KR100956363B1 - The method and the system for data call billing in mobile communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, in generating charging information for a wireless data service provided to a terminal, a mobile communication network extracting and correcting missing or incorrectly generated charging information in generating charging information for a data packet amount used by the terminal is provided. A method and system for charging data in a system, the method comprising: a first step of collecting a charging log and a traffic log; Correlating the charging log and the traffic log to verify whether the charging log is generated normally; And a third step of deleting, correcting or additionally generating the charging log according to the verification result of the second step, thereby providing accurate charging information by correcting the charging information wrongly generated by an error.

Billing, data packet, NDR, traffic, log, matching, verification

Description

The method and the system for data call billing in mobile communication network}

The present invention relates to a data charging method and system in a mobile communication network, and more particularly, to provide more accurate charging information than in the past in generating charging information for a data packet amount used by a terminal. A data charging method and system in a network.

Mobile communication system related technology has been developed to provide a voice service, but recently has been developed to enable high-speed data transmission as well as voice. In particular, the data call connection technology for data communication has been dramatically expanded from the circuit-based interworking function (IGWF) of packet type, packet type data serving node (PDSN) of packet type, and gateway GPRS serving node (GGSN) of W-CDMA. It is developing. Accordingly, the data service charge standard in the mobile communication network is also changed from the access time standard to the packet amount transmitted and received.

Accordingly, the mobile operator generates and manages billing data for billing the user of the packet communication network using the wireless data service through the packet-type data communication network, and the generated billing data is summed at designated time points such as monthly. Billed together with the user's voice communication charges.

In this case, conventionally, when an error occurs in generating the billing data, the error has been verified and corrected by human manual work. However, as the usage of wireless data services has increased, the number of data to be verified has increased greatly, and thus it is impossible to verify errors manually. There is a problem that can not be provided immediately if requested.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and in generating charging information for a wireless data service provided to a terminal, a data charging method and system in a mobile communication network which extracts and corrects missing or incorrectly generated charging information. Suggest.

More specifically, the data charging method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention, the first step of collecting the charge log and traffic log; Correlating the charging log and the traffic log to verify whether the charging log is generated normally; And a third step of deleting, correcting or additionally generating the charging log according to the verification result of the second step, thereby providing accurate charging information by correcting the charging information wrongly generated by an error.

In addition, the data charging system in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention, generating a charging log for the data packet provided to the terminal, and correlating the traffic log and the generated charging log with each other the charging log Including the billing server to verify the integrity of the has the advantage of generating accurate billing information and quickly provide billing details.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a data charging processing method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S10, when the PDSN (Packet Data Serving Node) 20 receives the call origination signal from the user terminal 10 to use the wireless data service, in step S12, the PDSN 20 is AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) The server 30 requests authentication to the user terminal 10 generating the call origination signal. In step S14, the AAA server 30 generates a corresponding response message for the authentication request received from the PDSN 20 and sends it to the PDSN 20.

When the PDSN 20 receives the response message for the authentication request, in step S16, the connection connection with the user terminal 10 is performed, and in step S18, the wireless data service for the user terminal 10 is used. A billing calculation start request message is generated and delivered to the billing server 50. The billing server 50 generates a response message corresponding to the billing calculation start request message and transmits the response message to the PDSN 20 and starts billing for the use of the wireless data service provided by the user terminal 10. .

In step S22, the user terminal 10 connected to the PDSN 20 is connected to the content server 40 to transmit and receive user data, application data or content, etc. In step S24, the charging server 50 is the content server 40 Receive data transmission and reception information through the) and proceed with the billing operation.

In step S30, if a call termination request is received from the user terminal 10 to the PDSN 20, in step S32, the PDSN 20 generates charging calculation end request data and transmits it to the charging server 50. In this case, the charge calculation end request data may include MIN (Mobile Identification Number) information of the user terminal 10, IP information of the PDSN 20, usage information, and the like. In step S34, the charging server 50 that has received the charge calculation end request data from the PDSN 20 generates a response message corresponding thereto and transmits the response message to the PDSN 20, and ends the charging.

The billing server 50 generates billing information using the session related information or data usage information received from the PDSN 20, and in step S36, transmits and receives a billing request and response message with the AAA server 30. .

The billing server 50 may generate a billing log through the data transmission / reception information received from the content server 40 and generate billing information using the generated billing log. In addition, if the data providing request and response are not normally performed while the above charging method is performed, the charging log may be generated even when the content data requested by the user is not received by the user terminal 10, and the requested content data. If the user cancels a request for content and requests for new content while the terminal 10 is not received by the terminal 10, a billing log for each content is generated. Therefore, in the data billing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the billing server 50 includes a billing verification module to be charged only for the data provided to the user terminal.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a data charging system in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Data charging system in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 2, includes a base station (BTC, 25), the data service device 20, and the charging server 40. The base station 25 allows the user terminal 10 to use the mobile communication service through the mobile communication network, and transmits and receives a signal with the data service apparatus 20 to provide the wireless data service to the user terminal 10. do.

The user terminal 10 may receive a voice call service with another terminal through a mobile communication network and receive desired specific content from a plurality of content servers 40 connected to the data service device 20 through the mobile communication network. Can be. The user terminal 10 may be any terminal as long as it is a wireless communication terminal such as a mobile communication terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a notebook computer, and the like.

The data service device 20 is a device that enables the provision and use of a wireless Internet service in addition to a voice call network, and includes an interworking function (IWF), a packet data serving node (PDSN), and a serving. It may include at least one of a GPRS Supporting Node (SGSN) and a Gateway GPRS Supporting Node (GPRS). IWF refers to a wireless data service device in a 2G network, a packet data serving node (PDSN) refers to a wireless data service device in a synchronous 3G network, and a gateway GPRS supporting node (GPRS) refers to an asynchronous 3G network. A wireless data service device in a network. In the present specification, the PDSN 20 is described as an example, but any device capable of providing a wireless Internet service as described above may be applied to any device.

In addition, the AAA server 30 reads the user terminal information transmitted from the PDSN 20 to perform authentication or authority verification for the corresponding user terminal 10 and charges for the user terminal 10 in conjunction with the charging server. Make it happen.

The content server 40 is connected to the PDSN 20 through an IP network and provides a content data requested by a user. For example, the content server 40 may include a ringer providing server, a background image providing server, a stock information providing server, and the like. Can be. In some cases, the application server may also include an application server that is pre-stored in the user terminal and automatically provides access to the wireless data network when executed according to a user input.

Meanwhile, the billing server 50 according to an embodiment of the present invention collects and analyzes data transmitted and received between a data service device such as PDSN 20 and an IP network, and performs a billing process according to a preset rule. As a result, the mobile communication service provider can perform charging for all calls occurring in the data network provided by the mobile telecommunication service provider, and perform differential charging and call control functions for using various data services.

The billing server 50 may include a billing generation module 100, a billing processing module 110, and a billing verification module 130 to perform the above functions.

The billing generation module 100 analyzes transmission / reception data information with the user terminal 10 received from the PDSN 20 to generate a billing log (NDR; Normalized Detail Record (NDR)) and generates the generated NDR as a billing processing module ( To 110). In this case, the transmission / reception data information with the user terminal 10 received from the PDSN 20 includes terminal identification information indicating the user terminal 10, IP information of the connected PDSN 20, and transmission / reception with the corresponding user terminal 10. Data packet amount information may be included.

Accordingly, the NDR includes terminal identification information included in the transmission / reception data information with the user terminal 10, IP information of the connected PDSN 20, and transmission / reception packet data information, and includes a service code, class ID, URL, or the like. Content identification information for identifying the content server 40 that provided the data service to the user terminal 10 may be included together.

In this case, the identification information of the user terminal 10 may include Mobile Identification Number (MIN) information, an assigned telephone number, International Mobile Station Identify (IMSI) information, Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN) information, and the like.

The billing processing module 110 classifies the NDR for each subscriber session based on the NDR received from the billing generation module 100 and generates billing information accordingly.

The billing verification module 130 is a module for verifying the consistency of whether the NDR generated by the billing generation module 100 is generated according to a normal operation. The billing verification module 130 collects a traffic log to determine consistency.

The traffic log is a log capturing the amount of data packets actually transmitted / received between the PDSN 20 and the user terminal 10 through a wireless data network. Information and the like.

Accordingly, the charging verification module 130 correlates the identification information, the generation time information, and the like, which are commonly stored in the NDR and the traffic log, so that the NDR or traffic log corresponding to the information corresponding to the item is matched. If it does not exist, it is determined that the NDR is incorrectly generated or missing by error.

For example, in more detail, when the user terminal 10 accesses a ringtone providing server through a wireless data service to download ringtone contents, an NDR is generated for billing calculation, and data is generated between the user terminal and the ringtone providing server. When a packet is sent or received, a traffic log that captures it is generated. At this time, when the user terminal requests A ringtone content, the ringtone providing server transmits transmission / reception data information indicating that A ringtone content is transmitted to the user terminal to the billing server, and the billing server generates an NDR for the billing server. However, before the A ringtone content is received by the user terminal, if the user terminal cancels the request of the A ringtone content, the data packet for the A ringtone content is not actually transmitted to the user terminal, and thus a corresponding traffic log is generated. It doesn't work.

Therefore, when there is no traffic log having the same value for a certain network of log history stored in the NDR, the user may cancel the content request midway and determine that the content is not actually provided. Accordingly, the billing verification module 130 may generate and transmit a control signal for deleting the corresponding NDR stored in the billing processing module 110 or the billing generation module 100 or storing the NDR separately so as not to be included in the billing calculation.

In addition, even when a request for the A ringtone content is made and thus a data packet for the A ringtone content is normally provided, a corresponding NDR may be missed in the charging processing module 110. In this case, a traffic log indicating that the A ringtone content is provided to the terminal is generated. Therefore, when there is no NDR having the same value for a certain item of the history stored in the correlation matching result traffic log, the billing verification module 130 determines that the corresponding NDR is missing and the billing generation module 100 A corresponding NDR is generated based on the details stored in the traffic log, and the generated NDR can be delivered to the charging processing module 110. In addition, the charging verification module may generate error history data including a log generation time, a corresponding terminal, missing log information, and the like, for the log determined to be generated or missing due to a correlation matching result error as described above.

At this time, the billing server may include a billing storage module 120 for storing data generated or processed in each module, billing storage module 120 is billing information generated in the billing processing module 110, content identification Information, NDR or error history data generated by the billing verification module 130 may be stored.

Data charging verification method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention configured as described above is performed as follows.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a data charging verification method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, in step S100, the charging log NDR and the traffic log are collected.

In step S110, the collected NDR and traffic logs are immediately collected every time they are generated, so they may be collected alternately with each other, but there may be cases where one type of log is collected at a time. Thus, in step S110, the details of the collected NDRs and traffic logs are read and parsed to classify and store the NDRs and traffic logs separately. In this case, the NDR and the traffic log may be database by sorting according to the generation time or session information of each user terminal.

In step S120, the details of the separately stored NDR and the traffic log are correlated with each other. In step S130, it is determined whether there is some missing NDR or traffic log without matching, and if the missing log exists, it is determined whether the missing log is NDR.

That is, depending on the processing speed of the billing verification module performing the correlation matching, missing or data of the items required for matching are not stored in the log history, but may be unmatched. If there is a match, corrective action is required. Therefore, in step S140, except for some items, the traffic log and the NDR having the same data are searched for each other, and the correction is performed by reading the data about the missing item in the corresponding traffic log and giving it to the corresponding NDR. do.

Next, in step S150, the second correlation matching is performed with the log of each missing log or item corrected according to the processing speed among unmatched cases. Secondary correlation matching may be performed when the number of logs to be matched is greater than or equal to a certain number, or may be repeatedly performed with a certain period. In addition, the matching speed may be adjusted by reflecting the number of non-matching cases indicated by the correlation matching performed in step S120.

After performing the second order correlation matching in step S150, it is determined in step S160 whether there is an unmatched match again.

If there is a non-matching case, in step S170, the type of the non-matching case is analyzed and if a predetermined NDR exists and there is no corresponding traffic log, in step S180, the corresponding NDR is deleted or stored in a separate storage. Move it. In addition, when there is a traffic log but there is no corresponding NDR, in step S190, the corresponding traffic log is analyzed and the traffic log before and after the generation time is analyzed so that the corresponding NDR is generated.

Next, the billing information is generated based on the NDR whose integrity is verified through the normal process, and the billing information is stored and summed for a predetermined period to charge the wireless data usage fee to the subscriber of the corresponding user terminal. .

In addition, the details of the NDR corresponding to the billing information can be analyzed, and the detailed information can be generated by reading the content identification information such as the service code included in the NDR, and generated when the subscriber requests the details of the wireless data service used by the subscriber. Detailed history information can be provided.

As described above, the data charging method and system in the mobile communication network according to the present invention have been described with reference to the illustrated drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, and is charged using a traffic log. It is apparent that the technical idea of the present invention, which verifies the consistency of logs and thus enables an objective and accurate accounting calculation, can be readily applied by those skilled in the art within the scope of the claims.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a data charging processing method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing a data charging system in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

3 is a flowchart illustrating a data charging verification method in a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

20: PDSN 25: BTC

30: AAA 40: Content Server

50: billing processing server 100: billing generation module

110: billing processing module 120: billing storage module

Claims (12)

In the data charging method in a mobile communication network providing a wireless data service, Collecting a charging log and a traffic log; Correlating the charging log and the traffic log to determine whether a traffic log corresponding to the charging log exists, and verifying whether the charging log is normally generated by using the same; And If there is no traffic log corresponding to the billing log according to the verification result of the second step, it is determined that there is an error in the billing log and the corresponding billing log is deleted, and the billing log corresponding to the traffic log is not present. A third step of analyzing the traffic log history and generating a charging log corresponding thereto; Data charging method in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 1, The first step may include collecting logs from a billing server and a traffic server and parsing the collected logs; And Separating and storing billing logs and traffic logs according to the details of each parsed log Data charging method in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 1, The second step includes: matching correlations between the billing log and the traffic log according to the details; Determining that the charging log has been generated through a normal procedure if there is a traffic log including details matching the details of the charging log; Data charging method in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 3, wherein The details may include at least one of identification information of a user terminal, server information connected to the terminal, time information of the terminal connected to the server, and time information of the terminal requesting data to the server. How data is charged in the network. The method of claim 3, wherein Correcting missing items in the details of the unmatched log when there is an unmatched log after the correlation matching step; And Performing second order correlation matching on the corrected unmatched log Data charging method in a mobile communication network further comprising. The method of claim 5, Compensating for the missing items, data charging method in a mobile communication network is performed when the number of unmatched log is more than a certain number or a predetermined time elapses. delete delete delete A data charging system in a mobile communication network that provides a wireless data service to a terminal and charges a data usage fee accordingly, A charging processing server generating a charging log for the data packet provided to the terminal, correlating the traffic log and the generated charging log with each other, and verifying the integrity of the charging log; The billing processing server, A charging generation module for generating a charging log for the wireless data service used by the terminal; A billing processing module configured to read a billing log from when the terminal connects a connection to a mobile communication network to release the billing log to calculate billing for the data packet amount; And When there is no traffic log corresponding to the billing log by correlating the traffic log with the billing log, it is determined that there is an error in the billing log and the corresponding billing log is deleted, and the billing log corresponding to the traffic log is The billing verification module, which does not exist, analyzes the traffic log history and delivers the billing log corresponding to the billing processing module. Data charging system in a mobile communication network comprising a. The method of claim 10, The billing verification module is a data billing system in a mobile communication network for generating a history of errors for the billing log that is determined to have an error in generating a billing log. The method of claim 11, And a billing storage module for storing billing calculation data delivered from the billing processing module or an error history of the billing log.

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