KR101050951B1 - Billing system considering service quality in next generation communication network and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technology for allowing a soft switch of a next-generation communication network to recognize a service quality by door to door call rate in consideration of service quality.

To this end, in the present invention, the soft switch collects the service quality information for all calls of the call-based service in association with the policy decision unit, and performs resource management in the policy decision unit on the basis of the call origination. The call charges can be calculated in consideration of the quality of service class, and the call processing resources are managed efficiently.

Description

Accounting system and method depending on qulity of service in next generation network

1 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a next-generation communication network in which a billing system considering a service quality according to the present invention is implemented.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method in consideration of service quality in a next-generation communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a billing system considering the service quality in a next generation communication network and a method thereof, and more particularly, a technology in which a soft switch of a next generation communication network recognizes a service quality of each door to allow a call rate of each door to be calculated in consideration of service quality. It is about.

Next Generation Network (NGN) is a network structure that integrates wired and wireless and integrates voice and data in a packet-based network. Service providers can use NGN through various APIs to provide services through Open API (Application Program Interface). It is a communication network structure that can flexibly provide various and complex services by providing. In the early stages of next-generation communication networks, access gateways (AGs) are introduced to accommodate existing PSTN subscribers as next-generation network subscribers.

Softswitch, a major component of next generation communication network, performs call control for end-to-end or multi-party call setup and transmits billing information to billing system. Currently, softswitches are not involved in traffic processing in the data plane because they operate in the control plane. Therefore, the soft switch cannot know the data transfer status after call setup and cannot transfer billing information according to the data transfer status to the billing system.

For a reasonable billing process, it is desirable to calculate the billing information corresponding to the quality of each call, and then transfer the billing information to the billing system. In other words, charging should be made in consideration of quality of service (QoS) grade and call time.

However, softswitch recognizes information about talk time by being involved in call setup and call release, but it is not possible to perform proper charging according to quality of service because the quality of service for call after call is not known. .

On the other hand, the existing Diffserv-based or MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) network that supports Diffserv has a problem that can not be charged by call by establishing a policy based on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and performing the charge accordingly. In other words, it is difficult to handle billing by call because billing is determined according to service quality grade and bandwidth for each subscriber.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described matters, and an object of the present invention is to provide a service quality according to a subscriber's request for a call-based service and to perform a billing calculation for each service considering the service quality. do.

In the next-generation communication network according to the present invention for realizing the above object, the charging system considering the quality of service includes: an originating access gateway in which an originating terminal is accommodated; A first called party access gateway accommodated by a first called terminal; By setting the RTP session between the calling access gateway and the called access gateway at the request of the calling terminal, calculating the service quality grade using codec information, considering the service quality grade, session information and call information of the call. A sending soft switch for generating charging information; A policy decision unit for assigning a service quality grade to a corresponding call and allocating a bandwidth corresponding to the quality of service grade by controlling an edge router when a service quality grade is requested from the originating soft switch; A billing server that receives the billing information from the calling party's soft switch and calculates a call fee per call considering service quality; And a media server outputting a service quality class guide message to the subscriber.

In the next-generation communication network according to the present invention, the charging method considering the quality of service, when the calling terminal calls the first called terminal, the calling side softswitch is called by the calling side access gateway and the calling side access gateway when the calling terminal accepts the calling terminal. A first step of establishing an RTP session between the called party's first access gateway accommodated by the first called terminal; A second step of determining, by the calling side softswitch, a quality of service class using codec information of a corresponding call; A third step of managing, by the originating soft switch, a resource according to the service quality level in association with a policy decision unit; A fourth step of the media server outputting the quality of service guide message to the calling terminal; A fifth soft switch is configured to determine that the user has checked the quality of service grade when the preset digital signal is input from the originating terminal, and transmits the quality of service grade to each access gateway through a policy server to set a policy; process; A sixth step of, when the RTP session is terminated, the originating soft switch generating charging information regarding the call in consideration of the quality of service level, session information, and call information; And a seventh process, wherein the billing server performs billing calculation considering the service quality of each door based on the billing information.

The present invention assumes that the data delivery network is a Diffserv-based or MPLS network capable of accepting Diffserv, and that a policy decision unit (hereinafter referred to as PDP) exists. The policy decision unit performs functions such as access control, resource management, policy decision and application.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a call service and a billing processing method considering the service quality of each call based on a conference call procedure between access gateway subscribers will be described.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.

1 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a next-generation communication network to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, the next generation communication network includes: access gateways (hereinafter referred to as AG) 103, 104, and 107 for accommodating POT terminals 111, 112, and 113, which are PSTN subscribers; Edge routers 105, 106, and 108 that support interworking with other networks; Soft switches (hereinafter referred to as SoftSWitches) 109 and 110 for performing call processing for providing a call-based service; A media server (hereinafter referred to as MS: Media Server) 101 for processing media resources (eg, broadcast mixing, call mixing for conference calls, etc.); A policy decision unit 102 for access control, resource management, policy decision and application; And a billing server 120 that performs billing calculation using billing information provided from the soft switches 109 and 110.

Hereinafter, a charging method in consideration of service quality in a next generation communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2.

When the terminal 111 corresponding to the calling party calls the terminal 112 corresponding to the first receiving side (S190), the SSW1 109 requests the AG1 103 and the AG2 104 by the request of the AG1 103. The RTP session is set (S191). In order to establish an RTP session, the AG1 103 transmits supportable codec information, and the AG2 104 selects a specific codec among the codecs corresponding to the codec information and transmits the selected codec information to the SSW1 109. By this process, the SSW1 109 acquires RTP session information (IP address, port number, etc.) and codec information.

Through the above process, while the calling terminal 111 and the first receiving terminal 112 are connected to the call path to perform a voice call, a hook-flash is input from the calling terminal 111. (Yes in S192), when the telephone number of the terminal 113 of the AG3 (107) corresponding to the second called party is input from the calling terminal (111) (S193), SSW1 (109) at the request of the AG1 (103) Establishes an RTP session between AG1 103 and AG3 107 (S194). Through the above process, the SSW1 109 acquires RTP session information (IP address, port number, etc.) and codec information.

If the hook-fresh is input from the originating terminal 111 (Yes in S195) in the state of completing the RTP session setup through this process, the AG1 103 notifies the hook-fresh to the SSW1 109 (S196). The SSW1 109 notified of the hook-fresh transfers the RTP session information between the AG1 103 and the AG2 104 and the RTP session information between the AG1 103 and the AG3 107 to the MS 101 (S203). .

The MS 101 receiving the RTP session information transmits its RTP session information to the SSW1 109 (S204). As such, the SSW1 109 acquires respective RTP session information and codec information between the AG1 103 and the MS 101, between the AG2 104 and the MS 101, and between the AG3 107 and the MS 101. A service grade to be serviced, that is, a QoS grade, is calculated using the obtained codec information. The codec information is important data for determining bandwidth to be reserved for providing a specific QoS.

Subsequently, when the SSW1 109 requests the policy decision unit 102 for the calculated QoS level (S205), the policy decision unit 102 gives a QoS level that can be provided in consideration of the current network state, and assigns the QoS level. The QoS response for notifying is transmitted to the SSW1 109 (S206).

The SSW1 109 receiving the QoS response from the policy decision unit 102 requests the MS 101 to broadcast the QoS class setting result (S207), and the MS 101 voices the QoS class setting by the request. Message for example, "Set to gold class. Press" 1 "when satisfied." Etc. are outputted to the calling terminal 111 through the AG1 103 (S208).

When the digit "1" is input from the calling terminal 111 by the voice announcement broadcast (S209), the MS 101 transmits the digit collection result to the SSW1 (109) (S210).

The SSW1 109 receiving the digit collection result transmits the QoS agreement result to the policy decision unit 102 (S211), and the policy decision unit 102 receiving the QoS agreement result is AG1 103, AG2 104. ), Forwarding the policy to the ER1 105, ER2 106, and ER3 108, which are logically connected to the AG3 107, and the MS 101, and requesting to perform the delivered policy ( S212, S213, S214, and SSW1 109 are notified that policy setting was successful (S215).

Subsequently, the SSW1 109 transmits the RTP session information of the MS 101 to the AG1 103, the AG2 104, and the AG3 107 (S216, S217, S218), and the RTP session information of the MS 101. Each AG1 (104), AG2 (103), and AG3 (107) that have received the establishment of the RTP session with the MS 101 (S219, S220, S221).

Thereafter, the calling terminal 111, the first called terminal 112, and the second called terminal 113 are provided with a conference call service by a call mixing function provided by the MS 101. Here, the calling terminal 111 becomes a master requesting the conference call service.

Through the above process, when the hook-on of the calling terminal 111, which is the master among the calling terminal 111, the first called terminal 112, and the second called terminal 113, which is performing the conference call, is detected, SSW1 109 transmits the billing information for the call to the billing server (not shown). In the present invention, the billing information includes QoS grade information, session start point, session end point, and call type (for example, general earth call). , Conference calls, etc.).

In this regard, the billing server performs billing for each call based on QoS based on the billing information.

In FIG. 2, although the billing method considering the service quality in the conference call service call processing is described, the billing calculation may be performed in consideration of the service quality for the general call.

In this case, when an RTP session between AG1 103 and AG2 104 is established through S190 to S191 of FIG. 2, SSW1 109 determines a policy using RTP session information and codec information collected through S191. The QoS request is made to the unit 102 (S205), and the QoS response is transmitted from the policy decision message 102 (S206).

The policy decision unit 102 transmits the policy to the ER1 105 and the ER2 106 (S212, S213) and notifies the SSW1 109 of the policy setting success (S215).

Through the above-described process, when a telephone call is made between the calling terminal 111 and the called terminal 112 and any one of the calling terminal 111 and the called terminal 112 is hooked on, the SSW1 109 determines the QoS level. Billing information including information, session start point, session end point, call type (for example, general call, conference call, etc.) is transmitted to billing server 120, and billing server 120 provides QoS. Allow the billing of the considered unit to be performed.

According to the present invention as described above, after the soft switch establishes the RTP session in the soft switch by interworking with the policy decision unit, it is possible to recognize the QoS level for the RTP session. There is an effect of being able to perform the charging.

In addition, when setting the QoS grade, the service quality grade guide message is output to the subscriber through the media server, thereby improving the subscriber's satisfaction by checking the quality of service grade from the subscriber.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified and modified within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention, such modifications and changes should be regarded as belonging to the following claims. will be.

Claims (9)

An originating access gateway accommodated by an originating terminal; A first called party access gateway accommodated by a first called terminal; By setting the RTP session between the calling access gateway and the called access gateway at the request of the calling terminal, calculating the service quality grade using codec information, considering the service quality grade, session information and call information of the call. A sending soft switch for generating charging information; A policy decision unit for assigning a service quality grade to a corresponding call and allocating a bandwidth corresponding to the quality of service grade by controlling an edge router when a service quality grade is requested from the originating soft switch; A billing server that receives the billing information from the calling party's soft switch and calculates a call fee per call considering service quality; And Media server outputting quality of service message to subscriber Billing system considering the service quality in the next-generation communication network, characterized in that provided with. The method of claim 1, A billing system considering service quality in a next generation communication network, characterized by further comprising a media server that provides a conference call service through a guide message and call mixing for notification of a service quality grade. The method of claim 2, wherein the source-side soft switch When a conference call is requested from the originating terminal, an RTP session between the second called party access gateway accommodating a second called terminal and the calling terminal is set, and the RTP session information received from the media server is transmitted to the calling access gateway, Billing system considering service quality in the next-generation communication network, characterized in that to support the RTP session set-up between the media server and the access gateway by passing to the first destination side access gateway and the second destination side access gateway. When the calling terminal calls the first called terminal, an RTP session between the calling side access gateway and the called first access gateway in which the first called terminal is accommodated is determined by the calling soft switch by the calling access gateway request accepted by the calling terminal. Setting a first process; A second step of determining, by the calling side softswitch, a quality of service class using codec information of a corresponding call; A third step of managing, by the originating soft switch, a resource according to the service quality level in association with a policy decision unit; A fourth step of the media server outputting the quality of service guide message to the calling terminal; A fifth soft switch is configured to determine that the user has checked the quality of service grade when the preset digital signal is input from the originating terminal, and transmits the quality of service grade to each access gateway through a policy server to set a policy; process; A sixth step of, when the RTP session is terminated, the originating soft switch generating charging information regarding the call in consideration of the quality of service level, session information, and call information; And A billing method in which a billing server considers a service quality in a next-generation communication network, characterized in that the billing server has a seventh process of performing billing calculation considering the service quality of each door based on the billing information. The method of claim 4, wherein The first process is A first step of receiving, by the calling soft switch, the RTP session information and the supportable codec information from the calling access gateway and transmitting the received RTP session information to the called first access gateway; And And a second step of receiving the RTP session information from the called party's first access gateway and the codec information to be supported by the called party's first access gateway and transmitting it to the calling access gateway. Accounting method considered. The method of claim 5, The second process is Billing method considering the service quality in the next generation communication network, characterized in that for determining the service quality corresponding to the analyzed codec by analyzing the codec information. The method of claim 4, wherein A third step of, if the conference call is requested from the originating terminal, connecting an RTP session to a called party's second access gateway that accepts a second destination terminal for the conference call; Transmitting a RTP session information of the calling access gateway, the first access gateway, and the second access gateway to a media server; A fifth step of transmitting, by the media server, RTP session information to the calling soft switch; A sixth step of requesting the policy decision unit to process the service quality grade; When a response to the service quality class processing request is transmitted from the policy decision unit, the RTP session information of the media server is transmitted to the calling party access gateway, the called party first access gateway, and the called party second access gateway. Seventh step; An eighth step of establishing an RTP session between the calling access gateway, the called first access gateway, and the called second access gateway and the media server; If the RTP session is terminated, the billing method in consideration of the quality of service in the next generation communication network, characterized in that it further comprises a ninth step to proceed to the sixth process. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sixth step is When the service quality grade process is requested, the policy decision unit further includes a process of setting a predetermined policy at an edge router connected to the access gateways and transferring the policy setting result to the calling soft switch. Charging method considering service quality in communication network. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein following the sixth step A tenth step of outputting, by the media server, a guide broadcast for collecting a service quality confirmation result to the calling terminal by a request of the calling soft switch; And transmitting the collection result by the announcement to the calling soft switch, wherein the calling soft switch further comprises an eleventh step of proceeding to the seventh step when the collecting result satisfies a determination condition. Charging method considering service quality in next generation communication network.

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