KR100833292B1 - System and method for backup charging data in real time in mobile communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a real-time billing backup system and method, and more particularly, billing server when normal billing data collection and processing is not possible due to abnormal operation of the billing processor in charge of billing collection and processing in the exchange or communication between devices. The present invention relates to a real-time billing backup system and method for collecting encrypted billing data provided from a subscriber in a billing server at the end of a call using a data communication path between each subscriber's mobile communication terminal.

According to the present invention, when a problem arises during charging processing in an exchange, that is, a situation in which normal charging data collection and processing is impossible due to an abnormal operation of a charging processor in charge of collecting and processing in an exchange or a communication error between devices, By establishing a data communication path between the server and the mobile communication terminal of each subscriber and enabling the charging data received from each subscriber to be stored and managed in the billing server immediately after the subscriber's call is terminated through the corresponding data communication path, an abnormal operation may occur in the charging process. It is possible to prevent the loss of billing data due to, and further ensure accurate billing for the subscriber.

Mobile communication, billing, ASS, OMP, backup, data communication

Description

System and method for backup charging data in real time in mobile communication network

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a real-time billing data backup system in a mobile communication network according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a mobile communication terminal as a component of a real time charging data backup system in the mobile communication network of FIG. 1;

3 is a flowchart schematically showing a method for backing up real-time billing data in a mobile communication network according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the inter-component communication procedure of the real-time billing data backup system in the mobile communication network.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: mobile communication terminal 11: control module

13 communication module 15 operation module

17: encryption module 19: storage module

20: base station 30: base station controller

31: RPP 40: PDSN

50: billing server 60: switchboard

61: call processing processor (ASS) 63: billing processing processor (OMP)

The present invention relates to a real-time billing backup system and method, and more particularly, billing server when normal billing data collection and processing is not possible due to abnormal operation of the billing processor in charge of billing collection and processing in the exchange or communication between devices. The present invention relates to a real-time billing backup system and method for collecting encrypted billing data provided from a subscriber in a billing server at the end of a call using a data communication path between each subscriber's mobile communication terminal.

A mobile communication system is a system that enables communication between mobiles or between mobiles and a fixed body by using radio waves in a space. Subscribers who receive communication services of such mobile communication systems are required to use a certain amount of usage fee according to the provision of communication services. You will pay

Accordingly, the mobile switching center (MSC) in the mobile communication system collects billing data generated at the exchange to accurately handle the usage fee of each subscriber.

The methods for collecting and processing billing data in a conventional exchange generally include a local billing (Local Automatic Message Accounting) (hereinafter referred to as LAMA) and a centralized billing (Centralized Automatic Message Accounting (hereinafter referred to as CAMA)).

The LAMA method records the charging information generated by the exchange on the magnetic tape (MT) of the exchange, and then periodically transfers the magnetic tape directly to the computer for processing the billing data, thereby processing the charge data. The CAMA method is to control the billing information collected in the exchange online. In detail, the billing information generated in the exchange can be centralized through the data transmission network. Directly sent to the center to collect and process the billing information.

In collecting and processing billing data using the above LAMA or CAMA method, an operation and maintenance processor (hereinafter referred to as OMP), which is a processor that plays a role of storing and transmitting billing data to an external device. When the billing data is stored in the magnetic tape or transmitted to the billing center, the disk temporarily storing the collected billing data, the magnetic tape storing the billing data of the disk by the LAMA method, and the transmission link according to the CAMA method. There is often a problem that billing data is lost due to abnormal operation.

This problem is being developed due to the development of information and communication and computer technology, but the development of technology to prevent the problem of data charging is continuously made, but it is difficult to prevent it completely.

Therefore, when the abnormal operation of the system in the exchange, as described above, there is a need for a billing collection and processing technology that can be collected and processed without loss of the corresponding billing data of the mobile communication subscriber so that accurate billing for the subscriber can be made.

Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed in response to the technical requirements as described above, and an object of the present invention is an abnormal operation or apparatus of a charging processor that is in charge of a problem that may occur during the charging processing in the exchange, that is, the collection and processing of the charging in the exchange. In the case of the situation where normal charging data collection and processing is impossible due to the communication error between each other, the data communication path between the charging server and the mobile communication terminal of each subscriber is established and received from each subscriber immediately after the call termination of the subscriber through the corresponding data communication path. The present invention provides a real-time billing backup system and method in a mobile communication network for storing and managing the charged billing data in a billing server.

Real-time billing backup system in a mobile communication network according to the present invention for achieving the above object, by checking whether the billing processing processor malfunctions and detects a malfunction, the encryption to the mobile communication terminal in the current call service state or call setup state A call processing processor for transmitting a charging request signal including a code and an IP address of a charging server; Generate encrypted billing data for the service connection time based on the encryption code received from the call processing processor, and establish a data communication path with the billing server through the IP address of the billing server received from the call processing processor A mobile communication terminal for transmitting encrypted charging data to a charging server; And a charging server configured to store and manage encrypted charging data received from the mobile communication terminal to perform charging for the mobile communication terminal.

In addition, the mobile communication terminal constituting the real-time charging backup system in the mobile communication network receives the charge request signal from the call processing processor through the mobile communication network connection to the charging server through the establishment of a data communication path with the charging server. A communication module for mediating data transmission; A calculation module configured to perform calculation and extraction on a mobile communication service connection time in response to a charging request signal input from the call processing processor; An encryption module for generating encrypted data according to a service connection time by performing an encryption procedure for the extracted service connection time; A storage module for storing encrypted data generated from the encryption module; And a control module for controlling an operation on the configuration module.

In addition, the method for enabling to back up the billing data in real time using a real-time billing backup system in a mobile communication network having the above configuration, the monitoring step of the call processing processor to monitor whether the billing processing processor malfunction; A charging request step of transmitting, by the call processing processor, a charging request signal including a specific encryption code and an IP address of the charging server to a mobile communication terminal when a malfunction of the charging processing processor is determined as the monitoring result; An encryption step of generating, by the mobile communication terminal, encrypted billing data for a call connection time using a specific encryption code received from the call processing processor immediately after the call of the mobile communication terminal; A data communication path establishing step of setting, by the mobile communication terminal, a data communication path with the charging server based on the IP address of the charging server provided from the call processing processor; A data transmission step of transmitting, by the mobile communication terminal, the encrypted charging data to the charging server through the set data communication path; And a data storing step of storing, by the charging server, the encrypted charging data received from the mobile communication terminal, for the charging data.

Hereinafter, a real-time charging backup system and method in a mobile communication network according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 shows a configuration of a real-time charging backup system in a mobile communication network according to the present invention. The components of the system will be described below.

First, the exchange 60 connects with the base station controller 30 to perform a call processing function such as a call setup and release procedure for the mobile communication terminal 10, and uses the mobile communication service of the mobile communication terminal 10. It is responsible for performing the charging process according to the above. The exchange according to the present invention includes a billing processor (63) for performing billing storage and transfer of billing data to an external device and a call processor (61) for monitoring abnormal operation of the billing processor. It is possible to cope with the possible loss of billing data.

In this case, the call processing processor may be an Access Switching Subsystem (ASS) that performs distributed call processing functions in the exchange, and the billing processor may be operated as a component of the exchange. It refers to a conventional operation and maintenance processor (OPM) that performs maintenance related centralization functions.

The call processing processor collects billing data for the mobile communication terminal as a result of the call service and transfers the collected billing data to the billing processing processor, thereby storing storage devices such as billing disks and billing MT (Magnetic Tape) provided in the billing processing processor. To be stored in the. In this case, the billing processor processes and stores the billing data, and the billing processing is performed due to a malfunction in the billing processor or a link problem to the storage device, that is, a hang-up on a SCSI computer system interface bus. It may happen that it is not done normally. Accordingly, the call processing processor 61 of the present invention monitors the billing processing operation of the billing processor 63 in preparation for the above-described case, and thus serves to immediately detect the operation error of the billing processor. . When the abnormal operation of the charging processing processor is confirmed, the call processing processor transmits a charging request signal including an encryption code and an IP address of the charging server 50 to the mobile communication terminal 10. At this time, the encryption code may be periodically received from the billing server at a specific cycle, for example, 24 hours.

The mobile communication terminal 10 is a device that can receive a normal mobile communication service, and particularly means a mobile communication terminal in a state of receiving a mobile communication service or a call setup state. The mobile communication terminal according to the present invention encrypts the billing data according to the service connection time by using the encryption code received from the call processing processor 31 in the switch 30 at the end of the call service, and the resulting encrypted data is encrypted. It transmits billing data to billing server. In this case, the charging data transmission is performed by connecting the data transmission path with the charging server based on the IP address of the charging server provided from the call processing processor. Referring to the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention in more detail as shown in FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a configuration of a mobile communication terminal. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile communication terminal includes a control module 11, a communication module 13, a calculation module 15, an encryption module 17, and a storage module 19. ), And these components are explained in detail according to their functions as follows.

The communication module 13 performs data transmission and reception by mediating a connection between the mobile communication terminal and an external device, and more specifically, the encryption code and the IP of the billing server from the call processing processor 61 in the exchanger 60. It receives the charge request signal including the address, and subsequently establishes a data communication path with the billing server in response to the billing request of the call processing processor, thereby performing data transmission to the billing server.

The operation module 15 performs an operation on the service connection time of the mobile communication terminal itself in response to the charging request of the call processing processor 61, extracts it, and allows the service connection time to be encrypted.

The encryption module 17 performs an encryption procedure according to the service connection time extracted from the calculation module 15, and based on the encryption code received from the call processing processor 61 of the exchanger 60, the encryption module 17 performs the encryption procedure according to the service connection time. Generate encrypted data for

The encrypted data generated as a result of the encryption is transmitted to the charging server through the communication module 13, and it may be desirable to be stored in the storage module 19 to prepare for data transmission error to the charging server. .

As described above, the mobile communication terminal as a component constituting the real-time charging backup system in the mobile communication network includes a communication module, a calculation module, an encryption module, and a storage module, and includes a control module for controlling the operation of these configuration modules ( 11) by including together.

The billing server 50 collects billing data and performs settlement for each mobile subscriber, thereby enabling a service fee to be billed to the subscriber for a particular period, for example, monthly. In the present invention, when an error occurs in the charging processing operation of the exchange, the charging server receives the corresponding charging data from the mobile communication terminal 10 and stores and manages it.

In addition to the above components, the components of the mobile communication system required for establishing a data communication path for transmitting and receiving charging data between the mobile communication terminal 10 and the charging server 50 will be described first. 31 selects the PDSN for the corresponding data communication path in response to the data communication connection request of the mobile communication terminal 10, and the PDSN (40) in which the point-to-point protocol (PPP) connection is selected with the corresponding mobile communication terminal 10; It acts as a mediation so that it can be set between the), generally provided in the base station controller 30. However, it should be understood that the RPP can also be installed outside the base station controller.

Packet data serving node (PDSN) 40 is a data transmission and reception function through a PPP connection with a mobile communication terminal and IP allocation to the mobile communication terminal in response to a data communication path request from the RPP 31 of the base station controller 30. By performing the function, the charging data transmission and reception between the mobile communication terminal 10 and the charging server 50 can be made.

As described above, the real-time billing backup system in the mobile communication network includes an exchanger 60 and a billing server 50 including a mobile communication terminal 10, a call processing processor 61, and a billing processing processor 63. And by including the base station controller 30 and the PDSN 40 together with or outside the RPP 31 for establishing data communication between the mobile communication terminal and the charging server.

Now, a method of backing up charging data in real time using the real time charging backup system in the mobile communication network will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a real time charging backup method in a mobile communication network according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a real time charging backup method in a mobile communication network includes a sensing step (S10), a charging request step (S20), and an encryption method. The step S30, the data communication path establishment step S40, the data transmission step S50, and the data storage step S60 are performed by the execution.

This will be described in detail for each step as shown in FIG. 4.

First, the call processing processor checks whether there is an error in the charging processing operation of the charging processing processor, that is, the operation for storing and transmitting the charging data (S10).

As a result of checking in the tenth step S10, when abnormal operation of the charging processor is detected, the call processor transmits a charging request signal for requesting charging to the mobile communication terminal at step S20. More specifically, the call processing processor transmits a billing processing request signal including a specific encryption code and an IP address of the billing server to the mobile communication terminal in response to a malfunction of the billing processing processor. In this case, the specific encryption code is a value generated in the charging server, and the call processing processor receives the specific encryption code from the charging server in a specific time unit, for example, 24 hours.

After receiving the charge processing request signal from the call processing processor, the mobile communication terminal extracts the charging target data, that is, the service connection time, after the mobile communication service connection is terminated (S30). At this time, the encryption procedure is performed based on a specific encryption code received from the call processor, and as a result of the encryption, the mobile terminal generates encrypted billing data for the service connection time.

The mobile communication terminal establishes a data communication connection with the charging server to transmit the charging data generated as an encryption result to the charging server together with the encryption processing operation for the charging target data (S40).

In detail, the mobile communication terminal establishes data communication with the charging server in order to transmit the encrypted charging data generated as a result of the thirtieth step S30 to the charging server. To this end, the mobile communication terminal first requests a data call connection (S41), and the data call connection request of the mobile communication terminal is received by the RPP in the base station controller. The RPP selects a PDSN for data call connection in response to the data call connection request of the mobile communication terminal, and transmits the data call connection request of the mobile communication terminal to the selected corresponding PDSN (S43). The PDSN receiving the data call connection request from the RPP allocates an IP address for the mobile communication terminal (S45), and transmits a response signal according to the data call connection request including the IP address allocation information to the mobile communication terminal through the RPP ( S47).

By performing the above steps S41 to S47, a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) session is established between the mobile communication terminal and the PDSN, through which the mobile communication terminal can perform data communication with the charging server.

At this time, in performing the above steps, the mobile communication terminal can perform only the procedure for data call connection with the PDSN while maintaining the radio resources occupied by the call type, that is, the RF resource and the channel resource. It would be desirable to make the connection with the billing server faster.

When the data communication path is established between the mobile communication terminal and the charging server, the mobile communication terminal transmits the encrypted charging data generated as a result of the encryption process to the charging server (S50), and the charging server encrypts the input received from the mobile communication terminal. The stored billing data is stored and managed (S60), so that accurate billing can be made to the subscriber of the corresponding mobile communication terminal.

In the above, the real-time charging backup system and method in the mobile communication network were described. While the invention described above has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, various modifications and changes of the invention will be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims by those skilled in the art. It will be appreciated that this can be changed.

As described above, according to the real-time billing backup system and method in the mobile communication network according to the present invention, a problem that may occur during the billing processing operation in the exchange, that is, abnormal operation or device between the charge processor in charge of the charge collection and processing in the exchange between In the event that normal charging data collection and processing are not possible due to a communication error, establish a data communication path between the billing server and the mobile communication terminal of each subscriber and receive it from each subscriber immediately upon termination of the call through the corresponding data communication path. By allowing the billing data to be stored and managed in the billing server, it is possible to prevent the loss of billing data due to abnormal operation during billing processing, and also to make accurate billing for the subscriber.

Claims (7)

delete A call processing processor that checks whether a charging processing processor malfunctions and transmits a charging request signal including an encryption code and an IP address of a charging server to a mobile communication terminal in a current call service state or call setup state when the malfunction is detected; Generate encrypted billing data for the service connection time based on the encryption code received from the call processing processor, and establish a data communication path with the billing server through the IP address of the billing server received from the call processing processor A mobile communication terminal for transmitting encrypted charging data to a charging server; And A charging server generating the encryption code and transferring the generated encryption code to the call processing processor and storing and managing the encrypted charging data received from the mobile communication terminal to perform charging for the mobile communication terminal; Real-time billing backup system in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 2, The billing server further comprises a storage server for storing and managing the encrypted billing data received from the mobile communication terminal. A mobile communication terminal for performing a real time charging backup in a mobile communication network, A communication module for receiving a charging request signal from a call processing processor through a mobile communication network connection and mediating data transmission to a charging server through establishing a data communication path with the charging server; A calculation module configured to perform calculation and extraction on a mobile communication service connection time in response to a charging request signal input from the call processing processor; An encryption module for generating encrypted data according to a service connection time by performing an encryption procedure for the extracted service connection time; A storage module for storing encrypted data generated from the encryption module; And A control module for controlling an operation on the configuration module; Mobile communication terminal configured to include. As a method for backing up billing data in real time in a mobile communication network, A monitoring step of the call processing processor monitoring whether the charging processing processor is malfunctioning; A charging request step of transmitting, by the call processing processor, a charging request signal including a specific encryption code and an IP address of the charging server to a mobile communication terminal when a malfunction of the charging processing processor is determined as the monitoring result; An encryption step of generating, by the mobile communication terminal, encrypted billing data for a call connection time using a specific encryption code received from the call processing processor immediately after the call of the mobile communication terminal; A data communication path establishing step of setting, by the mobile communication terminal, a data communication path with the charging server based on the IP address of the charging server provided from the call processing processor; A data transmission step of transmitting, by the mobile communication terminal, the encrypted charging data to the charging server through the set data communication path; And A data storage step of performing a storage management of the charging data by the charging server receiving the encrypted charging data from the mobile communication terminal; Real time billing backup method in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 5, The encryption step is a step of real-time charging backup in a mobile communication network, characterized in that it continues to occupy the radio channel resources allocated to the mobile communication terminal immediately after the call of the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 5, The data communication path establishment step, Requesting, by the mobile terminal, an RPP for a data communication connection with a charging server; An RPP receiving a data communication connection request of the mobile communication terminal, selecting a specific PDSN and transmitting a data communication connection request for the mobile communication terminal to the selected PDSN; In response to the data communication connection request received from the RPP, the PDSN allocating an IP address for the mobile communication terminal; And The PDSN transmitting a response according to a data communication connection request including the assigned IP address to the mobile communication terminal through the RPP; Real time charging backup method in a mobile communication network comprising a.

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