WO2008141503A1

WO2008141503A1 - Method and system for chargeing mbms according to flow

Info

Publication number: WO2008141503A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/003699
Authority: WO
Inventors: Meiping Liu
Original assignee: Zte Corporation
Priority date: 2007-05-24
Filing date: 2007-12-20
Publication date: 2008-11-27
Also published as: CN101052144A

Abstract

A method and system for charging MBMS according to a flow includes: during a user terminal (UE) joins a multicast group, a service side sends a mark for requesting the UE to return the flow to the UE; the UE saves the mark, and when receiving the multicast service with the mark, it counts the flow for the multicast service and saves the flow message; when leaving the multicast group, the UE sends the flow message to the service side; and after receiving the flow message, the service side sends the flow message to the counting system, which makes counting the charges according to the flow message.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of multimedia broadcast multicast, and more particularly to a method and system for implementing a flow metering fee when performing MBMS mobile multimedia broadcast multicast services. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast (MBMS) implements a point-to-multipoint service in which a data source transmits data to multiple terminals. MBMS can not only realize plain text low-rate message class multicast and broadcast, but also realize high-speed multimedia service multicast and broadcast. MBMS is based on WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/GSM packet network by adding some new functional entities, for example Broadcast Multicast Service Center BM-SC to add MBMS to existing packet domain functional entities such as Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), Radio Network Controller (RNC) and Terminal (UE) Function, and define a new logical shared channel to achieve air interface resource sharing.

The network reference model of MBMS is shown in Figure 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the broadcast/multicast center (BM-SC) is connected to the gateway general wireless packet service (GPRS) support node GGSN through the Gmb interface and the Gi port, and one BM-SC can be connected to multiple GGSNs, GGSN. It is connected to the knife service GRPS node SSGN through the Gn/Gp interface. One GGSN can be connected to multiple SGSNs. The SGSN can be connected to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) through the Iu interface, and then the UTRAN passes through the Uu. The interface is connected to the mobile terminal, and the SGSN can also be connected to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Enhanced Radio Access Network (GERAN) through the Iu/Gb interface, and the GERAN is connected to the mobile terminal through the Um interface. In the prior art, the process of receiving a multicast service by a terminal is as follows: 1. A subscription process for a terminal user, which is used by an end user to subscribe to a multicast service and establish a relationship between a terminal and a service provider. (Announcement), which is used to notify the terminal user of the services that the service provider can provide, and other service-related information. 3. The terminal user join process (Joining), where the terminal requests the service network to join the multicast group; 4. Session start process (Session Start), used for BM-SC to prepare to send data; 5. Notification process (Notification), used for RNC to notify the terminal that MBMS multicast starts immediately; 6. Data transfer process, the process It is a process of transmitting multimedia data of the terminal; 7. a session stop process (Session Stop), the BM-SC indicates that the session ends, and the bearer resource is released; and 8. The leaving process (Leaving), the process is that the terminal is not ready to receive the multimedia broadcast. , the process of leaving the multicast group. There are two methods for multicast charging in the current MBMS protocol: online and offline. The online and offline charging processes can be triggered by the terminal joining, leaving, session start, end, registration, and logout processes. The process of joining and leaving the terminal is involved in the way of the flow rate. However, since the current MBMS multicast service cannot guarantee whether the terminal receives the multimedia content, and cannot implement the charging according to the amount of the content traffic received by the terminal, it is urgent to implement a metering fee when performing the MBMS mobile multimedia broadcast multicast service. Method and system. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problem that the flow rate cannot be realized, the present invention provides a method and system for MBMS flow rate, which collects statistics on the traffic of the multimedia service received by the terminal, thereby realizing a relatively accurate flow rate. the way. In addition, for the operator, the present invention can provide a richer charging scheme to the end user, and provide the terminal user with a way to select a flow-based fee, and for those who do not frequently use the multicast service. The end user, the present invention is more attractive. An aspect of the present invention provides a MBMS per-flow method, which may include the following steps: Step 1: In a process of joining a multimedia multicast group, the service side sends a flag indicating that the terminal returns traffic to the terminal. Step 2: The terminal stores the tag, and when receiving the multicast service with the tag, performs traffic statistics on the multicast service and stores the traffic information. Step 3: When the terminal leaves the multimedia multicast group, the traffic information is sent to the service. And the step 4, after receiving the traffic information, the service side sends the traffic information to the charging system, and the charging system performs charging according to the traffic information. Step 1 may include the following steps: the terminal carries the tag in the authentication response sent to the GGSN on the joining service side; the GGSN carries the tag in the notification message sent to the SGSN; and the request MMESN sends the MBMS context activation to the terminal The message carries the tag. In step two, the traffic information corresponds to the ID of each multimedia content viewed. In the MBMS method of calculating the flow rate, the terminal records the flow rate information at predetermined intervals. In addition, in step 3, when the terminal actively leaves the multimedia multicast group, the traffic information is sent to the service side; and when the terminal is forced to leave, the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side when the next active departure. . In the method of the MBMS according to the flow rate, after the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side, the terminal sends the sent traffic information back to the target; and when all the traffic information cannot be completely transmitted at one time, the terminal will not be The traffic information of the returned tag is sent for the next transmission. A billing system according to an aspect of the present invention includes an online billing system and an offline billing system. Another aspect of the present invention provides a MBMS per-flow metering system, which may include: a tag setting unit, located at a service side, for requesting a terminal to return traffic settings during a process of joining a multimedia multicast group by a terminal a storage unit, located at the terminal, configured to store the tag received by the terminal, and when receiving the multicast service with the tag, perform traffic statistics on the multicast service and store the traffic information; and the charging unit is configured to After receiving the traffic information from the storage unit, the traffic information is used for charging. The traffic information corresponds to the ID of each multimedia content viewed. The storage unit records the flow information at predetermined intervals. The billing unit includes an online billing unit and an offline billing unit. Therefore, according to the present invention, the traffic of the multimedia service received by the terminal is counted, thereby realizing a more accurate traffic accounting method, and in addition, for the operator, a richer charging scheme can be provided to the terminal user. The end user is provided with a choice of a metered fee, and the present invention is more attractive to end users who do not frequently use multicast services. Other features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the <RTI BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are set to illustrate,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a MBMS network structure in the prior art; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for MBMS flow rate according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a flow rate of MBMS according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a process for a terminal to join a multicast group to perform an online charging process according to the MBMS flow metering method according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an MBMS according to the present invention. A schematic diagram of a method in which a terminal leaves a multicast group for an offline charging process in the method of charging; and FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a MBMS per-flow metering system according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2 is a flow chart of a MBMS flow-based method in accordance with the present invention. The method for calculating the MBMS according to the present invention is that when the end user joins the multimedia multicast group, the service side 4 bar needs the terminal to perform traffic statistics and returning the label to the terminal. When the terminal views the multicast content that needs to perform traffic statistics, it periodically saves information such as the traffic of the viewing content, the time of viewing, and the identification of the content, and periodically saves to prevent the terminal from being accidentally shut down or inaccessible. The information that is actually viewed by the terminal is maximized to avoid the accidental situation, and the viewing information caused by not keeping the viewing information in time is not recorded in time. When the terminal initiates to leave the multicast group, the terminal carries the information such as the traffic of the multimedia information of the terminal in the Leaving message. When the terminal is watching the multicast service, the Leaving message is not initiated by the UE due to other abnormal conditions, but is initiated by the RC, the SGSN, or the GGSN. Therefore, when viewing the same multicast service at a time, it does not necessarily ensure that the traffic such as the traffic is smooth. Returned to BM-SC, so the traffic that has been sent back traffic information has been sent back, and the transmitted traffic is no longer transmitted. For those multimedia multicast content without backhaul traffic information, you can wait for When the secondary terminal actively leaves Leaving, the traffic information of the multimedia multicast service that may be viewed multiple times may be brought back to the BM-SC when the terminal is actively Leaving. Because each time the terminal actively leaves Leaving, it must return the traffic that has not been backhauled. If the traffic information of one return is too large, it will be reserved for the next return. When the BM-SC receives the Leaving request, if the message carries the viewing traffic information of the multimedia multicast content, the traffic information is taken when the CDF (Accounting Data Function Entity) and the OCS (Online Accounting System) send a request. If the traffic information includes the viewing information of the multimedia content, the supplementary service Id and the traffic information are added to the charging information. As shown in FIG. 2, the method specifically includes the following steps: Step S202: In a process of joining a multimedia multicast group, the service side sends a flag indicating that the terminal returns traffic to the terminal, where the service side sends the mark; in step S204, the terminal stores the mark, and When receiving the multicast service with the tag, performing traffic statistics on the multicast service and storing the traffic information; Step S206: When the terminal leaves the multimedia multicast group, sending the traffic information to the service side; and step S208, the service side receives After the traffic information is sent, the traffic information is sent to the charging system, and the charging system performs charging according to the traffic information. Step S202 may include the following processing: the terminal is sent by joining the service side.

The GGSN carries the tag in the authentication response; the GGSN carries the tag in the notification message sent to the SGSN; and the SGSN carries the tag in the message requesting the MBMS context activation sent to the terminal. In step S204, the flow information respectively corresponds to the ID of each multimedia content viewed. The step S204 includes the following processing: when receiving the multimedia multicast service, the terminal performs traffic statistics and return traffic information marking on the service of the multicast group that requires the return traffic, and for the multimedia content that performs traffic statistics and returns the tag, the terminal is in each During the secondary viewing, record the ID and traffic of each multimedia content viewed, as well as the time period of viewing; the terminal records the viewing information, and must periodically record the traffic information. For example, when viewing multimedia content, record the traffic information every 2 minutes. , to avoid sudden power failure of the terminal or other reasons, the traffic information is not enough to come down; The storage function module is configured to: after viewing the multimedia content that needs to return the flow information, the terminal sends the viewing information of the multimedia content to the storage function module. In addition, in the MBMS method of calculating the flow rate, the terminal records the flow rate information at a predetermined interval i. In the step S206, when the terminal actively leaves the multimedia multicast group, the traffic information is sent to the service side, and when the terminal is forced to leave, the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side when the next active departure. In the MBMS method according to the flow rate, after the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side, the terminal sends the sent traffic information to the backhaul flag, and when all the traffic information cannot be completely sent at one time, the terminal will not be performed. The traffic information of the returned tag is reserved for the next transmission. The step S206 specifically includes the following processing: If the Leaving process is not initiated by the UE, but is forced by the other network element to terminate the process, the traffic information of the multimedia broadcast content that needs to be carried in the Leaving request is next time. The process of the terminal active Leaving is brought back; and since the terminal receives the group, the received multimedia content may be more than one, so each time the terminal actively leaves, the multimedia content traffic information taken from the terminal is returned to the BM-SC through Leaving, The traffic that has been sent back traffic information has been sent back to the marked, and the traffic that has been transmitted is no longer transmitted. In addition, each time the terminal actively leaves Leaving, the traffic that has not been returned is sent back. If the returned traffic information is too large, it will be reserved for the next return. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal joins the multicast group process in the MBMS flow-by-flow method of the present invention. Although the process looks the same as the protocol, it is actually modified, when the terminal decides To join a multicast group (the terminal has subscribed to the multicast service), the UE (the user equipment, that is, the terminal) activates a general purpose PDP context, including the following improvement process:

S302, an IGMP (IPv4) or MLD (Ipv6) Join message is above the default PDP context to mark that the UE is interested in receiving a specific multicast MBMS bearer service, and the bearer service is identified by an IP multicast address. ;

S304, the GGSN sends an MBMS authentication request, and seeks to authenticate the received data of the activated UE. The authentication response message of the BM-SC carries a flag that needs to return traffic (for whether the traffic fee is charged, the terminal can be queried for subscription. Information, that is, the terminal can sign up for the flow rate), and if the MBMS authentication response indicates that the UE is not authorized to receive the MBMS data, the process Terminated, there is no longer any additional message interaction;

S306, the GGSN sends an MBMS notification request (IP multicast address, APN (access point name), Linked NSAPI (MBMS network service node point identifier), and whether a traffic charge is required) to the SGSN, and the SGSN sends an MBMS notification response. The message is sent to the GGSN, and the Cause in the response message indicates whether the MBMS context activation is going on. If the Cause indication in the corresponding message is unsuccessful, the GGSN will not send any MBMS request message, and the process ends.

S308. The SGSN sends an MBMS Context Activation Request message to the UE, requesting it to activate an MBMS UE context, where the request message includes an IP multicast address, an APN, a Linked NSAPI, a TI (Transport Identity), and a flag indicating whether a traffic charge is required. ;

S310. The UE creates an MBMS UE context and sends an activated MBMS context request (IP multicast address, APN, MBMS_NSAPI, MBMS bearer capabilities) to the SGSN, and the subsequent activation process is not related to the present invention. The relationship is omitted, and is not described. S312. The UE performs traffic statistics on the multicast service according to the marking of the returned traffic, and performs traffic storage. Since the multicast service that the UE needs to return may exist, it is necessary to implement the pair. Traffic statistics of multiple multicast services are marked and saved for whether they have been returned.

S314: Before sending the multicast service, the BM-SC sends a session start message to the UE through the GGSN, the SGSN, and the RAN. Since the session process is not related to the present invention, it is simply indicated that the detailed process is omitted.

S316, the BM-SC sends a multimedia multicast service to the UE;

S318: When receiving the multimedia multicast service content, the UE periodically refreshes and saves the traffic information of the multimedia multicast content to the terminal storage. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a flowchart for modifying a standard flow of a terminal leaving a multicast group is specifically illustrated. FIG. 4 is a diagram of a method for calculating a flow rate of a terminal in a MBMS according to the present invention. A schematic diagram of performing an online charging process, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an offline charging process in which a terminal leaves a multicast group in a MBMS flow-based method according to the present invention. The ilt process is described in detail below in conjunction with FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG. 4, the following processes are specifically included: S402. The UE sends an IGMP (IPV4) or MLD (IPV6) Leave message on the default PDP (Packet Data Protocol) context. (If the UE generates the Leave message, the management information of the multimedia multicast service is obtained from the UE, if found. The content related to the multicast service needs to return the viewing traffic information without returning the traffic information, and the leaving message carries the marking and traffic of the content that the multimedia multicast service has watched but the viewing content has not returned the traffic information. Information), leaving a specific multicast service is identified by an IP multicast address;

S404, the GGSN sends a multicast indication message to the BM-SC proxy and the transmission function, and forwards the message to the BM-SC member function through the 4 bar message, instructing the UE to leave the multicast service identified by the IP multicast address, and the process is through the Gmb. S406: The BM-SC sends a charging request message to the CDF. If the Leaving message carries the traffic information of the viewing content, the information is carried in the charging request to the CDF, and then the CDF is directed to the BM. The SC sends a charging response;

S408, after receiving the leaving indication, the BM-SC member function verifies the IP multicast address conforming to a valid MBMS bearer service and sends a UE multicast request (IP multicast address, APN, and IMS (Multimedia Subsystem)) to the GGSN , the message triggers the leaving indication, and sends a UE deletion request to the GGSN;

S410. After receiving the UE deletion request for some reason, the GGSN initiates an MBMS UE context deactivation request message, and the SGSN initiates an MBMS context deactivation response to the GGSN; and S412, upon receiving the MBMS UE context deactivation request or other The SGSN sends a deactivated MBMS Context Request (TI) to the UE, the TI is used to identify the MBMS UE Context, and the UE deletes the MBMS UE Context and sends the MBMS Context Deactivation Response to the SGSN. It should be understood that the above process is not a complete Leaving, and only the processes that are very relevant to the method of the present invention are described herein, and the rest of the processes are not described. 5 and FIG. 4, for the online charging process shown in FIG. 5, except for S506 and S406, the other processes are the same as the offline process shown in FIG. 4, and therefore will not be described in detail. S506 is a BM-SC that sends a charging request message to the OCS. If the Leaving message carries the traffic information of the viewing content, the information is carried in the charging request and sent to the OCS. The OCS then sends a charging response to the BM-SC. The billing system used in the present invention includes an online billing system and an offline billing system. Therefore, the method of the present invention improves the terminal joining process, and carries a flag indicating that the terminal returns traffic information in the terminal authentication response message, and improves the terminal function. When the terminal receives the added multicast group service and needs to return traffic information, the method All the multimedia content viewing information of the multicast is collected and stored in the storage module of the terminal, and the active Leaving process of the terminal is improved. When the terminal initiates the Leaving initiative, the Leaving message carries the information of the multimedia content of the terminal before the time. When the BM-SC sends a charging request to the CDF/OCS in the Leaving process, the BM-SC carries the traffic information to the CDF/OCS, so that the specific traffic of the terminal to watch the multicast service can be charged. 6 is a block diagram of a MBMS flow-based system 600 in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the system includes: a tag setting unit 602, located on the service side, for setting a threshold for returning traffic to the terminal during the process of joining the multimedia multicast group by the terminal; the storage unit 604 is located at the terminal. And storing, by the terminal, the mark received by the terminal, and performing traffic statistics on the multicast service and storing the flow information when receiving the marked multicast service; and the charging unit 606, configured to receive the received information from the storage unit 604. After the traffic information, the traffic information is used for charging. The traffic information corresponds to the ID of each multimedia content viewed. The storage unit 604 records the flow rate information at predetermined intervals. The billing unit 606 includes an online billing unit and an offline billing unit. In summary, the method and system of the present invention collect statistics on the traffic of the multimedia service received by the terminal, thereby implementing a more accurate method of calculating the flow rate. In addition, for the operator, it can provide a richer The billing scheme is provided to the terminal, and the terminal is provided with a choice of a flow rate fee, and the present invention is more attractive for terminals that do not frequently use multicast services. The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claims A method of MBMS flow-by-flow, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

Step 1: When the terminal user joins the multimedia multicast group, the service side sends a label requesting the terminal to return the traffic to the terminal.

Step 2: The terminal stores the label, and when receiving the multicast service with the label, performs traffic statistics on the multicast service and stores the traffic information.

Step 3: When the terminal user leaves the multimedia multicast group, send the traffic information to the service side;

Step 4: After receiving the traffic information, the service side sends the traffic information to the charging system, and the charging system performs charging according to the traffic information. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step 1 includes the following processing: the terminal joins the service side by carrying the indication "i" in the authentication response sent to the GGSN;

The GGSN carries the tag in a notification message sent to the SGSN; and the SGSN carries the tag in a message requesting the MBMS context activation sent to the terminal. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the second step, the traffic information corresponds to an ID of each multimedia content viewed. The method according to claim 3, wherein said terminal records said traffic information at predetermined intervals. The method according to claim 4, wherein in the third step,

Transmitting the traffic information to the service side when the terminal actively leaves the multimedia multicast group;

When the terminal is forced to leave, the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side when the next active departure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein

After the terminal sends the traffic information to the service side, the terminal sends the sent traffic information to the backhaul flag;

When all of the traffic information cannot be completely transmitted at a time, the traffic information that has not been subjected to the backhaul flag is left for the next transmission.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the billing system comprises an online billing system and an offline billing system.

8. A MBMS flow-based system, comprising:

The marking setting unit is located on the service side, and is used to set the target traffic back to the terminal when the terminal joins the multimedia multicast group;

a storage unit, configured to store the identifier received by the terminal, and, when receiving the multicast service with the label, perform traffic statistics on the multicast service and store traffic information;

And a charging unit, configured to perform charging according to the traffic information after receiving the traffic information from the storage unit.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the traffic information corresponds to an ID of each multimedia content viewed.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the storage unit records the flow rate information at a predetermined interval.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the charging unit comprises an online charging unit and an offline charging unit.