KR20180135426A - Method and Apparatus for Processing Charging in Wireless Communication System - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a device for accurately charging by radio access technology (RAT) in a wireless communication system supporting interworking of various types of RATs. According to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention relates to a base station device of a wireless communication system supporting a plurality of RATs, the base station device comprising: a transceiver unit for transmitting and receiving signals; and generates charging support information for supporting charging by RAT by confirming the RAT used for transmission of user data packets transmitted/received during user data packet transmission/reception, and a control unit for controlling transmission of the charging support information by including the charging support information in a header or a control plane message of an uplink data packet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for charging in a wireless communication system,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing a billing in a case where dual connectivity is supported for an existing wireless communication system and a next generation wireless communication system.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the present embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

Recently, a wireless communication system in which a plurality of different radio access technologies (RATs) are interlocked to provide services has been proposed. For example, a system for linking a wireless communication system using an existing wireless communication system (e.g., EPS or LTE) and a next generation wireless connection technology (New Radio) in a dual connection form has been developed. In such a wireless communication system, frequency bands used by the existing system and the next generation system are different from each other, and the amount of resources required for providing each service differs from one another due to differences in technology. Therefore, since the amount and quality of the service provided by the user differ depending on the type of the RAT used to actually transmit / receive the user traffic, it is necessary to differentiate the existing wireless communication system and the next generation wireless communication system separately .

However, in the existing wireless communication system, the gateway node (for example, the PDN gateway) charges charges considering the amount of user traffic transmitted and received, so that the gateway node can not distinguish which RAT the user traffic was actually transmitted to. Therefore, there arises a problem that accurate billing can not be performed for each RAT.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for accurately charging RAT on a per-RAT basis in a wireless communication system supporting interworking of various kinds of RATs.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing a charge in a wireless communication system supporting a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), the method comprising the steps of: Generating billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT) by checking a wireless connection technology (RAT) used for transmission; Receiving the bearer release message for the UE from the mobility management functional node and transmitting an RRC Connection Release message to the UE (User Equipment); And transmitting the billing support information to the mobility management function node by including the billing support information in a bearer release complete message for the mobile station.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station apparatus of a wireless communication system supporting a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), the base station apparatus comprising: a transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals; And generates billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT) by confirming a wireless connection technology (RAT) used for transmission of user data packets transmitted and received during user data packet transmission and reception, And a control unit for controlling the base station apparatus to include the uplink data packet in a header of the uplink data packet or a control plane message.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, different QoS levels can be applied to each service, thereby improving service quality and improving resource utilization efficiency.

In addition, since a separate control (control plane) message is not used for uplink QoS control, the number of control messages can be reduced.

In addition, service continuity can be provided when a mobile communication occurs between a next-generation mobile communication system and an existing mobile communication system, thereby preventing service quality degradation.

In addition, according to service characteristics, service continuity is provided only when necessary, thereby generating an unnecessary control message and reducing the processing load.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an illustration of a RAN protocol stack at legacy and non-legacy base stations in a wireless communication system supporting dual connectivity.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method of a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a charging processing method in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a charging processing method in a wireless communication system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method of a base station apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method in a wireless communication system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a schematic block diagram of a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to the description of the present invention, an example of an interpretable meaning for the terms used herein is provided. It should be noted, however, that the following examples are not meant to be limiting.

A base station may be referred to as a BS, a Node B (NB), an eNodeB (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB), or the like,

A user equipment may be referred to as a UE, a mobile station (MS), a mobile equipment (ME), a terminal, or the like as a subject communicating with a base station.

In this specification, a wireless communication system capable of providing a multiple connectivity service to a terminal by interworking a plurality of different wireless access technologies coexisting with an existing wireless communication system and a next generation wireless communication system will be described. An embodiment of the present invention will be described as an LTE (Long Term Evolution) or 4G system as an example of an existing wireless communication system, and a 5G system or an NR (New Radio) system will be described as an example of a next generation wireless communication system. However, this is only an example, and at least partly another wireless communication system may be included.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding the identification codes to the constituent elements of the respective drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference symbols as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The wireless communication system 100 may support data connectivity and services to enable deployment to utilize technologies such as Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking. The wireless communication system 100 separates user plane (UP) functions and control plane (CP) functions to provide independent scalability, evolution and flexible deployments ). ≪ / RTI > In addition, functional design can be modularized to enable flexible and efficient network slicing.

The wireless communication system 100 includes a UE 110, a non-legacy BS 120, a legacy BS 130, a mobility management functional node 150, a billing information generation functional node 140 and a billing system 160. Each component shown in FIG. 1 is a function node (NF: Network Function) that performs a processing function in the network. The functional node NF may be implemented as a network element on dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on dedicated hardware, or as a virtualized function instantiated on a suitable platform (e.g., a cloud infrastructure). Each functional node NF can directly interact with another functional node NF if necessary.

The terminal 110 may send and receive user traffic and control information through a non-legacy base station (e.g., 5G gNB 120) and a legacy base station (e.g., LTE eNB 130).

The non-legacy base station 120 provides a wireless communication service to the terminal 110 using a novel radio access technology (NR), and the legacy base station 130 provides wireless communication services to the terminal 110 Provide communication service. The non-legacy base station 120 and the legacy base station 130 interoperate to support dual connectivity. Will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

Figure 2 is an illustration of a RAN protocol stack at legacy and non-legacy base stations in a wireless communication system supporting dual connectivity.

Three options (a), (b) and (c) are proposed as an example of the RAN protocol of a dual connectivity supporting wireless communication system. As shown in FIG. 2, the control information is transmitted / received through a legacy base station, and the network configuration in which user traffic is transmitted / received through a legacy base station or a non-legacy base station is referred to as a non-standalone (NSA) configuration.

Option (a) allows legacy base station 220a to be directly connected to core network 210a to send and receive control information, distribute user traffic to non-legacy base station 230a (in the case of downlink) 230a and forwards it to the core network 210a (in the case of an uplink). Option (a) is called Legacy RAN Split. The option b is a legacy base station 220b connected directly to the core network 210b to transmit and receive control information and user traffic and the non-legacy base station 230b is also connected directly to the core network 210b, . Option (b) is called Core N / W Split. Option c may be used by the legacy base station 220c to communicate directly with the core network 210c to send and receive control information but be distributed by the non-legacy base station 230c directly connected to the core network 210c (In the case of downlink) to the non-legacy base station 230c (in case of uplink). Option (c) is called Non-legacy RAN Split.

Hereinafter, as shown in options (a) and (c), the core network is directly connected to distribute user traffic to another RAT (downlink), user traffic is received from another RAT (uplink) The transmitting node is referred to as an anchor BS. Also, a node that receives user traffic or is distributed from an anchor base station or delivers it to an anchor base station is called a secondary base station. In the case of option (a), the anchor base station is the legacy base station 220a and the auxiliary base station is the non-legacy base station 230a. In the case of option (c), conversely, the anchor base station is the non-legacy base station 230c and the auxiliary base station is the legacy base station 220c.

When the user traffic is transmitted using the new radio access technology in the above-described wireless communication system, the per-bit rate is expected to be lower than that in the case of using the existing radio access technology, depending on the characteristics of the frequency band and the development of the technology. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the used radio access technology (RAT) and charge differently. However, in the case of options (a) and (c), the legacy base stations 220a and 220c and the non-legacy base stations 230a and 230c share one bearer, It is not possible to distinguish which radio access technology (RAT) transmitted the actual packet data from the core networks 210a and 210c. In order to solve such a problem, the present invention proposes a method of directly generating information (Charging Assistant Information) for supporting billing and transmitting the information to the core network. The base station apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention includes both the non-legacy base station 120 and the legacy base station 130.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the remaining components will be described.

The billing information generation function node 140 generates billing information for each type of the RAT using the billing support information received from the non-legacy base station 120 and the legacy base station 130. [ Here, the billing information is information collected about a billing event (e.g., call setup time, call holding time, amount of transmitted data, etc.), and is information of a user's network used for monitoring, , Use time, etc.). For example, the billing information may refer to a CDR (Charging Data Record). The billing information generation function node may include a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) and a Serving Gateway (S-GW) of a 4G / LTE system and a UPF (User Plane Function) of a 5G system. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and other nodes performing the function of generating billing information may be included.

The billing system 160 generates billing information charged to the user using the billing information. The billing system 160 processes billing according to the RAT type based on the billing information to generate billing information.

The mobility management function node 150 manages the mobility of the terminal 110 and manages the bearer as a control plane node in the core network. The mobility management function node 150 processes the signaling of the subscription information or the policy information of the subscriber station 110 and transmits the subscriber information or the policy information of the policy information to the base station 110, . The mobility management function node 150 receives billing support information from the non-legacy base station 120 and the legacy base station 130 via a control plane message (e.g., a GTP-C message) and transmits the billing support information to the billing information generation node 140 . The mobility management function node 150 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of a 4G / LTE system and a 5G system, but is not necessarily limited to, other nodes performing mobility management functions.

Hereinafter, a method of charging a base station apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. These embodiments can largely be divided into a method through a user plane and a method through a control plane. 3 to 5, a method of charging a base station apparatus through a user plane will be described.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method of a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is applied when the base station apparatus is an anchor base station. That is, in this embodiment, the base station apparatus distributes downlink traffic to another base station apparatus directly connected to the core network and uses a radio access technology (RAT) different from itself, receives uplink traffic from another base station apparatus, send.

When the user data packet is transmitted / received, the base station apparatus confirms a radio access technology (RAT) used for transmission of the user data packet transmitted / received, and generates billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT) at step S310. In step S310, the base station apparatus counts the number of transmission packets for each identified RAT and generates information on the amount of transmission traffic of a plurality of RATs as billing support information based on the number of counted transmission packets . When receiving the uplink data packet in step S310, the base station apparatus confirms the radio access technology (RAT) used for transmission of the received uplink data packet and transmits information indicating the type of the radio access technology (RAT) As billing support information.

The billing support information may include at least one of the following information:

- The amount of transmission traffic information of each of a plurality of radio access technologies (RAT)

- The ratio of the total traffic of the plurality of radio access technologies (RAT) and the ratio of the transmission traffic between the plurality of radio access technologies (RAT)

- Information indicating the type of wireless connection technology (RAT)

The base station device transmits the generated billing support information to the billing information generating function node in a user plane message (for example, a GTP-U message) for sending in the uplink. Specifically, the base station apparatus includes billing support information in a header (e.g., GTP-U Header) of the uplink data packet and transmits it to the billing information generation function node (S320).

The header of the uplink data packet is a tunnel header, and the uplink data packet is encapsulated by the tunnel header in the base station apparatus. That is, the base station apparatus generates a user plane message such as a GTP-U message by adding a tunnel header including billing support information to the uplink data packet received from the terminal. A tunnel header (e.g., a GTP Header) is configured to include one or more general header fields (e.g., version, protocol type, tunnel endpoint identifier, etc.) and one or more Next Extension Headers fields. The billing support information may be included in one or more general header fields and one or more extension header fields included in the tunnel header.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a charging processing method in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal is in a connected mode in which the terminal is connected to the network and can use the service. As described above, data can be transmitted and received between the legacy system and the non-legacy system. Accordingly, the terminal can directly receive the downlink data packet from the anchor base station, or receive the downlink data packet from the anchor base station to the auxiliary base station. In addition, the terminal may transmit the uplink data packet directly to the anchor base station or transmit the uplink data packet to the anchor base station through the auxiliary base station (S410).

The anchor base station checks the radio access technology (RAT) used for transmission of the uplink data packet received from the terminal or the auxiliary base station and the downlink data packet received from the core network, (S420). The anchor base station generates billing support information based on the number of counted transmission packets. Here, the billing support information may include at least one of the amount of transmission traffic of each of the RATs, the amount of traffic of the entire RAT, and the rate of transmission traffic between the RATs.

The anchor base station transmits billing support information to a header (e.g., GTP-U Header) along with an uplink data packet (e.g., an IP packet) and transmits it to the gateway (S430). Here, the gateway is an example of the charging information generating function node described above, and may include the S-GW and the P-GW. The uplink data packet and the billing support information transmitted by the anchor base station are transmitted to the S-GW in the first place. If the S-GW and the P-GW are separated, the S-GW is transmitted again to the P-GW.

The gateway generates billing information (e.g., CDR) for each type of wireless access technology (RAT) using the received billing support information (S440) and transmits the billing information to the billing system (S450).

5 is a flowchart illustrating a charging processing method in a wireless communication system according to another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is also applied when the base station apparatus is an anchor base station. That is, in this embodiment, the base station apparatus distributes downlink traffic to another base station apparatus directly connected to the core network and uses a radio access technology (RAT) different from itself, receives uplink traffic from another base station apparatus, send. However, unlike the embodiment of FIG. 4, this embodiment can be applied only to a billing process for an uplink data packet.

The terminal is in a connected mode in which the terminal is connected to the network and can use the service. As described above, data can be transmitted and received between the legacy system and the non-legacy system. Accordingly, the terminal can directly transmit the uplink data packet to the anchor base station or transmit the uplink data packet to the anchor base station through the auxiliary base station (S510).

The anchor base station checks a radio access technology (RAT) used for transmitting the uplink data packet received from the subscriber station or the auxiliary base station (S520). The anchor base station generates information indicating the type of the confirmed RAT as billing support information. Information indicating the type of the radio access technology (RAT) can be expressed in a form capable of grasping two types (e.g., LTE and 5G) as 1 bit, or can be represented by separate index information. Further, the information indicating the type of the radio access technology (RAT) may be set in an anchor base station when creating a user plane tunnel (e.g., GTP-U tunnel) or may be expressed using a value specified in the 3GPP standard.

The anchor base station transmits billing support information to a header (e.g., GTP-U Header) along with an uplink data packet (e.g., IP packet) and transmits the packet to the gateway (S530). Here, the gateway is an example of the charging information generating function node described above, and may include the S-GW and the P-GW. The uplink data packet and the billing support information transmitted by the anchor base station are transmitted to the S-GW in the first place. If the S-GW and the P-GW are separated, the S-GW is transmitted again to the P-GW.

In this embodiment, only the type information of the radio access technology (RAT) is transmitted to the gateway without counting the number of packets directly transmitted from the anchor base station and the amount of traffic is not recorded. Therefore, the billing support information ) Is added.

The gateway generates billing information (e.g., CDR) for each type of wireless access technology (RAT) using the received billing support information (S540) and transmits the billing information to the billing system (S550). Billing processing considering the amount of traffic for each type of wireless access technology (RAT) will be done at the gateway.

Hereinafter, a method of charging the base station apparatus through the control plane will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method of a base station apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the anchor base station counts and stores the traffic information for each radio access technology (RAT), and stores the information stored at the time the bearer for the mobile station is released, such as S1 Release, To the billing information generation function node.

In step S610, the base station device generates billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT) by confirming a wireless access technology (RAT) used for transmission of user data packets transmitted and received during user data packet transmission and reception. In step S610, the base station apparatus counts the number of transmission packets for each identified RAT and generates information on the amount of transmission traffic of a plurality of RATs as billing support information based on the counted number of transmission packets .

While the number of transmission packets is being counted for each radio access technology (RAT), as an event for initiating a bearer release (e.g., S1 Release) procedure for the terminal is triggered, the base station apparatus transmits a bearer release message (E.g., UE Context Release Command) and transmits an RRC Connection Release message to the UE (S620).

After performing the RRC release operation with the terminal, the base station apparatus includes billing support information generated based on information counted during the connection mode of the UE in a bearer release complete message (e.g., UE Context Release Complete) To the management function node (S630). In this embodiment, the billing support information is transmitted through the control plane message (GTP-C message). When the base station apparatus is an auxiliary base station other than an anchor base station, it can receive billing support information generated by another base station apparatus from another base station apparatus using a radio access technology (RAT) different from itself and transmit it to the mobility management function node.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging method in a wireless communication system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal is in a connected mode in which the terminal is connected to the network and can use the service. As described above, data can be transmitted and received between the legacy system and the non-legacy system. Accordingly, the terminal can directly receive the downlink data packet from the anchor base station, or receive the downlink data packet from the anchor base station to the auxiliary base station. In addition, the terminal can directly transmit the uplink data packet to the anchor base station or transmit the uplink data packet to the anchor base station through the auxiliary base station (S710). FIG. 7 shows a case where the legacy base station is an anchor base station, but this is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the opposite case is also possible.

The anchor base station checks the radio access technology (RAT) used for transmission of the uplink data packet received from the terminal or the auxiliary base station and the downlink data packet received from the core network, And counts the number (S712). In the anchor base station, the number of transmission packets is continuously counted while the terminal is in the connection mode. The anchor base station generates billing support information based on the number of counted transmission packets. Here, the billing support information may include at least one of the amount of transmission traffic of each of the RATs, the amount of traffic of the entire RAT, and the rate of transmission traffic between the RATs.

If an event initiating the S1 Release procedure is triggered while the number of transmission packets is counted by the anchor base station (RAT) (S714), a message exchange for releasing the bearer between the MME and the gateway is performed (S716) . The billing support information request may be made by the MME or the gateway in step S716. However, at this time, even if the bearer release procedure is started, the MME and the gateway are set to hold the bearer context for the terminal without releasing the request and response for reporting the billing support information. Accordingly, the gateway maintains the bearer context until receiving the billing support information (S718).

The MME transmits the S1 UE Context Release Command message to the legacy base station (e.g., LTE eNB) (S720). Upon receiving the S1 UE Context Release Command, the legacy base station performs an RRC connection release operation with the terminal (S722). When the RRC connection release is completed, the legacy base station transmits the S1 UE Context Release Complete message including the counted billing support information counted during the connection mode of the UE to the MME (S726). When the non-legacy base station (e.g., 5G gNB) is an anchor base station, the legacy base station transmits billing support information from the non-legacy base station before sending the S1 UE Context Releases Complete message to the MME. (S724).

The MME includes billing support information transmitted from the legacy base station in the bearer release completion message and transmits it to the gateway (S728). Here, the gateway is an example of the charging information generating function node described above, and may include the S-GW and the P-GW. The billing support information delivered by the MME is primarily transferred to the S-GW, and if the S-GW and the P-GW are separated, the billing support information is transferred from the S-GW to the P-GW again.

The gateway generates billing information (e.g., CDR) for each type of wireless access technology (RAT) using the received billing support information and delivers it to the billing system.

As another embodiment, a method of charging the base station apparatus when handover of the terminal occurs will be described. When the handover of the terminal occurs, the base station apparatus can transmit the billing support information counted for the terminal to the mobility management function node. The mobility management function node transmits the received billing support information to the billing information generation function node so that billing information is generated for each of the wireless access technologies (RAT) for the corresponding terminal. More specifically, the base station apparatus transmits the billing support information to the mobility management function node in the handover request message transmission step during the handover process so as to be transmitted to the billing information generation node, or the terminal context deletion completion message The billing support information may be transmitted to the mobility management function node in the UE Context Release Complete message transmission step so as to be transmitted to the billing information generation function node.

Alternatively, when the handover of the terminal occurs, the base station apparatus transmits billing support information counted for the terminal to the target base station apparatus, and after the handover is completed, the target base station apparatus subsequently counts the number of packets transmitted to the terminal . Specifically, the base station apparatus transmits billing support information to the target base station apparatus in the course of transmitting a handover request message to the target base station apparatus in the handover preparation step, .

According to this embodiment, the base station apparatus does not continuously transmit the billing support information together with the uplink data packet during the connection mode of the terminal as described above with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, The support information is transmitted to the billing information generation node at a time when the bearer is released.

8 is a schematic block diagram of a base station apparatus 800 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The base station apparatus 800 includes a control unit 810 and a transceiver unit 820. Each component of the base station device 800 may be implemented as a hardware chip, or may be implemented as software and a microprocessor may be implemented to execute the functions of the software corresponding to each component.

The transceiver unit 820 transmits and receives signals to perform communication with other network function nodes.

The control unit 810 generates billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT) by confirming a wireless connection technology (RAT) used for transmission of user data packets transmitted and received during user data packet transmission and reception, Control information to be included in the header of the uplink data packet (for example, GTP Header) or the control plane message (for example, GTP-C message) to be transmitted to the billing information generation function node.

The control unit 810 counts the number of transmission packets per confirmed RAT and generates information on the amount of transmission traffic of a plurality of RATs as billing support information based on the counted number of transmission packets can do. Here, the billing support information may include at least one of transmission traffic amount information of each of a plurality of radio access technologies (RAT), traffic amount of all of the plurality of radio access technologies (RAT), and ratio of transmission traffic between a plurality of radio access technologies (RAT) .

When receiving the uplink data packet, the controller 810 checks the RAT used for the transmission of the received uplink data packet, and transmits information indicating the type of the RAT, Or as support information.

3 to 7 illustrate that the processes are sequentially executed, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other words, it is applicable that the process described in FIGS. 3 to 7 is changed or executed in parallel or one or more processes are executed in parallel. Thus, FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 are not limited to time series.

In the embodiment described in Figs. 3 to 7, the charging method of the base station apparatus can be implemented by a program and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. A program for implementing the charging method of the base station apparatus according to the present embodiment is recorded and a computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by the computing system is stored.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present embodiment, and various modifications and changes may be made to those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the embodiments. Therefore, the present embodiments are to be construed as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the scope of the technical idea of the present embodiment is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present embodiment should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. A base station apparatus of a wireless communication system supporting a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs)
A transmitting and receiving unit for transmitting and receiving signals; And
(RAT) used for transmission of a user data packet transmitted / received during user data packet transmission / reception, generates billing support information for supporting billing for each wireless access technology (RAT), and updates the billing support information And transmits the link data packet in a header or a control plane message of the link data packet
. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
Counts the number of transmission packets for each of the identified RATs, and controls the transmission traffic amount information of the plurality of RATs to be generated as the billing support information based on the counted number of transmission packets , A base station device. The method according to claim 1,
The billing support information includes:
(RAT), the amount of traffic of all of the plurality of radio access technologies (RAT), and the ratio of transmission traffic between the plurality of radio access technologies (RAT). Base station apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
(RAT) used for transmission of the received uplink data packet upon receipt of the uplink data packet, and generates information indicating the type of the confirmed RAT, as the billing support information Gt; The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the header of the uplink data packet is added to the uplink data packet by the control unit as a tunnel header,
Wherein the billing support information is included in at least one of a header field and at least one extension header field included in the tunnel header. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
(BS) that receives the billing support information generated by the other base station apparatus from another base station apparatus using a different radio access technology (RAT) from the base station apparatus, and further controls the control plane message to further include the transmitted billing support information. . The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
A base station apparatus for directly distributing downlink traffic to another base station apparatus using a radio access technology (RAT) different from the core network and directly receiving the uplink traffic from the other base station apparatus and transmitting the uplink traffic to the core network, . The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
And transmits the billing support information to the mobility management functional node by including the billing support information in a terminal context release complete message.

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