WO2013078857A1

WO2013078857A1 - Charging service processing method and system, charging gateway, and online charging system

Info

Publication number: WO2013078857A1
Application number: PCT/CN2012/077787
Authority: WO
Inventors: 张世奇
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2011-11-30
Filing date: 2012-06-28
Publication date: 2013-06-06
Also published as: CN103138951A

Abstract

Disclosed is a charging service processing method, comprising: a charging gateway monitoring in real time a service used by a user terminal, and when a QHT expires, sending a credit control request message to an online charging system, the credit control request message carrying a report reason being that the QHT expires; according to that the report reason is the expiration of the QHT, the online charging system sending to a charging gateway a credit control response message with a quota being 0; the charging gateway receiving the credit control response message, triggering the report quota 0 according to the QHT, and releasing relevant resources of the service used by the user terminal. Further disclosed is a charging service processing system, a charging gateway, and an online charging system. By means of the solution of the present invention, the exchange of the credit control request message and credit control response message is reduced during a silence service, and the system performance is improved.

Description

Method and system for processing billing service, billing gateway, online billing system

The present invention relates to the field of communication charging, and in particular, to a method and system for processing a charging service, a charging gateway, and an online charging system. Background technique

With the development of online charging technology, the performance of online charging systems has become the focus of operators. Key performance metrics for online billing systems include real-time, reliability, scalability, and fault tolerance. Among them, real-time performance is a very important indicator, and operators also have clear rules on the average delay of system processing. Therefore, how to improve the processing speed of the system and reduce the response delay of the system is the key technology of the online charging system.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of signaling interaction between various functional modules in a charging system. As shown in FIG. 1 , the charging system mainly includes a user terminal, a charging gateway, and an online charging system. The main function of the charging gateway is to determine the service rate, usage duration or traffic used by the user, and the CDR to be saved. The main function of the online charging system is to authenticate, authorize, and charge the user, including The following steps:

Step 101: The user terminal sends a charging request to the charging gateway.

Step 102: After receiving the charging request of the user and determining that the prepaid user is the prepaid user, the charging gateway sends a CCR-I (Credit-Control-Request-INITIAL) message to the online charging system for authentication.

Step 103: The online charging system receives the CCR-I message, queries whether the user exists, verifies whether the identity is legal, and sends a credit control initial response (CCA-I, Credit-Control-Answer-INITIAL) message to the charging gateway.

Step 104: After receiving the CCA-I message, the charging gateway sends an access response message to the user. And determining whether the user authentication succeeds according to the CCA-I message. If the CCA-I message indicates that the user authentication is successful, step 105 is performed; otherwise, the user activation fails, the resources on the charging gateway are released, and the process ends.

Step 105: The user terminal sends a new service access request to the charging gateway.

Step 106: The charging gateway parses and identifies the service information used by the user terminal, the uplink and downlink traffic, and the like according to the new service access request, and passes the parsed and identified information through the credit control update request (CCR-U, Credit-Control- The Request-UPDATE message is sent to the online charging system.

Step 107: The online charging system appends the service used by the user terminal according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and issues a new quota to the service, and updates the response through the credit control (CCA-U, Credit-Control-Answer-UPDATE) The rating and quota of the message carrying service are sent to the charging gateway.

Step 108: After receiving the CCA-U message, the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the quota. When the monitoring condition arrives, the charging gateway sends the CCR-U to the online charging system to continue to apply for the quota. Step 107.

Step 109: The user terminal actively sends a PDP deactivation message to the charging gateway.

Step 110: After receiving the user deactivation message, the charging gateway sends a CCR-T (Credit-Control-Request-TERMINATION) message to the online charging system, where the CCR-T message carries the user terminal. Information such as the actual quota used.

Step 111: After receiving the CCR-T message, the online charging system performs processing such as rating, account control, and the like, and sends a credit control end response (CCA-T, Credit-Control-Answer-TERMINATION) message to the accounting gateway.

Step 112: The charging gateway sends a deactivation response message to the user terminal.

In summary, in the process of user activation, service processing, and user deactivation, the charging gateway and the online charging system interact through CCR-U and CCA-U messages. The charging gateway determines that the monitoring condition of the service arrives. If the monitoring condition arrives, the quota holding time (QHT, Quota-Holding-Time) arrives, the online charging system normally delivers the CCA-U, and at this time, if the user terminal uses The service has been in the state of no data packet (silent service), and there are always CCR-U and CCA-U messages of the silent service between the charging gateway and the online charging system. If the QHT time is short, the charging gateway will continuously send a credit control request to the billing system to apply for a quota, which affects the processing rate of the system. Because the quiet service of the user terminal is no longer used in a short period of time, it will occupy certain accounting gateway resources. If the services of a large number of user terminals are in a silent service, the network may cause the charging gateway/system to be paralyzed because the CCR-U and CCA-U messages are too dense. Summary of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a method and system for processing a charging service, a charging gateway, and an online charging system, which can reduce CCR-U and CCA-U message interaction during silent service, and improve the system. Performance, reducing billing gateway resource utilization.

To achieve the above objective, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

A method for processing a charging service according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on a service used by the user terminal, and when the QHT arrives, sends a credit control request message to the online charging system, where The reason for carrying the report in the credit control request message is that the QHT arrives;

The online charging system arrives at the QHT according to the reporting reason, and sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway;

The charging gateway receives the credit control response message, and according to the quota reported by the QHT triggering, the related resources of the service used by the user terminal are released.

In the foregoing solution, the method further includes: when the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives, the charging gateway sends a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the credit control request message carries the reporting condition that is the non-QHT monitoring condition Arrivals. In the above solution, the method further includes: when the online charging system determines that the monitoring condition of the non-QHT is reached, the service used by the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and a new quota is issued. The credit control response message carries the rating and quota of the service to the charging gateway.

In the above solution, the method further includes: the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service rating and the quota carried by the credit control response message.

In the above solution, the credit control response message further carries a result code, and the charging gateway performs corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the response control response message.

The system for processing a charging service provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes: a charging gateway and an online charging system;

The charging gateway is configured to perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal. When the QHT arrives, the credit control request message is sent to the online charging system, and the credit control request message carries the reporting reason as QHT arrival; receiving the credit control response The message, when determining that the quota reported by the QHT trigger is 0, releasing the related resources of the service used by the user terminal;

The online charging system is configured to receive a credit control request message, and according to the reporting reason, the QHT arrives, and sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway.

In the foregoing solution, the charging gateway is further configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system when the monitoring condition of the non-QHT arrives, where the reason for reporting the non-QHT is reported in the credit control request message The condition arrived.

In the foregoing solution, the online charging system is further configured to: when the monitoring condition of the non-QHT is reached, the service used by the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and a new quota is issued. The fee gateway sends a credit control response message carrying the rating and quota of the service.

In the foregoing solution, the charging gateway is further configured to perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service rating and the quota carried in the credit control response message. In the above solution, the credit control response message further carries a result code; the charging gateway is further configured to perform corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message.

The charging gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes: a request message processing unit, a response message processing unit, and a service processing unit;

The request message processing unit is configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the reason for carrying the report is QHT arrival;

The response message processing unit is configured to receive the credit control response message, and when it is determined that the quota reported by the QHT trigger is 0, notify the service processing unit to release the related resource used by the user terminal, and the service processing unit is configured to perform the service used by the user terminal. Real-time monitoring, when the QHT arrives, notifying the request message processing unit; and releasing the relevant resources of the user terminal using the service according to the notification of the response message processing unit.

An online charging system is provided by the embodiment of the present invention. The online charging system includes: a message receiving unit, a reason determining unit, a quota processing unit, and a message sending unit;

The message receiving unit is configured to receive the credit control request message, and notify the reason judging unit; the reason judging unit is configured to notify the quota processing unit when the reason for reporting is that the QHT arrives;

The quota processing unit is configured to set the quota to 0;

The message sending unit is configured to send a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway. The method and system for processing the charging service, the charging gateway, and the online charging system provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal, and sends the service to the online charging system when the QHT arrives. a credit control request message, wherein the credit control request message carries a reporting reason of QHT arrival; the online charging system sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway according to the reporting reason, and the charging gateway receives the The credit control response message is based on the quota reported by the QHT trigger to be 0, releasing the relevant resources of the user terminal to use the service. Therefore, the credit control request message and the credit control response message interaction during the silent service can be reduced, the performance of the system is improved, and the utilization rate of the charging gateway resource is reduced. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic flowchart of a processing method of a charging service in the prior art;

2 is a schematic flowchart of a method for processing a charging service according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for implementing a charging when a credit control request message is a CCR-U message and a credit control response message is a CCA-U message according to an embodiment of the present invention; Schematic diagram of the processing method of the business;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a processing system for implementing a charging service according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The basic idea of the embodiment of the present invention is: the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal, and when the QHT arrives, sends a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the reason for reporting the message is QHT The online charging system arrives at the QHT according to the reporting reason, and sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway; the charging gateway receives the credit control response message, and releases the user terminal according to the quota reported by the QHT triggering is 0. Use related resources of the business.

The embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The embodiment of the present invention implements a method for processing a charging service. As shown in FIG. 2, the method includes the following steps:

Step 201: The charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal, and sends a credit control request message to the online charging system when the QHT arrives, and the reason for the reporting in the credit control request message is that the QHT arrives;

Step 202: The online charging system arrives at the QHT according to the reporting reason, and sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway.

Step 203: The charging gateway receives the credit control response message, and reports the report according to the QHT. The quota is 0, releasing the related resources of the user terminal to use the service.

The foregoing step 201 further includes: when the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives, the charging gateway sends a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the credit control request message carries the reporting reason that the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives;

Preferably, in the foregoing step 202, when the online charging system determines that the monitoring condition of the non-QHT is reached, the service used by the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and a new quota is issued. Sending the rating and quota of the service carrying the service through the credit control response message to the charging gateway;

Preferably, in the foregoing step 203, the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service rating and the quota carried in the credit control response message;

The credit control response message further carries a result code, and the charging gateway performs corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message.

In the above steps, the credit control request message is generally a CCR-U message; and the credit control response message is generally a CCA-U message.

Specifically, when the credit control request message is a CCR-U message and the credit control response message is a CCA-U message, the method for processing the charging service is implemented. As shown in FIG. 3, the following steps are included:

Step 301: The user terminal sends a charging request to the charging gateway.

Step 302: After receiving the charging request of the user terminal, the charging gateway determines that the prepaid user sends a CCR-I message to the online charging system for authentication.

Step 303: The online charging system receives the CCR-I message, queries whether the user exists, verifies whether the identity is legal, and sends a CCA-I message to the charging gateway.

Step 304: After receiving the CCA-I message, the charging gateway sends an access response message to the user, and determines whether the user authentication succeeds according to the CCA-I message. If the CCA-I message indicates that the user authentication succeeds, step 305 is performed. Otherwise, the user activation fails, releasing the resources on the charging gateway, the process End.

Step 305: The user terminal sends a new service access request to the charging gateway.

Step 306: The charging gateway sends a CCR-U message to the online charging system.

Step 307: The online charging system performs the rating on the service used by the user terminal according to the CCR-U message, and calculates the quota.

Step 308: The online charging system sends a CCA-U message carrying the rating and quota of the service to the charging gateway.

In this step, when the charging gateway does not support QHT, the CCA-U message also carries the QHT. Step 309: The charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal. When the QHT arrives, the CCR-U message is sent to the online charging system, and the CCR-U message carries the report because the QHT arrives.

The step further includes: when the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives, the charging gateway sends a CCR-U message to the online charging system, where the CCR-U message carries the reason that the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives.

Step 310: The online charging system arrives at the QHT according to the reporting reason, and the online charging system directly deducts the fee, and sends a CCA-U message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway.

The step of the present invention includes: when the online charging system determines that the monitoring condition of the non-QHT is reached, the service of the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and a new quota is issued, and the service is carried by the CCA-U message. The rating and quota are sent to the charging gateway, and the quota includes: traffic, time, events, and the like.

Here, the CCA-U message also carries a result code (result-code), such as: success, arrears, free, and the like.

The device advertises the service used by the user terminal according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and issues a new quota, which is specifically: when the remaining quota of the user terminal is within the credit limit of the user terminal, the service used by the user terminal is approved. Price, the available quota is not lower than the minimum quota; When the remaining quota of the user terminal is not within the credit limit of the user terminal, the service used by the user terminal is priced, and the last remaining quota or zero quota is issued, and the FUI unit is delivered.

Step 311: The charging gateway receives the CCA-U message, and according to the quota reported by the QHT triggering, the related resources of the service used by the user terminal are released.

The step further includes: the charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service price and quota carried by the CCA-U message.

The method further includes: the charging gateway performs corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the CCA-U message, for example, the result code is successful, and when the issued quota is not equal to 0, if the service used by the user terminal is The silent service activates the silent service. If the service used by the user terminal is a non-silent service, the non-silent service is monitored in real time. When the service quota is equal to 0, if the service used by the user terminal is a silent service, the silent service is released. Resources; if the service used by the user terminal is a non-silent service, the non-silent service is terminated;

The result code is arrears. When the service used by the user terminal is a silent service, the service is processed according to the arrears service;

The result code is free. When the service used by the user terminal is a silent service, the service is processed free of charge.

In this step, when all the services of the current user terminal are not allowed to be accessed, the charging gateway sends a reverse deactivation message to the user terminal.

After the foregoing step 311, the method further includes steps 312 to 315:

Step 312: The user terminal actively sends a PDP deactivation message to the charging gateway.

Step 313: After receiving the user deactivation message, the charging gateway sends a CCR-T message to the online charging system, where the CCR-T message carries information such as the actual quota used by the user terminal.

Step 314: After receiving the CCR-T message, the online charging system performs processing such as rating, account control, and the like, and sends a CCA-T message to the charging gateway.

Step 315: The charging gateway sends a deactivation response message to the user terminal. In order to implement the foregoing method, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a processing system for a charging service. As shown in FIG. 4, the system includes: a charging gateway 41 and an online charging system 42;

The charging gateway 41 is configured to perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal, and when the QHT arrives, send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the reason for carrying the report is QHT arrival; Controlling the response message, and when determining that the quota reported by the QHT trigger is 0, releasing the related resources of the service used by the user terminal;

The online charging system 42 is configured to receive a credit control request message, and the QHT arrives according to the reporting reason, and sends a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway 41;

The charging gateway 41 is further configured to receive a charging request of the user terminal, and after determining that it is a prepaid user, send a CCR-I message to the online charging system 42;

The online charging system 42 is further configured to receive a CCR-I message, query whether the user exists, verify whether the identity is legal, and send a CCA-I message to the charging gateway 41;

The charging gateway 41 is further configured to: when the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives, send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the credit control request message carries the reporting condition that the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives ;

The online charging system 42 is further configured to: when the monitoring condition of the non-QHT is reached, the service of the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and a new quota is issued, and the charging gateway 41 is sent to the charging gateway 41. Sending a credit control response message carrying the rating and quota of the service, where the quota includes: traffic, time, event, etc.;

Preferably, the charging gateway 41 is configured to perform real-time monitoring on services used by the user terminal according to the service rating and quota carried in the credit control response message.

Preferably, the charging gateway 41 is further configured to perform corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message.

The charging gateway 41 specifically includes: a request message processing unit 411, a response message processing unit 412, and a service processing unit 413; The request message processing unit 411 is configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the reason for carrying the report is QHT arrival;

The response message processing unit 412 is configured to receive the credit control response message, and when it is determined that the quota of the QHT trigger is 0, the service processing unit 413 is notified to release the related resources used by the user terminal.

The service processing unit 413 is configured to perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal, and when the QHT arrives, notify the request message processing unit 411; and release the related resources of the service used by the user terminal according to the notification of the response message processing unit 412;

The service processing unit 413 is further configured to notify the request message processing unit 411 when the monitoring condition of the non-QHT arrives;

Correspondingly, the request message processing unit 411 is further configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the credit control request message carries a reporting condition that the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives;

The response message processing unit 412 is further configured to receive a credit control response message carrying a service rating and a quota, and notify the service processing unit 413;

The service processing unit 413 is further configured to receive the notification of the response message processing unit 412, and perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service price and quota carried in the credit control response message;

The service processing unit 413 is further configured to perform corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message, including: successful, arrears, free, and the like.

The online charging system 42 specifically includes: a message receiving unit 421, a reason determining unit 422, a quota processing unit 423, and a message sending unit 424;

The message receiving unit 421 is configured to receive the credit control request message, and notify the reason determining unit 422; The reason judging unit 422 is configured to notify the quota processing unit 423 when the reason for determining that the QHT arrives;

Quota processing unit 423, configured to set the quota to 0;

The message sending unit 424 is configured to send a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway 41;

The reason judging unit 422 is further configured to notify the quota processing unit 423 when it is determined that the monitoring condition that the reason is non-QHT arrives;

The quota processing unit 423 is further configured to perform a rating on the service used by the user terminal according to the remaining quota of the user terminal, and set a new quota;

The message sending unit 424 is further configured to send a credit control response message carrying the rating and quota of the service to the charging gateway 41;

The credit control response message sent by the message sending unit 424 also carries a result code, such as: success, arrears, free, and the like.

Based on the above system, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a charging gateway. As shown in FIG. 4, the charging gateway 41 includes: a request message processing unit 411, a response message processing unit 412, and a service processing unit 413;

The request message processing unit 411 is configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the reason for carrying the report is QHT arrival;

The service processing unit 413 is further configured to notify when a non-QHT monitoring condition arrives Request message processing unit 411;

Correspondingly, the request message processing unit 411 is further configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system 42, where the reason for carrying the report is the non-reported reason

The monitoring condition of QHT arrives;

Based on the above system, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an online charging system. As shown in FIG. 4, the online charging system 42 includes: a message receiving unit 421, a reason determining unit 422, a quota processing unit 423, and a message sending unit 424. ; among them,

The message receiving unit 421 is configured to receive the credit control request message, and notify the reason judgment unit 422;

The reason judging unit 422 is configured to notify the quota processing unit 423 when the reason for determining that the QHT arrives;

Quota processing unit 423, configured to set the quota to 0;

The quota processing unit 423 is further configured to pair the user terminal according to the remaining quota of the user terminal. The used business is priced and a new quota is set;

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 processing a billing service, wherein the method comprises:

The charging gateway performs real-time monitoring on the services used by the user terminal, when the quota is kept.

When the (QHT) arrives, the credit control request message is sent to the online charging system, and the reason for the reporting in the credit control request message is that the QHT arrives;

2. The processing method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: when the monitoring condition of the non-QHT arrives, the charging gateway sends a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the credit control request message carries The reason for the report is that the monitoring condition of the non-QHT arrives.

The processing method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises: when the online charging system determines that the monitoring condition that the reason is non-QHT arrives, and the service used by the user terminal is priced according to the remaining quota of the user terminal. A new quota is issued, and the rating and quota of the service carried by the credit control response message are sent to the charging gateway.

The processing method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises: the charging gateway performing real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service rating and the quota carried by the credit control response message.

The processing method according to claim 3, wherein the credit control response message further carries a result code, and the charging gateway performs corresponding processing on the service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message.

A processing system for a billing service, wherein the system comprises: a billing gateway and an online billing system;

The charging gateway is configured to perform real-time monitoring on the services used by the user terminal, when the QHT arrives And sending a credit control request message to the online charging system, where the credit control request message carries the reporting reason as QHT arrival; and receives the credit control response message, and when the quota of the QHT triggering report is determined to be 0, the user terminal is used to release the service. related resources;

The processing system according to claim 6, wherein the charging gateway is further configured to send a credit control request message to the online charging system when the non-QHT monitoring condition arrives, where the credit control request message is The reason for carrying the report is that the monitoring condition of the non-QHT arrives.

The processing system according to claim 7, wherein the online charging system is further configured to determine, when the monitoring condition that the reporting reason is non-QHT arrives, to approve the service used by the user terminal according to the remaining quota of the user terminal. The price, the new quota is issued, and the credit control response message carrying the rating and quota of the service is sent to the charging gateway.

The processing system according to claim 8, wherein the charging gateway is further configured to perform real-time monitoring on the service used by the user terminal according to the service rating and the quota carried in the credit control response message.

The processing system of claim 8, wherein the credit control response message further carries a result code; the charging gateway is further configured to perform a service used by the user terminal according to the result code carried in the credit control response message. Processing accordingly.

A charging gateway, wherein the charging gateway comprises: a request message processing unit, a response message processing unit, and a service processing unit; wherein

The response message processing unit is configured to receive the credit control response message, and when it is determined that the quota reported by the QHT trigger is 0, notify the service processing unit to release the related resource used by the user terminal, and the service processing unit is configured to perform the service used by the user terminal. Real-time monitoring, when QHT Upon arrival, the request message processing unit is notified; and according to the notification of the response message processing unit, the related resources of the service used by the user terminal are released.

12. An online charging system, wherein the online charging system comprises: a message receiving unit, a reason determining unit, a quota processing unit, and a message sending unit;

The quota processing unit is configured to set the quota to 0;

The message sending unit is configured to send a credit control response message with a quota of 0 to the charging gateway.