WO2011113261A1

WO2011113261A1 - Method and system for improving construction integrity of phone bill and charging data function (cdf) thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2011113261A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/076474
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王修中
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2010-03-18
Filing date: 2010-08-30
Publication date: 2011-09-22
Also published as: CN102196397B; CN102196397A

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and system for improving construction integrity of phone bill and Charging Data Function (CDF) thereof to solve the technical problem that the loss of Accounting Request (ACR) messages for constructing phone bill may be caused during the CDF primary-to-backup switch, resulting in generating massive incomplete phone bills. In the present invention, before the primary-to-backup switch, the primary CDF saves the incompletely collected ACR messages relating to the same session in a local buffer; after the primary-to-backup switch, the former primary CDF forwards the incompletely collected ACR messages relating to the same session to present primary CDF; said former primary CDF or said present primary CDF constructs Charging Data Record (CDR) of the phone bills according to integrity status of the ACR messages relating to the same session. During the primary-to-backup switch in IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the present invention can guarantee the transmission of the ACR messages relating to the same session to some specific CDF, greatly reduce the generation of incomplete CDR, and lower the probability of revenue loss for operators.

Description

Method, system and billing data function for improving the integrity of bill structure

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a method, system and charging data for improving the integrity of a billing/charging data record (CDR) in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Charging Data Function (CDF). Background technique

In the telecommunications network described by 3GPP, the billing system is one of its important functional components and is an important guarantee for operators to achieve revenue. Its main functions are as follows:

Figure 1 shows the composition of the charging function entities in the 3GPP network and their relationship: The Charging Trigger Function (CTF) is embedded in the 3GPP IMS network elements (including access layer network elements, service network elements). In the control subsystem, the main function is to collect the accounting information according to the usage of the monitored network resources, and send it to the charging data function through the Rf interface (Charging Data). Function, CDF); The main function of the CDF is to receive an Accounting Request (ACR) sent by the CTF, configured as a charging CDR, and sent to the Charging Gateway Function (CGF) through the Ga interface; The main function of the CGF is to store and manage the CDRs received by the CDF, and send the CDR files to the Billing Domain (BD) through the Bx interface.

Considering the importance of billing data, 3GPP proposes a reliable mechanism when CTF and CDF transmit billing messages. As shown in Figure 2, one CTF is connected to two CDFs, one of which is the primary CDF ( First CDF), another CDF as a spare CDF (Second CDF). The CTF first sends the ACR message to the primary CDF, causing a failure or interruption when the primary CDF link is used. The CTF sends the ACR message to the alternate CDF (this process is called FailOver). In the subsequent ACR message transmission process, if the CTF detects that the active link has been restored, the ACR message is resent to the primary CDF (this process is called FailBack). When the link between the CTF and the active and standby CDFs is interrupted, the CTF must have a certain buffering capability to ensure that the ACR data is not lost. Both the primary CDF and the alternate CDF can construct a charging CDR according to the AC message and send it to the CGF node through the Ga interface.

During the process of the IMS service, the IMS network element records the user's use of the network resources by continuously sending ACR messages to achieve the purpose of charging. For example, when the IMS service starts, the start of the IMS session is recorded by sending a Start ACR message, and the IMS network sends a temporary charging request (Interim ACR) when the IMS session exceeds a certain time or media switching occurs. Message; At the end of the IMS session, the IMS network element will send a Stop ACR message. For non-session IMS services, the IMS network element sends an Event ACR.

When constructing a bill, the CDF associates the Start ACR, Interim ACR, and Stop ACR associated with the same session into a single bill output. When a part of the ACR related to the same bill is lost (for example, the Stop ACR is lost), the CDF can only output an incomplete CDR when constructing the bill. When an incomplete CDR is output, it is likely that the IMS session cannot be billed (for example, a critical Start ACR or Stop ACR is missing, resulting in no critical information such as session duration in the CDR).

According to the above description, when the link between the CTF and the primary CDF is interrupted, and the link is switched to the standby CDF, if there are many ongoing IMS sessions at this time, the ACR related to the same session generated by the related IMS network element is obtained. Will be sent to the primary CDF and the alternate CDF, respectively, which will cause the CDF to construct an incomplete CDR. When the CTF detects that the primary CDF link is recovered and then switches the link to the primary CDF, the situation is similar and will result in an incomplete CDR. That is to say, when FailOver and FailBack occur, a large number of incomplete CDRs will appear. This in turn leads to lower revenue for operators. Summary of the invention

In view of the above, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a method, a system, and a CDF for improving the integrity of a bill, which are used to solve the problem that the ACR message may be lost when the active/standby switchover occurs in the CDF, resulting in a large number of The technical problem of the complete bill.

In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is achieved as follows:

Based on an aspect of the present invention, a method for improving the integrity of a bill construction is provided, the method comprising:

Prior to the active/standby switchover, the primary billing data function (CDF) caches the complete accounting request (ACR) messages associated with the same session locally;

After the active/standby switchover occurs, the original primary CDF forwards the uncollected ACR message related to the same session to the current active CDF;

The original primary CDF or the current primary CDF constructs a CDR (CDR) based on the completeness of the ACR message associated with the same session.

Further, before the active/standby switchover occurs, the primary CDF and the backup CDF are further configured to establish a link for transmitting the incomplete ACR message related to the same session.

Further, the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected within a set time limit, and if the collection is complete within the set time limit, a complete bill is constructed. Otherwise construct an incomplete bill.

Further, before and after the active/standby switchover, the step of confirming the primary standby state of each other through the active/standby status notification message between the original primary CDF and the current primary CDF is further included.

Based on the above method for improving the structural integrity of a bill, the present invention also provides a system for improving the integrity of a bill, the system comprising:

The primary CDF is used to receive and cache the ACR message;

The backup CDF is used to replace the primary CDF as the current primary CDF when the primary/standby switchover occurs; before the primary/standby switchover occurs, the primary CDF and the standby CDF are established for the transmission. For the incomplete link of the ACR message related to the same session, the primary CDF caches the ACR message that is not collected and is related to the same session locally; after the active/standby switchover occurs, the original primary CDF completes the uncollected message. The ACR message associated with the same session is forwarded to the current primary CDF; the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF constructs a bill based on the completeness of the ACR message associated with the same session.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a CDF is provided, the CDF comprising:

a link establishing module, configured to establish, with the peer CDF, a link for transmitting an incomplete ACR message related to the same session;

a status confirmation module, configured to confirm the primary and backup status of the CDF of itself and the peer;

An ACR cache module, configured to receive and cache an ACR message, and submit the ACR message related to the same session to the CDR construction module when it is complete;

The ACR forwarding module is configured to: after the status of the CDF is changed from the primary to the standby, triggering the ACR cache module to be incompletely synchronized with the same session under the trigger of the primary and secondary status notification messages sent by the CDF in the primary state. The related ACR message is forwarded to the CDF of the opposite end;

A CDR construction module that constructs the CDR and forwards it to the Charging Gateway Function (CGF). Further, the CDR construction module determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected completely within a set time limit, and if the collection is complete within the set time limit, constructs a complete CDR, otherwise constructs an incomplete CDR.

With the method of the present invention, when FailOver and FailBack occur in the IMS network, the ACR message related to the same session can be guaranteed to be sent to a specific CDF, which greatly reduces the generation of incomplete CDRs and reduces the revenue of the operators. The possibility of loss. DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a charging function defined by 3GPP;

2 is a schematic diagram of charging signaling defined by 3GPP;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for improving the integrity of a bill structure according to the present invention; 4 is a flow chart of a method for improving the integrity of a bill structure according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a CDF capable of improving the integrity of a bill structure according to the present invention. detailed description

The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is directed to the technical problem that a large number of incomplete CDRs will be generated when FailOver and FailBack occur, and since FailOver and FailBack both cause a primary standby state switching between the primary CDF and the standby CDF, the present invention will be between CDFs. The FailOver and FailBack that occur are collectively referred to as CDF active/standby switchover. The present invention proposes that a secure mechanism needs to be established between the primary CDF and the alternate CDF, which ensures that the ACR associated with the same session can eventually be sent to the same CDF (primary CDF or alternate CDF) to avoid incompleteness. Generation of CDRs. To achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a system for improving the integrity of a bill structure, and the specific structure of the system is as shown in FIG. Different from the existing system, the present invention needs to establish a physical connection between the primary CDF and the standby CDF, for confirming the primary and backup status between the CDFs, and when the primary/standby switching occurs, the primary The incomplete ACR message corresponding to the CDR on the CDF is transmitted to the standby CDF; the system mainly includes:

The primary CDF is used to receive and cache the ACR message;

The backup CDF is used to replace the primary CDF as the current primary CDF in the event of an active/standby switchover; before the primary/standby switchover occurs, the primary CDF caches the ACR messages not associated with the same session locally; After the standby switchover, the original primary CDF forwards the complete ACR message related to the same session to the current primary CDF (ie, the original backup CDF); the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF is based on the integrity of the ACR message associated with the same session. The situation constructs a bill.

Preferably, the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected within a set time limit, and if the collection is complete within a set time limit, Then construct a complete bill, otherwise construct an incomplete bill.

4 is a flow chart of a method for improving the integrity of a bill structure according to the present invention. The figure illustrates the interaction between the primary CDF and the standby CDF in the case of FailOver and the processing of the received message. The specific steps are as follows:

Step S01: The first CDF sends a handshake message to the second CDF.

Step S02: After receiving the handshake message sent by the first CDF, the second CDF sends a response message to the first CDF, and establishes a physical link between the first CDF and the second CDF by using the handshake message. The CDF that initiates the handshake message may be the first A CDF can also be a second CDF, and the physical link between the two can be established after the other party answers.

Step S03: The first CDF sends an active/standby status notification message to the second CDF, informing the other party that it is the current primary CDF, and the other party is the current standby CDF;

Step S04: The second CDF sends a status confirmation message to the first CDF to confirm the primary and standby states of the two CDFs;

Step S05: The IMS network element (for example, the Server-Call Session Control Function, S-CSCF) sends a Start ACR message to the currently used CDF.

Step S06: The first CDF caches the Start ACR message to the local area, and waits for the ACR related to the same session to be received, and then constructs the CDR;

Step S07: The link between the first CDF and the CTF is interrupted, and FailOver occurs;

Step S08: The IMS network element (for example, S-CSCF) sends a subsequent Interim ACR and Stop ACR message related to the same session to the second CDF (after the FailOver, the second CDF has been converted into the active state, and the CDF is used for the primary use). " and "alternate" status are dynamically changing);

Step S09: The second CDF sends an active/standby status notification message to the first CDF, that is, the original primary CDF, to inform the other party that it has become the primary CDF, and the other party has become the standby CDF;

Step S10: The first CDF sends a status confirmation message to the second CDF to confirm the primary and standby states of the two CDFs; that is, the second CDF becomes the primary CDF, and the first CDF becomes the standby CDF. Step S11: The first CDF sends its own cached Start AC message that belongs to the same session and has not been configured into a CDR to the second CDF. The meaning of this step is that after the active/standby switchover of the two CDFs, the original primary use The CDF and the current primary CDF merge the ACR messages belonging to the same session to the current primary CDF;

Step S12: The second CDF determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected completely, if the collection is complete, go to step S13; if it is not collected completely (for example, missing Stop ACR or Interim ACR), go to step S14;

Step S13: If the ACR message belonging to the same CDR is collected within the set time limit, the second CDF is associated with the StartACR, InterimACR, and Stop ACR associated with the same session, and the CDR is constructed and sent to the CGF through the Ga interface;

Step S14: If the waiting time exceeds the set time limit, the ACR still does not collect the complete, the second CDF constructs the incomplete CDR, and sends it to the CGF through the Ga interface;

Based on the above steps, if the CDR is not constructed in the second CDF, FailBack may occur, and the working link between the CTF and the CDF will be switched back to the first CDF. After the second CDF detects that it is in the standby state, the second CDF will An ACR message that does not construct a CDR itself is sent to the currently active CDF to construct a complete CDR.

Based on the method for improving the integrity of the CDR structure proposed by the present invention, the present invention also provides a CDF capable of improving the integrity of the CDR structure. As shown in FIG. 5, the CDF includes: a link establishment module, a status confirmation module, ACR cache module, ACR forwarding module, CDR construction module.

a link establishing module, configured to establish a link with the CDF of the opposite end by using a handshake signal;

a status confirmation module, configured to determine, by the CDF of the peer end, the primary and backup states of each other through the active/standby status notification message;

An ACR cache module, configured to receive and cache an AC message, and deliver the ACR message associated with the same session to the CDR construction module when it is complete;

The ACR forwarding module is configured to be used by the primary switch after the active/standby switchover occurs. After being used as a backup, the ACR message related to the same session cached by the ACR cache module is forwarded to the current active CDF under the trigger of the active/standby status notification message sent by the CDF in the active state; or the original primary use is received. Incomplete ACR messages related to the same session forwarded by the CDF;

A CDR construction module that constructs the CDR and forwards it to the CGF.

Preferably, the CDR construction module determines whether the AC message related to the same session has been collected within a set time limit, and if the collection is complete within the set time limit, constructs a complete CDR, otherwise constructs an incomplete CDR.

The IMS network element and the transmitted ACR message listed in the above steps are only a specific example of the present invention. In fact, all IMS network elements and all session-based charging messages are suitable for the present invention.

In summary, the method of the present invention can ensure that the ACR message related to the same session is sent to a specific CDF when FailOver and FailBack occur in the IMS network, which greatly reduces the generation of incomplete CDRs. Reduce the possibility of operator revenue losses.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

A method for improving the integrity of a bill, characterized in that the method comprises: before the active/standby switchover, the primary billing data function (CDF) will not collect the complete billing request related to the same session. (ACR) message cached locally;

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the active/standby switchover, the primary CDF and the backup CDF are further configured to establish a link for transmitting the incomplete ACR message related to the same session. step.

The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected within a set time limit, if If the collection is complete within the set time limit, a complete bill will be constructed, otherwise the incomplete bill will be constructed.

The method according to claim 1, wherein before and after the active/standby switchover, the step of confirming the primary standby state of each other by the active/standby state notification message between the original primary CDF and the current primary CDF is further included. .

A system for improving the integrity of a bill, characterized in that the system comprises: a primary CDF for receiving and caching an ACR message;

The backup CDF is used to replace the primary CDF as the current primary CDF in the event of an active/standby switchover; before the primary/standby switchover occurs, the primary CDF caches the ACR messages not associated with the same session locally; After the standby switchover, the original primary CDF forwards the uncollected ACR message related to the same session to the current primary CDF, that is, the original standby CDF; The original primary CDF or the current primary CDF constructs a bill based on the completeness of the ACR message associated with the same session.

The system according to claim 5, wherein a chain for transmitting the incomplete ACR message related to the same session is established between the primary CDF and the standby CDF before the active/standby switchover occurs. road.

The system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the original primary CDF or the current primary CDF determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected within a set time limit. If the collection is complete within the set time limit, a complete bill will be constructed, otherwise the incomplete bill will be constructed.

8. The system according to claim 5, wherein before and after the active/standby switchover, the primary active CDF and the current primary CDF confirm the primary standby state of each other through the active/standby status notification message.

9. A CDF, characterized in that the CDF comprises:

a link establishing module, configured to establish a link with the CDF of the peer end;

A CDR construction module that constructs the CDR and forwards it to the Charging Gateway Function (CGF).

The CDF according to claim 9, wherein the CDR construction module determines whether the ACR message related to the same session has been collected completely within a set time limit, and if the collection is complete within a set time limit, Construct a complete CDR, otherwise construct an incomplete CDR.