KR20080015170A - Method and system for collecting billing data in end to end service - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a system for collecting charge information in an end-to-end service are provided to enable packet charging in an end-to-end service environment and enable selective charging such as packet-based charging and time/duration-based charging, and improve the accuracy of charge data in consideration of UDR(Usage Data Record) and CDR. A method for gathering charge information in an end-to-end service comprises the following steps of: receiving first charge information in correspondence to the provision of the end-to-end service from a session management device(S610); receiving second charge information in correspondence to data amount transceived between arbitrary terminals for using the end-to-end service; repeating above first and second stages until the provision of the end-to-end service is closed and respectively generating first CDR(Call Detail Record) data and second CDR data by using respectively received plural charge information; and generating integrated CDR data by using the first and second CDR data based on correlation data(S660).

Description

Method and device for collecting billing information in terminal to terminal service {Method and system for collecting billing data in End to End service}

1 is an example of a billing processing network configuration of a conventional data service.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a billing processing network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a charging method and flow in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a billing processing network including a billing policy device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a billing processing apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of receiving and processing charging information from the session managing apparatus 122 in the collecting unit 540 of the charging processing apparatus 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

7 shows the configuration of charging information elements (AVPs) of raw-CDR (raw-CDR) received from the session managing apparatus 122 to the charging processing apparatus 200 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Shown.

8 illustrates a process of processing the UDR or the raw-CDR received by the charging apparatus 200 from the packet charging apparatus 107 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. An example of the processing of the collection unit 540 when received.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of charging information elements (AVPs) of UDRs received by the charging apparatus 200 from the packet charging apparatus 107 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a flowchart illustrating a charging information processing procedure of the synchronization unit 550 of the charging processing apparatus 200 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for collecting billing information, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for collecting billing information for an IP-based End to End service.

Mobile communication systems have been developed for transmitting and receiving voice data, but have recently been developed to enable various packet data transmission and reception as well as voice data. That is, the mobile communication service subscriber can receive data using the wireless Internet in addition to a telephone call with a counterpart located at a remote location.

In addition, IP (Internet Protocol) based application servers (hereinafter referred to as 'ASs') have emerged to provide mobile communication service subscribers with IM (Present Service), PS (Present Service) and MMS (Multimedia Message Service). , PTT (Push To Talk) services are provided.

Further, with the introduction of IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), services such as file sharing, video call, mobile messenger, multi-user game, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are possible.

In general, a billing processing method in a mobile communication network receives voice call or data usage record information (hereinafter, referred to as 'UDR') from a billing center that is coupled through an exchange and a gateway of a mobile communication network. Is charging the bill.

And for IP-based wireless Internet service, call detail record (CDR) is generated by Call CF (Call / Session Control Server), etc., and using CDR in billing center It's taking a charge.

Such a conventional billing processing method has a problem in that billing may be applied repeatedly when a packet data is transmitted / received from end to end or various billing policies cannot be applied. Sending / receiving packet data to the terminal is called 'End To End Service')

More specifically, in the End to End service, the CSCF is only involved in initially setting up or terminating a session corresponding to the service. Therefore, in the method of processing billing, only charges are collectively assigned from the time the session is started to the end time. There is a problem in that it is not possible to apply various charging policies according to additional services.

In addition, there is a problem that unreasonable charging may be made to the user because the CDR generated by the CSCF and the UDR (Usage Data Record, hereinafter referred to as 'UDR'), which is the usage of the mobile subscriber, may be applied in the end to end service. .

In order to solve the conventional problems as described above, the present invention is not only capable of packet charging in the IP-based End To End service environment, but also various conditions such as charging policy, system implementation environment (for example, packet-based charging). It provides a method and system for collecting billing information of an IP-based End To End service that enables selective charging according to time-based charging (Time / Duration-based charging).

Another object of the present invention is to provide an accuracy of the billing data in consideration of the UDR and CDR comprehensively.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a charging information collecting method and apparatus that can be universally applied to various wireless communication schemes (eg, CDMA, WCDMA, WLAN, etc.).

Still other objects of the present invention will be readily understood through the following description of the embodiments.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, in the terminal-to-terminal service providing system comprising a data service device, a session management device, a billing processing device and a packet billing device, the billing processing device is the terminal to the A method of collecting billing data for use of a terminal service, the method comprising: (a) receiving first charging information corresponding to terminal to terminal service provision from the session managing device; (b) receiving second charging information from the packet charging device corresponding to the amount of data transmitted and received between any terminal for use of the terminal to terminal service; (c) repeating the step (a) and the step (b) until the end of the terminal-to-terminal service providing, respectively, to generate the first CDR data and the second CDR data using the plurality of received billing information, respectively; step; And (d) generating integrated CDR data using the first CDR data and the second CDR data on the basis of correlation data.

The correlation data includes a charging ID, an information about a receiver terminal of the terminal to terminal service, and an ICID (IP Multimedia Subsystem Charging Identifier) of raw call record information generated by the session management device. It may include at least one of).

The charging ID may be generated in the data service device in correspondence with a corresponding network session between a plurality of user terminals according to the terminal-to-terminal service provision.

The terminal-to-terminal service providing system further includes a charging policy device, and the charging policy device further receives the correlation data from the data service device and further includes information corresponding to a predetermined charging policy to the session managing device. can do.

The correlation data may be transmitted from the charging policy device to the session managing device using AAA protocol or TCP / IP protocol.

The correlation data may be packet mirrored and transmitted to the packet charging device in the process of being transmitted from the data service device to the charging policy device.

The charging information may include a Session-Id (AVP) Attribution Value Pair (AVP), a User-Name AVP, an IMS Charging Identifier (ICID) AVP, and a Charging Type (Accounting-Record-Type). AVP, Accounting-Record-Number AVP, Act-Interim-Interval AVP, Start-Time AVP, End-Time AVP, Packet Uplink Amount (CallSignal-body) at least one of: -size-uplink AVP, Packet-body-size-downlink AVP, Content-size-uplink AVP, and Content-size-downlink AVP It may include.

The step (c) may include determining one or more types of charging information received using the accounting-record-type AVP and generating one or more charging corresponding to the charging start information, the intermediate charging information, and the charging end information. The first CDR may be generated using a record, and the charging record or the CDR data may be generated based on a session ID AVP or an accounting-record-number AVP.

The generating of the second CDR of the step (c) may include determining a billing method according to a predetermined billing policy variable, and processing the packet by an event method according to the determination. Converting the plurality of charging information received from the meta-CDR (meta-CDR).

In the case of processing in an AG (aggregation) method by the determination, the generating of the second CDR of the step (c) may include converting a plurality of charging information received from the packet charging device into meta-CDR. ; The accounting-record-type AVP is used to determine the type of charging information of the meta-CDR, and using the one or more charging records generated corresponding to the charging start information, the intermediate charging information, and the charging end information. A second CDR may be generated, and the charging record or the CDR may be generated based on a session ID AVP or an accounting-record-number AVP.

Step (d) may include determining whether the first CDR data and the second CDR data have the same reference key value; If the same reference key value, the first CDR using the packet uplink amount AVP value, packet downlink amount AVP value, content uplink amount AVP value, content downlink amount AVP value included in the second CDR data Updating respective corresponding AVP values in the data; And generating unified CDR data by integrating two or more of the first CDR data, the second CDR data, and the meta-CDR based on the correlation data.

According to another aspect of the invention, the device connected to a terminal-to-terminal service providing system including a data service device, a session management device and a packet billing device to collect billing data for the use of terminal-to-terminal service, the session management Receive a plurality of first billing information corresponding to the terminal-to-terminal service session from a device, and receive second billing information corresponding to the amount of data transmitted and received between any terminal for use of the terminal-to-terminal service from a packet charging device. Billing information receiving unit; A collector configured to generate first CDR data and second CDR data, respectively, using the first charging information and the second charging information received from the charging information receiver; A synchronization unit generating integrated CDR data using the first CDR data and the second CDR data based on correlation data; And a distributed processing unit for transmitting the generated integrated CDR data to a billing device.

The correlation data includes a charging ID generated by a data service device corresponding to a corresponding network session between a plurality of user terminals, information on a receiver terminal of the terminal to terminal service, and a source generated by the session management device. It may include at least one of the IP Multimedia Subsystem Charging Identifier (ICID) of the call record information (raw-Call Detail Record).

The apparatus may further include a charging policy apparatus configured to receive the correlation data from the data service apparatus and further include information corresponding to a predetermined charging policy and transmit the information to the session managing apparatus.

The correlation data may be transmitted from the charging policy device to the session managing device using AAA protocol or TCP / IP protocol.

The correlation data may be packet mirrored and transmitted to the packet charging device in the process of being transmitted from the data service device to the charging policy device.

The charging information may include a session ID (ID), a user name (AVP), an IMS charging identifier (ICID: IMS-Charging-Identifier) AVP, an accounting-record-type AVP, a charging identifier ( Accounting-Record-Number) AVP, Act-Interim-Interval AVP, Start-Time AVP, End-Time AVP, Packet Uplink Amount (CallSignal-body-size-uplink) It may include at least one of an AVP, a packet-body-size-downlink AVP, a content-size-uplink AVP, and a content-size-downlink AVP. .

Determination means for determining the type of the received charging information by using the accounting identifier (Accounting-Record-Number) AVP, wherein the type of charging information is billing start information, intermediate billing information, billing end information Corresponds to at least one of; And processing means for performing a process corresponding to the determined type of charging information; The processing means generates a new charging record when the charging information is charging start information, updates a previously stored charging record when the charging information is intermediate charging information, and stores the previously stored charging record when the charging information is charging ending information. The first CDR data may be generated by updating a value, and the charging record or the CDR data may be generated based on a session ID AVP or an accounting-record-number AVP.

The collection unit charges data usage record information or raw-call detail record received from the packet charging device corresponding to the terminal-to-terminal service session by a predetermined charging policy variable. Determining means for determining; And converting means for converting the data usage record information or the raw call record information into a meta-call detail record (CDR), wherein the data usage record information or the billing process is performed in an event manner by the determining means. Raw call log information can be converted to meta-CDR.

The collecting unit converts the data usage record information or raw call record information into meta-CDR by the converting means, when the determination by the determining means processes the AG (Aggregation) method. By doing so, the second CDR data may be generated according to the type of charging information.

The synchronization unit may include determining means for determining whether the first CDR data and the second CDR data have the same reference key value; If the same reference key value, the first CDR using the packet uplink amount AVP value, packet downlink amount AVP value, content uplink amount AVP value, content downlink amount AVP value included in the second CDR data Updating means for updating respective corresponding AVP values in the data; And generation means for integrating the first CDR data, the second CDR data, and the meta-CDR based on the correlation data to generate integrated CDR data.

As the invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. In describing the drawings, similar reference numerals are used for similar elements. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as the second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component. The term and / or includes a combination of a plurality of related items or any item of a plurality of related items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. Should be. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art, and shall not be construed in ideal or excessively formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Do not.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the same or corresponding components will be denoted by the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 1, a configuration of a billing processing network of a conventional data service will be described first, and a problem in application to a terminal to a terminal service will be described. Referring to FIG. 2, billing according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. Describe the processing network configuration.

1 is an example of a configuration of a billing processing network of a conventional data service, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a billing processing network according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the billing processing network 130 of the conventional data service includes a switch 106, a packet charging device 107, a pre-mediation device 108, a billing system 109, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) charging device 110 is included.

2, the billing processing network according to an embodiment of the present invention, unlike the conventional billing processing network 130 described with reference to FIG. 1, billing processing device 200 and billing policy device 210 It is further provided with. This will be described below.

User equipment (hereinafter, referred to as UE) illustrated in FIG. 1 illustrates a type of a terminal which is generally used recently for use of a wireless data service, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, although UE1 101 and UE2 102 are shown as wirelessly matched to the same base station 103 in FIG. 1 for convenience, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that more commonly the case is matched to different base stations.

Also, for convenience of description, it is assumed that UE1 101 is a user terminal of an initial caller.

In FIG. 1, the repeater 104 includes a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC) according to a mobile communication network to which UE1 101 is connected, or RNC (Radio). Network controller) or Registration Admission and Status (RAS).

In addition, the data processing apparatus 105 also includes a switching center (MSC, Mobile Switching Center), xGSN (SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) and GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node)) depending on the mobile communication network to which UE1 101 is connected. Or it may be an Access Control Router (ACR). Of course, it is obvious that other devices that perform similar functions may be applied in the same manner as the above-described devices.

The data service device 105 is connected to the wireless Internet service providing server 120 based on a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Since the SIP is known to those skilled in the art, the description of the SIP will be omitted below.

The wireless Internet service providing server 120 may include a session managing device 122 for controlling a session between the terminal and the wireless internet service providing server or between the terminals.

Here, the session managing device 122 may be at least one of a Call / Session Control Server (CSCF), a Multimedia Resource Function (MRF), and an Application Server (ASs). It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that it can comprise everything to do.

CSCF is a device that performs basic functions for SIP-based multimedia session control, communicates with IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) charging device 110 using AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) protocol, and is a representative session management device. .

The MRF collectively includes an MRFC (Multimedia Resource Function Controller) and an MRFP (Multimedia Resource Function Processor), and as described above, may perform a function of a session management apparatus.

 Application Servers (hereinafter referred to as ASs) provide services such as IM (Instant Message), PS (Present Service), MMS (Multimedia Message Service), PTT (Push To Talk), etc. It can be provided with a separate session management device.

In the process of describing the billing processing network, the session management apparatus 122 of the components of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 occupies an important position in the billing processing network, such as setting up and terminating a session, The service providing server 120 will be described based on the session managing apparatus 122.

In the conventional billing method, the two methods are mixed.

First, as a method applied regardless of the type of service provided, a data usage record (hereinafter, referred to as 'UDR') of a user (for example, UE1 101 in FIG. 1) may be used. A method of generating and collecting billing information.

More specifically, a packet (for example, a data packet when a packet provided by a wireless Internet service providing server is transmitted to UE1) is mirrored by a switch 106, and a packet charging device ( In 107, the UDR is extracted by analyzing the corresponding packet of the UE1 101. The pre-mediation device 108 receives the UDR, generates a CDR, and transmits the billing device 109.

Secondly, if the service provided is a wireless Internet service (e.g., an IMS service such as IM, PS, MMS, etc.), the charging processing of the raw call record information received from the session management apparatus 122 will be described. -Call Detail Record, hereinafter referred to as 'raw-CDR') CDRs are generated in the IMS billing device 110 and delivered to the billing system (109) at a later stage.

For example, when the CSCF 122 receives the MMS service request signal from the UE1 101, the CSCF 122 establishes an MMS session between the sender's terminal UE1 101 and the MMS application server 124 using SIP.

At this time, the IMS billing device receives the raw-CDR from the CSCF using the AAA protocol to provide billing information (CDR) for time billing (eg, billing for any user's MMS usage time), or billing per case. It generates and transmits to the billing device (109).

As described above, when the conventional packet charging information collecting method is applied to the IP-based service, there is a problem that charging can be applied to the CDR generated by the IMS charging apparatus 110 and the CDR generated by the pre-mediation. do. Due to the charging policy, charging may be applied to UDR and CDR in a redundant manner, but in general, all of them cannot be applied redundantly, so that a conventional packet charging method is applied to a general end-to-end service. Constraints arise.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to solve the problem of the charging policy in the conventional charging processing network described above.

Referring to FIG. 2, the data service device 220 may correspond to a corresponding network (eg, a network from PDSN1 matched by UE1 101 to PDSN2 matched by UE2 102) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Generates a chargingID that specifies a unique variable for the session. Thereafter, in the charging processing apparatus 200, a key value indicating a correlation between the raw-CDR received from the session management apparatus 122 and the UDR (or raw-CDR) received from the packet charging apparatus. As a result, it may be known whether duplicate charging is applied to the same service.

At this time, even when the overlapping charge is applied to the billing policy, it is possible to determine more accurately whether the overlapping charge has occurred in advance.

Looking at the general billing policy, the session-based billing policy that bills until the session is established and terminated, the Time / Duration-based billing policy that bills for the time the user has used the service, and the billing for additional value-added services There are additional service based charging policy, and packet / volume / bearer based charging policy that charges based on packet / volume / bearer.

The conventional billing information collection method in the packet billing processing network is limited in collecting billing information on the multimedia packet transmitted / received in the multimedia packet transmission / reception service (hereinafter, referred to as 'end to end service') of the terminal to the terminal. There are many.

For example, in the case of applying the conventional billing method to the End to End service, the session management apparatus (for example, CSCF) 122 may only establish a SIP-based session between the UE1 101 and the UE2 102. Get involved Therefore, regardless of the file size of the multimedia packet transmitted, the number of packets, and the number of additional services between the UE1 101 and the UE2 102, the session managing device 122 starts and ends the session between the terminals. Only outputs information, and the conventional IMS charging device 110 has a limitation in receiving it as a raw-CDR.

The packet charging device 107 also generates UDRs through packet mirroring, but this also only includes information on the amount of data used. Therefore, in the conventional packet charging processing network, there is a problem that only a session based charging policy or a time / duration based charging policy is possible.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, various charging policies may be applied to the End to End service.

Referring to FIG. 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the charging policy device 210 may be provided to receive the charging ID generated by the data service device to the session management device 122. Therefore, the charging processing apparatus 200 may consider the correlation between the raw-CDR received from the session management apparatus 122 and the UDR (or raw-CDR) received from the packet charging apparatus using the charging ID (chargingID). For example, a comprehensive charging policy can be applied.

For example, in the process of receiving the information according to the use of the End to End service between the terminal UE1 and the terminal UE2, the charging processing apparatus 200 uses the UDR received from the packet charging apparatus 107 between the terminals. End to End service usage information can be received, and at the same time the correlation between the UDR using the charging ID (chargingID) in the raw-CDR received from the session management device 122, and then IM during additional services It can be used or not.

According to the configuration of the billing processing network according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as described above, the raw-CDR and packet billing device received from the session management device 122 using the charging ID (chargingID) in the data service device In view of the correlation of the UDR received from the (107) there is an advantage that a comprehensive charging policy is possible.

1 and 2, the difference has been described by comparing the conventional billing network and the billing network according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to Figure 3 will be described with respect to the charging method and flow in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and will be described with reference to the charging policy device 210 and the charging processing device 200.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a billing processing method and a flow according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a billing processing network including a billing policy apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, it is assumed that voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is used among end-to-end services between terminals. In this case, VoIP refers to a technology for supporting not only data but also voice using IP as a standard protocol in a network. Since VoIP is known to those skilled in the art, the description of VoIP is omitted.

In addition, for convenience of description, the session management apparatus 122 of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 will be described using CSCF as an example.

As shown in Fig. 3, in step S301 to step S312, a session for using the VoIP service is established between UE1 101, which is a calling party terminal, and UE2 102, which is a called party terminal.

In step S301, the UE1 101, which is the sender side terminal, transmits an invitation message.

At this time, the invitation message may include information about the receiver terminal UE2 (102).

In this case, the information on the receiver terminal UE2 102 may be IP information of the receiver terminal UE2 102, and may be any other variable that can be distinguished when synchronizing between a plurality of CDR data. It is self-evident.

In step S302, the packet is mirrored by the switch 106 and transmitted to the packet charging device 107 in the process of transmitting the invitation message received from the UE1 to the CSCF 122 by the data service device 220, and then the data service device. Mirroring is performed on packets passing through 220.

Therefore, it is possible to monitor the amount of packet transmission and other additional services in the end-to-end service, which is the transmission of multimedia packets from terminal to terminal.

In operation S305, the UE2 102, which is the receiver terminal, transmits a 200OK message, which is a response message to the invitation message of the UE1 101.

In step S306, the CSCF 122 receives the 200OK message from the UE2 102, and transmits the ICID (IMS-Charging-Identifier, hereinafter referred to as 'ICID') and information about the UE2 to the charging policy device 210.

Here, the ICID is information necessary for the synchronization unit 550 of the billing apparatus 200 described with reference to FIG. 5, and the CSCF 122 generates an ICID for the first session starting from the user terminal UE1 101. can do.

At this time, the session management device 122, the charging policy device 210 and the AAA protocol (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting; hereinafter referred to as AAA, for example, the (diameter protocol) or TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol, hereinafter referred to as 'TCP / IP'. Since the AAA protocol or the TCP / IP protocol is known to those skilled in the art, a description thereof will be omitted.

In step S307, the data service device 220 receives a message containing information about the ICID and the UE2 102 from the charging policy device 210, and in step S308 the charging ID for the VoIP session to be created later (chargingID). Create

At this time, the charging ID (chargingID) designates a unique variable for the corresponding network (eg, a network from PDSN1 matched by UE1 101 to PDSN2 matched by UE2 102). In addition, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the charging processing apparatus 200 may generate unique variables by various methods and treat them as charging IDs so that the CDRs to be synchronized among the plurality of CDR data may be identified.

Subsequently, in step S309, the data service device 220 includes information on UE2 102 (eg, IP information about UE2 102) that is a receiver terminal, an ICID generated by the CSCF 122, and a data service device. Information including the charging ID generated at 220 is transmitted to the charging policy apparatus 210, and then the information is transmitted to the CSCF 122 in step S311.

For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, the information on the receiver terminal, the ICID, and the charging ID will be referred to as correlation data. The correlation data will be described later with reference to FIG. 10.

At this time, the session management device 122 can be not only CSCF but also MRF, ASs (for example, a server that provides IM, PS, MMS, etc.), and thus the correlation data is determined in step S310. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that they can be provided to MRF, ASs and the like.

Alternatively, in step S309, the data service device 220 does not transmit the above-described information to the charging policy device 210, but directly transmits the information to the session managing device (ie, at least one of MRF, CSCF, or ASs, 122). It will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, the structure and function of the charging policy apparatus 210 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, the charging policy device 210 may include a charging policy unit 212 and an interface unit 214.

For convenience of description, a description will be given below by taking VoIP service among wireless Internet services as an example, as described with reference to FIG. 3, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The charging policy unit 212 may apply various predetermined charging policies to the VoIP service. For example, various charging policies may be applied according to the type of the data service apparatus 220 to which the charging policy apparatus 210 is connected, the user, and whether or not the redundant charging is performed according to the wireless Internet service.

The interface unit 214 is connected to the data service device 220 (eg, PDSN) using the AAA protocol or the TCP / IP protocol described above.

The data service device 220 generating the charging ID may vary depending on a communication network to which the terminal (eg, the UE1 101) is connected. The interface unit 214 of the charging policy device 210 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is connected with a different data service device 220 and TCP / IP protocol or AAA protocol according to a communication network to which the terminal 101 is connected. Through packet mirroring, the correlation processing function 200 transmits correlation data (ie, information on a receiver terminal, an ICID of a corresponding session, and a charging ID) to a charging processing device 200. (Description of processing correlation data in the billing processing apparatus 200 will be described later with reference to FIG. 10.)

Alternatively, the data service device 220 may transmit the correlation data directly to the CSCF 122 without transmitting the correlation data to the charging policy device 210 (that is, when step S309 of FIG. 3 is omitted). . That is, the session managing apparatus 122 (for example, CSCF, MRF, and ASs) of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 may be transmitted.

In this case, since the packet mirroring is performed by the switch 106, packet charging is performed on the above-described correlation data (i.e., information including at least one of the information about UE2, the ICID and the charging ID for the corresponding session). Send to device 107.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in step S311 the CSCF 122 transmits the 200OK message received from the UE2 to the data service device 220, and then in step S312 the data service device 220 sends the received 200OK message to the terminal UE1. And the End to End service session (i.e., the VoIP session in the embodiment of FIG. 3) is started in step S320.

At this time, although not shown in Figure 3, after the step S312 the acceptance message (for example, ACK message) of the terminal UE1 101 for 200OK message can be delivered to the UE2 (102) via CSCF to those skilled in the art Will be self explanatory.

In step S320, the CSCF 122 establishes a VoIP session using SIP using the correlation data received in step S310 (i.e., information on at least one of information on UE2, ICID, and chargingID). .

Next, in step S321, the CSCF 122 generates charging start information (for example, Accounting Request [Start], hereinafter referred to as 'ACR [start]') corresponding to the UE1 101, and the charging processing device 200. To transmit.

At this time, the charging start information (ACR [start]) is the correlation data received in step S310 (that is, information about UE2 102 (for example, IP information about UE2 102), ICID, billing). ID (chargingID) of at least one information) may be included.

In addition, the intermediate billing information (ACR [interim]), billing end information (ACR [stop], and additional service billing information (ACR [event])) to be described below may also include correlation data.

 In this case, when there are a plurality of user terminals using the End to End service, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the charging start information ACR [start] may be generated and transmitted to the billing processing device 200 for each recipient.

Subsequently, in step S322, the collecting unit of the charging processing apparatus 200 collects the charging information for the VoIP session, which will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 5.

After transmitting the charging start information (ACR [start]) for the user of the current VoIP session in step S323, after the interim interval (Accounting Request [interim], hereinafter referred to as 'ACR [interim]') The billing processing device 200), and the intermediate billing information is previously designated until the transmission point of the billing termination information (Accounting Request [stop], hereinafter referred to as 'ACR [stop]') transmitted at the end of the VoIP session. Transmission is repeated every time interval. In addition, users can use additional services such as file transfer and chat within the corresponding VoIP session, and when using the additional service, the CSCF 122 generates additional service billing information (eg, Accounting Request [Event]) for each corresponding user. To the billing processing device 200.

Subsequently, in step S330, a media stream between the terminal and the terminal is started between the UE1 101 and the UE2 102 through a real-time transport protocol (RTP).

Here, although described as a media stream in step S330 of Figure 3, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this, it can be applied to all processes for transmitting and receiving data, packets, multimedia packets, etc. between the terminal and the terminal to those skilled in the art Self-explanatory

In step S331, even if the multimedia packet is directly transmitted from the data service device 220 to which the UE1 101 is connected to the data service device to which the UE2 102 is connected through the End to End service, the packet charging device 107 is performed by the switch 106. Mirroring is achieved.

At this time, the packet charging device 107 generates raw-CDR or UDR using the information mirrored by the switch 106 and transmits the raw-CDR or UDR to the charging processing device 200.

At this time, the raw CDR (or CDR) or the UDR may include correlation data (ie, at least one of information on UE2, information on the ICID and charging ID (chargingID)).

Thereafter, after the transmission of the multimedia packet between the UE2 101 and the UE2 102 according to the VoIP service, the media stream according to the RTP is terminated in step S340, and the packet charging device 107 in step S341. The terminal generates a raw-CDR or UDR according to the termination of the multimedia packet transmission and transmits the raw-CDR or UDR to the billing processing apparatus 200.

Subsequently, in step S350, the BYE message of the UE1 101 according to the SIP protocol is transmitted to the CSCF 122 through the data service device 220, and in step S351, the CSCF 122 receives the charging end information (ACR [stop]). Generate and transmit to the billing processing device 200.

Subsequently, in step S351 and step S352, the BYE message is transmitted to the UE2 102 according to the SIP protocol, and the 200OK message of the corresponding UE2 102 is transmitted to the UE1 101.

In step S355, the collecting unit 540 of the charging processing apparatus 200 ends the collection of charging information, sets the correlation of the charging information collected by the synchronization unit 550, and generates an integrated CDR. This will be described later with reference to FIG. 5.

So far, an embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to VoIP services among End to End services with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, but IM (Present Service), PS (Present Service), and MMS (multimedia message service). It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be applied to PTT (Push To Talk) and other multimedia packet transmissions between terminals.

In addition, the CSCF 122 generates an accounting request by the CSCF 122 as an example of the session management apparatus 122 of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 so far as an embodiment of the present invention. Although the case of transmitting has been described as an example, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the charging information may be generated by the MRF 123, the ASs 124, and the like, and transmitted to the charging processing apparatus 200.

In addition, the session management device 122 may generate the charging information (ACR) and transmit it to the charging processing device 200 in real time, and after the transmission of the multimedia packet is terminated to generate a raw-CDR (raw-CDR) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that they can transmit to the charging processing device.

The following is the same as the case described so far, that is, while the end-to-end service VoIP service, the session management device 122, while the CSCF generates the billing information and transmits to the billing processing device 108 while consistently The following describes the charging processing apparatus 200.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a billing processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6 is a session management device in the collecting unit 540 of the billing processing device 200 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention ( 122 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of collecting and processing billing information, and in FIG. 7, raw-CDR received from the session managing device 122 to the billing processing device 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. An example of charging information elements (AVPs) of a CDR.

Referring to FIG. 5, billing information is collected from the session management apparatus (CSCF, MRF, ASs) 122 by the AAA protocol to generate CDR data of a predetermined format and transmit the billing system to the billing system 109. The billing processing apparatus 200 includes a billing information collecting unit (Diameter BaseEngine) 510, a mediation engine 530, and a distribution unit (DT) 560.

The mediation engine 530 includes an aggregator AG 540 and a synchronizer CR 550. Although not shown in FIG. 5, the billing processing apparatus 200 standardizes the billing data collected according to a method or rule of the type desired by the end to end service provider, for example, according to a standardization rule. Standardization module (not shown) that reorders the sequence of keys, and Prepaid & Rating module to check the real-time usage of wireless data service of prepaid subscriber for real time control for prepaid subscriber processing. And the like may be further included.

The billing information receiver 510 is configured to assign a peer to each node (ie, CSCF, MRF, ASs) by the AAA protocol, and each peer receives the billing information from the corresponding node and collects the peer. Forward to 540. In addition, each peer of the charging information receiver 510 transmits an account answer to the corresponding node when charging information is received from any node. At this time, each peer includes a duplicate check and retransmission function by the AAA protocol.

The TCP / IP interface unit 520 is connected to the packet charging device 107 by the TCP / IP protocol, and receives raw-CDR or UDR from the packet charging device 107.

The distributor DT transfers the CDR data generated through the collector 540 and the synchronizer 550, which will be described below, to the billing system 560. At this time, there may be various billing systems according to the service condition (eg, general service or content service) or customer characteristics (eg, general user or prepaid subscriber), and the distribution unit 560 may have a corresponding billing device ( Billing System, 109) to deliver the CDR data.

Collector 540 is a module that collects the billing information for the session that provides the End to End service, the key value for identifying the session (for example, Session ID (Session ID) and / and accounting identifier (Accounting) Collecting information by using a record number and a record type value (eg, Start, Interim, Stop, or Event) included in the collected charging information, that is, the collection unit 540 collects information from a plurality of nodes. The received billing data is used to generate CDR data capable of billing based on a specific key and / or a specific rule (eg, an aggregation rule, an operator rule).

Key values for classifying sessions will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 7.

Hereinafter, a process of generating CDR data by using the charging information received from the CSCF 122 by the collector 540 will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, in step S610, the collecting unit 540 may select any node of the session managing apparatus 122 of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 (that is, the CSCF 122, the MRF 123, or the ASs 124). (A description will be made below using CSCF 122 as an example for convenience of explanation). In step S615, raw-CDR is received and converted to meta-CDR (meta-CDR).

Here, raw-CDR (raw-CDR) is a name that includes all the data for generating the CDR, meta-CDR is the form of the step immediately before generating the CDR, the same or very similar to the CDR described in Figure 7 after As it means, it is obvious to those skilled in the art.

In step S620, the ACR (Accounting Request) information of the raw-CDR may be extracted to determine the record type (eg, Start, Interim, Stop, or Event) value included in the charging information.

At this time, the collection unit 540 receives not only the raw-CDR (raw-CDR) from the CSCF 122, but also various basic command messages (for example, CER, DPR, DWR, etc.) and corresponding Accounting Request ACR. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the record value can be known.

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 3, as illustrated in steps S321, S323, and S351, the collection unit 540 collects an ACR including various record values (for example, start, interim, stop, and event) from the CSCF. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that they can receive.

In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the session management apparatus of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 performs correlation data including the charging ID generated by the data service apparatus 220 by the charging policy apparatus 210. (For example, CSCF) (see steps S308 to S310 in FIG. 3), and the billing processing device 200 may receive a raw-CDR from the session management device 122. At this time, the billing processing device 200 may include the correlation data received by the session management device 122 from the billing policy device 210.

Hereinafter, the raw CDRs received from the session managing apparatus 122 will be described with reference to FIG. 7 and the following step S630 will be described with reference to FIG. 6 again.

FIG. 7 illustrates charging information elements (AVPs) of raw-CDRs received from the session managing apparatus 122 to the charging processing apparatus 200.

The Session-Id AVP 701 is a primary key value for identifying a session. The primary key value may be a user-name AVP 710 according to a type of service.

Origin-Host AVP 702 indicates the host name of the source where the message was generated, and Origin-Realm AVP 703 indicates the domain name of the source where the message was generated.

Destination-Realm AVP 704 indicates the domain name of the last stage to which the message should be received.

Accounting-Record-Type AVP 705 has a value of any one of Start, Interim, Stop, Event, whether the subscriber has started using the current End to End service (for example, VoIP service) (Start), The value is used to determine whether the service is still being used (Interim), the use of the service is terminated (Stop), or the use of another additional service is requested (Event).

The Accounting-Record-Number AVP 706 is used as a delimiter for classifying billing data generated for a specific service and session, and has a value increasing by one. In addition, the Accounting-Record-Number AVP 706 may be used as one of key values for distinguishing each input time point, and another key value for distinguishing the input time points is Session-Id AVP 701. Can be.

Acct-Interim-Interval AVP 707 is information indicating a period in which billing information is transmitted. For example, when the Acct-Interim-Interval value is 60, it means that billing information is transmitted every 60 seconds.

The Origin-State-Id AVP 708 is a value for checking the counterpart and is incremented by one upon system reboot.

The event-timestamp AVP 709 refers to a time when the charging processing device 200 receives an event related to the charging information.

The User-Name AVP 710 is a key value (ID) for identifying a subscriber who is currently using an End to End service. For example, the Network Access Identifier (NAI), for example, joshua@ntels.com, 0111234567 @ sktelecom .com) may be information having the same meaning.

 The IMS-Charging-Identifier (ICID) AVP 711 is an essential element of the synchronization unit 550-see FIG. 5, and according to the characteristics of the service session, the X-CSCF 122, the MRF 123, and the ASs. 124 may be generated by at least one. For example, for a session first starting at UE1 101, CSCF 122 may typically generate an ICID AVP and start at an application server (eg, MMS provisioning server for MMS service) 124. It is common for the ASs 124 to generate an ICID AVP for the session.

The x-Charging-Identifier (xCID) AVP 712 may be another charging identifier, and may be an application charging identifier (ACID) or a GPRS charging identifier (GCID).

The Start-Time AVP 713 and the End-Time AVP 714 are for specifying the start and end time of transmission of the multimedia packet. Of course, the AVP may be applied differently according to the type of service. For example, when a multimedia message service (MMS) service is performed in a VoIP session, start and end times of the corresponding MMS service may be specified.

CallSignal-body-size-uplink AVP 715 and CallSignal-body-size-downlink AVP 716 are default values for packet (volume) charging. Therefore, each time a session-protocol transmission for a corresponding session is specified, the session-protocol length transmitted and received on a terminal basis is specified. This is necessary for the volume charging for packet-based call charges spent on the service.

Content-size-uplink AVP 718 and Content-size-downlink AVP 719 are basic values for charging a target packet (volume) to content, and specify the length of contents transmitted and received on a terminal basis in a corresponding call. This is required for charging packets (volumes) for specific content in addition to the call charges for basic calls.

The message-count AVP 720 is a field for specifying the number of messages sent during a chat service.

Terminal-IP-Adderess AVP 721 is a field for specifying the address of the terminal IP.

The Global-session-Id AVP 723 is an identifier (ID) for conceptually connecting corresponding sessions (e.g., a VoIP session in FIG. 3), and indicates which user used a VoIP service in which session. It is a key value that can be known.

Calling-party-address AVP 725 may include the user ID that first initiated the session (e.g., VoIP session), and Called-party-address AVP 726 may determine the ID of the receiving user of the VoIP service. It may include.

Meanwhile, the charging-party-address AVP 727 includes the ID of the user who is the actual billing target regardless of any service, and other values may come according to various charging policies. For example, if all the MMS services are charged mainly for the sender side, the Charging-party-address includes the ID of the sender side, but if the receiver-oriented charging method includes the ID of the receiving user of the MMS service.

The Origination-flag AVP 729 may be used as a basis for determining whether the corresponding service is for the current sender or the receiver.

Of course, the format (eg, format, information elements) of the billing information for the input data is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 7, and may be variously modified and modified according to the purpose of the service provider. Self-explanatory

Referring back to FIG. 6, in step S630, the collecting unit 540 receives the charging information received using the Accounting-Record-Type AVP 705-FIG. 7 from the charging start information (for example, ACR [start]). Determine whether or not. In the case of charging start information, the flow advances to step S635 to generate a new charging session record and then ends the process. At this time, the session key (Session-ID) 701 and / or accounting-record-number AVP 706 may be used as a reference key value for the new charging session record. Here, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other AVP shown in FIG. 7 can be used as the reference key value.

If new billing information or raw-CDR is received as well as a new record, the process proceeds again from step S620.

However, if it is not the charging start information, the flow advances to step S640 to determine whether the charging information is intermediate charging information (for example, ACR [interim]). In the case of the interim billing information, the flow proceeds to step S645 and already exists corresponding to the session-ID AVP 701 and / or the accounting-record-number AVP 706 which are reference key values of the billing information. Volume-related information (for example, CallSignal-body-size-uplink AVP 715), CallSignal-body-size-downlink AVP 716, Content-size-uplink AVP (718), at least one or more of the Content-size-downlink AVP 719) is added or updated.

However, if the charging information is not the intermediate charging information, the process proceeds to step S650 to determine whether the charging end information (for example, ACR [Stop]). If the billing information is billing end information, it is recognized that it is the last billing information of the corresponding billing record and the flow proceeds to step S655 to generate CDR data.

However, if the charging information is not the intermediate charging information, it is recognized as additional service charging information (for example, ACR [Event]), and the flow proceeds to step S660 to generate new CDR data. That is, if the Accounting-Record-Type AVP (705-FIG. 7) is an Event, independent CDRs can be generated one by one according to service characteristics. Of course, the collection unit 540 may perform an independent processing process according to the service type (eg, PTT service, chat service, or file transfer service).

In this case, when generating an independent CDR, a session ID (Session-ID) AVP 701 and / or an accounting-record-number AVP 706 may be used as a reference key value.

Up to now, the collection unit 540 has been described in the form of sequentially determining whether the collected billing information is the billing start information, intermediate billing information or billing end information, but in reality the collector ( It is natural that the 540 may determine what the charging information is for the simultaneous point with reference to the Accounting-Record-Type AVP (see FIG. 7) to perform a corresponding operation.

So far, the processing of the collecting unit 540 when the charging processing device 200 receives the raw-CDR or ACR information from the session managing device 122 has been described.

Hereinafter, the processing of the collecting unit 540 when the charging processing device 200 receives the UDR or the raw-CDR from the packet charging device 107 will be described.

8 is an example of the processing of the collecting unit 540 when the charging processing apparatus 200 receives the UDR or the raw-CDR from the packet charging apparatus 107 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. An example of charging information elements (AVPs) of UDRs received from the packet charging device 107 to the charging processing device 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the following, description overlapping with that described with reference to FIG. 6 will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 8, in step S800, the charging information receiving unit 510 of the charging processing device 200 receives a UDR or raw-CDR from the packet charging device 107 through the TCP / IP interface unit 520. Receive

The correlation data including the charging ID generated by the data service device 220 is transmitted to the session managing device 122 of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the process (see S309 and S310 of FIG. 3), the packet is mirrored by the switch 106 and transmitted to the packet charging device 107, and in step S800, the charging processing device 200 receives the UDR from the packet charging device 107. Alternatively, correlation data including a charging ID may be received in the process of receiving a raw-CDR.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, a case in which the charging processing apparatus 200 receives the UDR from the packet charging apparatus 107 will be described first, and then the case in which the charging-receiving device receives the raw-CDR (raw-CDR) will be briefly described except for overlapping descriptions. Explain.

In addition, the charging information element of the UDR received from the packet charging device 107 to the charging processing device 200 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, version AVP 901 is a version value of the Internet Protocol.

Type AVP 902 is information on the type of UDR, where 00 is charging start information, 01 is intermediate charging information, 02 is charging ending information, and 10 is raw-CDR.

Base Station Identifier (MSID: Mobile Station ID) The AVP 904 represents an ID of a mobile station, for example, an International Mobile Station Identity (IMSI), a mobile identification number (MIN), or the like.

IP Address AVP 905 represents the IP address of the base station.

Network Access Identifier The AVP 906 is a key value (ID) for identifying a subscriber who is currently using an End to End service. For example, for example, joshua@ntels.com, 0111234567 @ sktelecom. com).

Account Session ID The AVP 907 is a unique billing identification key value generated at the data service device (e.g. PDSN). For example, start and end information of RADIUS for an R-P interface or a P-P interface is included.

Other Charging Identifiers (x-Charging-Identifier) The AVP 908 is a value for an application charging identifier (ACID) or a GPRS charging identifier (GCID).

Session Continue AVP 909 indicates a value of 'True' when the session is not over, and indicates a value of 'False' when the session is over.

 The HA address (MIP Home Agent) AVP 910 indicates an address value of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) of the home agent.

 IMS Charging Identifier The AVP 911 is an information element that is necessary for the synchronization unit 550 and is a key value for identifying in charging according to the provision of the IMS service.

 A PDSN / FA address (Packet Data Serving Node / Foreign Agent Address) AVP 912 is an address of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) of a packet data serving node (FA) or a foreign agent (FA).

Serving PCF AVP 913 is a value for the IP address of the PCF providing the service.

 BS / MSC ID AVP 914 is an identification key value of a base station or a mobile station controller.

The user zone AVP 915 includes information on a multi-layered service as an identification key value for the region.

 The Forward Mux Option AVP 916 is a forward multiplexer option, and the Reverse Mux Option AVP 917 is a value for an option of the reverse multiplexer.

Service Option AVP 920 is a value for the CDMA service option that is received in the RN (Radio Network).

Forward Traffic Type AVP 921 is the primary or secondary traffic type in the forward direction, and Reverse Traffic Type AVP 922 is the primary or secondary traffic in the reverse direction. (traffic) A value for type.

Fundamental Frame Size The AVP 923 is a value for a frame size of a fundamental channel.

Forward Fundamental RC AVP 924 sets the values for the format and structure of the radio channel for the forward direction of the Fundamental Channel. 925 is a value for the format and structure of the radio channel for the Fundamental Channel reverse direction.

IP Technology AVP 926 is a key value for IP Technology whether to use Simple IP or mobile IP for the current call.

 Compulsory Tunnel Indicator AVP 927 is an essential tunnel implemented to provide an eNB (Internet Service Rrovider) connection to a base station during a private network and / or a single packet data connection. Identification key value for the request.

Release Indicator The AVP 928 is a value indicating a reason for transmitting a stop record.

Always On The AVP 929 is a value for the state of an Always On service.

Of course, the format (eg, format, information elements) of the charging information for the input data is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 9, and may be variously modified and modified according to the purpose of the service provider. Self-explanatory

In addition, the attribute value pair (AVP) of the UDR (Usage Data Record) illustrated in FIG. 9 assumes a case where a terminal accesses a WCDMA network, but may be modified or changed when another terminal accesses a network such as CDMA2000 or Wibro. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring back to FIG. 8, in step S810, the processing is performed by the collecting unit 540 of the charging processing device 200 (that is, the processing in step S620 to S660 of FIG. 6, hereinafter referred to as “AG method processing”). Whether or not to process by event type is classified according to a preset value (hereinafter 'billing policy variable').

For example, the charging policy variable may be set in advance by a charging policy, a corresponding end to end service, or a dummy AVP 903 which is an unused field.

In the event process, the UDR is converted into a meta-CDR form in step S820.

When processing by the AG method processing, the UDR received in step S830 is converted into a meta-CDR form.

Hereinafter, the step of converting the UDR received by the billing apparatus in step S820 or S830 into meta-CDR will be described.

For example, the IMS Charging Identifier AVP 711 of FIG. 7 has the same value as the IMS Charging Identifier ICID 911 of FIG. 9.

For example, the User-Name AVP 710 of FIG. 7 may be substantially the same value as the Network Access Identifier AVP 906 of FIG. 9.

Therefore, despite the name, the UDR can be converted into meta-CDR by rearranging the AVPs meaning that the field key values are substantially the same.

Subsequently, in step S840, the ACR (Accounting Request) information is extracted from the raw-CDR to determine the record type (eg, Start, Interim, Stop, or Event) value included in the charging information.

Since steps S850 to S880 are the same as those described in steps S630 to S660 of FIG. 6, the description thereof will be omitted.

When the charging processing device 200 receives the raw-CDR from the packet charging device 107, converting the input raw-CDR into meta-CDR (step S820 or step S830) is further performed. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that it is easy.

In addition, since step S840 is the same as that of receiving and processing the UDR from the packet charging apparatus 107, description thereof is omitted.

So far, the flow of receiving and processing UDR or raw-CDR from the packet charging device 107 in the charging processing device 200 has been described.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in FIG. 8, the UDR or the raw-CDR is received from the packet charging device 107 and processed in the event method or the AG method. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the CDRs can be generated after dividing the meta-CDR into the above-described methods and processing them according to the charging policy.

As described above, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage that the charging process can be imposed variously in the AG method or the event method in step S810.

Referring back to FIG. 5, the synchronizer 550 generates an integrated CDR by synchronizing one or more CDRs input from the collector 540.

For example, if a particular subscriber uses various types of wireless data services or if the billing data is generated even though the same service type is different, the reference key value (for example, session ID 701 and / or billing identifier) Create an integrated CDR using accounting-record-number).

For example, for an end-to-end service (eg, VoIP, video call), which is a terminal-to-terminal service, a CDR generated by the collection unit 540 by receiving the raw-CDR from the session management device 122; The collection unit 540 uses the CDR generated by receiving the UDR from the packet charging device 107 using correlation data (that is, at least one of information on the receiver terminal, an ICID of the corresponding session, and a charging ID). To generate an integrated CDR.

Hereinafter, a process of generating integrated CDR data using the CDR data received from the collector 540 by the synchronizer 550 will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

10 is an embodiment of a charging information processing method and flow of the synchronization unit 550 of the charging processing apparatus 200 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, in step S1000, the synchronization unit 550 receives CDR data from the collection unit 540.

In the conventional packet charging processing method, the session management apparatus 122 (for example, CSCF) that is only involved in establishing a session of the wireless Internet service providing server 120 may start or stop a session. There was a problem of considering only charging information. Furthermore, there is a problem that event-based charging is not possible in the end-to-end service of the terminal to the terminal.

However, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the charging processing apparatus 200 not only receives the charging information from the session managing apparatus 122 but also receives the packet mirrored information from the data service apparatus 220. ), UDR or raw-CDR can be generated to be received by the billing processing device and integrated into consideration using the correlation data. Therefore, various billing policies are possible. Accordingly, the event charging policy is also possible for the end to end service (see S820 of FIG. 8).

For example, as described with reference to FIG. 6, raw-CDR or various basic commands (eg, CER, DPR, etc.) received by the charging processing device 200 from the session management device 122. DWR, etc.) to extract the ACR (Accounting Request) record value and correspondingly generated CDR data (hereinafter referred to as 'input data 1') through the synchronization unit 550 through the collection unit 540 of the billing processing device 200 ) Can receive.

For example, as described with reference to FIG. 8, the raw-CDR converted in step S820 in order to process the UDR received from the packet charging device 107 by the charging processing device 200 in an event manner. (Hereinafter referred to as 'input data 2') may be received by the synchronization unit 550 through the collecting unit 540 of the charging processing device 200.

At this time, in order to process the UDR received by the charging processing device 200 from the packet charging device 107 in the AG method, charging of CDR data generated through steps S830 to S880 (hereinafter referred to as 'input data 3') is performed. The synchronization unit 550 may receive the collection unit 540 of the processing apparatus 200.

Subsequently, in step S1010, it is determined whether or not a record having the same reference key value (for example, session ID 701 and / or accounting-record-number 706) exists. If the specific field value specified in step S1020 (for example, CallSignal-body-size-uplink AVP (715), CallSignal-body-size-downlink AVP (716), Content-size-uplink AVP (718), Content) -size-downlink AVP 719).

However, if there are no CDRs having the same reference key value, the flow proceeds to step S1030 to integrate the plurality of CDRs using the correlation data.

For example, input data 1 and input data 2 may be integrated.

For example, input data 1 and input data 3 may be integrated.

In the prior art, only the IMS-Charging-Identifier (ICID) is used for synchronizing CDR data only between a plurality of input data1.

However, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, correlation data (i.e., information about a receiving terminal (for example, receiving terminal UE2 102 in FIG. 3) between a plurality of input data 1 to input data 3 may be used. IP data), an ICID (IMS-Chargig-Identifier), or a charging ID generated by the data service device (chargingID) is used to synchronize the plurality of CDR data to generate an integrated CDR.

Since the correlation data (ie, information on the receiving terminal, ICID, and charging ID) has been described with reference to FIG. 3, duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, despite the name, the correlation data may include all values used for synchronizing a plurality of input data or generating an integrated CDR in step S1030.

Subsequently, the integrated CDRs are transmitted to the billing device 109 in step S1040.

Although the CDR format transmitted to the billing device 109 is not shown, various modifications may be made depending on the charging purpose or the charging policy in the CDR form of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 7 or the UDR form of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 9. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications can be made.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for purposes of illustration, and those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications, changes, and additions within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Additions should be considered to be within the scope of the following claims.

As described above, the charging information collection method and system in the End to End service according to the present invention is not only capable of charging the packet in the End to End service environment, but also various conditions such as a charging policy and a system implementation environment (for example, For example, there is an advantage that selective charging according to packet-based charging and time-based charging (Time / Duration-based charging) is possible.

In addition, the present invention has an advantage that the accuracy of billing data can be achieved in consideration of the UDR and the CDR comprehensively.

In addition, the present invention has the advantage of providing a charging information collection method and system that can be universally applied to various wireless communication schemes (eg, CDMA, WCDMA, WLAN, etc.).

Claims (21)

In the terminal-to-terminal service providing system comprising a data service device, a session management device, a charging processing device and a packet charging device, the charging processing device to collect the charging data for the use of the terminal to the terminal service, (a) receiving first charging information corresponding to the terminal-to-terminal service provision from the session managing apparatus; (b) receiving second charging information from the packet charging device corresponding to the amount of data transmitted and received between any terminal for use of the terminal to terminal service; (c) repeating the step (a) and the step (b) until the end of the terminal-to-terminal service providing, respectively, to generate the first CDR data and the second CDR data using the plurality of received billing information, respectively; step; And (d) generating unified CDR data using the first CDR data and the second CDR data based on correlation data. The method of claim 1, The correlation data is a charging ID (chargingID), information on the recipient terminal of the terminal-to-terminal service, and ICID (IP Multimedia Subsystem Charging) of raw call record information (raw-Call Detail Record) generated by the session management device. Billing data collection method comprising at least one of (Identifier). The method of claim 2, The billing ID, Billing data collection method, characterized in that generated in the data service device corresponding to the corresponding network session between a plurality of user terminals in accordance with the terminal to terminal service provision. The method of claim 1, The terminal to terminal service providing system further includes a charging policy device, And the charging policy device receives the correlation data from the data service device and further includes information corresponding to a predetermined charging policy and transmits the correlation data to the session managing device. The method of claim 4, wherein And the correlation data is transmitted from the charging policy device to the session managing device using the AAA protocol or the TCP / IP protocol. The method of claim 4, wherein The correlation data is, Billing data collection method characterized in that the packet is mirrored and transmitted to the packet charging device in the process of being transmitted from the data service device to the charging policy device. The method of claim 1, The charging information may include a Session-Id (AVP) Attribution Value Pair (AVP), a User-Name AVP, an IMS Charging Identifier (ICID) AVP, and a Charging Type (Accounting-Record-Type). AVP, Accounting-Record-Number AVP, Act-Interim-Interval AVP, Start-Time AVP, End-Time AVP, Packet Uplink Amount (CallSignal-body) -size-uplink) At least one of AVP, Packet-body-size-downlink AVP, Content-size-uplink AVP, and Content-size-downlink AVP Charging data collection method comprising me. The method of claim 7, wherein Step (c) is, Determining the type of charging information received using the Accounting-Record-Type AVP, and using the one or more charging records generated corresponding to the charging start information, the intermediate charging information, and the charging end information Generate CDR, And the charging record or the CDR data is generated based on a session ID AVP or an accounting-record-number AVP. The method of claim 7, wherein Generating the second CDR of step (c), Determining a charging method corresponding to a predetermined charging policy variable, and And converting the plurality of billing information received from the packet billing device into meta-CDR when the event is processed according to the determination. The method of claim 9, Generating the second CDR of the step (c) in the case of processing in the AG (Aggregation) method by the determination, Converting the plurality of charging information received from the packet charging device into meta-CDR; The accounting-record-type AVP is used to determine the type of charging information of the meta-CDR, and using the one or more charging records generated corresponding to the charging start information, the intermediate charging information, and the charging end information. Generate a second CDR, And the charging record or the CDR is generated based on a Session ID AVP or an Accounting-Record-Number AVP. The method of claim 7, wherein Step (d) is, Determining whether the first CDR data and the second CDR data have the same reference key value; If the same reference key value, the first CDR using the packet uplink amount AVP value, packet downlink amount AVP value, content uplink amount AVP value, content downlink amount AVP value included in the second CDR data Updating respective corresponding AVP values in the data; And And integrating two or more of the first CDR data, the second CDR data, and the meta-CDR based on the correlation data to generate unified CDR data. An apparatus for connecting to a terminal-to-terminal service providing system including a data service apparatus, a session management apparatus, and a packet charging apparatus to collect billing data for use of terminal-to-terminal services, Receiving a plurality of first billing information corresponding to the terminal-to-terminal service session from the session management device, and a second billing corresponding to the amount of data transmitted and received between any terminal for use of the terminal-to-terminal service from a packet charging device Billing information receiving unit for receiving information; A collector configured to generate first CDR data and second CDR data, respectively, using the first charging information and the second charging information received from the charging information receiver; A synchronization unit generating integrated CDR data using the first CDR data and the second CDR data based on correlation data; And And a distributed processing unit for transmitting the generated integrated CDR data to a billing device. The method of claim 12, The correlation data includes a charging ID generated by a data service device corresponding to a corresponding network session between a plurality of user terminals, information on a receiver terminal of the terminal to terminal service, and a source generated by the session management device. Billing data collection device, characterized in that it comprises at least one of the IC Multimedia (IP Multimedia Subsystem Charging Identifier) of the call record information (raw-Call Detail Record) The method of claim 12, And a charging policy device for receiving the correlation data from the data service device and transmitting the correlation data to the session managing device further including information corresponding to a predetermined charging policy. The method of claim 14, And the correlation data is transmitted from the charging policy device to the session managing device using an AAA protocol or a TCP / IP protocol. The method of claim 14, The correlation data is, Charging data collection device, characterized in that the packet is mirrored in the process of transmitting from the data service device to the charging policy device and transmitted to the packet charging device. The method of claim 12, The charging information may include a session ID (ID), a user name (AVP), an IMS charging identifier (ICID: IMS-Charging-Identifier) AVP, an accounting-record-type AVP, a charging identifier ( Accounting-Record-Number) AVP, Act-Interim-Interval AVP, Start-Time AVP, End-Time AVP, Packet Uplink Amount (CallSignal-body-size-uplink) And at least one of an AVP, a packet-body-size-downlink AVP, a content-size-uplink AVP, and a content-size-downlink AVP. Charging data collection device. The method of claim 17, The collection unit, Determination means for determining the type of the received charging information using the accounting-record-number AVP, wherein the type of the charging information is at least one of charging start information, intermediate charging information, and charging end information; Corresponding to; And Processing means for performing a process corresponding to the determined type of charging information; The processing means generates a new charging record when the charging information is charging start information, updates a previously stored charging record when the charging information is intermediate charging information, and stores the previously stored charging record when the charging information is charging ending information. Update to generate the first CDR data, And the charging record or the CDR data is generated based on a session ID AVP or an accounting-record-number AVP. The method of claim 18, The collecting unit charges data usage record information or raw-call detail record received from the packet charging device corresponding to the terminal to terminal service session by a predetermined charging policy variable. Determining means for determining the manner; And And converting means for converting the data usage record information or the raw call record information into a meta-call detail record (CDR), And the data usage record information or the original call record information is converted into meta-CDR when billing processing is performed in an event manner by the determining means. The method of claim 19, The collection unit, In the case where the determination by the determining means is processed in AG (Aggregation) method, Converting the data usage record information or the raw call record information into meta-CDR by the conversion means, And the second CDR data is generated by the processing means in correspondence with the type of the charging information. The method of claim 20, The synchronization unit, Determining means for determining whether the first CDR data and the second CDR data have the same reference key value; If the same reference key value, the first CDR using the packet uplink amount AVP value, packet downlink amount AVP value, content uplink amount AVP value, content downlink amount AVP value included in the second CDR data Updating means for updating respective corresponding AVP values in the data; And And generating means for integrating the first CDR data, the second CDR data, and the meta-CDR based on the correlation data to generate integrated CDR data.

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