CN116074775A

CN116074775A - Charging method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN116074775A
Application number: CN202111296505.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 柴晓前
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-03
Filing date: 2021-11-03
Publication date: 2023-05-05
Also published as: WO2023078149A1

Abstract

A charging method, comprising: the charging policy entity generates a rate charging policy of a data connection service of the user equipment and sends the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity; the rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information, the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the use information comprises the use amount accumulated by the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval. The rate charging information in the embodiment of the application comprises the information of the data transmission rate interval and the corresponding use information, so that the charging processing of the user equipment based on the data transmission rate can be realized.

Description

Charging method, device and system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a charging method, device, and system.

Background

With the continuous development of mobile communication networks, operators can provide users with more rich and colorful services such as voice, video and the like. At present, an operator charges the ue according to the traffic, taking a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) communication system as an example, the session management entity may obtain the usage amount corresponding to the data connection session of the ue, where the usage amount is the traffic generated by data transmission of the service in the data connection session, and reports the usage amount to the charging function entity, and then the charging function entity performs charging processing on the ue based on the usage amount.

However, the data transmission rate may often change due to the complicated wireless air interface environment, the diversity of services, and the like. The above manner of charging according to the traffic does not take into account the data transmission rate. How to perform charging processing on the user equipment based on the data transmission rate is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a charging method, a device and a system, which are used for realizing charging processing on user equipment based on data transmission rate.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging method, where the method may be used to implement a function of a charging policy entity, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to a specific implementation body of the method. Taking the method as an example applied to a charging policy entity, in the method, the charging policy entity determines a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment, the rate charging policy is used for indicating a rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data rate interval and corresponding usage information, the data rate interval is one of a plurality of data rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises a usage amount accumulated for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval; and sending the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity.

In this way, each piece of rate charging information in the embodiment of the present application may include information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding usage information, so that charging processing for the user equipment based on the data transmission rate can be implemented. Further, the charging method provided by the embodiment of the application charges from two dimensions of the data transmission rate and the usage amount (such as the traffic), can provide technical support for operators according to pricing of the data transmission rate (different rates corresponding to different data transmission rate intervals), meets the rate change requirements of operators, and is convenient for improving the utilization rate of network resources.

In one possible design, the data connection service is a set of service data flows in a data connection session of the user equipment.

In one possible design, the data connection service includes all service data flows in a data connection session of the user equipment; or the data connection service comprises a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session of the user equipment; or the data connection service comprises a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session of the user equipment; alternatively, the data connection service comprises a service data flow in a data connection session of the user equipment.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes information for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

Thus, the charging policy entity may have different data transmission rate interval dividing modes (i.e. a mode of dividing a plurality of data transmission rate intervals) when determining different rate charging policies. For example, the data transmission rate interval division modes of the rate charging policies of different user equipment may be different, and for example, the data transmission rate interval division modes of the rate charging policies of different PDU sessions of the same user equipment may also be different, and for example, the data transmission rate interval of the rate charging policies of PDU session 1 includes the following three intervals: the data transmission rate interval of the rate charging strategies of the PDU conversation 2 comprises three intervals of (0, 8Mbps ], (8 Mbps,15Mbps ], (15 Mbps, & lt, & gt) and the data transmission rate interval dividing modes of the rate charging strategies of different services of the user equipment, such as different modes of the data transmission rate interval dividing modes of the rate charging strategies of different services of the user equipment, so that the determined rate charging strategies are flexible, and charging requirements of different scenes can be effectively met.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes a time range for instructing the rate charging information collection entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service within the time range.

In this way, when the rate charging policy includes a time range, the charging policy entity may flexibly define the time of rate charging through the time range.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes a time unit, where the time unit is used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to determine a data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every the time unit.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes manner information indicating a manner in which a data transmission rate of the data connection service is determined within the time unit.

In one possible design, the mode information indicates a first mode or a second mode; the first manner is to calculate a data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on a duration of the time unit (for example, calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on a flow in the time unit and the duration of the time unit); the second mode is to calculate a data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on a duration of the flow generated in the time unit (for example, calculate a data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the flow in the time unit and the duration of the flow generated in the time unit).

Therefore, when the rate charging policy comprises time units and/or mode information, the charging policy entity can dynamically adjust the duration of the time units and the mode of calculating the rate according to the charging demands of different scenes and the calculation burden of the system, and has high flexibility. For example, when the duration of the time unit is shorter and/or the rate calculating mode is the second mode, the calculation load of the rate charging information collecting entity is larger, and when the duration of the time unit is longer and/or the rate calculating mode is the first mode, the calculation load of the rate charging information collecting entity is relatively smaller.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: receiving a first charging request message from a charging trigger entity; and determining the rate charging policy based on the first charging request message.

In one possible design, the charging policy entity is a charging function CHF entity or a policy control function PCF entity.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging method, where the method may be used to implement a function of a charging processing entity, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to a specific implementation body of the method. Taking the method as an example applied to a charging processing entity, in the method, the charging processing entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of a data connection service of user equipment, which is sent by a rate charging information acquisition entity, and each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval; and charging the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information.

In one possible design, receiving rate charging information from a rate charging information collection entity includes: and receiving a second charging request message from the rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein the second charging request message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

In one possible design, receiving rate charging information from a rate charging information collection entity includes: and receiving a subscription notification message from the rate charging information collection entity, wherein the subscription notification message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and sending the quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals to the rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein the usage amount is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: sending trigger condition information to the rate charging information acquisition entity; the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that when an available quota corresponding to a first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold value corresponding to the first quota, the rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity; and/or the triggering condition information comprises a validity period of a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that the rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity when the validity period expires; the first quota is a quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

In one possible design, the billing processing entity is a CHF entity.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging method, where the method may be used to implement a function of a rate charging information collection entity, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to a specific implementation body of the method. Taking the method as an example applied to a rate charging information acquisition entity, in the method, the rate charging information acquisition entity receives a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a charging policy entity, wherein the rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service; generating at least one piece of rate charging information according to the rate charging policy; each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes information for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, the method further comprising: and acquiring the plurality of data transmission rate intervals from the rate charging policy.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes a time range; generating rate charging information of the user equipment according to the rate charging policy, including: and generating at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service in the time range according to the rate charging policy.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes a time unit; generating rate charging information of the user equipment according to the rate charging policy, including: and determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every other time unit.

In one possible design, the data connection service corresponds to a plurality of user plane functional entities; the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit is the total data transmission rate of the data connection service on the plurality of user plane functional entities; wherein the total data transmission rate is obtained based on the total traffic of the data connection service on the plurality of user plane functional entities; or the total data transmission rate is the sum of the data transmission rates of the data connection services respectively corresponding to the plurality of user plane functional entities.

In one possible design, the rate charging policy includes mode information; determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit comprises the following steps: and determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit according to the mode indicated by the mode information.

In one possible design, the mode information indicates a first mode or a second mode; when the mode indicated by the mode information is the first mode, determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit includes: calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the time unit; when the mode indicated by the mode information is the second mode, determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit includes: and calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the time length of the flow generated in the time unit.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and sending the at least one piece of rate charging information to a charging processing entity.

It will be appreciated that in various possible designs described in the third aspect above, the rate charging information collection entity may be an SMF entity or an NWDAF entity. Further, when the rate charging information collection entity may be an NWDAF entity, the following possible designs may be included:

in one possible design, the method further comprises: and sending a subscription notification message to a charging processing entity, wherein the subscription notification message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

When the rate charging information collection entity may be an SMF entity, the following several possible designs may be included:

in one possible design, the method further comprises: and sending a second charging request message to a charging processing entity, wherein the second charging request message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and sending a first charging request message to the charging policy entity, wherein the first charging request message is used for determining the rate charging policy.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and receiving the quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals sent by the charging processing entity, wherein the usage amount is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: receiving triggering information sent by the charging processing entity; the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to the first quota; sending the rate charging information to a charging processing entity, including: after determining that the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold corresponding to the first quota, sending the rate charging information to the charging processing entity; and/or, the trigger condition information includes an expiration date of the first quota; sending the rate charging information to a charging processing entity, including: after the expiration of the validity period of the first quota is determined, the rate charging information is sent to the charging processing entity; the first quota is a quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

It will be appreciated that the method described in the second aspect or the third aspect corresponds to the method described in the first aspect, and therefore, the beneficial effects of the relevant technical features in the method described in the second aspect or the third aspect may refer to the first aspect, and are not repeated in detail.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging policy entity, where the charging policy entity has a function of implementing the first aspect. For example, the charging policy entity includes a module or unit or means (means) for executing the steps referred to in the first aspect, where the function or unit or means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

In one possible design, the charging policy entity includes a processing module and a communication module, where the communication module may be configured to send and receive signals to implement communication between the charging policy entity and other devices; the processing module may be configured to perform some internal operations of the charging policy entity.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing module is configured to: determining a rate charging policy of user equipment, where the rate charging policy is used to instruct a rate charging information collecting entity to generate a rate charging policy of a data connection service of the user equipment, where the rate charging policy is used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, each piece of rate charging information includes information of a data rate interval and corresponding usage information, where the data rate interval is one of multiple data rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information collecting entity, and the usage information includes a usage amount accumulated for the data connection service when a data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval; the communication module is used for: and sending the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: receiving a first charging request message from a charging trigger entity; the processing module is specifically configured to: and determining the rate charging policy based on the first charging request message.

In one possible design, the charging policy entity includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive signals, and where the processor executes program instructions to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect. Wherein the charging policy entity may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor, which memories may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the charging policy entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the charging policy entity includes a processor that may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the charging policy entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the charging policy entity includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and perform the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging processing entity, where the charging processing entity has a function of implementing the second aspect, for example, the charging processing entity includes a module or a unit or a means for executing the steps related to the second aspect, where the function or the unit or the means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or may also be implemented by hardware to execute corresponding software.

In one possible design, the charging processing entity includes a processing module and a communication module, where the communication module may be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the charging processing entity and other devices; the processing module may be configured to perform some internal operations of the billing processing entity.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication module is configured to: receiving at least one piece of rate charging information of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval; the processing module is used for: and carrying out charging processing on the user equipment based on the rate charging information.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is specifically configured to: and receiving a second charging request message from the rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein the second charging request message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: and sending the quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals to the rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein the usage amount is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: sending trigger condition information to the rate charging information acquisition entity; the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that when the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold value corresponding to the first quota, the rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity; and/or the triggering condition information comprises a validity period of a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that the rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity when the validity period expires; the first quota is a quota corresponding to a first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

In one possible design, the charging processing entity includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive signals, and where the processor executes program instructions to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect. Wherein the charging processing entity may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor, which memories may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the second aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the billing processing entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect described above.

In one possible design, the billing processing entity includes a processor that may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the second aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the billing processing entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect described above.

In one possible design, the charging processing entity includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and perform the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rate charging information collection entity, where the rate charging information collection entity has a function of implementing the third aspect, for example, the rate charging information collection entity includes a module or a unit or a means for executing the steps related to the third aspect, where the function or the unit or the means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or may also be implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In one possible design, the rate charging information collection entity includes a processing module and a communication module, where the communication module may be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the rate charging information collection entity and other devices; the processing module may be configured to perform some internal operations of the rate charging information acquisition entity.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication module is configured to: receiving a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a charging policy entity, wherein the rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service; the processing module is used for: generating the at least one piece of rate charging information according to the rate charging policy; each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval.

As one possible implementation, the rate charging policy includes a time range; the processing module is specifically configured to: and generating at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service in the time range according to the rate charging policy.

As one possible implementation, the rate charging policy includes a time unit; the processing module is specifically configured to: and determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every other time unit.

As one possible implementation, the rate charging policy includes mode information; the processing module is specifically configured to: and determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit according to the mode indicated by the mode information.

As a possible implementation, the mode information indicates a first mode or a second mode; when the mode indicated by the mode information is the first mode, the processing module is specifically configured to: calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the time unit; when the mode indicated by the mode information is the second mode, the processing module is specifically configured to: and calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the time length of the flow generated in the time unit.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: and sending the at least one piece of rate charging information to a charging processing entity.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: and receiving the quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals sent by the charging processing entity, wherein the usage amount is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: and receiving validity periods of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate intervals sent by the charging processing entity.

As a possible implementation, the communication module is further configured to: receiving triggering information sent by the charging processing entity; the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to the first quota; the processing module is further configured to: after determining that the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold corresponding to the first quota, controlling the communication module to send the rate charging information to the charging processing entity; and/or, the trigger condition information includes an expiration date of the first quota; the processing module is further configured to: after the expiration of the validity period of the first quota is determined, controlling the communication module to send the rate charging information to the charging processing entity; the first quota is a quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

In one possible design, the rate charging information collecting entity includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive signals, and where the processor executes program instructions to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the third aspect. Wherein the rate charging information acquisition entity may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor, which memories may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the third aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the rate charging information acquisition entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the third aspect described above.

In one possible design, the rate charging information acquisition entity includes a processor that may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the third aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory, which when executed, cause the rate charging information acquisition entity to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the third aspect described above.

In one possible design, the rate charging information acquisition entity includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and perform the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the third aspect.

It will be appreciated that in the fourth to sixth aspects described above, the processor may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory. Further, the above processor may be one or more, and the memory may be one or more. The memory may be integral to the processor or separate from the processor. In a specific implementation process, the memory and the processor may be integrated on the same chip, or may be respectively disposed on different chips.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the charging policy entity provided in the fourth aspect, the charging processing entity provided in the fifth aspect, and the rate charging information collection entity provided in the sixth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-readable instructions which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first to third aspects described above.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first to third aspects described above.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip comprising a processor coupled to a memory for reading and executing a software program stored in the memory to implement the method in any one of the possible designs of the first to third aspects above.

In combination with the above aspects, in one possible design, the rate charging information further includes mode information, so that the rate charging information collecting entity can more flexibly use the rate calculation mode, and the charging processing entity can accurately know the rate calculation mode used by the rate charging information collecting entity.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of communication between an SMF entity and a CHF entity according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of data transmission rate characteristics in three scenarios provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 5A to 5E are schematic diagrams of network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method according to a first embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7A is a schematic diagram of generating rate charging information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7B is a schematic diagram of generating rate charging information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the third embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the fourth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the fifth embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a possible exemplary block diagram of an apparatus involved in an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the device according to the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application, taking the network architecture as an example of a network architecture of a 5G communication system based on a server interface. As shown in fig. 1, a user device may access a wireless network to obtain services of an external network (e.g., a Data Network (DN)) through the wireless network or communicate with other devices through the wireless network. The wireless network may also be referred to as AN operator network, and may include a (radio) access network (R) AN for accessing user equipment to the wireless network and a Core Network (CN) for managing the user equipment and providing a gateway for communicating with the DN.

The user equipment, RAN, CN, DN, respectively, will be described in detail below.

(1) User equipment

A user device (user device) is a device of an end user; the device may have wireless communication capabilities to connect to a wireless access device over an air interface, or may have wired communication capabilities to connect to a wired access device over a wired interface; from a product morphology, the device may be a smart phone, a Laptop with wireless communication function (Laptop), a tablet, a wearable device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a everything interconnect (internet of things, ioT) device, a desktop of an office desktop, etc.; the device may consume application services provided by an application server in the data network through the data connection session.

The user equipment may include the functionality of User Equipment (UE) defined by the third generation partnership project (the 3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) standard specification.

(2)RAN

One or more access network devices may be included in the RAN, and the interface between the access network devices and the terminal devices may be a Uu interface (or referred to as a null interface). The access network device is a node or device for accessing the terminal device to the wireless network. Access network devices include, for example, but are not limited to: a new generation base station (generation node B, gNB), an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation evolved node B (next generation eNB, ng-eNB), a home base station (home evolved nodeB, heNB) or (home node B, HNB), and the like in the 5G communication system.

(3)CN

One or more core network elements or core network entities may be included in the CN, such as policy control function (policy control function, PCF) entities, unified data management (unified data management, UDM) entities, unified databases (unified data repository, UDR), access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) entities, session management function (session management function, SMF) entities, and user plane function (user plane function, UPF) entities, among others.

The AMF entity is a control plane entity provided by the operator network and is responsible for access control and mobility management of the terminal device accessing the operator network, including, for example, user location update, user registration network, user handover, etc.

The UPF entity is a gateway for the operator network to communicate with the DN. The UPF entity includes functions related to the user plane such as packet routing and transmission, packet detection, quality of service (quality of service, qoS) handling, lawful interception, uplink packet detection, downlink packet storage, etc.

The SMF entity is responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modification, release), internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address allocation and management, UPF entity selection and control, traffic and session continuity (service and session continuity, SSC) mode selection, roaming, and other session related functions in the mobile network.

The PCF entity is responsible for generating policies such as UE access policies, qoS flow control policies, and charging related policies.

The UDM entity is responsible for storing information in the operator network such as the subscriber permanent identifier (subscriber permanent identifier, SUPI) of the signing subscriber, subscription data, etc.

UDR provides storage capabilities for subscription data, policy data, and capability openness related data.

In this embodiment, the definition and the function of each core network entity included in the CN may refer to the 3GPP standard specification.

(4)DN

The DN may also be referred to as a packet data network (packet data network, PDN), a network that is located outside the operator network. The DN is identified in the 5G communication network by a data network name (data network name, DNN). Typical DNs may include the Internet, IP Multimedia Services (IMS) networks, and the like.

In addition, although not shown, other possible entities may be included in the network architecture, such as a network data analysis function (network data analytics function, NWDAF) entity, where the NWDAF entity is a data aware analysis entity, performs automatic sensing and analysis on the network based on network data, and participates in network planning, construction, operation and maintenance, network optimization, and operation in a full life cycle, so that the network is easy to maintain and control, and the use efficiency of network resources is improved.

It will be appreciated that in the network architecture in the embodiments of the present application (such as the network architecture illustrated in fig. 1, and the network architecture illustrated in fig. 2 below), letters and numbers near the connection between the entities represent names of communication interfaces between the entities, and the meaning of these communication interfaces may be referred to the meaning defined in the relevant standard protocol. The communication interfaces between the entities may also have other names, and are not particularly limited.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application, taking the network architecture as an example of a network architecture with integrated charging. As shown in fig. 2, the network architecture may include a charging trigger function (charging trigger function, CTF) entity defined by the 3GPP standard specification and a charging function (charging function, CHF) entity defined by the 3GPP standard specification. Wherein the CTF entity may be integrated in the SMF entity illustrated in fig. 1 as part of the SMF entity. CHF entities may perform converged billing, which may include online billing and offline billing.

Optionally, the network architecture may further include a billing domain (billing domain) or billing entity, where the billing entity and CHF entity may communicate through a billing gateway function (charging gateway function, CGF) entity. The CGF entity may be integrated in the billing entity as part of the billing entity or may exist as a separate entity, without limitation in particular. In fig. 2, the CGF entity is taken as an example of a separate entity.

Wherein the SMF entity (or CTF entity) may communicate with the CHF entity through a serviceization interface. Some possible communications between the SMF entity and the CHF entity are described below in connection with fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of communication between an SMF entity and a CHF entity, as shown in fig. 3, including:

s301, the SMF entity receives a session establishment request message of the user equipment, wherein the session establishment request message is used for requesting to establish a data connection session for the user equipment.

Here, the data connection session is a connection (association) between the user equipment and the data network, and is used for providing a connection service for communication between the user equipment and the data network, so that a communication data packet (packet) can be transmitted back and forth between the user equipment and the data network; the creation process can be initiated by the user equipment, and the removal process can be initiated by the user equipment or by other equipment. The data connection session may be a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session applicable to the 5G communication system, or may be another session applicable to other networks, such as an IP connection access network session (IP-connectivity access network, IP-CAN session) applicable to the 4G communication system, which is not limited herein. In the embodiment of the present application, a data connection session will be described as an example of a PDU session, which may be used to transmit a service data stream of a user equipment.

S302, the SMF entity sends a charging request message 1 to the CHF entity, where the charging request message 1 may include an identification of the user equipment, an identification of the PDU session, etc.

Here, the charging request message 1 may be an initial charging data request message or a charging resource creation request message. The charging request message 1 is used for requesting the CHF entity to create a corresponding charging resource for the PDU session, where the charging resource is used for managing the application of the quota of the data connection service in the PDU session and the reporting of the usage amount, for example, the SMF entity may apply the quota of the data connection service to the CHF entity through a management request message (e.g. a charging resource update request message) of the charging resource, and report the usage amount of the data connection service, where the usage amount includes a duration or a flow. A data connection service is understood to be a collection of service data flows (service data flow, SDF) in a data connection session of a user equipment.

The identity of the user equipment may be an international mobile subscriber identity (international mobile subscriber identification number, IMSI) or a user internet protocol version 6 (internet protocol version, ipv 6) address, etc.

S303, the CHF entity receives the charging request message 1 and sends a charging response message 1 to the SMF entity, where the charging response message 1 may include a charging resource identifier, and the charging resource identifier is used to identify a charging resource created by the CHF entity for the PDU session.

Here, the charging response message 1 may create a response message for the initial charging data response message or charging resource.

S304, in the process of using the data connection session by the user equipment to perform data transmission, if the SMF entity determines that the triggering condition is met (for example, the quota obtained before is about to run out, a certain rate switching time point is reached, the user equipment is switched from one access network device to another access network device, etc.), the SMF entity may send a charging request message 2 to the CHF entity, where the charging request message 2 includes a charging resource identifier and information about the usage amount of the user equipment for the data connection service.

Here, the charging request message 2 may be an update charging data request message or a charging resource update request message.

S305, the CHF entity receives the charging request message 2, performs charging processing on the user equipment based on the usage amount of the user equipment for the data connection service, and sends the charging response message 2 to the SMF entity.

Here, the charging response message 2 may be an update charging data response message or a charging resource update response message.

S306, after the PDU session of the user equipment is released, the SMF entity may send a charging request message 3 to the CHF entity, where the charging request message 3 is used to request the CHF entity to terminate the charging process for the data connection service in the PDU session. Optionally, the charging request message 3 contains information about the usage amount of the user equipment for the data connection service before the PDU session is released.

Here, the charging request message 2 may be a terminating charging data request message or a charging resource release request message.

S307, the CHF entity receives the charging request message 3, terminates the charging process for the data connection service in the PDU session, and sends a charging response message 3 to the SMF entity. If the charging request message 3 contains information about the usage amount of the user equipment for the data connection service, the CHF entity also performs a charging process for the user equipment based on the usage amount.

Here, the charging response message 3 may be a terminating charging data response message or a charging resource release response message.

It will be appreciated that during data transfer by the user equipment using the data connection session, the SMF entity may send a multiple update charging data request message to the CHF entity (e.g. the SMF entity determines that the trigger condition is met and sends a single update charging data request message), and correspondingly, the CHF entity may also send a multiple update charging data response message to the SMF entity.

In view of the network architecture illustrated in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the current SMF entity may obtain the usage (such as the traffic) of the data connection service of the ue, and report the usage to the CHF entity, so that the CHF entity performs the charging process on the ue based on the traffic.

Since a 5G communication system may provide communication services for a variety of applications, different applications may have significantly different data transmission rate characteristics. For example, referring to fig. 4, data transmission rate characteristics in three scenarios are illustrated. As shown in fig. 4, in scene 1 (e.g., movie playback without a bullet screen), the data transmission rate is high for some short time periods, and the data transmission rate is 0 for many long time periods; in scene 2 (e.g., movie playback with a bullet screen), the data transmission rate is high for some short periods of time, and low for many long periods of time; in scenario 3 (e.g., live video), the data transfer rate is initially higher and then more stable after a subsequent decrease. However, the above manner of charging according to the traffic does not consider the data transmission rate of the user equipment.

In order to implement the charging processing for the user equipment based on the data transmission rate, one possible way is to set one or more rate thresholds for the data connection service of the user equipment, and when the data transmission rate of the data connection service crosses a certain rate threshold, report the real-time data transmission rate and the usage amount to the charging processing entity, so that the charging processing entity can perform the charging processing for the user equipment according to the real-time data transmission rate and the usage amount. However, since the data transmission rate of the data connection service is dynamically changed, the data transmission rate may frequently cross the rate threshold, and thus the real-time data transmission rate and the usage amount need to be frequently reported, and accordingly, the charging processing entity needs to frequently perform charging processing, so that the cost of transmission resources is high, and the processing burden of the charging processing entity is heavy.

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides a charging method, in which a charging policy entity may generate a corresponding rate charging policy for a data connection service of a user equipment, and send the rate charging policy to a rate charging information acquisition entity, so that the rate charging information acquisition entity may generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to the rate charging policy, and further a charging processing entity may perform charging processing on the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information. Compared to the manner of charging per flow, each piece of rate charging information in the embodiments of the present application may include information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding usage information, so that charging processing (i.e., "rate charging" for the user equipment) for the user equipment based on the data transmission rate can be implemented. In addition, the rate charging information acquisition entity in the embodiment of the present application may collect usage amounts according to a rate charging policy according to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, for example, when a data transmission rate of a data connection service changes in different data transmission rate intervals, the rate charging information acquisition entity may count usage amounts corresponding to different data transmission rate intervals, and does not need to report to a charging processing entity frequently due to the change in the data transmission rate in the different data transmission rate intervals, thereby effectively saving transmission resources and reducing a processing load of the charging processing entity.

It will be appreciated that: the unit of the data transmission rate may be bit rate or bit per second (bps), and for convenience of description, the data transmission rate is also sometimes referred to as simply the rate in the embodiments of the present application; in some cases the rate is also referred to as the bandwidth. Further, the data transmission rate may refer to an uplink data transmission rate, or may refer to a downlink data transmission rate, or may refer to a total uplink and downlink data transmission rate (i.e. a sum of uplink data traffic and downlink data traffic in a unit time). The rate charging means charging according to different data transmission rate intervals, and the rates corresponding to the different data transmission rate intervals can be different, or the different data transmission rate intervals can have different rate gears. For example, the rate corresponding to the data transmission rate interval (0, 5 Mbps) is 0.5 yuan per megabit of flow, which is called as a data transmission rate interval of 0.5 yuan/megabit, the rate corresponding to the data transmission rate interval (5 Mbps,10 Mbps) is 0.8 yuan per megabit of flow, which is called as a data transmission rate interval of 0.8 yuan/megabit, and the rate corresponding to the data transmission rate interval (10 Mbps, oc) is 1 yuan per megabit of flow, which is called as a data transmission rate interval of 1 yuan/megabit.

Fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5A, the network architecture may include a charging policy entity, a charging processing entity, and a rate charging information collection entity, and optionally, a charging trigger entity.

The above entities may communicate with each other. For example, the charging policy entity may generate a rate charging policy for the data connection service and send the rate charging policy to the rate charging information collection entity. The rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information, the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the use information comprises the use amount accumulated by the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval. The rate charging information collection entity may generate at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service according to the rate charging policy, and may also send the at least one piece of rate charging information to the charging processing entity. The charging processing entity may perform charging processing on the user equipment based on at least one piece of rate charging information sent by the rate charging information acquisition entity. The charging trigger entity may trigger the charging processing entity to perform charging processing on the user equipment, for example, the charging trigger entity may send other possible charging information (different from rate charging information) to the charging processing entity, and thus the charging processing entity may perform charging processing on the user equipment.

It will be appreciated that each entity illustrated in fig. 5A may be deployed as a separate entity, or that a plurality of entities may be integrated or deployed as one entity (i.e. the functions of a plurality of entities are implemented by one entity), and several possible scenarios are described below in connection with implementation 1 to implementation 6.

Implementation 1, as shown in fig. 5B, the functions of the charging policy entity and the charging processing entity may be implemented by a CHF entity, and the functions of the rate charging information acquisition entity and the charging trigger entity may be implemented by an SMF entity.

Implementation 2, referring to fig. 5C, the functions of the charging policy entity and the charging processing entity may be implemented by a CHF entity, the function of the rate charging information acquisition entity may be implemented by an NWDAF entity, and the function of the charging trigger entity may be implemented by an SMF entity.

Implementation 3, referring to fig. 5D, the function of the charging policy entity may be implemented by a PCF entity, the function of the charging processing entity may be implemented by a CHF entity, and the functions of the rate charging information acquisition entity and the charging trigger entity may be implemented by an SMF entity.

Implementation 4, referring to fig. 5E, the function of the charging policy entity may be implemented by a PCF entity and a CHF entity, the function of the charging processing entity may be implemented by a CHF entity, and the functions of the rate charging information acquisition entity and the charging trigger entity may be implemented by an SMF entity.

It will be appreciated that: implementation 1 to implementation 4 above are just some of the possible deployment examples, and other possible deployment scenarios are also possible for the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5A above. For example, the function of the charging policy entity is implemented by a PCF entity, the function of the charging processing entity is implemented by a CHF entity, the function of the charging triggering entity is implemented by an SMF entity, and the function of the rate charging information collecting entity is implemented by an NWDAF entity. For another example, the function of the charging policy entity is implemented by a PCF entity and a CHF entity, the function of the charging processing entity is implemented by a CHF entity, the function of the charging triggering entity is implemented by an SMF entity, and the function of the rate charging information collecting entity is implemented by an NWDAF entity.

The entities described in the embodiments of the present application (such as the entities described in fig. 1, 2, 5A to 5E) may also be referred to as functional entities or network elements, for example, the SMF entity in fig. 1 may also be referred to as SMF functional entities or SMF network elements. The entities may be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Alternatively, the entity may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented by a plurality of devices together, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The charging method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below in connection with embodiment one to embodiment five.

Example 1

In the first embodiment, a possible implementation flow of the charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described based on the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5A.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, the method may include:

s601, a charging policy entity generates a rate charging policy for a data connection service of user equipment.

Here, the rate charging policy is configured to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, where each piece of rate charging information includes information of a data rate interval and corresponding usage information, the data rate interval is one of a plurality of data rate intervals obtained by the rate charging information collecting entity, and the usage information includes a usage amount accumulated for the data connection service when a data rate of the data connection service is within the data rate interval. Therefore, the rate charging policy is used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, which may also be understood as the rate charging policy is used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals. It will be appreciated that the at least one piece of rate charging information may also be replaced by other possible descriptions, such as at least one piece of rate charging information; the rate charging policy may also have other possible names, such as may also be referred to as a "rate charging information collection policy".

It can be understood that the rate charging policy corresponds to the data connection service, "generating a rate charging policy for the data connection service of the user equipment" corresponds to "generating a rate charging policy corresponding to the data connection service of the user equipment" or "generating a rate charging policy for the data connection service of the user equipment".

The contents included in the rate charging policy are described below.

As one possible implementation, the rate charging policy may include at least one of: granularity information, information of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, time range, time unit and mode information. These items are described in detail below, respectively.

(1) Granularity information

The granularity information is used for indicating the granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy, or is used for indicating the action range of the rate charging policy.

In one example, the granularity information indicates that the granularity to which the rate charging policy corresponds is a data connection session, e.g., the granularity information may include an identification of the data connection session. In this case, the data connection service may include all service data flows in the data connection session of the user equipment, and the rate charging policy may be used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection session, where the usage amount included in the rate charging information may be a flow generated by data transmission of all service data flows in the data connection session, or a duration of data transmission of all service data flows in the data connection session. In addition, "granularity of the rate charging policy corresponds to the data connection session" may also be described as "rate charging policy corresponds to the data connection session", or "the scope of action of the rate charging policy is all service data flows in the data connection session". The rate charging policy may also be referred to as a session-granularity rate charging policy or a session-level rate charging policy or a rate charging policy for a data connection session.

In yet another example, the granularity information indicates that the rate charging policy corresponds to a granularity of QoS flows, e.g., the granularity information may include an identification (QoS flow identifier, QFI) of QoS flows. In this case, the data connection service may include a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session of the user equipment, and the rate charging policy may be used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the QoS flow, where the usage amount included in the rate charging information may be a flow generated by data transmission of the plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session, or a duration of data transmission of the plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session. In addition, "granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy is QoS flow", it may also be described as "rate charging policy corresponds to QoS flow", or "the scope of action of the rate charging policy is that a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session". The rate charging policy may also be referred to as a QoS flow granularity rate charging policy or a QoS flow level rate charging policy or a QoS flow rate charging policy.

In yet another example, the granularity information indicates that the rate charging policy corresponds to a granularity of a Rate Group (RG), e.g., the granularity information may include an identification of a rate group used to aggregate one or more services having the same rate. In this case, the data connection service may include a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session of the user equipment, and the rate charging policy may be used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the rate group, where the usage amount included in the rate charging information may be a flow generated by data transmission of the plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session, or a duration of data transmission of the plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session. In addition, "granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy is a rate group", it may also be described as "rate charging policy corresponds to a rate group", or "the scope of application of the rate charging policy is that a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session. The rate charging policy may also be referred to as rate charging policy at rate set granularity or rate charging policy at rate set level or rate charging policy at rate set.

In yet another example, the granularity information indicates that the granularity to which the rate charging policy corresponds is a traffic data flow, e.g., the granularity information may include an identification of the traffic data flow (service data flow ID). In this case, the data connection service may include one service data flow in the data connection session of the user equipment, the rate charging policy may be used to instruct the rate charging information collecting entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the service data flow, and the usage amount included in the rate charging information may be a flow generated by data transmission of one service data flow in the data connection session or a duration of data transmission of one service data flow in the data connection session. In addition, "granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy is a service data flow", it may also be described as "service data flow corresponding to the rate charging policy", or "the scope of action of the rate charging policy is a service data flow in the data connection session". The rate charging policy may also be referred to as a service-granularity rate charging policy or a service-level rate charging policy or a service rate charging policy.

It will be appreciated that: the rate charging policy can explicitly indicate the granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy by carrying granularity information; alternatively, the rate charging policy may not carry granularity information, but indicate the granularity corresponding to the rate charging policy in an implicit manner, for example, the rate charging policy may be placed at different level positions of the charging response message to indicate different granularities, and specific reference may be made to subsequent embodiments of the present application, for example, examples corresponding to table 1A, table 1B, table 2 and table 3 in embodiment two.

(2) Information for multiple data transmission rate intervals

The information of the data transmission rate interval is used to indicate the data transmission rate interval, for example, the information of the data transmission rate interval may include at least one of the following (1), (2) and (3):

(1) an upper limit and/or a lower limit of the data transmission rate interval.

(2) The identification or name of the data transmission rate interval, such as "rate interval 1", "rate interval 2", etc., and also such as "rate interval a", "rate interval B", etc.

(3) The data transmission rate interval corresponds to the rate or the identification of the rate, such as a 1-element/GB rate interval, a 2-element/GB rate interval, a 3-element/GB rate interval, and the like, and such as a rate 1 rate interval, a rate 2 rate interval, a rate 3 rate interval, and the like.

In this embodiment, a data transmission rate interval may refer to a data transmission rate range, that is, an upper limit value and a lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval are different, and the lower limit value is smaller than the upper limit value.

For example, the plurality of data transmission rate intervals include a data transmission rate interval rng1, a data transmission rate interval rng2, and a data transmission rate interval rng3, and the information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals may include information of the data transmission rate interval rng1, information of the data transmission rate interval rng2, and information of the data transmission rate interval rng 3. The information of the data transmission rate interval rng1 may include a lower limit value (e.g., 0) and an upper limit value (e.g., 5 Mbps) of the data transmission rate interval rng1, the information of the data transmission rate interval rng2 may include a lower limit value (e.g., 5 Mbps) and an upper limit value (e.g., 10 Mbps) of the data transmission rate interval rng2, and the information of the data transmission rate interval rng3 may include a lower limit value (e.g., 10 Mbps) and an upper limit value (e.g., infinity) of the data transmission rate interval rng 3.

Thus, the charging policy entity may have different data transmission rate interval dividing modes (i.e. a mode of dividing a plurality of data transmission rate intervals) when determining different rate charging policies. For example, the data transmission rate interval division modes of the rate charging policies of different user equipment may be different, and for example, the data transmission rate interval division modes of the rate charging policies of different PDU sessions of the same user equipment may also be different, where, for example, the data transmission rate interval of the rate charging policies of PDU session 1 includes three intervals as follows: the data transmission rate interval of the rate charging strategies of the PDU conversation 2 comprises three intervals of (0, 8Mbps ], (8 Mbps,15Mbps ], (15 Mbps, & lt, & gt) and the data transmission rate interval dividing modes of the rate charging strategies of different services of the same user equipment, such as different modes of the data transmission rate interval dividing modes of the rate charging strategies of different services of the same user equipment, so that the determined rate charging strategies are flexible, and charging requirements of different scenes can be effectively met.

Regarding the data transmission rate section, the following is explained:

(1) taking the data transmission rate interval rng1 as an example, when a certain data transmission rate is greater than the lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1 and less than or equal to the upper limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1, the data transmission rate belongs to the data transmission rate interval rng1; or, when a certain data transmission rate is greater than or equal to the lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1 and less than the upper limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1, the data transmission rate belongs to the data transmission rate interval rng1.

(2) In other possible examples, the information of the data transmission rate interval rng1 may include an upper limit value (e.g., 5 Mbps) of the data transmission rate interval rng1, but not include a lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1, in which case the lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng1 defaults to 0; the information of the data transmission rate interval rng3 may include a lower limit value (e.g., 10 Mbps) of the data transmission rate interval rng3, but does not include an upper limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng3, in which case the upper limit value of the data transmission rate interval rng3 defaults to infinity.

(3) For a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, specific values of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals are not limited, and in specific implementation, the number of the data transmission rate intervals can be set according to actual needs. The larger the number of data transmission rate intervals, the finer the statistics of the usage.

It may be understood that the data transmission rate interval may be a full open interval (e.g., "(downlink)"), or may be a full closed interval (e.g., "(downlink)"), or may be a half open and half closed interval (e.g., "(downlink)") or "(downlink)"), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

(2) Time frame

The time range is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service in the time range.

The time range may include a start time and/or an end time; alternatively, the time range may include a start time and a duration; alternatively still, the time range may include an end time and a duration. Illustratively, the start time or end time may be coordinated universal time (coordinated universal time, UTC), such as a start time of X years, X months, X days, X minutes, X seconds, and an end time of Y years, Y months, Y days, Y minutes, Y seconds.

(3) Time cell

The time unit is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to determine the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every other the time unit, and also can indicate the rate charging information acquisition entity to accumulate the usage in the time unit into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval in which the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit is located based on the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit. The above-mentioned rate charging information collecting entity determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every the time unit may mean that the rate charging information collecting entity determines the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit at the end time of each time unit.

The time unit may also be referred to as a base time (base time), or a base calculation time period. In one example, the time units may be 10 seconds (i.e., 10 seconds) long.

(4) Mode information

The mode information is used for indicating a rate calculation mode or a rate calculation mode, that is, a mode of determining or calculating a data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit, for example, the mode indicated by the mode information may be a first mode or a second mode; the first mode is to calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the time unit, and the data transmission rate calculated by adopting the first mode may be referred to as an average data transmission rate. The second mode is to calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the flow generated in the time unit, and the data transmission rate calculated by adopting the second mode can be called as the real data transmission rate.

The mode information may indicate the first mode or the second mode in a plurality of modes. For example, when the mode information includes the identification of the first mode, the expression mode information indicates the first mode, and when the mode information includes the identification of the second mode, the expression mode information indicates the second mode. For another example, the mode information includes an identification of the first mode and a corresponding judgment parameter (such as TRUE (TRUE)) and an identification of the second mode and a corresponding judgment parameter (such as FALSE (FALSE)), and the case indicates that the mode information indicates the first mode; alternatively, the mode information includes an identification of the first mode and a corresponding judgment parameter (such as FALSE) and an identification of the second mode and a corresponding judgment parameter (such as TRUE), and the case indicates that the mode information indicates the second mode. The identification of the first mode (or the second mode) may be information for identifying the first mode (or the second mode), and is not particularly limited.

Therefore, when the rate charging policy comprises time units and/or mode information, the charging policy entity can dynamically adjust the duration of the time units and the mode of calculating the rate based on the charging demands of different scenes and the calculation burden of the system, and has high flexibility. For example, when the duration of the time unit is shorter and/or the rate calculating mode is the second mode, the calculation load of the rate charging information collecting entity is larger, and when the duration of the time unit is longer and/or the rate calculating mode is the first mode, the calculation load of the rate charging information collecting entity is relatively smaller.

In the following, the embodiments of the present application will be described by taking information, a time range, a time unit, and mode information, where the rate charging policy includes a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, as an example. It will be appreciated that when the rate charging policy does not include information or time ranges or time units or manner information for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, the plurality of data transmission rate intervals or time ranges or time units or manner in which the data transmission rate is determined may be agreed upon in advance by the protocol, or may be preconfigured, or may be default. For example, taking a plurality of data transmission rate intervals as an example, the plurality of data transmission rate intervals may be configured on the entities such as the rate charging information collecting entity, the charging policy entity, the charging processing entity and the like by the operation and maintenance personnel in advance, or may be dynamically determined by the charging policy entity and sent to the rate charging information collecting entity, for example, the rate charging policy sent to the rate charging information collecting entity includes information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

The charging policy entity may determine the rate charging policy of the data connection service in multiple manners, for example, the charging policy entity may obtain subscription information of the user equipment, and further determine the rate charging policy of the data connection service based on the subscription information and a preset rule, where the preset rule may be preconfigured in the charging policy entity, or may also be predetermined by a protocol. The method for acquiring the subscription information by the charging policy entity is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

S602, the charging policy entity sends the rate charging policy of the data connection service to the rate charging information acquisition entity, and correspondingly, the rate charging information acquisition entity receives the rate charging policy of the data connection service.

S603, the rate charging information acquisition entity generates at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to the rate charging policy.

As described above, each piece of rate charging information includes information of a data rate section, which is one of a plurality of data rate sections acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and corresponding usage information including a usage amount accumulated for the data connection service when a data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data rate section. Wherein "the data transmission rate is within the data transmission rate interval" may also be described as "the data transmission rate is within the data transmission rate interval" or "the data transmission rate falls within the data transmission rate interval".

The rate charging information collecting entity may obtain a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, for example, the rate charging policy includes information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, and then the rate charging information collecting entity may obtain the plurality of data transmission rate intervals from the rate charging policy; for another example, the operation and maintenance personnel can pre-configure a plurality of data transmission rate intervals in the rate charging information acquisition entity; the implementation of acquiring a plurality of data transmission rate intervals by the rate charging information acquisition entity is not limited.

The information of the data transmission rate interval included in the rate charging information may be the same as the information of the data transmission rate interval included in the rate charging policy, for example, the information of the data transmission rate interval included in the rate charging information may include an upper limit value and/or a lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval. In an example, if the information of the data transmission rate interval carried in the rate charging policy includes an upper limit value and/or a lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval and an identifier of the data transmission rate interval, the information of the data transmission rate interval included in the rate charging information may include the identifier of the data transmission rate interval, but does not include the upper limit value and/or the lower limit value of the data transmission rate interval, so as to facilitate reducing the reported information amount and saving transmission resources.

For example, the rate charging information collecting entity may determine, at intervals of time units, a data transmission rate of a data connection service of a user equipment in a time unit by taking a start time of a time range as a start time of collecting rate charging information (at this time, usage corresponding to each data transmission rate interval is 0), and add the usage in the time unit to a usage corresponding to a data transmission rate interval in which the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit is located based on the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit, so as to obtain correspondence between different data transmission rate intervals and usage (or correspondence between usage and different data transmission rate intervals), for example: the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponds to the usage amount 1, the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponds to the usage amount 2, and the data transmission rate interval rng3 corresponds to the usage amount 3. In one example, when the usage amount is traffic generated by data transmission, the correspondence relationship may be: the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponds to the usage amount 1 (e.g., 30M traffic), the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponds to the usage amount 2 (e.g., 20M traffic), and the data transmission rate interval rng3 corresponds to the usage amount 3 (e.g., 50M traffic). When the usage amount is the duration of data transmission, the correspondence relationship may be: the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponds to the usage amount 1 (e.g., 5 minutes), the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponds to the usage amount 2 (e.g., 2 minutes), and the data transmission rate interval rng3 corresponds to the usage amount 3 (e.g., 10 minutes). It may be appreciated that, if the rate charging policy does not include the start time of the time range, the rate charging information collecting entity may also take the time when the rate charging policy is received as the start time.

Fig. 7A or 7B shows a generation process of rate charging information; taking fig. 7A as an example, the time point t0 is taken as a starting time, and at the time point t1, the rate charging information collecting entity can determine a data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1, and if the data transmission rate r1 is located in a data transmission rate interval rng1, accumulating the usage u1 in the time unit tu1 into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1; at the time point t2, the rate charging information collecting entity may determine the data transmission rate r2 of the data connection service in the time unit tu2, and if the data transmission rate r2 is still located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, accumulate the usage u2 in the time unit tu2 into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1. And so on. It can be understood that, taking the time unit tu1 as an example, the usage u1 in the time unit tu1 refers to the usage of the user equipment in the time unit tu1 for the data connection service.

The difference between fig. 7A and 7B is that: in fig. 7A, the data transmission rates of the data connection services in consecutive time units are the same, for example, the data transmission rates of the data connection services in time unit tu1, time unit tu2, and time unit tu3 are the same, that is, the change of the data transmission rates is relatively small; in fig. 7B, the data transmission rates of the data connection services in the intermittent time units are the same, for example, the data transmission rates of the data connection services in the time units tu1, tu3 and tu5 are the same, that is, the data transmission rates are relatively greatly changed. As can be seen from fig. 7A and fig. 7B, the method in the embodiment of the present application may be suitable for a scenario where the data transmission rate changes greatly or changes little, and frequent reporting due to the change of the data transmission rate in different data transmission rate intervals is not required, so that transmission resources can be effectively saved, and the processing burden of the charging processing entity can be reduced.

From the perspective of each time unit, taking the time unit tu1 as an example, it is considered that the data connection service may correspond to one or more UPF entities (e.g., the PDU session may correspond to one or more UPF entities), and when the data connection service corresponds to one UPF entity, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is the data transmission rate of the data connection service on the UPF entity. When the data connection service corresponds to a plurality of UPF entities, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 may be a total data transmission rate of the data connection service on the plurality of UPF entities. The implementation of at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service obtained by the statistics of the rate charging information collecting entity will be described below by taking the time unit tu1 (other time units may refer to the execution).

(1) Mode information in a rate charging policy indicates a first mode

When the data connection service corresponds to a UPF entity, the rate charging information collecting entity may calculate, based on the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 and the duration of the time unit tu1, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1. For example, the rate charging information collecting entity divides the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 by the duration of the time unit tu1 to obtain the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1.

For example, if the traffic of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 30M and the duration of the time unit tu1 is 10s, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 30M/10 s=3 Mbps. Since the data transmission rate r1 (3 Mbps) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, the usage u1 (30M) in the time unit tu1 can be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1.

When a data connection service corresponds to multiple UPF entities, two possible implementations are described below in connection with implementation 1 and implementation 2.

Implementation 1

In implementation mode 1, the rate charging information acquisition entity may acquire total traffic of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the plurality of UPF entities, and further calculate, based on the total traffic and the duration of the time unit tu1, a data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1. For example, the rate charging information collecting entity divides the total flow by the duration of the time unit tu1 to obtain the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1.

For example, if the total traffic of the data connection service on the plurality of UPF entities in the time unit tu1 is 30M and the duration of the time unit tu1 is 10s, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 30M/10 s=3 Mbps. Since the data transmission rate r1 (3 Mbps) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, the usage u1 (i.e. the total traffic 30M) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the plurality of UPF entities can be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1.

Implementation 2

In implementation 2, the rate charging information collecting entity may calculate the data transmission rates of the data connection services in the time unit tu1 on the respective UPF entities, and further use the sum of the data transmission rates of the data connection services corresponding to the respective UPF entities in the time unit tu1 as the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection services in the time unit tu 1. For example, the plurality of UPF entities includes UPF entity 1, UPF entity 2; the rate charging information acquisition entity divides the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1 by the duration of the time unit tu1 to obtain the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1; dividing the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2 by the duration of the time unit tu1 to obtain the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2; further, the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1 is added to the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2 to obtain a data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1.

For example, if the flow of the data connection service on the UPF entity 1 in the time unit tu1 is 10M and the duration of the time unit tu1 is 10s, the data transmission rate of the data connection service on the UPF entity 1 in the time unit tu1 is 10M/10 s=1 Mbps; the flow of the data connection service on the UPF entity 2 in the time unit tu1 is 20M, and the data transmission rate of the data connection service on the UPF entity 2 in the time unit tu1 is 20M/10 s=2 Mbps; further, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 1+2=3 Mbps. Since the data transmission rate (3 Mbps) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, the usage u1 (30M) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the plurality of UPF entities can be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1.

It can be appreciated that, when the data connection service corresponds to a plurality of UPF entities, the rate charging information acquisition entity specifically adopts any mode of implementation 1 and implementation 2, which may depend on the internal implementation, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

(2) Mode information in a rate charging policy indicates a second mode

When the data connection service corresponds to a UPF entity, the rate charging information collecting entity may calculate, based on the traffic of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 and the duration of the traffic generated in the time unit tu1, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1. For example, the rate charging information collecting entity divides the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 by the duration of the flow generated in the time unit tu1 to obtain the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1.

For example, the traffic of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 30M, and the duration of generating the traffic in the time unit tu1 is 6s, so that the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 30M/6 s=5 Mbps. Since the data transmission rate r1 (5 Mbps) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, the usage u1 (30M) in the time unit tu1 can be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 1.

When the data connection service corresponds to a plurality of UPF entities, in one possible implementation manner, the rate charging information collecting entity may calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service on each UPF entity in the time unit tu1, and further use the sum of the data transmission rates of the data connection services corresponding to each UPF entity in the time unit tu1 as the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1. For example, the plurality of UPF entities includes UPF entity 1, UPF entity 2; the rate charging information acquisition entity divides the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1 by the time length of generating the flow in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1 to obtain the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1; dividing the flow of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2 by the time period of generating the flow in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2 to obtain the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2; further, the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 1 is added to the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 on the UPF entity 2 to obtain a data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu 1.

For example, if the traffic of the data connection service on the UPF entity 1 in the time unit tu1 is 10M and the duration of generating the traffic on the UPF entity 1 in the time unit tu1 is 5s, the data transmission rate of the data connection service on the UPF entity 1 in the time unit tu1 is 10M/5 s=2 Mbps; the flow of the data connection service on the UPF entity 2 in the time unit tu1 is 20M, the duration of generating the flow on the UPF entity 2 in the time unit tu1 is 4s, and the data transmission rate of the data connection service on the UPF entity 2 in the time unit tu1 is 20M/4 s=5 Mbps; further, the data transmission rate r1 of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is 2+5=7mbps. Since the data transmission rate r1 (7 Mbps) of the data connection service in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng2, the usage u1 (30M) in the time unit tu1 can be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng 2.

S604, the charging processing entity sends quota and trigger condition information to the rate charging information acquisition entity; accordingly, the rate charging information collection entity may receive the quota and the trigger condition information.

Quota and trigger condition information are described below, respectively.

(1) Quota for quota

For example, when the granularity of the rate charging policy is a rate group, for example, the rate charging policy corresponds to a first rate group, and the rate charging information collecting entity has a quota management function, in one possible implementation, the charging processing entity may send, to the rate charging information collecting entity, a quota corresponding to each of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals indicated by the rate charging policy of the first rate group. The charging processing entity can acquire the information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, and further allocate corresponding quota for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the charging processing entity may send, to the rate charging information collection entity, a quota corresponding to the first rate group (where the quota is a total quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals indicated by a rate charging policy of the first rate group).

(2) Trigger condition information

Case 1: rate charging policy for user equipment corresponds to data connection session for user equipment

In this case, the trigger condition information sent by the charging processing entity to the rate charging information collection entity may include trigger condition information (referred to as first type of trigger condition information for convenience of description) corresponding to the data connection session. For example, the first type of trigger condition information is used to indicate that when the location of the user equipment changes (for example, the user equipment is handed over from the access network device 1 to the access network device 2), at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection session acquired according to the rate charging policy is reported to the charging processing entity.

Case 2: the rate charging policy of the user equipment corresponds to the service of the user equipment

In this case, the trigger condition information sent by the charging processing entity to the rate charging information collecting entity may include trigger condition information of a first type, trigger condition information of a second type (such as corresponding to a rate group or QoS flow or service, which will be exemplified by a rate group hereinafter), and trigger condition information of a third type (corresponding to a data transmission rate interval).

The first type of trigger condition information is used for indicating that when the position of the user equipment changes, rate charging information of each rate group (or QoS flow or service, here, the rate group is taken as an example) obtained according to a rate charging policy of each rate group in the data connection session is reported to the charging processing entity.

Taking the example that the rate charging policy corresponds to the first rate group, the second type of triggering condition information is used for indicating that when the available quota corresponding to the first rate group is smaller than or equal to a threshold value (called threshold value 1 for convenience of description) corresponding to quota 1, rate charging information of the first rate group obtained according to the rate charging policy of the first rate group is reported to a charging processing entity; in this case, the second type of trigger condition information may include a threshold corresponding to quota 1. Or, the second type of triggering condition information is used for indicating that when the validity period of the quota 1 expires, the rate charging information of the first rate group obtained according to the rate charging policy of the first rate group is reported to the charging processing entity; in this case, the second type of trigger condition information may include a validity period of quota 1. Wherein quota 1 is a quota corresponding to the first rate group.

Taking the example that the rate charging policy corresponds to the first rate group, the third type of triggering condition information is used for indicating that when the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to a threshold corresponding to quota 2 (for convenience of description, the threshold is called threshold 2), rate charging information of the first rate group obtained according to the rate charging policy of the first rate group is reported to a charging processing entity; in this case, the third type of trigger condition information may include a threshold corresponding to quota 2. Or, the third type of trigger condition information is used for indicating that when the validity period of the quota 2 expires, the rate charging information of the first rate group obtained according to the rate charging policy of the first rate group is reported to the charging processing entity; in this case, the third type of trigger condition information may include a validity period of quota 2. The quota 2 is a quota corresponding to a first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals indicated by a rate charging policy of the first rate group.

In one example, the threshold value corresponding to the quota (e.g., the threshold value 1 or the threshold value 2) may be a value less than or equal to the quota, e.g., the threshold value corresponding to the quota may be 10% of the quota. The available quota corresponding to the first rate group may be a difference of a quota corresponding to the first rate group subtracted by an amount of usage corresponding to the first rate group, and the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval may be a difference of a quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval subtracted by an amount of usage corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval. In addition, when the charging processing entity allocates a corresponding quota for the data transmission rate interval, the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

In one example, the validity period may be a future point in time, such as "202110280000", indicating that 00 minutes of validity period expires at 2021, 10, 28, 00; alternatively, the validity period may be a time range at the end of which the validity period expires.

S605, the rate charging information acquisition entity sends the rate charging information of the user equipment to the charging processing entity.

In an exemplary embodiment, the rate charging information acquisition entity may send the rate charging information of the user equipment to the charging processing entity after determining that the triggering condition is met according to the triggering condition information sent by the charging processing entity.

With continued reference to fig. 7A, if the rate charging information collecting entity determines that the trigger condition is met at the time tn, the rate charging information collecting entity may determine a data transmission rate rn of the data connection service in a period from the time tn-1 to the time tn, if the data transmission rate rn is located in the data transmission rate interval rngm, accumulate the usage in the period from the time tn-1 to the time tn into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rngm, and report the rate charging information obtained by statistics in a period from the start time to the time tn to the charging processing entity. The rate charging information reported at the time tn may include m pieces of rate charging information, which are rate charging information 1, rate charging information 2, rate charging information 3, … … rate charging information m, and specifically shown as follows:

Rate charging information 1{ rng1, u1+u2+u3+ … … };

rate charging information 2{ rng2, u4+u5+ … … };

rate charging information 3{ rng3, u6+ … … };

……

rate charging information m { rngm, … … +un }.

It will be appreciated that the duration of the time period at the above-described time points tn-1 to tn may be equal to the duration of the time unit or may be less than the duration of the time unit.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned modes of representing the rate charging information 1 to the rate charging information m are merely examples and are not limiting, and the rate charging information may include other information related to the usage besides the information of the data transmission rate interval and the corresponding usage, such as uplink and downlink indication information, a timestamp for recording the usage, etc., and these information may form usage information together with the usage.

It is understood that the rate charging information may also include other possible information, such as time units, manner information, quota management identifiers (quota management identifier, QMI) corresponding to the data transmission rate interval, etc. Taking the data transmission rate interval rng1 as an example, the QMI corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is used to indicate whether the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is a usage with quota management, for example, when the value of the QMI corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is 1, the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is a usage with quota management, or the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is a usage with quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1, and when the value of the QMI corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is 0, the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is a usage without quota management. Specific forms of carrying time units, mode information or quota management identifiers in the rate charging information can be referred to examples corresponding to table 4A, table 5 and table 6 in the embodiment.

In addition, after reporting the rate charging information of the data connection service to the charging processing entity, the rate charging information collecting entity may reset the usage amount to 0 (i.e. the usage amount corresponding to each data transmission rate interval is reset to 0), determine the data transmission rate rn+1 of the data connection service in the time unit tun+1 at the time point tn+1, and accumulate the usage amount u n +1 in the time unit tun+1 into the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 if the data transmission rate rn+1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, and so on.

S606, the charging processing entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, and performs charging processing on the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information.

Illustratively, the charging processing entity performs charging processing on the user equipment based on at least one piece of rate charging information, and may include at least one of the following:

(1) And carrying out quota deduction or cost deduction on the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information.

For example, the charging processing entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of a rate group sent by the rate charging information collecting entity, where the at least one piece of rate charging information of the rate group includes: the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponds to 20M traffic and the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponds to 10M traffic. Assuming that the quota allocated by the charging processing entity to the data transmission interval 1 is 30M traffic (i.e. the frozen 30M traffic or the equivalent amount of the frozen 30M traffic), the quota allocated to the data transmission rate interval rng2 is 40M traffic (i.e. the frozen 40M traffic or the equivalent amount of the frozen 40M traffic), the charging processing entity may unfreeze the 30M traffic (or the equivalent amount of the 30M traffic) corresponding to the data transmission interval 1, subtract 20M (or deduct the equivalent amount of the 20M traffic from the amount of the account) from the traffic corresponding to the data transmission interval 1 in the user account (i.e. the account of the user corresponding to the user equipment, and subtract 10M traffic (i.e. deduct the quota) from the traffic corresponding to the data transmission interval 2 in the user account. Further, if the rate charging information acquisition entity sends the rate charging information and simultaneously sends quota requests corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, the charging processing entity can also respectively allocate new quotas for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals according to the quota requests. Alternatively, it is assumed that the rate corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is: the cost per megaflow is 0.5 yuan, and the rate corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng2 is: the charge processing entity may also deduct a charge of 0.5 x 20+0.8 x 10 = 18 yuan per megaflow (i.e. charge deduction) from the user account. Illustratively, the charging type of the rate set may be online charging.

(2) The rate charging information is written into a charging ticket, e.g. a charging data record (charging data record, CDR), corresponding to the user equipment or user account. For example, the charging processing entity receives rate charging information of the rate group sent by the rate charging information collecting entity, and the rate charging information of the rate group comprises the following contents: the charging processing entity can write the rate charging information (namely, the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponding to the usage amount 1 (20M) and the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponding to the usage amount 2 (10M)) into a charging ticket corresponding to the user equipment; the charging type of the rate set may be offline charging, for example.

(3) Based on the rate charging information, the usage amount of the data connection service of the user equipment is accumulated according to the data transmission rate interval. Specifically, the charging processing entity may receive the rate charging information reported by the rate charging information collecting entity for multiple times, and further may accumulate the usage amount of the user equipment according to the data transmission rate interval after receiving the rate charging information reported by the rate charging information collecting entity.

For example, the charging processing entity accumulates the rate charging information reported by the rate charging information collecting entity to obtain: the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is 200M, and the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng2 is 300M. When the charging processing entity receives the rate charging information of the user equipment sent by the rate charging information acquisition entity again, the rate charging information comprises the following contents: if the data transmission rate interval rng1 corresponds to 20M and the data transmission rate interval rng2 corresponds to 10M, 20M may be accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1, where the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1 is 220M, and 10M is accumulated into the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng2, where the usage corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng2 is 310M. Further, after determining that the usage amount corresponding to a certain data transmission rate interval is greater than or equal to the traffic subscribed by the user corresponding to the user equipment, the charging processing entity may notify the corresponding core network entity to limit the data transmission rate of the user equipment. For example, if it is determined that the traffic corresponding to the data transmission rate interval (10 Mbps, +) subscribed by the user equipment is exhausted, the corresponding core network entity may be notified to limit the data transmission rate of the user equipment to less than 10 Mbps.

By adopting the method, the charging policy entity determines the rate charging policy and sends the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity, so that the rate charging information acquisition entity can generate and report the rate charging information of the user equipment according to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals and the rate charging information can be reported to the charging processing entity, and the charging processing entity can perform charging processing on the user equipment based on the rate charging information. Compared with the method of charging according to the flow, the rate charging information in the embodiment of the application can include the information of the data transmission rate interval and the corresponding use information, so that the charging processing of the user equipment based on the data transmission rate can be realized. Further, the charging method provided by the embodiment of the application charges from two dimensions of the data transmission rate and the usage amount (such as the traffic), can provide technical support for operators according to pricing of the data transmission rate (different rates corresponding to different data transmission rate intervals), meets the rate change requirements of operators, and is convenient for improving the utilization rate of network resources.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the rate charging information collecting entity may collect usage amounts according to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals according to a rate charging policy, for example, in fig. 7B, the data transmission rate r1 of the user equipment in the time unit tu1 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng1, and the data transmission rate r2 of the user equipment in the time unit tu2 is located in the data transmission rate interval rng2, that is, the data transmission rate of the user equipment varies in different data transmission rate intervals, where in this case, the rate charging information collecting entity may collect (i.e. accumulate) the usage amount u1 of the user equipment in the time unit tu1 into the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng1, and collect the usage amount u2 of the user equipment in the time unit tu2 into the usage amount corresponding to the data transmission rate interval rng2, thereby effectively saving transmission resources and reducing the processing burden of the charging processing entity without frequent reporting the usage amount of the user equipment due to the data transmission rate varying in different data transmission rate intervals.

It will be understood from the above description that "charging processing for the user equipment" may also be understood as "charging processing for a user corresponding to the user equipment" or "charging processing for a user account corresponding to the user equipment".

Example two

In the second embodiment, a possible implementation flow of the charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described based on the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5B.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the second embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the method may include:

s801, the SMF entity receives a PDU session establishment request message from the user equipment.

S802, SMF entity sends session policy request message to PCF entity, the session policy request message includes user equipment identification; accordingly, the PCF entity may receive a session policy request message.

S803, the PCF entity sends a session policy response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the session policy request message.

Illustratively, the PCF entity may obtain subscription information of the user equipment from the UDM entity or the UDR based on the identity of the user equipment included in the session policy request message, and further determine charging types of a plurality of rate groups of the user equipment based on the subscription information, where the charging types may include online charging or offline charging. The session policy response message may include identifiers of a plurality of rate group services of the user equipment and corresponding charging types.

S804, the SMF entity sends a first charging request message to the CHF entity; accordingly, the CHF entity may receive the first billing request message.

The first charging request message may be an initial charging data request message or a charging resource creation request message, for example. For example, the first charging request message may include an identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the PDU session, an identifier of a plurality of tariffs of the user equipment, and optionally, a quota request corresponding to the tariffs of the online charging.

S805, the CHF entity sends a first charging response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the first charging response message.

Here, the first charging response message may create a response message for the initial charging data response message or the charging resource, and the following description will take the first charging response message as an example of the initial charging data response message.

As a possible implementation, after the CHF entity receives the first charging request message (i.e., the initial charging data request message), the CHF entity may acquire subscription information of the user equipment based on the identifier of the user equipment included in the initial charging data request message, further determine a rate charging policy of the data connection service of the user equipment based on the subscription information of the user equipment and a preset rule, and send the rate charging policy of the data connection service to the SMF entity through the initial charging data response message. The preset rule may be preconfigured in the CHF entity, or may be preset by a protocol. Illustratively, after a user subscribes to a customer relationship management (customer relationship management, CRM) system (e.g., purchases a package of traffic) via a user device, the CRM system may send subscription information for the user device to a CHF entity, which may store the subscription information for the user device. And after the CHF entity receives the initial charging data request message, the CHF entity can query and obtain subscription information of the user equipment according to the identifier of the user equipment.

Further optionally, the CHF entity may further allocate a quota for the online-charged rate group based on a quota request corresponding to the online-charged rate group, and send the quota to the SMF entity through an initial charging data response message. The quota may refer to a quota corresponding to a rate group for online charging (i.e., a total quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals indicated by a rate charging policy of the rate group), or may also refer to a quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of a rate charging policy of the rate group, respectively.

That is, the initial charging data response message may include a rate charging policy of the data connection service, and may further include other possible information, such as a quota (for example, a quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals), and trigger condition information. It can be appreciated that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the manner in which the initial charging data response message carries quota and trigger condition information.

For example, the rate charging policy corresponds to a data connection session (e.g., a PDU session) of the user equipment, as shown in table 1A, which is an example of the format of the initial charging data response message.

Table 1A: initial charging data response message example 1

It will be appreciated that the "baseTime", "method", "startTime", "endTime" corresponding to the three data transmission rate intervals in table 1A may be the same, and table 1A is only one possible format example. In other possible cases, "baseTime", "method", "startTime", and "endTime" may also be used as three data transmission rate intervals sharing parameters, examples of which are shown in table 1B below:

table 1B: yet another scenario of initial charging data response message example 1

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For another example, the rate charging policy corresponds to a first rate group, where the charging type of the first rate group is online charging, and then the CHF entity may further allocate corresponding quotas for a plurality of data transmission rate intervals indicated by the rate charging policy of the first rate group, or may also allocate a total quota for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals. Taking CHF entity as an example, corresponding quotas are allocated to the multiple data transmission rate intervals respectively, in this case, the initial charging data response message may further include the corresponding quotas of the multiple data transmission rate intervals respectively. See table 2 for an example of the format of the initial accounting data response message.

Table 2: initial charging data response message example 2

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For another example, the rate charging policy corresponds to a second rate set, and the charging type of the second rate set is offline charging. See table 3 for an example of the format of the initial accounting data response message.

Table 3: initial charging data response message example 3

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It will be appreciated that the above is described by taking as an example that the initial charging data response message includes one of a rate charging policy for the PDU session, a rate charging policy for the first rate set and a rate charging policy for the second rate set. In other possible embodiments, the initial charging data response message may also include a rate charging policy for the PDU session, and/or a rate charging policy for one or more tariffs; wherein the one or more rate sets may include the first rate set and/or the second rate set described above.

It will be appreciated that in table 1A or table 1B above, the rate charging policy is carried in the hierarchy of SessionPolicy of Charging data Response, and in table 2 or table 3 above, the rate charging policy is carried in the hierarchy of ratinggroupppolicy in MUI of Charging data Response, where SessionPolicy and MUI belong to the same hierarchy, so that different granularity can be represented by carrying the rate charging policy in different hierarchical positions.

S806, the SMF entity generates at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to the rate charging policy of the data connection service.

Illustratively, the SMF entity may communicate with a UPF entity corresponding to the data connection service, and further obtain the usage amount from the UPF entity; for example, the UPF entity may periodically report the usage to the SMF entity.

The specific implementation of the SMF entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service may refer to S603 in the first embodiment, which is not described in detail.

S807, the SMF entity sends at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service to the CHF entity.

Illustratively, the SMF entity may send at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service to the CHF entity after determining that the trigger condition is met based on the trigger condition information.

As one possible implementation, the SMF entity may send a second charging request message to the CHF entity, the second charging request message including at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service. The second charging request message may be an update charging data request message or a charging resource update request message, and the second charging request message is described below as an example of the update charging data request message.

For example, the rate charging policy of the user equipment corresponds to the PDU session, and when the trigger condition (see description in embodiment one) is satisfied, the SMF entity may send rate charging information of the PDU session to the CHF entity by updating the charging data request message. Referring to table 4A, an example of a format for updating the charging data request message is shown.

Table 4A: update charging data request message example 1

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It will be appreciated that the rate charging information in table 4A may include a time unit "baseTime" and mode information "method" in addition to the information of the data transmission rate interval and the corresponding usage information, and table 4A is only one possible format example. In other possible cases, the rate charging information may not include "baseTime" and "method" as mode information, i.e., the "baseTime" and "method" may be carried as three data transmission rate interval common parameters in the update charging data request message, for example, as shown in table 4B below.

Table 4B: yet another scenario of update charging data request message example 1

For another example, the rate charging policy corresponds to the first rate set, and when the second type of trigger condition or the third type of trigger condition (see description in embodiment one) is satisfied, the SMF entity may send rate charging information of the first rate set to the CHF entity by updating the charging data request message. For example, QMI corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals may be further included in the update charging data request message. Referring to table 5, an example of a format for updating the charging data request message is shown.

Table 5: update charging data request message example 2

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For another example, the rate charging policy corresponds to a second rate set, and when the second type of trigger condition or the third type of trigger condition (see description in embodiment one) is satisfied, the SMF entity may send rate charging information of the second rate set to the CHF entity by updating the charging data request message. Referring to table 6, an example of a format for updating the charging data request message is shown.

Table 6: update charging data request message example 3

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It will be appreciated that the above is described taking as an example that the update charging data request message includes one of rate charging information for the PDU session, rate charging information for the first rate set and rate charging information for the second rate set. In other possible embodiments, the update charging data request message may also include rate charging information for the PDU session, and/or rate charging information for one or more tariffs; wherein the one or more rate sets may include the first rate set and/or the second rate set described above.

S808, the CHF entity receives the second charging request message, and performs charging processing on the user equipment based on the second charging request message.

Illustratively, the CHF entity may also send a second charging response message to the SMF entity, the second charging response message being used to inform the SMF entity of the charging process result. The second charging response message may be an update charging data response message or a charging resource update response message. The implementation of the CHF entity in charging the user equipment may be referred to the description in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated.

For example, if the second charging request message includes at least one piece of rate charging information of the first rate group and a quota request corresponding to the first rate group, after performing charging processing based on the at least one piece of rate charging information, the CHF entity may further allocate a new quota (such as a quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals or a total quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals) to the first rate group, and send the new quota to the SMF entity through the second charging response message.

Example III

In the third embodiment, a possible implementation flow of the charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described based on the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5C.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the third embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, the method may include:

S901, the SMF entity receives a PDU session establishment request message from the user equipment.

S902, the SMF entity sends a session policy request message to the PCF entity, wherein the session policy request message comprises the identification of the user equipment; accordingly, the PCF entity may receive a session policy request message.

S903, the PCF entity sends a session policy response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive a session policy request message, which may include an identification of a plurality of rate groups of the user equipment and a corresponding charging type.

S904, the SMF entity sends a first charging request message to the CHF entity; accordingly, the CHF entity may receive the first billing request message. The first charging request message may include an identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the PDU session, and identifiers of a plurality of tariffs of the user equipment, and optionally, a quota request corresponding to the tariffs of online charging.

S905, the CHF entity sends a first charging response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the first charging response message.

As a possible implementation, after the CHF entity receives the first charging request message, subscription information of the user equipment may be obtained based on an identifier of the user equipment included in the first charging request message. And further, based on the subscription information and a quota request corresponding to the online charging rate group, allocating a quota for the online charging rate group, and sending the quota to the SMF entity through a first charging response message, wherein the quota can refer to the quota corresponding to the online charging rate group.

S906, the CHF entity sends a rate charging policy of a data connection service of the user equipment to the NWDAF entity; accordingly, the NWDAF entity may receive a rate charging policy for the data connection service.

As a possible implementation, the CHF entity may determine a rate charging policy of the data connection service based on subscription information of the user equipment and a preset rule, and send the rate charging policy of the data connection service to the NWDAF entity through a subscription request message, and may also send trigger condition information to the NWDAF entity through the subscription request message. That is, the subscription request message may include rate charging policy, trigger condition information of the data connection service, and optionally may also include other possible information, such as an identifier of the user equipment, and the like, which is not limited in particular. The preset rule may be preconfigured in the CHF entity, or may be preset by a protocol. In addition, after the NWDAF entity receives the subscription request message, a response of the subscription request message may be sent to the CHF entity, for notifying the CHF entity that the subscription is successful.

It will be appreciated that when the rate charging policy corresponds to a PDU session or a second rate group (offline charging), the information sent by the CHF entity to the NWDAF entity may be the same as the information sent by the CHF entity to the SMF entity in embodiment two. When the rate charging policy corresponds to the first rate group (online charging), the information sent by the CHF entity to the NWDAF entity is different from the information sent by the CHF entity to the SMF entity in the second embodiment in that: since NWDAF entities typically do not have quota management functionality, the information sent by CHF entities to NWDAF entities does not include a quota; because the SMF entity has a quota management function, the information sent by the CHF entity to the SMF entity may include a quota (e.g., a quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, or a total quota corresponding to the plurality of data transmission rate intervals).

The execution sequence of S905 and S906 is not limited in this embodiment, for example, S906 may be executed prior to S905, or S906 may be executed after S905, or S906 and S905 may be executed simultaneously.

S907, the NWDAF entity generates at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to the rate charging policy of the data connection service.

Illustratively, the NWDAF entity may communicate with a UPF entity corresponding to the data connection service, and further obtain the usage amount from the UPF entity. For example, the UPF entity may periodically report the usage to the NWDAF entity.

The specific implementation of the NWDAF entity generating at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service may refer to S603 in the first embodiment, which is not described in detail.

S908, the NWDAF entity sends at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service to the CHF entity.

Illustratively, after the NWDAF entity determines that the trigger condition indicated by the trigger condition information is met, at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service may be sent to the CHF entity via a subscription notification message.

It can be understood that, when the rate charging policy corresponds to the PDU session, the information reported by the NWDAF entity (including the rate charging information) may be the same as the information reported by the SMF entity in the second embodiment. When the rate charging policy corresponds to the first rate group (online charging) or the second rate group, the difference between the information reported by the SMF entity and the information reported by the NWDAF entity in the second embodiment is that: the information reported by the SMF entity may include QMI, and the information reported by the NWDAF entity may not include QMI.

S909, the CHF entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, and performs charging processing on the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service.

Here, the implementation of the CHF entity in performing the charging process on the user equipment may be referred to the description in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated.

It may be appreciated that in the third embodiment, the NWDAF entity collects rate charging information, and the SMF entity may follow an implementation in the prior art, for example, the SMF entity may collect traffic of the user equipment and perform quota management based on the traffic of the user equipment.

Example IV

In the fourth embodiment, a possible implementation flow of the charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described based on the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5D.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the fourth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 10, the method may include:

s1001, the SMF entity receives a PDU session establishment request message from the user equipment.

S1002, SMF entity sends session policy request message to PCF entity, session policy request message includes user equipment identification; accordingly, the PCF entity may receive a session policy request message.

S1003, PCF entity sends session policy response message to SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the session policy request message.

Illustratively, the PCF entity may obtain subscription information of the user equipment from the UDM entity or the UDR based on the identity of the user equipment included in the session policy request message, and further determine charging types of a plurality of rate groups of the user equipment based on the subscription information, where the charging types may include online charging and offline charging. And the PCF entity can also determine the rate charging policy of the data connection service of the user equipment based on the subscription information of the user equipment and a preset rule. The preset rule may be preconfigured in the PCF entity, or may be preset by a protocol.

The session policy response message may include identifiers of a plurality of rate groups of the user equipment and corresponding charging types, and may further include a rate charging policy of the data connection service. It will be appreciated that the PCF entity may also send the rate charging policy of the data connection service to the SMF entity via other possible messages, without limitation in particular.

S1004, the SMF entity sends a first charging request message to the CHF entity; accordingly, the CHF entity may receive the first billing request message.

The first charging request message may include an identification of the user equipment, an identification of the PDU session, an identification of a plurality of tariff groups of the user equipment. Optionally, the first charging request message may further include a rate charging policy, for example, the first charging request message may include information of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals included in the rate charging policy. Optionally, assuming that the rate charging policy corresponds to a rate group for online charging, the first charging request may further include a quota request corresponding to the rate group for online charging, or quota requests corresponding to the multiple data transmission rate intervals respectively. The quota request corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval in the multiple data transmission rate intervals may include information of the first data transmission rate.

S1005, the CHF entity sends a first charging response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the first charging response message.

For example, if the first charging request message includes a quota request corresponding to a rate group for online charging, after receiving the first charging request message, the CHF entity may allocate a quota based on a quota request corresponding to the rate group for online charging, and send a quota to the SMF entity through the first charging response message, where the quota may refer to a quota corresponding to the rate group for online charging (i.e., a total quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of the rate charging policy), or may refer to a quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of the rate charging policy, respectively (for example, the CHF entity may allocate a corresponding quota for a plurality of data transmission rate intervals according to information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals included in the first charging request message).

If the first charging request message includes quota requests corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, after the CHF entity receives the first charging request message, quota can be allocated to the plurality of data transmission rate intervals based on the quota requests corresponding to the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, and the quota corresponding to the plurality of data transmission rate intervals is sent to the SMF entity through the first charging response message.

In addition, the CHF entity may also send trigger condition information to the SMF entity via the first charging response message.

S1006, SMF entity generates at least one piece of rate charging information of data connection service according to rate charging policy of data connection service.

Here, the specific implementation of the SMF entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service may refer to S603 in the first embodiment, which is not described herein.

S1007, the SMF entity sends a second charging request message to the CHF entity, the second charging request message including at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service.

Here, the specific implementation of the SMF entity sending at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service to the CHF entity may refer to S807 in the second embodiment, which is not described herein.

S1008, CHF entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of data connection service, and charges user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information of data connection service.

Here, the implementation of the CHF entity in performing the charging process on the user equipment may be referred to the description in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated. Further, if the second charging request message sent by the SMF entity further includes a quota request corresponding to a rate group for online charging, the CHF entity may further allocate a new quota according to the quota request, where the new quota may refer to a quota corresponding to the rate group for online charging, or may refer to a quota corresponding to multiple data transmission rate intervals of a rate charging policy of the rate group, respectively. If the second charging request message sent by the SMF entity further includes quota requests corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of the rate charging policy of the rate group, the CHF entity may further allocate new quotas for the plurality of data transmission rate intervals according to the quota requests corresponding to the plurality of data transmission rate intervals, and send the new quota to the SMF entity through the second charging response message.

Example five

In the fifth embodiment, a possible implementation flow of the charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described based on the network architecture illustrated in fig. 5E.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart corresponding to a charging method provided in the fifth embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 11, the method may include:

s1101, the SMF entity receives a PDU session establishment request message from the user equipment.

S1102, the SMF entity sends a session policy request message to the PCF entity, wherein the session policy request message comprises the identification of the user equipment; accordingly, the PCF entity may receive a session policy request message.

S1103, the PCF entity sends a session policy response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the session policy request message.

Illustratively, the PCF entity may obtain subscription information of the user equipment from the UDM entity or the UDR based on the identity of the user equipment included in the session policy request message, and further determine charging types of a plurality of rate groups of the user equipment based on the subscription information, where the charging types may include online charging and offline charging. And the PCF entity may further determine a partial rate charging policy for the data connection service of the user equipment based on the subscription information of the user equipment and the preset rule 1. The preset rule 1 may be preconfigured in the PCF entity, or may be preset by a protocol.

The session policy response message may include the identifiers of the plurality of rate groups of the user equipment and the corresponding charging types, and may further include a partial rate charging policy of the data connection service.

S1104, the SMF entity sends a first charging request message to the CHF entity; accordingly, the CHF entity may receive the first billing request message.

The first charging request message may include an identification of the user equipment, an identification of the PDU session, an identification of a plurality of tariffs of the user equipment, and optionally, a quota request corresponding to the tariffs of the online charging.

In addition, the first charging request message may also include a partial rate charging policy.

S1105, the CHF entity sends a first charging response message to the SMF entity; accordingly, the SMF entity may receive the first charging response message.

For example, after the CHF entity receives the first charging request message, another part of rate charging policy of the data connection service may be determined based on subscription information of the user equipment and a preset rule 2, and sent to the SMF entity through the first charging response message. And the CHF entity may further allocate a quota for the online-charged rate group based on the quota request corresponding to the online-charged rate group, and send the quota to the SMF entity through the first charging response message. The quota may refer to a quota corresponding to a rate group for online charging (i.e., a total quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of a rate charging policy of the rate group), or may also refer to a quota corresponding to a plurality of data transmission rate intervals of a rate charging policy of the rate group, respectively. In addition, the CHF entity may also send trigger condition information to the SMF entity via the first charging response message.

For example, the partial rate charging policy determined by the PCF entity may include information for a plurality of data transmission rate intervals, and the partial rate charging policy determined by the CHF entity may include a time range, a time unit, time information, and so on. It will be appreciated that the content included in the partial rate charging policy determined by the PCF entity and the content included in the other partial rate charging policy determined by the CHF entity in the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The SMF entity generates at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service according to the rate charging policy for the data connection service (including a partial rate charging policy from the PCF entity and another partial rate charging policy from the CHF entity), S1106.

S1107, the SMF entity sends at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service to the CHF entity.

S1108, CHF entity receives at least one piece of rate charging information of data connection service, and charges user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information of data connection service.

With respect to the first to fifth embodiments described above, it can be understood that:

(1) The step numbers of the flowcharts described in the first to fifth embodiments are only an example of the execution flow, and do not constitute a limitation on the execution sequence of the steps, and in the embodiments of the present application, there is no strict execution sequence between the steps that have no time sequence dependency relationship with each other. Not all of the steps illustrated in the various flowcharts need to be performed, some of the steps may be deleted based on the various flowcharts as desired, or other steps may be added based on the various flowcharts as desired.

(2) The above emphasis describes the differences between the different embodiments of the first to fifth embodiments, and the first to fifth embodiments may be referred to each other, except for the other differences; furthermore, in the same embodiment, different implementations or different examples may also be referred to each other.

The above description has been presented mainly from the point of view of physical interaction. It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the above-mentioned functions, the charging policy entity, the charging processing entity, and the rate charging information collection entity may comprise corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

According to the embodiment of the application, the charging policy entity, the charging processing entity and the rate charging information acquisition entity can be divided according to the method example, for example, each functional module or unit can be divided corresponding to each function, and two or more functions can be integrated in one module or unit. The integrated modules or units described above may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules or units.

In case of integrated units, fig. 12 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the apparatus 1200 may include: a processing module 1202 and a communication module 1203. The processing module 1202 is configured to control and manage the operations of the apparatus 1200. The communication module 1203 is configured to support communication of the apparatus 1200 with other devices. Optionally, the communication module 1203, also referred to as transceiver module, may comprise a receiving module and/or a transmitting module for performing receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. The apparatus 1200 may further comprise a storage module 1201 for storing program code and/or data for the apparatus 1200.

(1) The apparatus 1200 may be a charging policy entity in the above embodiment. The processing module 1202 may support the apparatus 1200 to perform the actions of the charging policy entity in the examples of methods above. Alternatively, the processing module 1202 mainly performs internal actions of the charging policy entity in the method example, and the communication module 1203 may support communication between the apparatus 1200 and other entities.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing module 1202 is configured to: determining a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment, wherein the rate charging policy is used for indicating a rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data rate interval and corresponding use information, the data rate interval is one of a plurality of data rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the use information comprises a use amount accumulated for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is in the data transmission rate interval; and, the communication module 1203 is configured to: and sending the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity. For more detailed description of the processing module 1202 and the communication module 1203, reference is directly made to the related description in the above method embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

(2) The apparatus 1200 may be a charging processing entity in the above embodiment. The processing module 1202 may support the apparatus 1200 to perform the actions of the billing processing entity in the method examples above. Alternatively, the processing module 1202 mainly performs internal actions of the billing processing entity in the method example, and the communication module 1203 may support communication between the apparatus 1200 and other entities.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication module 1203 is configured to: receiving at least one piece of rate charging information of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval; the processing module 1202 is configured to: and charging the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information. For more detailed description of the processing module 1202 and the communication module 1203, reference is directly made to the related description in the above method embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

(3) The apparatus 1200 may be a rate charging information collection entity in the above embodiments. The processing module 1202 may support the apparatus 1200 to perform the actions of the rate charging information acquisition entity in the method examples above. Alternatively, the processing module 1202 mainly performs internal actions of the rate charging information acquisition entity in the method example, and the communication module 1203 may support communication between the apparatus 1200 and other entities.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication module 1203 is configured to: receiving a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a charging policy entity, wherein the rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service; the processing module 1202 is configured to: generating the at least one piece of rate charging information according to the rate charging policy; each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval. For more detailed description of the processing module 1202 and the communication module 1203, reference is directly made to the related description in the above method embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

The above modules in the apparatus are only a division of logic functions, and may be fully or partially integrated into a physical entity or may be physically separated. And the modules in the device can be realized in the form of software calls through the processing element; or can be realized in hardware; it is also possible that part of the modules are implemented in the form of software called by the processing element and part of the modules are implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each module may be a processing element that is set up separately, may be implemented as integrated in a certain chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and the functions of the module may be called and executed by a certain processing element of the apparatus. In addition, all or part of the modules can be integrated together or can be independently implemented. The processing element described herein may in turn be a processor, which may be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, each step of the above method or each module above may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor element or in the form of software called by the processing element.

In one example, a module in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, for example: one or more specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), or one or more microprocessors (digital singnal processor, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a module in an apparatus may be implemented in the form of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements may be processors, such as general purpose central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), or other processors that may invoke programs. For another example, the modules may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above means for receiving is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the receiving module is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving signals from other chips or devices. The above module for transmitting is an interface circuit of the device for transmitting signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the transmitting module is an interface circuit of the chip for transmitting signals to other chips or devices.

Referring to fig. 13, a schematic structural diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present application is provided. The apparatus 1300 may be a charging policy entity, a charging processing entity or a rate charging information collection entity in the above embodiments, for implementing the functions of the charging policy entity, the charging processing entity or the rate charging information collection entity in the above embodiments.

As shown in fig. 13, apparatus 1300 may include a processor 1301, a memory 1302, and an interface circuit 1303. Processor 1301 is operative to process communication protocols and communication data, and to control apparatus 1300. Memory 1302 may be used to store programs and data based on which processor 1301 may perform the methods performed by apparatus 1300 in embodiments of the present application. The interface circuit 1303 may be used for the apparatus 1300 to communicate with other devices, which may be wired or wireless, and may be, for example, a server interface.

The memory 1302 may also be external to the device 1300, where the device 1300 may include an interface circuit 1303 and a processor 1301. The interface circuit 1303 may also be external to the apparatus 1300, where the apparatus 1300 may include a memory 1302 and a processor 1301. When the interface circuit 1303 and the memory 1302 are both external to the device 1300, the device 1300 may include a processor 1301.

The apparatus 1300 shown in fig. 13 is capable of implementing the various processes described above in connection with the apparatus 1300 in the method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of the various modules in the apparatus 1300 shown in fig. 13 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the method embodiments described above. Reference is specifically made to the description of the above method embodiments, and detailed descriptions are omitted here as appropriate to avoid redundancy.

The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: cases where A alone, both A and B together, and B alone, where A and B may be singular or plural. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, references to "first," "second," etc. in the embodiments herein are for distinguishing between multiple objects and not for defining the order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to the application. Each flow and/or block of the flowchart and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A charging method applied to a rate charging information acquisition entity, the method comprising:

receiving a rate charging policy of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a charging policy entity, wherein the rate charging policy is used for indicating the rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service;

generating the at least one piece of rate charging information according to the rate charging policy;

each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data connection service comprises all service data flows in a data connection session of the user equipment; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the data connection service comprises a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one QoS flow in the data connection session of the user equipment; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The data connection service comprises a plurality of service data flows corresponding to one rate group in the data connection session of the user equipment; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the data connection service comprises a service data flow in a data connection session of the user equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rate charging policy comprises information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals;

the method further comprises the steps of: and acquiring the plurality of data transmission rate intervals from the rate charging policy.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rate charging policy comprises a time range;

generating at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service according to the rate charging policy, including: and generating at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service in the time range according to the rate charging policy.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the rate charging policy comprises a time unit;

the method further comprises the steps of: and determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit every other time unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data connection service corresponds to a plurality of user plane functional entities;

the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit is the total data transmission rate of the data connection service on the plurality of user plane functional entities;

wherein the total data transmission rate is obtained based on the total traffic of the data connection service on the plurality of user plane functional entities; or the total data transmission rate is the sum of the data transmission rates of the data connection services respectively corresponding to the plurality of user plane functional entities.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the rate charging policy comprises mode information indicating the first mode or the second mode;

when the mode information indicates the first mode, determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit includes: calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the time unit;

when the mode information indicates the second mode, determining the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit includes: and calculating the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the time length of the flow generated in the time unit.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the method further comprises:

and sending the at least one piece of rate charging information to a charging processing entity.

9. A method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the rate charging information collection entity is a session management function, SMF, entity or a network data analysis function, NWDAF, entity.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the rate charging information collection entity is an SMF entity, the method further comprising:

receiving quota corresponding to each of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals sent by the charging processing entity;

the usage amount is the usage amount of the quota corresponding to the data transmission rate interval.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: receiving triggering information sent by the charging processing entity;

the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to the first quota; sending the rate charging information to a charging processing entity, including: after determining that the available quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold corresponding to the first quota, sending the rate charging information to the charging processing entity; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

The triggering condition information comprises the validity period of the first quota; sending the rate charging information to a charging processing entity, including: after the expiration of the validity period of the first quota is determined, the rate charging information is sent to the charging processing entity;

the first quota is a quota corresponding to the first data transmission rate interval, and the first data transmission rate interval is any one of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

12. A charging method applied to a charging policy entity, the method comprising:

generating a rate charging policy for a data connection service of a user equipment, where the rate charging policy is used to instruct a rate charging information acquisition entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information of the data connection service, where each piece of rate charging information includes information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding usage information, where the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information includes a usage amount accumulated for the data connection service when a data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval;

And sending the rate charging policy to the rate charging information acquisition entity.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein:

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the rate charging policy comprises information of the plurality of data transmission rate intervals.

15. The method according to any of claims 12 to 14, wherein the rate charging policy comprises a time range for instructing the rate charging information collection entity to generate at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service within the time range.

16. A method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the rate charging policy comprises a time unit for instructing the rate charging information acquisition entity to determine the data transmission rate of the data connection service within the time unit every other time unit.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the rate charging policy includes mode information indicating either the first mode or the second mode;

the first mode is to calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the duration of the time unit;

and the second mode is to calculate the data transmission rate of the data connection service in the time unit based on the time length of the flow generated in the time unit.

18. The method of any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a first charging request message from a charging trigger entity;

and determining the rate charging policy based on the first charging request message.

19. A method according to any of claims 12 to 18, wherein the charging policy entity is a charging function CHF entity or a policy control function PCF entity.

20. A charging method applied to a charging processing entity, the method comprising:

receiving at least one piece of rate charging information of a data connection service of user equipment sent by a rate charging information acquisition entity, wherein each piece of rate charging information comprises information of a data transmission rate interval and corresponding use information; the data transmission rate interval is one of a plurality of data transmission rate intervals acquired by the rate charging information acquisition entity, and the usage information comprises the accumulated usage amount for the data connection service when the data transmission rate of the data connection service is within the data transmission rate interval;

and charging the user equipment based on the at least one piece of rate charging information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein receiving at least one piece of rate charging information for the data connection service of the user equipment sent by the rate charging information collection entity, comprises:

and receiving a subscription notification message from the rate charging information collection entity, wherein the subscription notification message comprises the at least one piece of rate charging information.

22. The method of claim 20 or 21, wherein the method further comprises:

Sending quota corresponding to each of the multiple data transmission rate intervals to the rate charging information acquisition entity;

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

sending trigger condition information to the rate charging information acquisition entity;

the triggering condition information comprises a threshold value corresponding to a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that when an available quota corresponding to a first data transmission rate interval is smaller than or equal to the threshold value corresponding to the first quota, the at least one piece of rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity; and/or the triggering condition information comprises a validity period of a first quota, and the triggering condition information is used for indicating that the at least one piece of rate charging information is reported to the charging processing entity when the validity period expires;

24. A method according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the charging processing entity is a CHF entity.

25. A rate charging information acquisition entity, characterized by comprising means for performing the method according to any of claims 1 to 11.

26. A charging policy entity characterized by comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 12 to 19.

27. A charging processing entity characterized by comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 20 to 24.

28. A rate charging information acquisition entity comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor is configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the charging policy entity to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 11.

29. A charging policy entity comprising a processor, said processor being coupled to a memory, said memory having stored therein a computer program; the processor is configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the charging device to perform the method of any of claims 12 to 19.

30. A billing processing entity comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor is configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the charging device to perform the method of any of claims 20 to 24.

31. A communication system comprising a rate charging information acquisition entity according to claim 25 or 28, a charging policy entity according to claim 26 or 29 and a charging policy entity according to claim 27 or 30.

32. A computer readable storage medium, having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a computer, performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 11, or the method of any one of claims 12 to 19, or the method of any one of claims 20 to 24.