KR20220029179A - Method and apparatus for determining usage report - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for determining a usage report. The method for determining a usage report according to the present invention is performed by a user plane function (UPF) device and comprises the following steps of: defining a rule of a usage report and defining charging-type information corresponding to each rule of the usage report; receiving a session generation request message including vendor specific information element corresponding to a user terminal from a session management function (SMF) device; determining a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the usage corresponding to the user terminal and the rule of the usage report when a value representing a charging method included in the vendor specific information element is either a first value or a second value; and transmitting the determined usage report to the SMF device. Accordingly, when a predefined packet detection rule (PDR) function is generated, duplication of a usage report which is delivered from a UPF to SMF can be prevented.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING USAGE REPORT

Embodiments relate to usage report determination techniques.

From the LTE standard (3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release.14), the CP (Control Plane) and UP (User Plane) are separated from the packet processing equipment of the PGW (Packet Data Network Gateway) or SGW (Serving Gateway), and the CP Nodes in charge of UP were defined as PGW-C and SGW-C, and nodes in charge of UP were defined as PGW-U and SGW-U. For this structure, PFCP (Packet Forwarding Control Protocol) for signaling between CP and UP is defined.

This structure is also reflected in the SA standard (standalone) (3GPP Release 15), so the equipment in charge of CP is defined as SMF (Session Management Function), and equipment in charge of UP is defined as UPF (User Plane Function), and PFCP defined in LTE is It may be used with some modifications.

In a structure in which CP and UP are separated, when a terminal accesses the network, the CP must transmit policy information for speed control/blocking and information for charging to the UP. In the PFCP protocol, PDR (Packet Detection Rule), URR (Usage Report Rule), FAR (Forwarding Action Rule), and QER (QoS Enforcement Rule) are delivered.

When a subscriber has a lot of information to be transferred from the CP to the UP whenever a session is created by accessing the network, the conventional method defines PDR and URR information in the CP and UP in advance, respectively, in order to prevent excessive signaling, The CP uses the method of delivering only the ID to the UP. However, when using Predefined PDR, unnecessary usage TPS may occur from UP to CP.

A method of determining a usage report performed by a user plane function (UPF) device according to an embodiment includes defining usage report rules, and defining billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule; Receiving a session creation request message including a vendor specific information element (Vendor Specific Information Element) corresponding to the user terminal from the SMF (Session Management Function) device; When the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the usage amount corresponding to the user terminal and the usage report rule determining a; and transmitting the determined usage report to the SMF device.

The billing type information may include at least one of information on a prepaid billing (online) type and information on a postpaid billing (offline) type.

The main element of the vendor information may include a value indicating a charging method.

The value indicating the charging method includes a first value indicating a method of applying prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, a second value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and a predetermined usage report It may include at least one of a third value indicating a method of applying the prepaid charging unit or the postpaid charging unit based on the rule.

In the determining of the usage report, when a value indicating a billing method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, only a usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal is applied to the usage and determining a usage report corresponding to the user terminal.

A method of determining a usage report performed in a Session Management Function (SMF) device according to an embodiment is based on a predefined usage report rule when not interworking with the billing type information received from a Policy Control Function (PCF) and the PCF, the user terminal determining billing type information corresponding to ; transmitting a vendor specific information element including billing type information corresponding to the user terminal to a user plane function (UPF) device through a session creation request message; and in response to the transmission, receiving a usage report from the UPF device.

The UPF device, after receiving the main vendor information element, when a value indicating a billing method included in the received main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, corresponding to the user terminal A usage report corresponding to the user terminal may be determined based on the usage amount and the usage report rule.

The UPF device, when the value indicating the charging method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, applies a usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal to the usage amount to the user terminal It is possible to determine the usage report corresponding to the .

The UPF device may pre-define the usage report rule and pre-define billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule.

A user plane function (UPF) apparatus for performing a usage report determination method according to an embodiment, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the processor, and the instructions are executed by the processor When executed, the processor determines that the UPF device defines usage report rules, defines billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule, and includes vendor key information elements corresponding to user terminals from SMF (Session Management Function) devices ( When receiving a session creation request message including (Vendor Specific Information Element) and a value indicating a charging method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, the usage corresponding to the user terminal and determine a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the usage report rule, and control the UPF device to transmit the determined usage report to the SMF device.

The billing type information may include at least one of information on a prepaid billing (online) type and information on a postpaid billing (offline) type.

The main element of the vendor information may include a value indicating a charging method.

The value indicating the charging method includes a first value indicating a method of applying prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, a second value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and a predetermined usage report It may include at least one of a third value indicating a method of applying the prepaid charging unit or the postpaid charging unit based on the rule.

A session management function (SMF) apparatus for performing a method for determining a usage report according to an embodiment includes a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the processor, and when the instructions are executed by the processor , the processor determines that the SMF device determines billing type information corresponding to the user terminal based on a predefined usage report rule, and includes a vendor specific information element including billing type information corresponding to the user terminal (Vendor Specific Information) element) to the UPF (User Plane Function) device through the session creation request message, and in response to the transmission, the SMF device may be controlled to receive a usage report from the UPF device.

According to an embodiment, it is possible to prevent duplicate usage reports transmitted from UPF to SMF from occurring when a predefined PDR function is created.

According to an embodiment, when the predefined PDR function is created, it is possible to prevent duplicate usage reports transmitted from the UPF to the SMF from occurring, thereby reducing the equipment load and transactions per second (TPS) of the SMF and the UPF.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of a usage report determination system according to an embodiment.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed by a UPF device according to an embodiment.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed by an SMF device according to an embodiment.
4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a vendor critical information element according to an embodiment.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed between a UPF device and an SMF device according to an embodiment.
6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a UPF device according to an embodiment.
7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an SMF device according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in each figure indicate like elements.

Various modifications may be made to the embodiments described below. It should be understood that the embodiments described below are not intended to limit the embodiments, and include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes thereto.

Terms used in the examples are only used to describe specific examples, and are not intended to limit the examples. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present specification, terms such as “comprise” or “have” are intended to designate that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification is present, and one or more other features It is to be understood that this does not preclude the possibility of addition or existence of numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations 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 to which the embodiment belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art, and should not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present application. does not

In addition, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same components are assigned the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and the overlapping description thereof will be omitted. In describing the embodiment, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known technology may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the embodiment, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of a usage report determination system according to an embodiment.

In the structure in which the CP (Control Plane) and the UP (User Plane) to which the predefined PDR (Packet Detection Rule) is applied are separated, the system for determining the usage report transmits the billing type information from the CP to the UP, and the UP uses the predefined usage Based on the billing type information of the user terminal among the usage report rules (URR), it is possible to perform a function of transmitting a usage report determined from usage to the CP by applying only a required usage report rule. Through this, the usage report determination system can provide the effect of reducing the equipment load between the CP and the UP by removing the redundant usage report. That is, the usage report determination system determines both the usage reports for each of the prepaid billing type and the postpaid billing type and transmits them from the UP to the CP, unlike the conventional method in which the billing type information is a prepaid billing type, prepaid The load transferred from the UP to the CP is reduced by determining the usage report based on the usage report corresponding to the billing type, and determining the usage report based on the usage report corresponding to the postpaid charging type in the case of the deferred payment type. can be lowered

Referring to FIG. 1 , the usage report determination system may include a user terminal 110 , a Session Management Function (SMF) device 130 , and a User Plane Function (UPF) device 140 . Here, the SMF device 130 may be a CP, and the UPF device may be a UP.

The user terminal 110 may transmit session creation request data for requesting to create a session to the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) device 120 . The AMF device 120 may transmit session creation request data to the SMF device 130 . The SMF device 130 may transmit a session creation request message including a vendor main information element corresponding to the user terminal 110 to the UPF device 140 in response to the reception of the session creation request data. When the value indicating the billing method included in the received vendor main information element is a predetermined specific value, the UPF device 140 uses only the usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal 110 to generate traffic generated by the user terminal 110 . It is possible to determine the usage report by the usage corresponding to the .

According to an embodiment, the system for determining a usage report described in this specification may perform a method for determining a usage report when the billing type information is the same for each user (or subscriber).

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed by a UPF device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2 , in step 210 , the UPF device may define usage report rules and define billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule.

The usage report rule defined by the UPF device and billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule may be as shown in the following table.

Usage Report Rules trigger billing type
usage
quota 0 packet
usage deferred payment 20M One Packet usage prepaid 10M 2 Packet usage deferred payment 20M 3 Packet usage prepaid 10M ...

Here, the billing type information may include at least one of information on a prepaid billing (online) type and information on a postpaid billing (offline) type. The billing type information may be determined as either prepaid billing or postpaid billing according to a rate plan subscribed to by the user. Postpaid billing may be a billing method in which usage information used by a user is collected and reported to a billing server. The prepaid billing may be a billing method in which a user's available usage is set before the service, and the service is blocked when the user has exhausted all available usage. The SMF device uses the UPF to create a session with the UPF device. A session creation request message may be sent to the device. In step 220, the UPF device may receive a session creation request message including a vendor specific information element (Vendor Specific Information Element) corresponding to the user terminal from the SMF device.

In an embodiment, the vendor information main element may include a value indicating a charging method. An example of the vendor information main element may be as shown in FIG. 4 . The vendor information main element may include a value indicating the type of vendor information in decimal form. In addition, the vendor information main element may include a value indicating a length, user identification information, and a charging method.

The value indicating the charging method includes a first value indicating how to apply prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, a second value indicating how to apply postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and a predetermined usage report rule. It may include at least one of a third value indicating a method of applying the prepaid billing or the postpaid billing based on the unit. For example, when the value indicating the charging method is 0, the charging method may be a method of applying prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal. In addition, when the value indicating the charging method is 1, the charging method may be a method indicating a method of applying postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and when the value indicating the charging method is 7, the charging method is a predetermined method It may be a method of applying a unit of prepaid billing or postpaid billing based on a usage report rule.

In step 230, when the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is any one of the first value or the second value, the UPF device sends to the user terminal based on the usage and usage report rules corresponding to the user terminal. A corresponding usage report may be determined.

In one embodiment, when the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either the first value or the second value, the UPF device applies only the usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal to the usage to the user terminal By determining the corresponding usage report, it is possible to remove the redundant usage report from the UPF device to the SMF device.

In step 240 , the UPF device may transmit the determined usage report to the SMF device.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed by an SMF device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3 , in step 310 , the SMF device receives billing type information received from a Policy Control Function (PCF) or billing type information corresponding to the user terminal based on a predefined usage report rule when not interworking with the PCF. can be decided

Here, the predefined usage report rule may be defined by the UPF device. The UPF device may determine a usage report rule, and define billing type information corresponding to each of the determined usage report rules.

In step 320, the SMF device may transmit a vendor specific information element including billing type information corresponding to the user terminal to the user plane function (UPF) device through a session creation request message. The SMF device transmits a session creation request message to the UPF device to create a session with the UPF device. The session creation request message may include a vendor main information element. A session between the SMF device and the UPF device may be created based on the session creation request message.

After the UPF device receives the main vendor information element from the SMF device, when the value indicating the charging method included in the received main vendor information element is either the first value or the second value, the usage corresponding to the user terminal and A usage report corresponding to the user terminal may be determined based on the usage report rule. The UPF device may determine the usage report corresponding to the usage based on the usage report rule corresponding to the billing type information corresponding to the user terminal. When the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either the first value or the second value, the UPF device applies a usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal to the usage amount to generate a usage report corresponding to the user terminal. By determining, it is possible to prevent duplicate usage reports from occurring.

In step 330 , the UPF device may receive a usage report from the UPF device in response to the transmission.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a usage report performed between a UPF device and an SMF device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the UPF device 510 may define usage report rules in step 515 and define billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule. The usage report rule defined by the UPF device 510 and billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule may be as shown in Table 1 above.

In step 520, the SMF device 505 determines the billing type information received from the PCF (Policy Control Function) or the billing type information corresponding to the user terminal based on a predefined usage report rule when not interworking with the PCF. there is. The SMF device 505 may transmit a session creation request message for requesting creation of a session to the UPF device 510 in step 525 . The session creation request message may include a vendor key information element. An example of the vendor main information element may be as shown in FIG. 4 , and the vendor main information element may include a value indicating a charging method.

The UPF device 510 may determine a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the value indicating the charging method included in the session creation request message received from the SMF device 505 and the usage according to the traffic generation of the user terminal. The UPF device 510 may transmit the usage report to the SMF device 505 in step 535 .

6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a UPF device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the UPF device 600 may include a communicator 610 , a processor 620 , and a memory 630 . The UPF device 600 described herein may correspond to the UPF device described herein.

The memory 630 is connected to the processor 620 and may store instructions executable by the processor 620 , data to be calculated by the processor 620 , or data processed by the processor 620 . Memory 630 may include non-transitory computer-readable media, such as high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile computer-readable storage media (eg, one or more disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state memory devices). may include

The communicator 610 provides an interface for communicating with an external device (eg, an SMF device). The communicator 610 may communicate with an external device through a wired or wireless network.

The processor 620 may perform one or more operations related to the method of determining a usage report described in FIG. 2 . For example, the processor 620 defines the UPF device 600 usage report rules, defines billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule, and includes a vendor main information element corresponding to the user terminal from the SMF device. The UPF device 600 may be controlled to receive the session creation request message.

When the value indicating the charging method included in the main vendor information element of the UPF device 600 is either the first value or the second value, the processor 620 is configured to determine the amount of usage corresponding to the user terminal and the usage report rule based on the rule. The UPF device 600 may be controlled to determine a usage report corresponding to the user terminal and transmit the determined usage report to the SMF device.

7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an SMF device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7 , the SMF device 700 may include a communicator 710 , a processor 720 , and a memory 730 . The SMF device 700 described herein may correspond to the SMF device described herein.

The memory 730 is connected to the processor 720 and may store instructions executable by the processor 720 , data to be calculated by the processor 720 , or data processed by the processor 720 . Memory 730 may include non-transitory computer-readable media, such as high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile computer-readable storage media (eg, one or more disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state memory devices). may include

The communicator 710 provides an interface for communicating with an external device (eg, a UPF device). The communicator 710 may communicate with an external device through a wired or wireless network.

The processor 720 may perform one or more operations related to the method of determining a usage report described in FIG. 3 . For example, the processor 720 determines the charging type information corresponding to the user terminal based on the SMF device 700 predefined usage report rule, and the vendor main information element including the charging type information corresponding to the user terminal. The SMF device 700 may be controlled to transmit (Vendor Specific Information Element) to the UPF (User Plane Function) device through the session creation request message. In addition, the processor 720 may control the SMF device 700 to receive a usage report from the UPF device in response to the SMF device 700 transmission.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the present invention, or may be known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic media such as floppy disks. - includes magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those generated by a compiler, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa.

As described above, although the present invention has been described with reference to limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and variations from these descriptions can be made by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. This is possible.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the following claims as well as the claims and equivalents.

110: user terminal 120: AMF device
130, 505, 700: SMF device 140, 510, 600: UPF device
610: communicator 620: processor
630: memory 710: communicator
720: processor 730: memory

Claims (15)

In the method of determining a usage report performed in a UPF (User Plane Function) device,
defining usage report rules, and defining billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule;
Receiving a session creation request message including a vendor specific information element (Vendor Specific Information Element) corresponding to the user terminal from the SMF (Session Management Function) device;
When the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the usage amount corresponding to the user terminal and the usage report rule determining a; and
Comprising the step of transmitting the determined usage report to the SMF device,
How usage reports are determined. According to claim 1,
The billing type information is
comprising at least one of information about a prepaid billing (online) type and information about a postpaid billing (offline) type,
How usage reports are determined. The method of claim 1,
The vendor information main element includes a value indicating a charging method,
How usage reports are determined. 4. The method of claim 3,
The value indicating the charging method is,
A first value indicating a method of applying prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, a second value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and a unit of prepaid charging based on a predetermined usage report rule or at least one value of a third value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging;
How usage reports are determined. According to claim 1,
The step of determining the usage report includes:
When the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, only the usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal is applied to the usage to report the usage corresponding to the user terminal comprising the step of determining
How usage reports are determined. A method for determining a usage report performed by a Session Management Function (SMF) device, the method comprising:
determining billing type information corresponding to the user terminal based on a predefined usage report rule;
transmitting a vendor specific information element including billing type information corresponding to the user terminal to a user plane function (UPF) device through a session creation request message; and
in response to the sending, receiving a usage report from the UPF device;
How usage reports are determined. 7. The method of claim 6,
The UPF device,
After receiving the main vendor information element, when a value indicating a billing method included in the received main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, the usage report corresponding to the user terminal and the usage report Determining a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the rule,
How usage reports are determined. 8. The method of claim 7,
The UPF device,
When the value indicating the billing method included in the major vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, a usage report rule corresponding to the user terminal is applied to the usage to report a usage corresponding to the user terminal to determine,
How usage reports are determined. 7. The method of claim 6,
The UPF device,
predefining the usage report rule, and predefining billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule,
How usage reports are determined. 10. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 9. In the UPF (User Plane Function) device for performing a usage report determination method,
memory and processor;
The memory stores instructions executable by the processor;
When the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor causes the UPF device to
Define usage report rules, define billing type information corresponding to each usage report rule,
Receiving a session creation request message including a vendor specific information element (Vendor Specific Information Element) corresponding to the user terminal from the SMF (Session Management Function) device,
When the value indicating the billing method included in the main vendor information element is either a first value or a second value, a usage report corresponding to the user terminal based on the usage amount corresponding to the user terminal and the usage report rule to decide,
controlling the UPF device to transmit the determined usage report to the SMF device,
UPF device. 12. The method of claim 11,
The billing type information includes at least one of information on a prepaid billing (online) type and information on a postpaid billing (offline) type,
UPF device. 12. The method of claim 11,
The vendor information main element includes a value indicating a charging method,
UPF device. 14. The method of claim 13,
The value indicating the charging method is,
A first value indicating a method of applying prepaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, a second value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging to all traffic of the user terminal, and a unit of prepaid charging based on a predetermined usage report rule or at least one value of a third value indicating a method of applying postpaid charging;
UPF device. In the SMF (Session Management Function) device for performing a usage report determination method,
memory and processor;
The memory stores instructions executable by the processor;
When the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor determines that the SMF device,
Determine the billing type information corresponding to the user terminal based on the predefined usage report rule,
Transmitting a Vendor Specific Information Element including billing type information corresponding to the user terminal to a User Plane Function (UPF) device through a session creation request message,
in response to the sending, controlling the SMF device to receive a usage report from the UPF device,
SMF device.

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