CN108270576B

CN108270576B - Data service control method, related device and system

Info

Publication number: CN108270576B
Application number: CN201611257035.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄智辉
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-12-30
Filing date: 2016-12-30
Publication date: 2021-06-22
Anticipated expiration: 2036-12-30
Also published as: CN108270576A

Abstract

The invention discloses a data service control method, a related device and a system. The method may comprise: when the user is online, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS; the PCEF receives a credit control response CCA returned by the OCS, wherein the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to authorization services issued by the OCS, one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user; and the PCEF controls the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service. Under the scene that a user orders various data service products with different QoS strategies, when the user uses the various data service products, the scheme can realize the accuracy of bandwidth control.

Description

Data service control method, related device and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a data service control method, a related apparatus, and a system.

Background

In order to enable a user to flexibly use data services according to the user's own needs, a telecommunication operator may provide the user with products of various QoS (Quality of Service) policies (e.g., bandwidth control policies). In this way, a user can simultaneously order data service products of multiple different QoS policies. The QoS policies may include bandwidth policies, and the like. For example, a user has ordered three data service products (descending order of priority): product 1, product 2 and product 3. The flow rate of the product 1 is 10M, and the bandwidth control policy corresponding to the product 1 is as follows: a 10Mbps bandwidth; the flow rate of the product 2 is 2G, and the bandwidth control strategy corresponding to the product 2 is as follows: 5Mbps bandwidth; the flow rate of the product 3 is 50G, and the bandwidth control strategy corresponding to the product 3 is as follows: 2Mbps bandwidth. The QoS subscription policy corresponding to each product may be stored in the QoS subscription information corresponding to the user.

Under the condition that a user orders data service products with various QoS policies, in the same session, the user can continue to use the data service product with another QoS policy after using up the data service product with one QoS policy. The order in which the user uses the products is generally determined by the business priority of the products. For example, assuming that the user orders 3 products in the above example, when the user continues to use the data service, the user first finishes using the 10M traffic of product 1, and then continues to use the 2G traffic of product 2. Ideally, in a scenario where a user subscribes to a data service product with multiple QoS policies, an operator desires that the user can use the various data service products according to their respective QoS policies. That is, it is preferable that the user can use 10M traffic of product 1 at a bandwidth of 10Mbps, can use 2G traffic of product 2 at a bandwidth of 5Mbps, and can use 50G traffic of product 3 at a bandwidth of 2 Mbps.

However, when the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) requests the Online Charging System (OCS) for obtaining an authorization service (for example, an authorization flow or an authorization duration) composed of a plurality of data traffic products ordered by a user, the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) issues the QoS Policy as a whole by using the authorization service. That is, the authorization amount of multiple different QoS policies (the authorization amount of one QoS policy corresponds to one data service product) that may be included in the authorization service issued by the OCS may be uniformly used according to the QoS policy issued by the PCRF. For example, assuming that the user subscribes to 3 products in the above example, the OCS issues 50M authorization traffic, where 10M traffic comes from product 1 and the remaining 40M traffic comes from product 2. When the user continuously uses the 50M authorized traffic, the PCRF uniformly configures the QoS policy of the whole 50M authorized traffic into the QoS policy of the product 1. In this way, 10M of the 50M authorized traffic from product 1 may be used by the user at 10Mbps bandwidth, and the other 40M of the 50M authorized traffic from product 2 may also be used by the user at 10Mbps bandwidth, resulting in that 40M of the traffic from product 2 is not used at the contracted bandwidth of product 2 (i.e., 5Mbps bandwidth), and the bandwidth control is inaccurate.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a data service control method, a related device and a system, which can realize the accuracy of bandwidth control when a user uses various data service products with different QoS strategies under the scene that the user orders the various data service products.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control method, which is applied to a policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF, and the method may include: when a user is online, a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) sends a Credit Control Request (CCR) to an Online Charging System (OCS), and then receives a credit control response (CCA) returned by the OCS, wherein the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to authorization services issued by the OCS, one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS policy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS policy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user. Finally, the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF may control the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control method, which is applied to an OCS side of an online charging system, and the method may include: the online charging system OCS receives a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging execution functional entity PCEF, determines an authorization service issued to a user according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, and returns a credit control response CCA to the policy and charging execution functional entity PCEF. The credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS, one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user. And the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity is used for controlling the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

In the data service control method described in the first aspect and the second aspect, in a scenario where an authorization service issued to a user includes authorization amounts of multiple QoS policies, multiple GSUs are issued through an OCS, a PCEF may control the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU used by the user according to each GSU, when the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU is used, the PCEF triggers and updates the QoS policies, and controls the authorization amount corresponding to the next GSU used by the user by using the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the next GSU, so that accuracy of QoS control can be improved.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in some optional embodiments, the implementation manner that the PCEF controls the user to use the authorization service according to the multiple authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service may include the following two manners:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: for the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the PCEF may send a usage amount notification to the OCS for triggering the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. Specifically, the OCS responds to the usage Notification and sends a Request for Notification of a payment Status (SNR) to the PCRF. And the PCRF responds to the SNR and returns a re-authentication request RAR to the PCEF, wherein the re-authentication request RAR comprises a QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. And finally, the PCEF receives a re-authentication request RAR returned by the PCRF, and controls the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS configuration of the traffic product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps: each authorization service unit in the plurality of authorization service units carries the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit. For the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the PCEF may control the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. Wherein i is a positive integer smaller than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

It is understood that both the first implementation and the second implementation can achieve accurate QoS control. Moreover, in the second implementation manner, each GSU carries the QoS subscription policy of the product corresponding to the GSU, so that the PCEF can update the QoS policy of the authorization amount used by the user directly according to the GSU, signaling interaction of the system can be reduced, and the problem of heavy system interaction burden caused by too small authorization amount corresponding to a single GSU is avoided.

In the first implementation described above, the usage notification may be an extended credit control request CCR. In the embodiment of the invention, the extended CCR is only used for reporting the user usage information and does not trigger the OCS to issue the authorization service. Optionally, the USU carried in the CCR may be expanded, and a newly defined value is added to the enumeration parameter Reporting-Reason AVP in the USU. It should be noted that the dosage notification may also be obtained by extending the existing CCR in other manners, for example, defining a new AVP, and the CCR carrying the new AVP is the dosage notification. Optionally, the usage Notification may also be a newly defined Notification message (Notification), which is not limited herein.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control method, which is applied to a policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF, and the method may include: when a user is online, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS, and then receives a credit control response CCA returned by the OCS, wherein the credit control response comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service. The QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service. Finally, the PCEF may control the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control method, which is applied to an OCS side of an online charging system, and the method may include: the OCS receives a credit control request CCR sent by the PCEF, determines an authorization service issued to a user according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, and returns a credit control response CCA to the PCEF. And the credit control response returned by the OCS comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to the authorization service issued by the OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service. Here, the QoS switching threshold may be used to characterize a switching threshold between authorization amounts of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included by the authorization service.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control method, which is applied to a PCRF side of a policy and charging rule function entity, where the method includes: and the PCRF receives a credit control request CCR sent by the PCEF, wherein the credit control request contains the usage information of the user, judges that the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches a QoS switching threshold according to the usage information of the user, re-determines the QoS strategy issued to the PCEF, and returns the re-determined QoS strategy to the PCEF by carrying the re-determined QoS strategy in a credit control response. Here, the QoS switching threshold is a QoS switching threshold corresponding to an authorized service issued by the online charging system OCS to the user, and is used to characterize a switching threshold between authorized quantities of multiple different QoS subscription policies included in the authorized service.

In the data service control method described in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, and the fifth aspect, in a scenario where an authorization service sent to a user includes multiple data service products, the QoS switching threshold is carried in a CCA issued by the OCS to monitor an authorization amount used by the user, and once the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the PCEF may report the CCR to the PCRF, trigger the PCRF to change the QoS policy in time, and improve the accuracy of QoS control.

With reference to the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the fifth aspect, in some optional embodiments, a specific implementation manner of the PCEF controlling the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold may include: and when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the PCEF sends a credit control request to the PCRF and receives a credit control response returned by the PCRF. The credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the authorization amount consumed by the user and is used for triggering the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. And the credit control response returned by the PCRF comprises the QoS policy retransmitted by the PCRF. Finally, the PCEF may control the user to continue using the authorization service according to the QoS policy re-issued by the PCRF.

With reference to the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the fifth aspect, in some optional embodiments, a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service (for example, 50M authorized traffic) issued by the OCS is not limited to 1 threshold, and may also be multiple thresholds. In summary, if the authorized service includes an authorized amount of N QoS policies, the QoS switching threshold includes N-1 threshold values; n is more than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF, which may include a functional unit implementing the method described in the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an online charging system OCS, which may include a functional unit implementing the method described in the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF, which may include a functional unit implementing the method described in the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an OCS, which may include a functional unit implementing the method described in the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCRF, which may include a functional unit for implementing the method described in the fifth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, which may include a processor, a memory and a transceiver, where the memory is configured to store instruction codes implementing the method described in the first aspect, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction codes stored in the memory.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an OCS, which may include a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, where the memory is configured to store instruction codes for implementing the method described in the second aspect, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction codes stored in the memory.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, which may include a processor, a memory and a transceiver, where the memory is configured to store instruction codes implementing the method described in the third aspect, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction codes stored in the memory.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an OCS, which may include a processor, a memory and a transceiver, where the memory is configured to store instruction codes implementing the method described in the fourth aspect, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction codes stored in the memory.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCRF, which may include a processor, a memory and a transceiver, where the memory is configured to store instruction codes for implementing the method described in the fifth aspect, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction codes stored in the memory.

In a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control system, including a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF and an online charging system OCS. Wherein: the PCEF may be the PCEF described in the sixth aspect or the eleventh aspect, or may be the PCEF mentioned in the first aspect or the second aspect. The OCS may be the OCS described in the seventh aspect or the twelfth aspect, or the OCS mentioned in the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control system, including a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, an online charging system OCS, and a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF. Wherein: the PCEF may be the PCEF described in the sixth aspect or the thirteenth aspect, or the PCEF mentioned in the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect. The OCS may be the OCS described in the sixth aspect or the fourteenth aspect, or may be the OCS mentioned in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the fifth aspect. The PCRF may be the OCS described in the sixth aspect or the fifteenth aspect, or may be the PCRF mentioned in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the fifth aspect.

By implementing the embodiment of the invention, under the scene that the user orders various data service products with different QoS strategies, when the user uses the various data service products, the accuracy of bandwidth control can be realized.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the embodiments will be described below

The drawings that need to be used are briefly described.

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a policy control charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of another conventional data traffic control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a further conventional data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic architecture diagram of another policy control charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a further conventional data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a first implementation of the embodiment of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a second implementation of the embodiment of FIG. 7;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating another data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCEF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a related apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a Policy Control Charging (PCC) system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Through the cooperation among the network elements such as the OCS, the PCEF, the PCRF, and the like in the system shown in fig. 1, the use of the data service product of the multiple QoS policies ordered by the user can be controlled. Wherein:

the PCRF is merged by Policy Decision Function (PDF) and Charging Rules Function (CRF) entities in the R6 specification of 3 GPP. The PCRF contains policy control decisions and functions based on flow charging control and may implement network control functions with respect to traffic data flow detection, gating, QoS based and flow charging based (in addition to credit control). The PCRF may provide PCC rules and PCC decisions to the PCEF over the Gx interface. The QoS subscription information subscribed by the user may be used together with policy rules (e.g., service-or subscription-based policy rules or predefined policy rules) on the PCRF side to generate authorized QoS policies to be applied to the traffic data flows.

The PCEF is merged by Policy Enforcement Function (PEF) and data Plane Function (TPF) entities in the R6 specification of 3 GPP. In GPRS, the PCEF is a logical functional entity integrated in the GGSN. The PCEF is primarily responsible for: detecting service data flow, executing strategy, charging based on flow (including off-line charging and on-line charging). The PCEF may obtain the signaling flow, identify the user, and obtain details of the data service being used by the user through the function of detecting the traffic data flow. And then, the PCEF may send the detected information to the PCRF over the Gx interface and to the OCS over the Gy interface. The PCEF may be used to enforce QoS control according to QoS policies authorized by the PCRF.

The OCS may be configured to provide authentication for use of network resources based on the user information obtained from the PCEF. This authentication must be done by the OCS before actual resource usage. When receiving the network resource usage request, the network side (e.g., gateway) may package the related charging information, generate a charging event, and send the charging event to the OCS in real time. The OCS then returns the resource usage certificate to the PCEF over the Gy interface. Resource usage authentication defines a certain service scope (e.g., a limited amount of data traffic or duration), and thus, as the user continues to use the resource, the authentication needs to be updated frequently. The OCS may support duration, traffic, and event-based charging.

Under the condition that a user orders data service products with various QoS policies, in the same session, the user can continue to use the data service product with another QoS policy after using up the data service product with one QoS policy.

In a specific implementation, the PCEF sends a Credit Control Request (CCR) Request to the OCS through the Gy interface to Request to obtain an authorization service. In a specific implementation, the CCR may carry a multi-Service Credit Control (MSCC) to specify a Service amount to be applied, such as a Rating-Group (RG) to which a Service belongs, a Service-Identifier (Service-Identifier) corresponding to the Service, and the like. The OCS responds to the CCR, and returns a Credit Control Answer (CCA) to the PCEF through a Gy interface, wherein the CCA can carry an authorized Service Unit (GSU) in an MSCC AVP (Attribute Value Pair, Chinese: attribute Value Pair). Currently, in the 3GPP 32.299 specification, one MSCC of the Gy interface can carry only one GSU at most. In 3GPP 32.299(RFC 4006), MSCC AVP is defined as follows (see 3GPP 32.299 for definition and description of various parameters):

wherein, the GSU AVP is defined as follows:

therefore, in the process of one-time authorization service request, the OCS only allocates one authorization service unit GSU, and instructs the PCEF to control the user to surf the internet according to the GSU. In a scenario where a user subscribes to multiple data service products with different QoS policies, an authorization service issued by the OCS may include authorization amounts of multiple different QoS policies (e.g., bandwidths). However, the PCEF cannot distinguish the authorization amount of different QoS policies in the authorization service, so that the PCEF controls the user to use all authorization amounts of the authorization service according to a uniform QoS policy, and does not control the user to use multiple data service products according to QoS policies corresponding to the multiple data service products ordered by the user, which results in inaccurate QoS control of the data service.

It should be noted that, the data service product according to the embodiment of the present invention may use a flow rate as a metering object, the balance of the data service product refers to a remaining flow rate, and the authorization service requested by the user refers to an authorization flow rate. The data service product related to the embodiment of the invention can also take the time length as a metering object, the balance of the data service product refers to the remaining time length, and the authorization service requested by the user is the authorization time length. In practical application, the data service product may also use both flow rate and duration as metering objects, the balance may also refer to the balance of flow rate and duration, and the authorization service may also refer to the balance of flow rate and duration. The embodiment of the invention does not limit the metering object of the data service product, and the metering object of the data service product can also comprise other parameters. For convenience of explanation, in the following, the embodiments of the present invention are described by taking the flow rate as an example.

Several prior art techniques for controlling access to the internet by a user subscribed to a plurality of data service products via a PCEF, a PCRF, and an OCS are described below.

In the prior art, the scheme shown in fig. 2 adopts the networking mode shown in fig. 1, that is, the OCS notifies the PCRF of the usage information of the user through the Sy interface, and triggers the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. It is assumed that the OCS side grants 50M traffic at a time. The user has ordered product 1 and product 2, with 10M and 2G traffic remaining, respectively, and the subscription bandwidth is 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. The scheme of fig. 2 can be expanded as follows:

s101, when a user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S102, PCRF judges according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, finds that the flow of the product 1 with the highest priority is not used up, determines the QoS strategy issued to PCEF according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carries the QoS strategy in the credit control response CCA, and issues the CCA to the PCEF. Thus, after the PCEF requests the OCS for obtaining an authorization service (authorization traffic or authorization duration, etc.), the PCEF may control the user to use the authorization service issued by the OCS according to the QoS policy issued by the PCRF. Specifically, the QoS policy issued to the PCE may allow the user to use the authorized service issued by the OCS at 10Mbps of product 1.

S103, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gx interface to request obtaining of a traffic authorization. The CCR may carry a Rating Group (RG), Used Service Unit (USU), and Requested Service Unit (RSU). Wherein, RG represents the rate group to which the user uses the service, USU represents the authorization amount consumed by the user, and RSU represents the authorization amount requested by the user.

S104, the OCS finds that the total 10M +2G traffic is still available for the user according to the data service product subscribed by the user and the current balance information of the user, wherein the 10M traffic of product 1 is less than a complete 50M GSU. And the OCS determines to send a 50M GSU to the PCEF according to all the residual flows (10M +2G flows) of the user, carries the GSU in a credit control response CCA and returns the CCA to the PCEF. It should be understood that 10M of these 50M authorized flows are product 1 flows and the other 40M flows are product 2 flows. However, after receiving the 50M GSU, the PCEF allows the user to use up the entire 50M grant traffic at 10Mbps bandwidth. This results in the user not being able to switch to the lower bandwidth (i.e., 2Mbps bandwidth) in time to use the remaining 40M traffic after using up the 10M high bandwidth (i.e., 10Mbps bandwidth) traffic.

S105, after the user has consumed some traffic (e.g. 20M), the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS over the Gy interface. This CCR may carry the user consumed traffic, report the user consumed traffic to the OCS, and re-request authorized services (authorized traffic or authorized duration, etc.). In a specific implementation, the consumed traffic of a user is indicated by a consuming service unit USU.

S106, after the OCS receives the CCR sent by the PCEF, the OCS deducts 10M flow on a product 1 of the user and 10M flow on a product 2 according to 20M flow consumed by the user and carried in the USU, and when the flow of the product 1 is found to be used up, the OCS sends the SNR to the PCRF through a Sy interface. In specific implementation, the OCS may trigger the PCRF to resend the QoS Policy by carrying the Status information Policy-Counter-Status through the SNR.

And S107, the PCRF returns an SNA response.

And S108, after the OCS deducts the fee, a GSU of 50M is sent to the PCEF again according to the residual flow of the residual product 2, the GSU is carried in a credit control response CCA, and finally the CCA is returned to the PCEF.

S109, after receiving the SNR sent by the OCS, the PCRF Re-determines the QoS strategy issued to the user, carries the new QoS strategy in a Re-authentication Request (Re-Auth-Request, RAR) through a Gx interface and issues the QoS strategy to the PCEF, and informs the PCEF to control the user to surf the internet according to the new QoS strategy. Here, the new QoS policy is the QoS subscription policy of product 2. That is, the PCEF may control, according to the new QoS policy, the authorization amount newly issued by the OCS when the user switches to the 2Mbps subscription bandwidth corresponding to product 2.

S110, after receiving RAR, PCEF limits the bandwidth of the user to 2Mbps, and returns Re-authentication response (Re-Auth-Answer, RAA) to PCRF.

It is understood that, in the scheme shown in fig. 2, 10M authorized amounts in the 50M authorized traffic issued by the OCS in S104 are traffic of product 1, and the other 40M authorized amounts are traffic of product 2. However, these 50M authorized flows are uniformly configured with a QoS policy (specifically, bandwidth policy in fig. 2), resulting in that the additional 40M authorized amount belonging to product 2 is not used according to the QoS contracted bandwidth of product 2, and the bandwidth control is not accurate.

Moreover, the scenario of fig. 2 may be the case shown in fig. 3 in a scenario of multiple RGs or multiple sessions (sessions):

s201, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S202, PCRF judges according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, finds that the flow of the product 1 is not exhausted, determines the QoS strategy according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carries the QoS strategy in the credit control response CCA, and returns the CCA to the PCEF. Thus, after the PCEF requests the OCS for obtaining the authorization service (authorization traffic or authorization duration, etc.), the PCEF can control the user to use the authorization service delivered by the OCS according to the QoS policy delivered by the PCRF.

S203, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gx interface to request obtaining an authorization service (authorization flow or authorization duration, etc.). The CCR may carry a Rating Group (RG), Used Service Unit (USU), and Requested Service Unit (RSU). Wherein, RG represents the rate group to which the user uses the service, USU represents the service consumed by the user, and RSU represents the service unit requested by the user. Here, the 50M authorized traffic requested to be obtained by the user belongs to RG1, i.e., rate group 1.

S204, the OCS finds that the total 10M +2G traffic of the user is still available according to the data service product subscribed by the user and the current balance information of the user, wherein the 10M traffic of the product 1 is less than a complete 50M GSU. And the OCS determines to send a 50M authorization flow to the PCEF according to all the residual flows (10M +2G flows) of the user, and carries the GSU in a credit control response CCA sent to the PCEF.

After receiving the 50M GSU, the PCEF controls the user to use the 50M authorized traffic under the bandwidth of 10 Mbps.

S205, when the user accesses a Facebook (Facebook) website (assuming that the PCEF identifies the traffic accessing the Facebook website as RG2), the PCEF sends a CCR request to the OCS for the new traffic of the RG2, so as to request obtaining an authorization service (authorization traffic or authorization duration, etc.).

S206, after receiving the CCR sent by the PCEF, the OCS finds that all traffic of the product 1 has been reserved by the RG1, and can only send 50M authorized traffic to the RG2 according to the traffic of the product 2, and send the 50M GSU to the PCEF in the CCA.

At this time, the OCS does not notify the PCRF product 1 that the usage is completed, and the PCRF side does not update the information about the flow balance of the user, and does not trigger generation of a new QoS policy. That is, the PCEF still controls the 50M grant traffic for the user using RG2 at 10Mbps bandwidth. However, the flow rate of RG2 is the flow rate of product 2. This results in inaccurate bandwidth control when the user uses the traffic of product 2 according to the bandwidth of product 1.

In the second scheme of fig. 4 in the prior art, the networking mode shown in fig. 5 is adopted, that is: the OCS and the PCRF are independent respectively, no message interaction exists, the PCRF receives user balance information reported by the PCEF through a Gx interface, and QoS policy control is carried out according to the balance information of the user. The OCS side issues a fixed authorized traffic, for example 50M traffic, each time. The PCRF side uses a fixed traffic monitoring threshold (e.g. 60M), and once the traffic consumed by the user reaches the monitoring threshold, the PCRF will re-issue the QoS policy. Suppose a user subscribes to product 1 and product 2, leaving 10M and 2G traffic, respectively, with subscription bandwidths of 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. The scheme of fig. 4 specifically includes:

s301, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S302, PCRF judges according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, finds that the flow of the product 1 is not exhausted, determines the QoS strategy according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carries the QoS strategy and the monitoring threshold in the credit control response CCA, and sends the CCA to the PCEF. Thus, after requesting the OCS for obtaining the authorization service (authorization traffic or authorization duration, etc.), the PCEF may control the user to use the ordered data service product according to the QoS policy of 10Mbps bandwidth, and monitor the traffic consumed by the user according to the indicated monitoring gate issued by the PCRF, so as to notify the PCRF when the cumulative consumed traffic reaches 60M.

S303, the PCEF sends the credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gy interface to request obtaining the authorized service (authorized traffic or authorized duration, etc.).

S304, the OCS finds that the total 10M +2G traffic is still available to the user according to the data service product subscribed by the user and the current balance information of the user, wherein the 10M traffic of product 1 is less than a complete 50M GSU. And the OCS determines to send a GSU authorization flow of 50M to the PCEF according to all the residual flows (10M +2G flows) of the user, and carries the GSU in a credit control answer CCA sent to the PCEF.

S305, after the user consumes some traffic (e.g. 20M), the PCEF resends the credit control request CCR to the OCS over the Gy interface. This CCR may carry the amount of authorization consumed by the user, report the amount of authorization consumed by the user to the OCS, and re-request for authorized services (authorized traffic or authorized duration, etc.). In a specific implementation, the authorized amount that the user has consumed is indicated by consuming the service unit USU.

S306, after the OCS receives the CCR sent by the PCEF, the OCS deducts the 10M flow on the product 1 of the user and the 10M flow on the product 2 according to the 20M flow consumed by the user and carried in the USU. Then, the OCS determines to re-send a 50M GSU to the PCEF according to the remaining traffic of product 2, and carries the GSU in the credit control answer CCA sent to the PCEF.

S307, when the user cumulative traffic reaches a monitoring threshold (such as 60M) set by the PCRF, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface, so as to report the traffic usage of the user.

S308, after the PCRF receives the CCR, the PCRF finds that the flow of the product 1 is used up, re-determines the QoS strategy, carries the QoS strategy in a credit control answer CCA, and sends the CCA to the PCEF so as to inform the PCEF to control the user to switch to the 2Mbps bandwidth.

It can be understood that, in the scheme in fig. 4, the PCEF triggers reporting of the cumulative consumption traffic of the user only according to the monitoring threshold issued by the PCRF, so as to trigger the PCRF to update the QoS policy. When the accumulated traffic does not reach the monitoring threshold on the PCRF side, the user may use the authorization amount of a plurality of different QoS policies (10M for product 1 and 50M for product 2). However, the PCEF controls the user's use of data traffic according to a uniform QoS policy (10 Mbps bandwidth of product 1), resulting in inaccurate bandwidth control.

In the prior art, the scheme of fig. 6 adopts the networking mode shown in fig. 1. And the PCEF reports the CCR to the OCS to request flow authorization, the OCS only processes the flow of the product with the highest priority at present, and the GSU is issued according to the remaining flow. Suppose a user subscribes to product 1 and product 2, with 1K and 2G traffic remaining, respectively, and the subscription bandwidths are 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. The scheme of fig. 6 specifically includes:

s401, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends the CCR request to the PCRF

S402, PCRF judges according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, finds that the flow of the product 1 is not exhausted, issues a QoS strategy according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carries the QoS strategy in CCA message, and returns the CCA to PCEF.

S403, the PCEF sends a CCR request to the OCS requesting a traffic grant.

S404, the OCS processes the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, and finds that the priority of the product 1 of the user is high and 1K traffic remains, then sends a GSU of 1K to the PCEF according to the 1K traffic remaining of the product 1, and carries the GSU in the CCA, and returns the CCA to the PCEF.

After receiving the CCA, the PCEF allows the user to use the 1K traffic according to the bandwidth of 10 Mbps.

S405, after the user finishes using the flow of 1K or other set flows smaller than 1K, the PCEF triggers the CCR request, reports the authorization amount (assumed to be 1K) consumed by the user and requests to obtain the authorization flow again. In a specific implementation, the amount of authorization that the user has consumed may be represented by the USU.

S406, after receiving the CCR, the OCS finds that the 1K traffic of product 1 is exhausted according to the USU, and then triggers the SNR request to notify the PCRF to request the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy.

S407, the PCRF returns the SNA response.

And S408, after the OCS deducts the fee, the 50M authorized flow is issued again according to the residual flow calculation of the product 2, and the CCA response is returned to the PCEF.

S409, after receiving SNR, PCRF re-issues QoS strategy, issues new QoS strategy to PCEF, informs PCEF to switch bandwidth to 2Mbps bandwidth corresponding to product 2, and controls user to use newly issued (from product 2)50M authorization flow under 2Mbps bandwidth.

And S410, after receiving the RAR, the PCEF limits the bandwidth of the user to 2Mbps and returns the RAA to the PCRF.

The scheme of fig. 6 can improve the accuracy of QoS policy control when the user uses the ordered data service, although it discriminately handles various products ordered by the user. However, when the remaining traffic of a product is small (for example, product 1 in fig. 6 has remaining 1K traffic), the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU issued according to the product is small, the small authorization amount is used up soon, and the CCR-U is triggered to report the re-request traffic authorization again. This results in increased message interaction for the system, increasing the system burden. Particularly, if a GSU corresponds to an authorization amount that is too small, for example, smaller than a network (IP) packet, the PCEF cannot use up the traffic, so that the user cannot use the service normally.

In view of the technical problems in the prior art, embodiments of the present invention provide a data service control method, which can achieve accuracy of bandwidth control when a user uses multiple data service products with different QoS policies in a scenario where the user orders the multiple data service products.

The main principles involved in the embodiments of the present invention may include:

in the first networking mode (the networking mode shown in fig. 1), the authorized service (authorized flow or authorized duration, etc.) issued by the OCS includes the authorized amounts of a plurality of different QoS policies, where the authorized amount of one QoS policy corresponds to one data service product. For this situation, the OCS issues a plurality of GSUs, where one GSU corresponds to an authorization amount of a QoS policy included in the authorization service. Thus, the PCEF may control the user to use the corresponding authorization amount according to each GSU, and when the authorization amount corresponding to one GSU is used up, the PCEF triggers the update of the QoS policy, and controls the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the next GSU by using the QoS subscription policy of the product corresponding to the next GSU.

Optionally, each GSU may carry a priority and QoS subscription policy. Thus, when the authorization amount corresponding to one GSU is used up, the PCEF may directly control the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU of the next priority used by the user according to the QoS subscription policy carried by the GSU of the next priority.

In a second networking mode (the networking mode shown in fig. 5), the authorized service (authorized flow or authorized duration, etc.) issued by the OCS includes the authorized amounts of multiple different QoS policies, where the authorized amount of one QoS policy corresponds to one data service product. The OCS issues a GSU, and the GSU carries a QoS switching threshold. The QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between the authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS strategies contained in the authorization service. In this way, the PCEF may monitor the user using the authorization service according to the QoS switching threshold, and once the authorization amount used by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, report the usage amount information of the user to the PCRF, and trigger the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy.

The following describes the data service control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of fig. 7 adopts the first networking mode (the networking mode shown in fig. 1), and a user orders data service products with a plurality of different QoS policies. The authorization service issued by the OCS corresponds to a plurality of GSUs, wherein one GSU corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy. That is, the authorization service may include authorization amounts for 2 or more than 2 different QoS policies. As shown in fig. 7, the method may include:

s501, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S502, the PCRF determines the QoS strategy issued to the user according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user.

For example, suppose a user subscribes to product 1 (high priority) and product 2 (low priority), leaving 10M and 2G traffic, respectively, with a subscription bandwidth of 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. Because the product 1 has residual traffic, the PCRF can determine the QoS policy according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carry the QoS policy in the credit control answer CCA, and issue the CCA to the PCEF. Thus, the PCEF can control the authorized traffic sent by the OCS by the user according to the QoS policy of the 10Mbps bandwidth. The examples are intended to illustrate embodiments of the invention and should not be construed as limiting.

S503, the PCEF sends the credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gy interface to request obtaining the authorized service (authorized traffic or authorized duration, etc.).

S504, the OCS determines the authorization service issued to the user and a plurality of authorization service units GSU corresponding to the authorization service according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user. Wherein one authorized service unit corresponds to an authorized amount of a QoS policy in the authorized service.

For example, suppose a user subscribes to product 1 (high priority) and product 2 (low priority), leaving 10M and 2G traffic, respectively, with a subscription bandwidth of 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. Since product 1 still has 10M traffic and product 2 still has 2G traffic, the OCS may determine to issue 50M authorized traffic. The 10M authorized amount of the 50M authorized flows is the flow of product 1 and the other 40M authorized amount is the flow of product 2. The OCS issues 2 GSUs to the PCEF, such as GSU1 and GSU2, GSU1 corresponding to the 10M grant and GSU2 corresponding to the 40M grant. The examples are intended to illustrate embodiments of the invention and should not be construed as limiting.

And S505, the OCS carries the plurality of authorization service units GSU corresponding to the authorization service in a credit control answer CCA sent to the PCEF, and returns the credit control answer CCA to the PCEF.

S506, the PCEF controls the user to use the authorization service according to the plurality of authorization service units GSU corresponding to the authorization service. Specifically, when the authorization amount corresponding to one GSU is used by the user, the PCEF may trigger updating the QoS policy, and control the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the next GSU by using the QoS subscription policy of the product corresponding to the next GSU.

The method described in the embodiment of fig. 6 is implemented, in a scenario where the authorization service issued to the user includes authorization amounts of multiple QoS policies, multiple GSUs are issued through the OCS, the PCEF can control the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU used by the user according to each GSU, when the authorization amount corresponding to the GSU is used up, the PCEF triggers the update of the QoS policies, and the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the next GSU is used to control the authorization amount corresponding to the next GSU used by the user, so that the accuracy of QoS control can be improved.

How the PCEF controls the user to use the authorized service issued by the OCS according to the GSUs can improve the accuracy of QoS control. Two main implementations provided by embodiments of the present invention are described below.

In a first implementation manner, each authorization service unit GSU issued by the OCS carries the QoS subscription policy and the priority of the product corresponding to the authorization service unit. Here, the priority refers to a business priority among a plurality of products purchased by the user.

For example, suppose a user subscribes to product 1 (high priority) and product 2 (low priority), with 1M and 2G traffic remaining, respectively, and the subscription bandwidth being 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. The OCS may determine an authorized service that issues 50M traffic and two GSUs corresponding to the 50M authorized service, which may be specifically as follows:

it can be seen that the CCA carries two GSUs, where one GSU corresponds to 1M remaining traffic of product 1, the priority is 1, and the bandwidth policy is 10 Mbps; the other GSU corresponds to 49M remaining traffic for product 2, with a priority of 2 and a bandwidth policy of 2 Mbps.

In a first implementation manner, for a plurality of GSUs corresponding to the authorization service, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the PCEF may control the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. Here, the authorized amount corresponding to the ith GSU refers to the content of the product corresponding to the ith GSU in the authorized service.

For example, after receiving the CCA carrying 2 GSUs shown in the above example, the PCEF may allow the user to preferentially use the authorization amount corresponding to the 1 st GSU (1M remaining traffic of product 1) according to the priority, and control the bandwidth of the authorization amount corresponding to the 1 st GSU used by the user to be 10 Mbps. After the authorization amount corresponding to the 1 st GSU is used, the PCEF allows the user to continue using the authorization amount corresponding to the 2 nd GSU (49M residual flow of product 2), and switches the bandwidth policy, so as to control the bandwidth of the authorization amount corresponding to the 2 nd GSU used by the user to be 2 Mbps. Thus, the PCEF can accurately switch the QoS policy when the user uses the multiple data service products corresponding to the authorized service according to the multiple GSUs carrying the QoS policy.

In the first implementation manner, the CCA message of the Gy interface in the system architecture shown in fig. 1 may be extended, where one MSCC of the CCA carries multiple GSUs, and each GSU carries extension information (such as priority and QoS subscription policy). The newly defined data structure of the MSCC message of the embodiment of the present invention may be as follows:

it should be noted that, in the first implementation manner, in addition to carrying information such as a QoS subscription policy and priority in each GSU, other auxiliary control information may also be carried, which is not limited herein.

As shown in fig. 8, in the multi-session/multi-rate group scenario, the first implementation described above can also improve the accuracy of QoS control. Assuming that the user ordered product 1 (high priority) and product 2 (low priority), 1M and 2G traffic remains, respectively, with a subscription bandwidth of 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. Specific examples may include the following:

s601, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S602, the PCRF determines the QoS strategy issued to the user according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user. Because the product 1 has residual traffic, the PCRF can determine the QoS policy according to the 10Mbps bandwidth of the product 1, carry the QoS policy in the credit control answer CCA, and issue the CCA to the PCEF. Thus, the PCEF can control the user to start using the ordered data service product according to the QoS policy of the 10Mbps bandwidth.

S603, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gy interface to request obtaining an authorized service (an authorized traffic or an authorized duration, etc.). Here, the data service used by the user belongs to rate group 1, i.e., RG 1.

S604, the OCS determines to issue 50M authorized flow and 2 GSUs corresponding to the authorized flow according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user.

S605, the OCS carries the 2 GSUs corresponding to the authorized traffic in the credit control answer CCA sent to the PCEF, and returns the credit control answer CCA to the PCEF. The GSU1 corresponds to product 1 in the 50M authorized traffic, and the GSU1 may include the authorized amount of product 1, the bandwidth policy of 10Mbps, and the priority 1; GSU2 corresponds to product 2 in the 50M authorized traffic, GSU2 may contain the authorized amount of product 2, a bandwidth policy of 2Mbps, and priority 2.

S606, the PCEF controls the authorized amount (the remaining 1M traffic of product 1) corresponding to the GSU1 used by the user according to the bandwidth policy (the 10Mbps bandwidth policy of product 1) carried by the GSU 1. After the authorization amount corresponding to GSU1 is used, the PCEF may switch the bandwidth policy to the bandwidth policy carried in GSU2 (2 Mbps bandwidth policy of product 2), and control the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to GSU2 under the 2Mbps bandwidth (remaining 49M traffic of product 2).

S607, the user uses the data service corresponding to the new rate group (referred to as rate group 2, i.e., RG 2). For example, the user accesses a Facebook (Facebook) website. The PCEF needs to initiate a credit control request CCR towards the OCS for RG2 to request authorization for service.

S608, after receiving the CCR for RG2, the OCS finds that all remaining traffic of product 1 has been reserved by RG1, and more traffic of product 2 has not been reserved, and issues 50M authorized traffic to RG2 according to the remaining traffic of product 2. Since the entire 50M authorized traffic for the RG2 comes from product 2, the OCS issues a GSU, and the GSU corresponds to the 50M authorized traffic from product 2, and carries the GSU in the credit control answer CCA, and returns the CCA to the PCEF. Specifically, the GSU for the RG2 may carry a bandwidth policy of 2Mbps corresponding to product 2, and a priority. Thus, after receiving the CCA returned by the OCS, the PCEF can control the user to use the data service corresponding to the RG2 under the 2Mbps bandwidth according to the bandwidth policy carried by the GSU, and the accuracy of QoS control can be still ensured in the multi-session/multi-rate group scenario.

In a second implementation manner, for a plurality of GSUs corresponding to the authorization service issued by the OCS to the user, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the PCEF sends a usage amount notification to the OCS, so as to trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. In particular, the usage notification is used to indicate an authorized amount of consumption by the user. After receiving the usage notification sent by the PCEF, the OCS sends a request SNR for state notification of expenditure to the PCRF, and the PCRF returns an RAR to the PCEF in response to the SNR. The RAR returned by the PCRF carries the QoS policy reissued by the PCRF, that is, the QoS subscription configuration of the product corresponding to the (i + 1) th GSU. Referring now to fig. 9, the description is expanded.

S701, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S702, PCRF according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, determines the QoS strategy issued to the user.

S703, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gy interface to request obtaining an authorized service (an authorized traffic or an authorized duration, etc.).

S704, the OCS determines an authorization service issued to the user and a plurality of GSUs corresponding to the authorization service according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user.

S705, the OCS carries the GSUs in a credit control answer CCA, and returns the CCA to the PCEF. And the authorization quantity corresponding to each of the plurality of GSUs constitutes the total authorization quantity of the authorization service.

S706-S707, when the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the PCEF sends a usage amount notification to the OCS, so as to notify the OCS of the authorization amount consumed by the user.

S708, after receiving the usage notification, the OCS finds that the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU is used up, and may request to notify the PCRF through the SNR to request the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy.

S709, the PCRF returns the SNA response to the OCS.

S710, the OCS returns a response to the usage notification to the PCEF.

S711, after receiving SNR, PCRF re-issues QoS policy to PCEF, carries the newly issued QoS policy in RAR, and returns the RAR to PCEF, so that PCEF can control the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th GSU according to the newly issued QoS policy. The newly issued QoS strategy is the QoS signing strategy of the product corresponding to the (i + 1) th GSU.

And S712, after receiving the RAR, the PCEF controls the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th GSU according to the newly issued QoS policy (namely, the QoS subscription policy of the product corresponding to the (i + 1) th GSU).

By implementing the embodiment of fig. 7, the PCEF may trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy to the PCEF after the authorization amount corresponding to each GSU is used, so that the PCEF can control the user authorization amount according to the new QoS policy, and the accuracy of QoS control is improved.

In the second implementation described above and shown in fig. 9, the usage notification may be an extended credit control request CCR. In the embodiment of the invention, the extended CCR is only used for reporting the user usage information and does not trigger the OCS to issue the authorization service. Optionally, the USU carried in the CCR is expanded, and a newly defined value is added to the enumeration parameter Reporting-Reason AVP in the USU. The data structure of the expanded USU of the embodiment of the invention can be as follows:

wherein, the new value is a newly defined value for the Reporting-Reason. In a specific implementation, when a parameter Reporting-Reason in the USU is a value of the new definition, the CCR carrying the USU is the usage notification related to the embodiment of the present invention.

It should be noted that the dosage notification may also be obtained by extending the existing CCR in other manners, for example, defining a new AVP, and the CCR carrying the new AVP is the dosage notification. Optionally, the usage Notification may also be a newly defined Notification message (Notification), which is not limited herein.

Summarizing the 2 implementation manners in the embodiment of fig. 7, the first implementation manner and the second implementation manner may both implement accurate QoS control through a plurality of GSUs corresponding to the authorized service issued by the OCS. Moreover, in the first implementation manner, each GSU carries the QoS subscription policy of the product corresponding to the GSU, so that the PCEF can update the QoS policy of the authorization amount used by the user directly according to the GSU, signaling interaction of the system can be reduced, and the problem of heavy system interaction burden caused by too small authorization amount corresponding to a single GSU is avoided (see fig. 6 specifically).

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating another data service control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of fig. 10 adopts the second networking mode (the networking mode shown in fig. 5). And the PCRF accumulates the authorization amount used by the user, and if the authorization amount consumed by the user in an accumulated way reaches the QoS switching threshold, the QoS strategy is issued again. For the OCS and the PCRF, the QoS switching threshold is used to characterize a switching threshold between authorization quantities of multiple different QoS subscription policies included in an authorization service delivered by the OCS. As shown in fig. 10, the method may include:

s801, when the user is on line, the PCEF sends a credit control request CCR to the PCRF through the Gx interface.

S802, PCRF determines QoS strategy issued to user according to data service product ordered by user and current balance information of user, and carries QoS strategy in CCA, and returns CCA to PCEF. Here, the QoS policy issued by the PCRF may be a QoS subscription policy of a product with the highest priority, so that the PCEF may control an authorization amount of the user to use the product with the highest priority according to the QoS policy.

In the embodiment of fig. 10, once the PCRF finds that a product is used by the user, it may re-issue the QoS policy to the PCEF.

S803, the PCEF sends the credit control request CCR to the OCS through the Gy interface to request obtaining the authorized service (authorized traffic or authorized duration, etc.).

S804-S805, the OCS determines the authorization service issued to the user and the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user. And, the OCS may carry the GSU corresponding to the authorization service and the QoS switching threshold in a credit control answer CCA, and return the CCA to the PCEF. Here, the QoS switching threshold is used to characterize a switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included in the authorization service issued by the OCS.

For example, suppose a user subscribes to product 1 (high priority) and product 2 (low priority), with 1M and 2G traffic remaining, respectively, and the subscription bandwidth being 10Mbps and 2Mbps, respectively. Product 1 also has a residual flow of 1M and product 2 also has a residual flow of 2G. Therefore, the OCS may issue 50M of authorized traffic, and need to change QoS after product 1(1M traffic) is exhausted, set the QoS switching threshold to 1M, and carry the QoS switching threshold in CCA, and return the CCA to the PCEF. Specifically, the main AVP examples in CCA may be as follows:

S806-S807, after receiving CCA returned by OCS, PCEF controls user usage authorization flow according to QoS policy issued by PCRF. When the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the PCEF sends a Gx CCR to the PCRF, wherein the CCR carries the usage information of the user and is used for informing the PCRF of the information such as the authorization amount consumed by the user and triggering the PCRF to re-issue the QoS strategy.

S808, PCRF re-determines the QoS strategy issued to PCEF, and returns the new QoS strategy carried in CCA to PCEF.

And S809, the PCEF controls the user to continue using the authorized service according to the new QoS strategy.

For example, in the above example, when the authorization amount of product 1 is used by the user, the PCEF triggers the PCRF to update the QoS policy by sending the CCR (carrying the usage information) to the PCRF. And the PCRF finds that the authorized quantity of the product 1 is used by the user completely according to the usage information, determines the QoS subscription policy of the product 2 as a new QoS subscription policy, and transmits the new QoS policy (namely the QoS subscription policy of the product 2) to the PCEF through the CCA. Thus, the PCEF can control the authorization amount of the user to continue using the product 2 according to the QoS subscription policy of the product 2, thereby realizing the accuracy of QoS control.

It should be noted that the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service (e.g., 50M authorization traffic) issued by the OCS is not limited to 1 threshold, and may also be multiple thresholds. In summary, if the authorized service includes an authorized amount of N QoS policies, the QoS switching threshold includes N-1 threshold values; n is more than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer.

For example, assume that a user subscribes to 3(N ═ 3) data service products: product 1 (remaining 1M, priority 1, subscription bandwidth 10Mbps), product 2 (remaining 10M, priority 2, subscription bandwidth 5Mbps), product 3 (remaining 1G, priority 3, subscription bandwidth 2 Mbps). The OCS may issue 50M of authorized traffic. Since a 5Mbps subscription bandwidth needs to be switched to product 2 after product 1(1M traffic) is exhausted, the QoS switching threshold between product 1 and product 2 is 1M. The user continues to use the authorization amount, since the contracted bandwidth of 2Mbps needs to be switched to product 3 after product 2(10M traffic) is exhausted, the QoS switching threshold between product 2 and product 3 is 11M (i.e., 1M for product 1 + 10M for product 2).

That is to say, in the scenario described in the example, the authorized service issued by the OCS corresponds to 2 QoS switching thresholds, where the 1 st QoS switching threshold is used to represent a switching threshold between the authorized amount of the product 1 and the authorized amount of the product 2, and the 2 nd QoS switching threshold is used to represent a switching threshold between the authorized amount of the product 2 and the authorized amount of the product 3. The OCS may carry these 2 QoS switching thresholds in the CCA, and the main AVP example in the CCA may be as follows:

it should be noted that the above-mentioned examples are only for explaining the embodiments of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting.

In the embodiment of fig. 10, in a scenario where the authorization service issued to the user includes multiple data service products, the QoS switching threshold is carried in the CCA delivered by the OCS to monitor the user usage authorization amount, and once the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the PCEF may report the CCR to the PCRF and trigger the PCRF to change the QoS policy in time, so as to improve the accuracy of QoS control.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF) according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 11, the policy and charging enforcement function entity 100 may include: a transmitting unit 101, a receiving unit 102, and a control unit 103.

When the policy and charging enforcement function entity 100 implements the embodiments respectively corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, the specific implementation of each functional module in the policy and charging enforcement function entity 100 may be expanded as follows:

a sending unit 101, configured to send a credit control request CCR to an OCS when a user is online;

a receiving unit 102, configured to receive a credit control answer CCA returned by an OCS, where the credit control answer includes multiple authorization service units corresponding to an authorization service issued by the OCS, where one authorization service unit corresponds to an authorization amount of a QoS policy, and an authorization amount of a QoS policy corresponds to a data service product ordered by the user;

the control unit 103 is configured to control the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

In some optional embodiments, the implementation manner of the control unit 103 controlling the user to use the authorization service according to the plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service may include the following two manners:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: for the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the control unit 103 may trigger the sending unit 101 to send the usage amount notification to the online charging system OCS, so as to trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. Specifically, the OCS is configured to send a payout state notification request SNR to the PCRF. And the PCRF is used for responding to the SNR and returning RAR to the PCEF, wherein the RAR comprises the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. Finally, the control unit 103 may trigger the receiving unit 102 to receive the RAR returned by the PCRF, and control, according to the QoS configuration of the traffic product corresponding to the i +1 th authorization service unit, the authorization amount corresponding to the i +1 th authorization service unit used by the user.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps: each authorization service unit in the plurality of authorization service units carries the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit. For the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the control unit 103 controls the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. Wherein i is a positive integer smaller than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

For specific implementation of each functional module in the policy and charging enforcement functional entity 100 implementing the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, reference may be made to the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, and details are not repeated here.

When the policy and charging enforcement function entity 100 implements the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, the specific implementation of each functional module in the policy and charging enforcement function entity 100 may be expanded as follows:

a sending unit 101, configured to send a credit control request CCR to an online charging system OCS when a user is online;

the receiving unit 102 is configured to receive a credit control response CCA returned by the online charging system OCS, where the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS includes an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

the control unit 103 is configured to control a user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service.

In some optional embodiments, the implementation manner of controlling, by the control unit 103, the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service may be as follows:

when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the control unit 103 may trigger the sending unit 101 to send a credit control request to the PCRF, and then trigger the receiving unit 102 to receive a credit control response returned by the PCRF, where: the credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the authorization amount consumed by the user, and the credit control response returned by the PCRF contains the QoS policy retransmitted by the PCRF. Finally, the control unit 103 may control the user to continue using the authorization service according to the QoS policy re-issued by the PCRF.

For specific implementation of each functional module in the policy and charging enforcement functional entity 100 executing the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, reference may be made to the embodiment in fig. 10, and details are not repeated here.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an Online Charging System (OCS) according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 12, the online charging system 200 may include: a receiving unit 201, an authorization unit 202 and a sending unit 203.

When the online charging system 200 executes the embodiments respectively corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, the specific implementation of each functional module in the online charging system 200 can be expanded as follows:

a receiving unit 201, configured to receive a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF;

an authorization unit 202, configured to determine an authorization service to be issued to a user according to a data service product ordered by the user and current balance information of the user;

a sending unit 203, configured to return a credit control answer CCA to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF.

Specifically, the credit control response may include a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS, where one authorization service unit corresponds to an authorization amount of one QoS policy, and the authorization amount of one QoS policy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user. The policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF may be configured to control a user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

In some optional embodiments, the implementation manner of controlling, by the PCEF, the user to use the authorization service according to the multiple authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service may include the following two manners:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: for the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the PCEF may trigger the sending unit 101 to send the usage notification to the online charging system OCS, so as to trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy.

Correspondingly, the receiving unit 201 is further configured to receive the usage notification sent by the PCEF. The sending unit 203 may further be configured to send a cost status notification request SNR to the PCRF, for triggering the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF to reissue the QoS policy. The usage notification is sent by the PCEF after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, and is used for indicating the authorization amount consumed by the user. And the PCRF is used for returning an RAR to the PCEF, wherein the RAR comprises the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the i +1 th authorization service unit. In this way, the PCEF may be configured to control an authorization amount corresponding to a single authorization element used by the user according to the QoS subscription policy in the RAR.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps: each authorization service unit in the plurality of authorization service units carries the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit. The PCEF may be specifically configured to, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, control, according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit, the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit used by the user; wherein i is a positive integer less than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

For specific implementation of each functional module in the online charging system 200 implementing the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, reference may be made to the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, and details are not repeated here.

When the online charging system 200 executes the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, the specific implementation of each functional module in the online charging system 200 may be expanded as follows:

a sending unit 203, configured to return a credit control answer CCA to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

the policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF) is configured to control a user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switch threshold corresponding to the authorized service.

Specifically, the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF may be configured to: when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, a credit control request is sent to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), the credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the usage information of the user, and the PCRF is triggered to re-issue the QoS policy.

For specific implementation of each functional module in the online charging system 200 executing the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, reference may be made to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, and details are not repeated here.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 13, the policy and charging rules function 300 may include: a receiving unit 301, a QoS determining unit 302, and a transmitting unit 303. The policy and charging rules function 300 may be used to perform the data traffic control method described in the embodiment of fig. 10. The following is developed:

a receiving unit 301, configured to receive a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, where the credit control request includes usage information of the user;

a QoS determining unit 302, configured to determine, according to the usage information of the user, that the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches a QoS switching threshold, and re-determine a QoS policy issued to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF;

the sending unit 303 may be configured to carry the re-determined QoS policy in a credit control response and return the credit control response to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the QoS switching threshold is a QoS switching threshold corresponding to an authorized service issued by an online charging system OCS to the user, and may be used to characterize a switching threshold between authorized quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included in the authorized service.

For specific implementation of each functional module in the policy and charging rules functional entity 300 executing the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, reference may be made to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, and details are not described here again.

Fig. 14 is a diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 400 may include: a processor 401, a memory 403, a transmitter 405, and a receiver 407. These components communicate over a bus 409. In this embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus 400 may be used as a policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF), and may be configured to implement the PCEFs described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, or the PCEFs described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 10. Apparatus 400 may also be used as an Online Charging System (OCS) to implement the OCS described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, respectively, or the OCS described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10. Apparatus 400 may also function as a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). Described separately below.

When the apparatus 400 is used as the PCEF described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, respectively, the memory 403 may be used to store the implementation codes of the data traffic control method described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, respectively. Processor 401 may be used to call code in memory 403 and perform the following processes:

when the user is online, sending a credit control request CCR to an online charging system OCS through a transmitter 405;

receiving a credit control response CCA returned by an online charging system OCS through a receiver 407, where the credit control response includes multiple authorization service units corresponding to authorization services issued by the online charging system OCS, where one authorization service unit corresponds to an authorization amount of a QoS policy, and an authorization amount of a QoS policy corresponds to a data service product ordered by the user;

and finally, controlling the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

In some optional embodiments, the implementation manner of controlling, by the processor 401, the user to use the authorization service according to the plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service may include the following two manners:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: for the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, the processor 401 may send a usage amount notification to the online charging system OCS through the transmitter 405, so as to trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy. Specifically, the OCS is configured to send a payout state notification request SNR to the PCRF. And the PCRF is used for responding to the SNR and returning RAR to the PCEF, wherein the RAR comprises the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit. Finally, the processor 401 may receive the RAR returned by the PCRF through the receiver 407, and control the authorization amount for the user to use the i +1 th authorization service unit according to the QoS configuration of the traffic product corresponding to the i +1 th authorization service unit.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps: each authorization service unit in the plurality of authorization service units carries the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit. For the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the processor 401 may control, according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit, the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit used by the user. Wherein i is a positive integer smaller than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus 400 is used as the PCEF described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, the specific implementation of the apparatus 400 may refer to the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, and is not described herein again.

When the apparatus 400 is used as the PCEF described in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 10, the memory 403 may be used to store implementation codes of the data traffic control method described in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 10. Processor 401 may be used to call code in memory 403 and perform the following processes:

then, receiving a credit control response CCA returned by the online charging system OCS through the receiver 407, where the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS includes an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service;

and finally, controlling the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the QoS switching threshold may be used to characterize a switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included in the authorization service.

In some optional embodiments, the implementation manner of controlling, by the processor 401, the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service may be as follows:

when the amount of authorization consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the processor 401 may send a credit control request to the PCRF through the transmitter 405, and then receive a credit control response returned by the PCRF through the receiver 407. Wherein: the credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the authorization amount consumed by the user, and the credit control response returned by the PCRF contains the QoS policy retransmitted by the PCRF. Finally, the processor 401 may control the user to continue using the authorization service according to the QoS policy re-issued by the PCRF.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus 400 is used as the PCEF described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, the specific implementation of the apparatus 400 may refer to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, and is not described herein again.

When the apparatus 400 is an OCS as described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, respectively, the memory 403 may be used to store implementation codes of the data service control method described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, respectively. Processor 401 may be used to call code in memory 403 and perform the following processes:

receiving a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF through a receiver 407;

then, determining an authorization service issued to the user according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user;

finally, a credit control answer CCA is returned to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF by the transmitter 405.

Correspondingly, the receiver 407 is further configured to receive a usage notification sent by the PCEF. The transmitter 405 may also be configured to send a cost status notification request SNR to the PCRF for triggering the policy and charging rules function PCRF to reissue the QoS policy. The usage notification is sent by the PCEF after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, and is used for indicating the authorization amount consumed by the user. And the PCRF is used for returning an RAR to the PCEF, wherein the RAR comprises the QoS subscription policy of the data service product corresponding to the i +1 th authorization service unit. In this way, the PCEF may be configured to control an authorization amount corresponding to a single authorization element used by the user according to the QoS subscription policy in the RAR.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus 400 is used as the OCS described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, the specific implementation of the apparatus 400 may refer to the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 9, and is not described herein again.

When the apparatus 400 is an OCS as described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, the memory 403 may be used to store implementation codes of the data service control method described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10. Processor 401 may be used to call code in memory 403 and perform the following processes:

finally, a credit control answer, CCA, is returned by the transmitter to the policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF. The credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS comprises an authorized service unit corresponding to an authorized service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service. The QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus 400 is used as the OCS described in the embodiment of fig. 10, reference may be made to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10 for specific implementation of the apparatus 400, and details are not described here again.

When the apparatus 400 is used as the PCRF described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, the memory 403 may be used to store implementation codes of the data service control method described in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10. Processor 401 may be used to call code in memory 403 and perform the following processes:

receiving a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF through a receiver 407, where the credit control request includes usage information of the user;

then, judging that the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches a QoS switching threshold according to the usage information of the user, and re-determining a QoS strategy issued to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity;

finally, the re-determined QoS policy is carried in a credit control answer back to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF by the transmitter 405.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus 400 is used as the PCRF described in the embodiment of fig. 10, a specific implementation of the apparatus 400 may refer to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, and is not described again here.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data service control system, where the system may include: the PCEF, the OCS, and the PCRF may be configured to perform the methods described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7-9, respectively, and may also be configured to perform the method described in the embodiment of fig. 10. For specific implementation of each entity in the system, reference may be made to fig. 11 to 13, which correspond to the embodiments, or fig. 14, which is not described herein again.

In summary, by implementing the embodiment of the present invention, in a scenario where a user orders multiple data service products with different QoS policies, when the user uses the multiple data service products, accuracy of bandwidth control can be achieved.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by a computer program, which can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like.

Claims

1. A method for controlling data traffic, comprising:

when a user is online, a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity sends a Credit Control Request (CCR) to an Online Charging System (OCS);

a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity receives a credit control response (CCA) returned by an Online Charging System (OCS), wherein the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to authorization services issued by the OCS, one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of a quality of service (QoS) policy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS policy corresponds to a data service product ordered by a user;

a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity controls a user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service;

when the user is on line, the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF also sends a credit control request CCR to the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF, and receives a QoS policy which is determined by the PCRF according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user and is issued to the user.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF controls the user to use the authorized service according to a plurality of authorized service units corresponding to the authorized service, including:

aiming at the plurality of authorization service units, after the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU is used by the user, the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF sends a usage amount notification to the online charging system OCS so as to trigger the online charging system OCS to notify the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy; the online charging system OCS is used for sending a spending state notification request SNR to the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF; the policy and charging rules function PCRF is used for responding to the expense state notification request SNR and returning a re-authentication request RAR to the policy and charging execution function entity PCEF; the re-authentication request RAR comprises a QoS subscription strategy of a data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit;

and the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF receives a re-authentication request RAR returned by the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF, and controls the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS configuration of the flow product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of authorization service units carries a QoS subscription policy of a data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit; the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity controls a user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service, and the method comprises the following steps:

aiming at the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization quantity corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity controls the user to use the authorization quantity corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; wherein i is a positive integer less than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

4. A method for controlling data traffic, comprising:

an online charging system OCS receives a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging execution function entity PCEF; the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF is used for sending a credit control request CCR to the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF when a user is on line, and receiving a QoS policy which is determined by the PCRF according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user and is issued to the user;

an online charging system OCS determines an authorization service issued to a user according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, and returns a credit control response CCA to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service issued by an Online Charging System (OCS), wherein one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user; and the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity is used for controlling the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

an online charging system OCS receives a usage notification sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the usage notification is sent by a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity after the usage of the user finishes the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, and is used for indicating the authorization amount consumed by the user;

the OCS sends a spending state notification request SNR to the PCRF, which is used for triggering the PCRF to resend the QoS strategy; the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF is used for returning a re-authentication request RAR to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the re-authentication request RAR comprises a QoS subscription strategy of a data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; and the policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF) is used for controlling the authorization quantity corresponding to the single authorization element used by the user according to the QoS subscription policy in the re-authentication request (RAR).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of authorization service units carries a QoS subscription policy of a data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit; the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF is specifically configured to control, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; wherein i is a positive integer less than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

7. A method for controlling data traffic, comprising:

a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity receives a credit control response (CCA) returned by an Online Charging System (OCS), wherein the credit control response returned by the OCS contains an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the OCS and a QoS (quality of service) switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity controls a user to use the authorization service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) controls the user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switch threshold corresponding to the authorized service, and includes:

when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF sends a credit control request to the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF, and the credit control request sent to the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF contains the authorization amount consumed by the user and is used for triggering the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF to resend the QoS policy;

the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF receives a credit control response returned by the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF, wherein the credit control response returned by the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF comprises a QoS policy re-issued by the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF;

and the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF controls the user to continue using the authorization service according to the QoS policy issued again by the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein if the authorized service includes an authorized amount of N QoS policies, the QoS switching threshold includes N-1 threshold values; n is more than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer.

10. A method for controlling data traffic, comprising:

an online charging system OCS determines an authorization service issued to a user according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user, and returns a credit control response CCA to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, is specifically configured to: when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, a credit control request is sent to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), the credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the usage information of the user, and the PCRF is triggered to re-issue the QoS policy.

12. A method for controlling data traffic, comprising:

a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) entity receives a Credit Control Request (CCR) sent by a Policy and Charging Execution Function (PCEF), wherein the credit control request contains usage information of a user;

the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) entity judges that the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches a QoS switching threshold according to the usage information of the user, re-determines the QoS policy issued to the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), and returns the re-determined QoS policy to the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity by carrying the re-determined QoS policy in a credit control response; the QoS switching threshold is a QoS switching threshold corresponding to an authorized service issued by an online charging system OCS to the user, and is used for representing a switching threshold between authorized quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included in the authorized service.

13. A policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, comprising:

the system comprises a sending unit, a credit control request CCR and an OCS, wherein the sending unit is used for sending a credit control request CCR to the OCS when a user is online;

the system comprises a receiving unit, a credit control response CCA and a credit control response processing unit, wherein the receiving unit is used for receiving the CCA returned by the OCS, the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to authorization services issued by the OCS, one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy corresponds to one data service product ordered by a user;

the control unit is used for controlling the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service;

the sending unit is further configured to send a credit control request CCR to an online charging system OCS when the user is online, and the receiving unit is further configured to receive a QoS policy that the PCRF determines and issues to the user according to a data service product subscribed by the user and current balance information of the user.

14. The PCEF of claim 13, wherein the control unit is specifically configured to:

for the multiple authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith GSU, triggering the sending unit to send a usage amount notification to the OCS so as to trigger the OCS to notify the PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy; the OCS is used for sending a spending state notification request SNR to the PCRF; the PCRF is used for responding to the expense state notification request SNR and returning a re-authentication request RAR to the PCEF; the re-authentication request RAR comprises a QoS subscription strategy of a data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit;

triggering the receiving unit to receive a re-authentication request RAR returned by the PCRF, and controlling the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit used by the user according to the QoS configuration of the traffic product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit.

15. The PCEF of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of authorization service units carries a QoS subscription policy of a data service product corresponding to the authorization service unit; the control unit is specifically configured to: aiming at the plurality of authorization service units, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, controlling the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription strategy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; wherein i is a positive integer less than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

16. An OCS (online charging System), comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a credit control request CCR sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF is used for sending a credit control request CCR to the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF when a user is on line, and receiving a QoS policy which is determined by the PCRF according to a data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user and is issued to the user;

the authorization unit is used for determining authorization service issued to the user according to the data service product ordered by the user and the current balance information of the user;

a sending unit, configured to return a credit control answer CCA to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the credit control response comprises a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service issued by an Online Charging System (OCS), wherein one authorization service unit corresponds to the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy, and the authorization quantity of one QoS strategy corresponds to one data service product ordered by the user; and the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity is used for controlling the user to use the authorization service according to a plurality of authorization service units corresponding to the authorization service.

17. The OCS of claim 16, comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a usage notification sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the usage notification is sent by a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity after the usage of the user finishes the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, and is used for indicating the authorization amount consumed by the user;

the sending unit is further configured to send a payout state notification request SNR to the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF, and is configured to trigger the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF to re-issue the QoS policy; the PCRF is used for returning a re-authentication request RAR to a PCEF (policy and charging enforcement function) entity; the re-authentication request RAR comprises a QoS subscription strategy of a data service product corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; and the policy and charging enforcement function entity (PCEF) is used for controlling the authorization quantity corresponding to the single authorization element used by the user according to the QoS subscription policy in the re-authentication request (RAR).

18. The OCS of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of authorized service units carries a QoS subscription policy of a data service product corresponding to the authorized service unit; the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF is specifically configured to control, after the user finishes using the authorization amount corresponding to the ith authorization service unit, the user to use the authorization amount corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit according to the QoS subscription policy corresponding to the (i + 1) th authorization service unit; wherein i is a positive integer less than the total number of the plurality of authorized service units.

19. A policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a credit control request CCR to an online charging system OCS by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF when a user is online;

the system comprises a receiving unit and a processing unit, wherein the receiving unit is used for receiving a credit control response CCA returned by an online charging system OCS, and the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

a control unit, configured to control a user to use the authorized service according to the QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorized service;

the sending unit is further configured to send a credit control request CCR to the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF when the user is online, and the receiving unit is further configured to receive a QoS policy that the PCRF determines and issues to the user according to a data service product ordered by the user and current balance information of the user.

20. The PCEF of claim 19, wherein the control unit is specifically configured to: when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, triggering the sending unit to send a credit control request to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) entity, and then triggering the receiving unit to receive a credit control response returned by the PCRF entity, wherein: the credit control request sent to the PCRF includes the authorization amount consumed by the user, and the credit control response returned by the PCRF includes the QoS policy re-issued by the PCRF; and controlling the user to continue using the authorization service according to the QoS policy issued again by the policy and charging rule functional entity PCRF.

21. The PCEF of claim 19 or 20, wherein the QoS switching threshold comprises N-1 threshold values if the authorization service comprises an authorization amount of N QoS policies; n is more than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer.

22. An OCS (online charging System), comprising:

a sending unit, configured to return a credit control answer CCA to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the credit control response returned by the online charging system OCS comprises an authorization service unit corresponding to an authorization service issued by the online charging system OCS and a QoS switching threshold corresponding to the authorization service; the QoS switching threshold is used for representing the switching threshold between authorization quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription strategies included by the authorization service;

23. The OCS of claim 22, wherein the policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, is specifically configured to: when the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches the QoS switching threshold, a credit control request is sent to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), the credit control request sent to the PCRF contains the usage information of the user, and the PCRF is triggered to re-issue the QoS policy.

24. A policy and charging rules function, PCRF, comprising:

the system comprises a receiving unit, a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) entity and a charging control unit, wherein the receiving unit receives a Credit Control Request (CCR) sent by the PCEF entity, and the credit control request contains the usage information of a user;

a QoS determining unit, configured to determine, according to the usage information of the user, that the authorization amount consumed by the user reaches a QoS switching threshold, and re-determine a QoS policy issued to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF;

a sending unit, configured to carry the re-determined QoS policy in a credit control response and return the credit control response to the policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF; the QoS switching threshold is a QoS switching threshold corresponding to an authorized service issued by an online charging system OCS to the user, and is used for representing a switching threshold between authorized quantities of a plurality of different QoS subscription policies included in the authorized service.

25. A data service control system, comprising: a policy and charging enforcement function entity, PCEF, and an online charging system, OCS, wherein:

the policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, is the PCEF of any of claims 13-15; the online charging system, OCS, is the OCS of any of claims 16-18.

26. A data service control system, comprising: a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, an online charging system OCS, and a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF, wherein:

the policy and charging enforcement function, PCEF, is the PCEF of any of claims 19-21; the online charging system, OCS, is the OCS of any of claims 22-23; the policy and charging rules function PCRF is the PCRF of claim 24.