WO2022193971A1

WO2022193971A1 - Charging method and device

Info

Publication number: WO2022193971A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/079455
Authority: WO
Inventors: 周汉
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-03-16
Filing date: 2022-03-07
Publication date: 2022-09-22
Also published as: CN115150762A

Abstract

The present application provides a charging method and device, which can reduce the burden caused by a CHF maintaining a connected state to each EES when acquiring charging data. The method comprises: in an edge configuration server (ECS): acquiring first data, wherein the first data is aggregated network resource usage data of a first application that is counted by at least one edge enabler server (EES); determining first charging data according to the first data, wherein the first charging data is used by a charging system to charge the first application; and reporting the first charging data to the charging system.

Description

A billing method and device

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202110281441.3 and the application title "A Billing Method and Device" filed with the China Patent Office on March 16, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated into this application by reference .

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a charging method and device.

Background technique

The standalone (SA) mobile edge computing (MEC) architecture enables service and content providers to deliver their applications and services at the edge of the network, reaching the core network rather than utilizing data centers in the data center Applications. In the charging scheme based on this architecture, the edge enabler server (EES), after receiving the application programming interface (API) call request of the edge application server (EAS), and After completing the operations required for the API call, a charging data request is sent to the charging function (charging function, CHF) for the API call, and the CHF creates a charging CDR for the API call according to the charging data request.

When a large number of EESs interact with CHFs to obtain CDRs, since EESs are deployed at the edge of the network, and CHFs are generally deployed at the center of the network, each EES has an interface with the CHF, so the CHF needs to sense and communicate with the CHF. A connection is established between each EES, which will make the networking between the EES and the CHF very complicated, and the connection between the CHF and each EES is based on a service interface, which requires the maintenance of the connection state between the EES and each CHF, The maintenance of a large number of stateful connections can be a heavy burden on CHF.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a charging method, which can reduce the connection burden between the CHF and a large number of EESs when acquiring the charging CDR.

In a first aspect, a charging method is provided, executed in an edge configuration server ECS, the method includes: acquiring first data, where the first data is aggregated data of a first APP collected by at least one edge-enabled server EES statistics Network resource usage data; determine first charging data according to the first data, and the first charging data is used by the charging system to charge the first APP; report the first charging data to the charging system Billing data.

In this embodiment of the present application, the ECS is enabled to aggregate network resource usage data counted by at least one EES, and the charging data is generated and reported to the charging system (CHF). This method effectively reduces the need to maintain a connection between the CHF and each EES. burden caused by the state.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the type of the network resource usage data includes: the first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the obtaining the first data includes: obtaining first charging policy information, where the first charging policy information is used to indicate the first data of the first APP. a charging policy; determining a first subscription rule according to the first charging policy information and the quantity of the at least one EES, so that each EES corresponds to a second charging policy; determining a first subscription rule according to the second charging policy Subscription request information, the first subscription request information corresponds to a first EES, and the first EES is one of the at least one EES; send the first subscription request information to the first EES; obtain the first EES data, where the first data corresponds to the first subscription request information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the ECS is enabled to request different types of network resource usage data from different EESs for statistics, and the charging method is enabled to be more flexible.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first charging policy information includes: the first traffic usage, the first duration usage, the first number of charging events, the first reporting trigger condition, the first A charging trigger condition or the identifier of the first APP.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the reporting the first charging data to the charging system includes: reporting the first charging data to the charging system according to the first reporting trigger condition 1 Billing data.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first subscription request information includes an identifier of the first APP and a second charging policy corresponding to the first EES.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first charging event includes an application program interface API call.

In a second aspect, a charging method is provided, executed in an edge-enabled server EES, the method includes: collecting first data, where the first data provides the EES with network resources generated by providing a first application APP service usage data; sending the first data.

In this embodiment of the present application, the EES sends the statistical network resource usage data to the ECS, enables the ECS to count the network resource usage data of multiple EESs, generates charging data and reports it to the charging system (CHF). This method effectively reduces the The burden of maintaining the connection state between the CHF and each EES is eliminated.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the type of the network resource usage data includes: the first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first charging event includes an application program interface API call.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method includes: receiving first subscription request information, where the first subscription request information is used to indicate the amount of the network resource usage data collected by the EES statistics Type; statistics the first data according to the first subscription request information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the EES counts the network resource usage data according to the first subscription request information, so that the ECS can count different types of network resource usage data sent by different EESs, and the billing method is more flexible.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes various units for implementing the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. The communication device may be a network device or a baseband chip.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, the communication device includes various units for performing the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect, wherein the communication device may be a network device or a baseband chip.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a transceiver component and a processor, so that the communication device executes the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. Wherein, the communication device may be a network device or a baseband chip. If the communication device is a network device, the transceiver component may be a transceiver, and if the communication device is a baseband chip, the transceiver component may be an input/output circuit of the baseband chip.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a transceiver component and a processor. The communication device is caused to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. Wherein, the communication device may be a network device or a baseband chip. If the communication device is a network device, the transceiver component may be a transceiver, and if the communication device is a baseband chip, the transceiver component may be an input/output circuit of the baseband chip.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: computer program code, when the computer program code is run by a network device, the network device causes the network device to execute the first aspect or any of the first aspects. A method in a possible implementation.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: computer program code, when the computer program code is run by a network device, the network device is made to execute the second aspect or any of the second aspect. A method in a possible implementation.

In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, and the computer-readable medium stores program codes, the program codes including instructions for executing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect .

In a tenth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, and the computer-readable medium stores program code, the program code comprising instructions for executing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect .

In this application, the ECS generates charging data and reports it to the charging system (CHF) by aggregating the network resource usage data collected by at least one EES. This method effectively reduces the need to maintain a connection state between the CHF and each EES. burden caused. Further, the ECS can request different types of network resource usage data from different EESs for statistics, enabling more flexible billing methods.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a network architecture 100 applied by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic interaction diagram of a method 200 for charging according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic interaction diagram of a method 300 for charging according to an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

5 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

6 is a schematic block diagram of still another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of still another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should also be understood that "first" or "second" or "third" in the application examples is only for distinction, and should not constitute any limitation to the present application.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system of mobile communication (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE Time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, 5th generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), etc.

The terminal equipment in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as user equipment (user equipment, UE), access terminal, terminal equipment unit (subscriber unit), terminal equipment station, mobile station, mobile station (mobile station, MS), A remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, terminal device proxy or terminal device device. Terminal devices may include various wireless communication capable handheld devices, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. May also include subscriber units, cellular phones, smart phones, wireless data cards, personal digital assistant (PDA) computers, tablet computers, wireless modems, handheld devices ), laptop computer (laptop computer), machine type communication (MTC) terminal, station (station, ST) in wireless local area networks (WLAN). Can be cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, and next-generation communication systems, such as terminal equipment in 5G networks or future evolved Terminal equipment in the PLMN network, etc.

The network device in this embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and the network device may be a global system of mobile communication (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) The base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in the LTE system can also be the base station (nodeB, NB) in the wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or the evolutionary base station (evolutional base station) in the LTE system. nodeB, eNB or eNodeB), it can also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and 5G The network equipment in the network or the network equipment in the future evolved PLMN network, etc., are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

FIG. 1 is a network architecture 100 applied to an embodiment of the present application, and each network element that may be involved in the network architecture is described respectively.

1. Terminal device 110: For the description of the terminal device, reference may be made to the above description, which will not be repeated here.

2. (wireless) access network (radio access network, (R)AN) network element 120: used to provide network access functions for authorized terminal equipment in a specific area, and can use different quality according to the level of terminal equipment, service requirements, etc. transmission tunnel.

The (R)AN network element can manage wireless resources, provide access services for terminal equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and terminal equipment data between the terminal equipment and the core network. The (R)AN network element can also be understood as a traditional network. in the base station.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned "network element" may also be referred to as an entity, a device, an apparatus, or a module, etc., which is not particularly limited in this application. In addition, in this application, in order to facilitate understanding and description, the description of "network element" is omitted in some descriptions. For example, the (R)AN network element is abbreviated as (R)AN, in this case, the "(R)AN ")AN network element" should be understood as (R)AN network element or (R)AN entity, and below, the description of the same or similar situations is omitted.

3. User plane network element 130: used for packet routing and forwarding, and quality of service (quality of service, QoS) processing of user plane data, and the like.

In a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element. In the future communication system, the user plane network element may still be the UPF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

4. Edge enabler server (EES) 140: used to manage each edge application server (EAS) deployed in the same edge data network (EDN), such as EAS registration, Domain name system (domain name system, DNS) resolution, etc. In addition, the EES can invoke the capability opening function of the 3GPP network.

In a 5G communication system, the EES may be a control network element (such as a MEC platform (MEC platform, MEP) or a management network element in a mobile edge computing (MEC) node. It should be noted that the EES may belong to The operator may also belong to a third party. In a possible implementation manner, the EES in the charging system belongs to the operator.

An edge application server (edge application server, EAS) 141: provides services for data services of the UE, for example, provides application data streams to the UE.

In a possible implementation, EAS may be deployed in multiple EESs, for example, one EAS corresponds to one application (application, APP), the EAS includes multiple EAS instances, and one EAS instance may be deployed on one EES , in other words, one APP corresponds to multiple EESs.

Specifically, the EES can be used to count the network resource usage generated when the EAS provides the application data stream to the UE, and report it to the Charging Trigger Function (CTF). The type of network resource usage for APP statistics can be configured in the EES It can also be determined according to the subscription request information sent by the edge configuration server (ECS), and the type of network resource usage includes at least one of the following:

Traffic usage, the traffic usage is the traffic consumed by the service accessed by the UE (service corresponding to the application data stream);

The duration usage, the duration usage is the duration consumed by the UE to access the service;

The number of charging events, the number of charging events is the number of specific actions performed by the UE to access the service, for example, the charging event is the action of opening APP#1 when the UE accesses APP#1, or opening a link when accessing a web page Action, CTF can generate billing data according to the number of billing events, or the number of application programming interface (application programming interface, API) calls, the API call number data is the number of times the EAS calls the EES API.

In a possible implementation, the EES can count the network resource usage generated by the EAS according to the user granularity, and generate network resource usage data, that is, the statistics of the network resource usage of at least one APP corresponding to each user, and the ECS can differentiate the EES according to the APP ID. The reported network resource usage.

In a possible implementation manner, the EES can count the network resource usage generated by the EAS according to the application granularity, and generate network resource usage data, that is, statistics on the network resource usage corresponding to each application (service), and the network resource usage can be derived from for multiple users.

5. Access management network element 150: mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc., and can be used to implement other functions except session management in mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME) functions, for example, legal Monitoring and access authorization/authentication functions.

In a 5G communication system, the access management network element may be an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element. In the future communication system, the access management network element may still be an AMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

6. Session management network element 160: mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of terminal equipment, selection of endpoints that can manage user plane functions, policy control and charging function interfaces, and downlink data notification, etc.

In a 5G communication system, the session management network element may be a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element. In the future communication system, the session management network element may still be an SMF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

7. Policy control network element 170: a unified policy framework for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information and the like for control plane functional network elements (eg, AMF, SMF network elements, etc.).

In a 4G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy and charging rules function (policy and charging rules function, PCRF) network element. In a 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (PCF) network element. In the future communication system, the policy control network element may still be the PCF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

8. Storage function network element 180: used for maintaining real-time information of all network function services in the network.

In a 5G communication system, the network storage network element may be a network repository function (NRF) network element. In the future communication system, the network storage network element may still be an NRF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

9. Edge configuration server (ECS) 190: maintains the information of each EDN, including service scope and EES address.

Charging trigger function (CTF) 191: used to subscribe to one or more EESs to report network resource usage data, and generate charging data according to the network resource usage data reported by one or more EESs, and send it to the EES. The billing system reports the billing data.

In a possible implementation, the CTF may also generate and report charging data according to a reporting trigger condition, where the reporting trigger condition is a condition (charging threshold) that is satisfied when the EES reports the network resource usage to the CTF (EES), and the reporting trigger Conditions (billing thresholds) include at least one of the following types:

Traffic usage threshold, the traffic usage threshold indicates that when the traffic consumed by the service accessed by the UE through the EAS (service corresponding to the application data flow) reaches the traffic usage threshold, the EES reports the traffic usage to the CTF;

The duration usage threshold, the duration usage is the duration threshold consumed by the UE accessing the service (service corresponding to the application data flow) through the EAS. When the duration threshold reaches the duration usage threshold, the EES reports the duration usage to the CTF;

Threshold of the number of charging events, the number of charging events is the number of specific actions performed by the UE to access the service, for example, the charging event is the action of opening APP#1 when the UE accesses APP#1, or opening a page when accessing a web page The linked action, or the threshold of the number of application programming interface (API) calls, the number of API calls is the number of times the EAS calls the API of the EES, and the CTF can generate charging data according to the number of charging events. When the number of charging events reaches the threshold, the EES reports the number of charging events to the CTF.

In a possible implementation manner, the CTF subscribes the network resource usage data report to the EES according to the charging trigger condition. The CTF can obtain the charging trigger condition through the session management process of the user, or can obtain the charging trigger condition through the configured method, and the charging trigger condition includes at least one of the following types:

Threshold reporting: The CTF instructs the EES to report to the CTF when the statistics of the network resource usage reaches the threshold. The network resource usage includes the above-mentioned traffic usage, duration usage, or the number of API calls.

Periodic reporting: The CTF instructs the EES to periodically report the statistical network resource usage to the CTF. The network resource usage includes the above-mentioned traffic usage, duration usage, or the number of API calls.

Event reporting: The CTF instructs the EES to report the statistics of the network resource usage to the CTF according to the triggered event. The network resource usage includes the above-mentioned traffic usage, duration usage or the number of API calls (such as UE offline events).

In a possible implementation manner, the CTF may be an independent functional network element, or may be integrated with other functional network elements, such as integrated in the ECS. It should be noted that this application takes the integration of CTF into ECS as an example to describe the involved solution. Therefore, the functions of ECS can include the functions of CTF, but CTF can also implement this solution as an independent functional network element, which is not limited in this application. .

The ECS is used to aggregate the network resource usage data reported by each EES, and report the aggregated network resource usage data to the billing system.

In a possible implementation, the network resource usage data reported by the EES is counted according to the granularity of the APP, and the ECS may aggregate the network resource usage data reported by multiple EESs belonging to the same APP and report it to the billing system.

In a possible implementation, the network resource usage data reported by the EES is counted according to the granularity of the user, the information including the network resource usage data reported by the EES also includes the APP ID, and the ECS summarizes the corresponding APPs according to the APP ID. The data on the network resource usage is reported to the billing system.

In a possible implementation manner, the ECS is further used to acquire the charging policy information of the APP. The ECS determines the subscription rule according to the charging policy information. For example, the ECS can also determine the subscription rule in combination with the number of EESs, use the charging policy information to indicate the network resource usage data according to the traffic usage, and report the trigger condition (charging threshold) as reaching 10G Taking reporting as an example, then, assuming that the number of EES is 2, the subscription rule determined by ECS is: each EES counts network resource usage data according to traffic usage, and reports it to ECS when it reaches 5G. The ECS generates billing data according to the network resource usage data reported by the EES, and reports it to the billing system.

In a possible implementation, the ECS can also be used to provide the registration service of the EES, and then determine the subscription rule according to the registration information obtained in the registration service and the charging policy information, where the registration information includes the information of the EAS instance, for example, the EAS (EAS instance) the corresponding APP ID, or the MEC service list (service list) required for the EAS to run. For example, the ECS assigns the charging threshold to each EAS instance corresponding to the EAS (in other words, assigns the charging threshold to the APP) according to the EAS (EAS instance) information and the charging policy obtained in the registration service. Corresponding EES), take the charging threshold as the traffic consumption of accessing APP#1 reaching 10G as an example, there are 3 EAS instances that provide the data flow of this APP#1, namely EAS#1, EAS#2 and EAS#3 , then the subscription rule can be set so that when the traffic usage of EAS#1 reaches 4G, its EES reports the network resource usage data; when the traffic usage of EAS#2 reaches 3G, its affiliated EES reports network resource usage data ; When the traffic usage of EAS#3 reaches 3G, the EES to which it belongs reports network resource usage data. ECS sends the subscription rule to EES, and EES performs corresponding statistics and reporting according to the subscription rule. ECS aggregates the network resource usage data reported by each EES, generates the corresponding billing data for each APP in combination with the APP ID, and reports it to the billing system.

The charging policy information is used to indicate the type of network resource usage data reported by the EES to the ECS, and the content may include at least one of the following:

Traffic usage, the traffic usage is the traffic consumed by the service accessed by the UE through the EAS (the service corresponding to the application data stream), and the ECS generates the charging information of the APP according to the traffic usage;

Duration usage, the duration usage is the time consumed by the UE to access the service (service corresponding to the application data stream) through the EAS, and the ECS generates the charging information of the APP according to the duration usage;

The number of charging events, the number of charging events is the number of specific actions performed by the UE to access the service, for example, the charging event is the action of opening APP#1 when the UE accesses APP#1, or opening a link when accessing a web page action, or the number of application programming interface (application programming interface, API) calls, the data of the number of API calls is the number of times the API corresponding to the service is called when the UE accesses the service (the service corresponding to the application data stream) through the EAS. The number of charging events generates the charging information of APP#1;

For reporting trigger conditions, refer to the previous description for details, and details are not repeated here.

There are two ways for ECS to obtain billing policies:

method one

Configure the accounting policy on the ECS, and the ECS directly retrieves its internal accounting policy-related information.

Method 2

The ECS obtains charging policies from other network functions (NFs), such as subscription databases or PCFs.

In a possible implementation, the charging policy and the APP are associated with the APP's identity (ID) (that is, the ECS can obtain the mapping relationship between the charging policy and the APP ID), and one APP ID corresponds to one charging Policy, the charging policy-related information obtained by ECS includes the corresponding APP ID, and ECS can determine the APP corresponding to the charging policy according to the APP ID.

10. Data management network element 1100: used for processing terminal equipment identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management.

In a 5G communication system, the data management network element may be a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element. In the future communication system, the unified data management may still be a UDM network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

11. Billing network element: used for pricing, deduction, quota and billing parameter delivery, processing quota usage reported by SMF, etc.

In a 5G communication system, the charging function network element may be a charging function network element (charging function, CHF). In the future communication system, the charging network element may still be the CHF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned network architecture applied to the embodiments of the present application is only an example of the network architecture described from the perspective of service-oriented architecture, and the network architecture applied to the embodiments of the present application is not limited to this. Any network elements that can implement the above-mentioned network elements The functional network architectures are all applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

For example, in some network architectures, network function entities such as AMF, SMF, PCF, GMF, and UDM are called network function (NF) network elements; or, in other network architectures, AMF, SMF, PC A set of network elements such as GMF, UDM, etc. can be called a control plane function (CPF) network element.

The embodiments of the present application describe various embodiments in conjunction with core network equipment, wherein the functions of the core network are mainly to provide user connection, user management, and service bearer, as the bearer network provides an interface to an external network. The establishment of user connection includes functions such as mobility management (mobile management, MM), call management (connection management, CM), switching/routing, and recording notification. User management includes user description, quality of service (QoS), user communication records (accounting), virtual home environment (VHE) and security (corresponding security measures provided by the authentication center include Security management of mobile services and security processing of access to external networks). Bearer connections include access to external public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), external circuit data networks and packet data networks, the internet and intranets, and mobile phone texting on the mobile network itself Service (short message service, SMS) server and so on.

The basic services that the core network can provide include mobile office, e-commerce, communication, entertainment services, travel and location-based services, telemetry, simple messaging (surveillance control), and so on.

FIG. 2 is a schematic interaction diagram of a charging method 200 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 2, in S210, ECS#1 obtains the charging policy information #A corresponding to APP#1, the type of the charging policy information #A and the method of obtaining the charging policy information #A refer to the previous description. It is not repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the charging policy information #A includes an APP #1 ID, and the ECS #1 determines the APP #1 corresponding to the charging policy information #A according to the APP #1 ID.

In S220, the EAS instance corresponding to APP#1 is deployed on multiple EESs as an example, and the multiple EESs include EES#1 as an example for description. The following descriptions about the related actions of EES#1 are all applicable to the multiple EESs. In order to make the description clearer, only the action descriptions of EES#1 are taken as an example here.

EES#1 sends registration request information #B to ECS#1, ECS#1 receives the information #B, and the information #B includes the EAS-related information corresponding to APP#1, such as the APP#1 ID corresponding to the EAS, which is required for the operation of the EAS. list of MEC services, etc.

Optionally, in S230, after ECS#1 successfully receives information #B, it sends response information to EES#1.

In S240, ECS#1 determines a subscription rule for the network resource usage data of the EES corresponding to APP#1 according to the charging policy information #A, and generates subscription request information #C according to the subscription rule.

In a possible implementation manner, ECS#1 allocates the charging threshold corresponding to APP#1 to the APP#1 according to the charging policy information #A (optionally, there may also be registration request information #B). For each EAS instance that provides services (each EAS instance corresponds to one EES), please refer to the relevant description in the method 100 for the specific allocation method, which will not be repeated here. ECS#1 determines a subscription rule for the network resource usage data of the EAS instance corresponding to APP#1 according to the allocation result, and generates subscription request information #C according to the subscription rule.

In a possible implementation manner, the subscription request information #C includes the APP#1 ID, and the charging policy information #A corresponding to the APP#1 indicates the type of network resource usage data collected by the EES#1.

In S250, ECS#1 sends subscription request information #C to EES#1, and EES#1 receives the information #C.

Optionally, in S260, EES#1 sends subscription response information #D to ECS#1, and ECS#1 receives the information #D.

In S270, EES#1 counts the network resource usage data of the corresponding EAS instance according to the subscription request information #C, and generates subscription notification information #E.

In S280, EES#1 sends subscription notification information #F to ECS#1, and ECS#1 receives the information #F.

In S290, ECS#1 summarizes the network resource usage data corresponding to each EES corresponding to APP#1 according to the subscription notification information #F sent by each EES (including EES#1), and generates charging data corresponding to APP#1, and Report to the billing system.

In a possible implementation manner, when the reporting trigger condition is satisfied, ECS#1 reports the charging data corresponding to APP#1 to the charging system (eg CHF).

FIG. 3 is a schematic interaction diagram of a charging method 300 according to another embodiment of the present application.

As shown in Figure 3, in S310, UE#1 initiates a registration request to ECS#1 through the core network, and requests to access edge service APP#1, and ECS#1 provides APP#1 to UE#1 according to the registration request of UE#1 Corresponding EES (including EES#1).

In S320, ECS#1 sends charging policy request information #G corresponding to APP#1 to PCF#1, where the charging policy request information #G includes APP#1 ID.

In a possible implementation manner, the charging policy request information #G further includes a list of MEC services required for the operation of the EAS corresponding to APP #1.

In a possible implementation manner, the charging policy request information #G further includes the address of ECS #1.

In S330, PCF #1 determines charging policy information #A according to charging policy request information #G. PCF#1 determines the charging policy information #A of UE#1 for APP#1 according to the service subscription of UE#1 and the APP#1 ID in the charging policy request information #G. For the description of the charging policy information #A, reference may be made to the description of the charging policy information in the method 100, which will not be repeated here.

In S340, PCF#1 sends charging policy information #A to ECS#1.

In a possible implementation, PCF#1 addresses ECS#1 according to the address of ECS#1, and sends charging policy information #A to ECS#1.

In a possible implementation, PCF#1 addresses to ECS#1 according to the routing configuration information, and sends charging policy information #A to ECS#1.

In S350, ECS#1 determines a subscription rule for the network resource usage data of the EAS corresponding to APP#1 according to the charging policy information #A, sends the subscription rule to each EES, and uses the subscription notification information #F reported by each EES , summarize the network resource usage data corresponding to each EES corresponding to APP#1, and generate charging data information #H. The interaction between the ECS#1 and the EES can be referred to the description in the method 200, and details are not repeated here.

In S360, ECS #1 sends charging data information #H to CHF #1, and CHF #1 receives the charging data information #H.

The method for charging according to the embodiment of the present application is described above with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 . Hereinafter, the device according to the embodiment of the present application is described with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 .

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4 , the network device 400 (which may also be referred to as a first network device, such as an ECS) includes:

A receiving unit 410, configured to acquire first data, where the first data is aggregated network resource usage data of the first APP counted by at least one edge-enabled server EES;

a processing unit 420, configured to determine first charging data according to the first data, where the first charging data is used by the charging system to charge the first APP;

The sending unit 430 is configured to report the first charging data to the charging system.

In a possible implementation manner, the type of the network resource usage data includes: the first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.

The receiving unit 410 is further configured to acquire first charging policy information, where the first charging policy information is used to indicate the first charging policy of the first APP;

The processing unit 420 is further configured to determine a first subscription rule according to the first charging policy information and the quantity of the at least one EES, so that each EES corresponds to a second charging policy;

The processing unit 420 is further configured to determine first subscription request information according to the second charging policy, where the first subscription request information corresponds to a first EES, and the first EES is one of the at least one EES;

The sending unit 430 is further configured to send the first subscription request information to the first EES;

The receiving unit 410 is further configured to acquire first data, where the first data corresponds to the first subscription request information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first charging policy information includes: the first traffic usage, the first duration usage, the first number of charging events, the first reporting trigger condition, the first charging trigger condition or the first charging trigger condition. An APP logo.

The sending unit 430 is further configured to report the first charging data to the charging system according to the first reporting trigger condition.

In a possible implementation manner, the first subscription request information includes an identifier of the first APP and a second charging policy corresponding to the first EES.

In a possible implementation manner, the first charging event includes an application program interface API call.

It should be understood that each unit in the network device 400 provided in this embodiment of the present application and the above-mentioned other operations or functions are implemented by the network device (for example, in the method 100, method 200, or method 300 for charging provided by the embodiment of the present application, respectively). ECS) to execute the corresponding process. For brevity, they are not repeated here.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of still another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the network device 500 (also referred to as a second network device, such as EES) includes:

a processing unit 520, configured to count first data, where the first data is network resource usage data generated by the network device providing the first application APP service;

The sending unit 530 is configured to send the first data.

The network device 500 further includes:

A receiving unit 510, configured to receive first subscription request information, where the first subscription request information is used to indicate the type of the network resource usage data collected by the network device;

The processing unit 520 is further configured to count the first data according to the first subscription request information.

It should be understood that each unit in the network device 500 provided in this embodiment of the present application and the above-mentioned other operations or functions are implemented by the network device (for example, in the method 100, method 200, or method 300 for charging provided by the embodiment of the present application, respectively). EES) to execute the corresponding process. For brevity, they are not repeated here.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6 , the network device 600 includes a transceiver 610 and a processor 620 . The processor 620 is configured to support the network device to perform the corresponding functions of the network device 400 (eg, ECS) in the above method. Optionally, the network device 600 may further include a memory 630 , where the memory 630 is coupled to the processor 620 and stores necessary program instructions and data of the network device 600 . The processor 620 is specifically configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 630, and when the instructions are executed, the network device 600 executes the method performed by the network device 400 in the foregoing methods.

It should be noted that the network device 400 shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented by the network device 600 shown in FIG. 6 . For example, the receiving unit 410 and the transmitting unit 430 shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented by the transceiver 610 , and the processing unit 420 may be implemented by the processor 620 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7 , the network device 700 includes a transceiver 710 and a processor 720, and the processor 720 is configured to support the network device to perform the corresponding functions of the network device 500 (eg, EES) in the above method. Optionally, the network device 700 may further include a memory 730 , where the memory 730 is coupled to the processor 720 and stores necessary program instructions and data of the network device 700 . The processor 720 is specifically configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 730. When the instructions are executed, the network device 700 executes the method performed by the network device 500 in the above method.

It should be noted that the network device 500 shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented by the network device 700 shown in FIG. 7 . For example, the receiving unit 510 and the transmitting unit 530 shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented by the transceiver 710 , and the processing unit 520 may be implemented by the processor 720 .

It should be noted that the present application takes the network device 400 and the network device 500 as examples to describe the method and device for charging according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the method for charging in the embodiment of the present application may also be implemented by two baseband chips, and the first baseband chip in the two baseband chips is used to implement the correlation of the network device 400 (for example, the ECS) in the embodiment of the present application In operation, the second baseband chip in the two baseband chips is used to implement related operations of the network device 500 (eg, EES) in the embodiment of the present application.

It should also be noted that the input/output circuit of the first baseband chip can be used to implement the above-mentioned operations related to the transceiver of the network device 400 (eg ECS), and the input/output circuit of the second baseband chip can be used to implement the above related operations of the transceiver of the network device 500 (eg, EES).

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the processor may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processors, DSP), dedicated integrated Circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), off-the-shelf programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc.

It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically programmable Erase programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which acts as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (DRAM) Access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous connection dynamic random access memory Fetch memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM) and direct memory bus random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM).

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded or executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be downloaded from a website site, computer, server or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server or data center by wire (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access, or a data storage device such as a server, a data center, or the like containing one or more sets of available media. The usable media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, digital versatile disc (DVD)), or semiconductor media. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state drive.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" in this document is only an association relationship to describe associated objects, indicating that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, and A and B exist at the same time , there are three cases of B alone. In addition, the character "/" in this document generally indicates that the related objects are an "or" relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the above-described systems, devices and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, removable hard disk, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

The above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this. should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A charging method, characterized in that it is executed in an edge configuration server ECS, the method comprising:

obtaining first data, where the first data is the aggregated network resource usage data of the first APP collected by at least one edge-enabled server EES;

Determine first charging data according to the first data, where the first charging data is used by the charging system to charge the first APP;

reporting the first charging data to the charging system.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the type of the network resource usage data comprises:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the acquiring the first data comprises:

acquiring first charging policy information, where the first charging policy information is used to indicate the first charging policy of the first APP;

Determine a first subscription rule according to the first charging policy information and the quantity of the at least one EES, so that each EES corresponds to a second charging policy;

Determine first subscription request information according to the second charging policy, the first subscription request information corresponds to a first EES, and the first EES is one of the at least one EES;

sending the first subscription request information to the first EES;

Obtain first data, where the first data corresponds to the first subscription request information.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first charging policy information comprises:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, the first number of charging events, the first reporting trigger condition, the first charging trigger condition, or the identifier of the first APP.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the reporting the first charging data to the charging system comprises:

The first charging data is reported to the charging system according to the first reporting trigger condition.
The method according to any one of claims 3-5, wherein the first subscription request information includes an identifier of the first APP and a second charging policy corresponding to the first EES.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the first charging event comprises an application program interface (API) call.
A charging method, characterized in that being executed in an edge enabling server EES, the method comprising:

Counting first data, where the first data is the network resource usage data generated by the EES providing the first application APP service;

The first data is sent.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the type of the network resource usage data comprises:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.
The method of claim 9, wherein the first charging event comprises an application program interface (API) call.
The method according to any one of claims 8-10, wherein the method comprises:

receiving first subscription request information, where the first subscription request information is used to indicate the type of the network resource usage data collected by the EES;

The first data is counted according to the first subscription request information.
A network device, characterized in that the network device includes:

a receiving unit, where the receiving unit is configured to obtain first data, where the first data is aggregated network resource usage data of the first APP counted by at least one edge-enabled server EES;

a processing unit, where the processing unit is configured to determine first charging data according to the first data, where the first charging data is used by the charging system to charge the first APP;

a sending unit, where the sending unit is configured to report the first charging data to the charging system.
The network device according to claim 12, wherein the types of the network resource usage data include:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.
The network device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the receiving unit is configured to acquire the first data comprising:

obtaining, by the receiving unit, first charging policy information, where the first charging policy information is used to indicate the first charging policy of the first APP;

The processing unit determines a first subscription rule according to the first charging policy information and the quantity of the at least one EES, so that each EES corresponds to a second charging policy;

The processing unit determines first subscription request information according to the second charging policy, the first subscription request information corresponds to a first EES, and the first EES is one of the at least one EES;

The sending unit sends the first subscription request information to the first EES;

The receiving unit acquires first data, where the first data corresponds to the first subscription request information.
The network device according to claim 14, wherein the first charging policy information comprises:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, the first number of charging events, the first reporting trigger condition, the first charging trigger condition, or the identifier of the first APP.
The network device according to claim 15, wherein the sending unit is configured to report the first charging data to the charging system comprising:

The sending unit reports the first charging data to the charging system according to the first reporting trigger condition.
The network device according to any one of claims 14-16, wherein the first subscription request information includes an identifier of the first APP and a second charging policy corresponding to the first EES.
The network device according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the first charging event comprises an application program interface (API) call.
A network device, characterized in that the network device includes:

a processing unit, the processing unit is configured to count the first data, the first data is the network resource usage data generated by the network device providing the first application APP service;

a sending unit, where the sending unit is configured to send the first data.
The network device according to claim 19, wherein the types of the network resource usage data include:

The first traffic usage, the first duration usage, or the first number of charging events.
The network device of claim 20, wherein the first charging event comprises an application program interface (API) call.
The network device according to any one of claims 19-21, wherein the network device comprises:

The network device further includes a receiving unit, the receiving unit is configured to receive first subscription request information, where the first subscription request information is used to indicate the type of the network resource usage data counted by the network device;

The processing unit collects statistics on the first data according to the first subscription request information.
A communication system, characterized in that, the communication system comprises the network device according to any one of claims 12 to 18 and the network device according to any one of claims 19 to 22.
A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, wherein the computer program is used for executing instructions of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.