JPH0388559A - Charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change a charging period on the way of communication by informing a charging period, whenever a communication start and the charging period are changed, and also, to charge a charge of an additional service, etc., by informing a charge being independent from a utilization time of the service by a charge integrating signal. CONSTITUTION:On the side of a network equipment 20, a charging period is calculated by a period charging device 72 in a charging device for network side 26 in accordance with information from a service controller 25, and it is changed to a charging period informing signal by a charging signal generating device 71, and informed to a terminal 1 side. When such a situation as it is necessary to change the charging period occurs on the way of a communication, the charging period is calculated again by the period charging device 72, and it is changed to the charging period informing signal by the charging signal generating device 71, and informed to the terminal 1 side. Also, when an additional service is executed on the way a communication, and independent charging becomes necessary separately from charging caused by a speech time, a charge integrating signal charging device 73 in the charging device 26 calculates a charge integrating signal, regulates its signal format by the charging signal generating device 71, and informs it to the terminal 1 side.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is applicable to communications where it is necessary to display or store call charges that change from time to time, such as in terminals such as public telephones. This relates to a billing method in the system.

[Conventional technology]

Billing information for regular telephones uses a method in which the amount of charges to be added is notified to terminals (e.g., public telephones) using billing pulses (a type of charge accumulation signal), in other words, changes in charges are notified for each unit charge. ing. In this system, a charging pulse must be sent from the network to the terminal every time a change in charges occurs. In a transmission line such as mobile communication, where billing information is frequently lost or retransmitted, there is a high possibility that billing pulses will be congested, and there is a problem in that billing pulses may not be transmitted in real time. On the other hand, billing information in a car phone uses a system in which the network notifies the terminal of the billing cycle prior to the start of communication, and the terminal charges the bill accordingly.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The latter method solves the above problems, but even if the car phone terminal moves to a zone with a different call rate during communication, it may not be possible to change the billing cycle accordingly, or it may not be possible to provide additional services. If a special service is provided that is independent of the length of usage time, there is a problem in that even if an attempt is made to charge a fixed amount for the additional service, it is not possible to do so.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problem, and when a situation requiring a change in the billing cycle occurs, change the billing cycle accordingly,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a billing method in which when an additional service is implemented, a corresponding charge can be added separately from the call charge.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a communication system in which, prior to a communication performed by a terminal via a network, the network determines a charging cycle for the communication and notifies the terminal, in which the charging cycle is changed during the communication. When a situation occurs, the network detects it, determines the new billing cycle, and notifies the terminal, allowing the terminal to charge accordingly.

In addition, if an additional communication-related service is implemented during communication, the network will detect this and, in addition to the billing cycle signal,
Creates a charge signal for additional services and sends it to the terminal,
At the terminal, this fee will be added to the previous fee.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, if a situation requiring a change in the billing cycle occurs, the billing cycle is changed accordingly, and when an additional service is implemented, an independent charge accumulation signal (
(including billing pulses) from the network to the terminal, charges for additional services can be added separately from the call charges.

〔Example〕

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a communication system in which the present invention is implemented.

In the figure, 1 is a terminal, for example a public telephone, and 20 is a network device. In addition, in terminal 1, 2 is layer 1
equipment (physical terminal equipment of control line), 3 is layer 2 equipment (
4 is a call processing device (control line data link termination device); 4 is a call processing device (
5 is a service control device (controls services for each call); 6 is a billing device (
7 is a clock device (measures time). 10 is a control line.

In the network device 20, 21 is subscriber data (stores data such as contracts and charges for each subscriber), 22 is a layer 1 device, 23 is a layer 2 device, 24 is a call processing device, 25 is a service control device, 26 is a billing device (accumulation of charges for each call,
27 is a clock device.

Note that the layer 1 device and the layer 2 device control the transfer of signals transmitted and received between the network device 20 side and the terminal 1 via the control line 10. The telephone line 11 is not directly related to the explanation of this embodiment, so it is only illustrated as the line 11, and the equipment to be connected to it is not illustrated on either the terminal 1 side or the network device 20 side.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing details of the charging device 6 on the terminal 1 side. In the figure, 61 is a billing signal analysis device (
62 is a periodic billing device (performs periodic billing and calculates the billing cycle); 63 is a charge accumulation signal billing device (disassembles and assembles charge signals given from the call processing device 4); 64 is a charge adding device (accumulates charges and sends and displays the results to a charge display device 65); 65 is a charge display device (such as a liquid crystal display device that displays charges on a terminal); ).

FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing details of the charging device 26 on the network device 20 side. In the figure, 71 is a billing signal generation device, 72 is a periodic billing device, 73 is a charge accumulation signal billing device, and 74 is a charge addition device (accumulates charges, sends and saves the results to subscriber data 21). be.

Next, the billing operation will be explained.

Following the call connection from the terminal 1 side via the control line IO, on the network equipment 20 side, the periodic charging device 72 in the charging device 26 calculates the charging period according to the information from the service control device 25, and charges the calculated period. The signal generation device 71 converts the billing cycle notification signal into a billing cycle notification signal, and notifies the terminal 1 side via the call processing device 24, layer 2 device 23, layer 1 device 22, and control line 10.

On the terminal 1 side, this billing cycle notification signal is transmitted to the layer 1 device 2.
, is received by the layer 2 device 3 and sent via the call processing device 4 to the charging signal analysis device 61 in the charging device 6, where the charging period notification signal is decomposed to know the charging period, and sent to the periodic charging device 62. hand over.

The terminal 1 and the network device 20 start charging at the timing of the charging cycle notification signal.

When a situation that requires a change in the billing cycle occurs during communication, for example, if terminal 1 is a car phone terminal,
If a user enters a zone with different call charges, the service control device 25 on the network device 20 side can detect this fact by a means not shown, so information from the service control device 25 informing the user of this fact is detected by the service control device 25 on the network equipment 20 side. Accordingly, the periodic charging device 72 calculates the charging period again, the charging signal generating device 71 converts it into a charging period notification signal, and the call processing device 24, layer 2 device 23, layer I device 22, The terminal 1 side is notified via the control line 10. In response to this, the terminal 1 side calculates charges based on the new billing cycle.

In addition, when an additional service is performed during communication and an independent billing is required in addition to the billing based on the call time, this is handled by the service control device 25 of the 20 network devices by means not shown. According to the information from the service control device 25 that conveys this, the charge accumulation signal billing device 73 in the billing device 26 calculates the charge accumulation signal, and the billing signal generation device 71 adjusts the signal format. , call processing device 24 and layer 2 device 2 in the same way as before.
3. Notify the terminal 1 side via the layer I device 22 and the control line 10.

On the terminal 1 side, upon receiving this, the billing signal analysis device 61
, the charge accumulation signal charging device 63, and the charge adding device 64 can perform the required charge accumulation. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the billing operation as outlined above. The billing sequence will be explained again with reference to the same figure.

As shown in the figure, following the call connection from the terminal, the network side notifies the billing cycle. The terminal and the network start charging at the timing of the charging cycle notification signal. Also, in the example,
Although the billing cycle is notified using an independent signal, it may be combined with the response signal and the response 1III acknowledgment signal, or the billing cycle may be notified in advance and the terminal and network may notify each other when the response signal and response confirmation signal are received. Another possible method is to start charging.

If the billing cycle is changed during communication, the network notifies the terminal of the billing cycle notification signal again to change the billing cycle and continue the accumulation. If it is necessary to charge charges independent of the service usage time during communication of additional services, etc., a charge accumulation signal is notified from the network to the terminal.

The charge accumulation signal may be a charge pulse signal (conventional system) that integrates a fixed charge index with one signal, or a signal that integrates a charge index with one signal. This embodiment shows the latter method.

When the call ends, the terminal charges the charges accumulated up to that point. In this embodiment, the total charge is NlXT1+N
2XT2+N3 (yen). Here, N1 and N2 are charging indices per unit time, and N3 is a usage fee (charging index) for the additional service. Furthermore, T1 and T2 are the times during which the call was made with charging indices N1 and N2, respectively.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, by notifying the billing cycle each time communication is started and the billing cycle is changed, it is possible to change the billing cycle during communication, and the usage time of the service is An advantage of independent charges is that charges for additional services, etc. can be billed by notification using a billing pulse or a charge accumulation signal.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

0 Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a communication system to which the present invention is implemented, Fig. 1A is a block diagram showing details of the charging device on the terminal side, and Fig. 1B is a block diagram showing details of the charging device on the network device side. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the charging operation. Explanation of symbols 1...Terminal, 20...Network device, 2.22...Layer 2 device, 3.23...Layer 2 device, 4, 24...
- Call processing device, 5.25... Service control device, 6.
26...Charging device, 7.27...Clock device, 1
0...Control line, 11...Telephone line, 21...Subscriber data, 61...Charging signal analysis device, 62.72
... Periodic billing device, 63.73... Charge accumulation signal billing device, 64°74... Charge addition device, 65... Charge display device, 71... Charge signal generation device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In a communication system in which the network determines the charging cycle for the communication and notifies the terminal of the charging cycle before the terminal communicates via the network, there is a situation where the charging cycle is changed during the communication. When this occurs, the network detects this, determines the changed charging cycle, and notifies the terminal, and the terminal thereafter charges accordingly. 2) In the billing method according to claim 1, if an additional service related to communication is performed during communication, the network detects this, creates a charge signal for the additional service in addition to the charge period signal, and transmits the charge signal to the terminal. A charging method characterized in that the charge is added to the charge up to that point at the terminal.