upgrade protection device according to claim 8, wherein the upgrade protection module further comprises:

The upgrade protection device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the message sending unit comprises: