U.S. patent application number 10/926864 was filed with the patent office on 2006-03-02 for pre-biller capability in enhanced charging collection function (ccf) applications.
Invention is credited to Yigang Cai, Qing Hong He, Min Liu, John B. Reid, Ashish Trivedi, Yile Enoch Wang, Jay Z. Zhao.
Application Number | 20060045250 10/926864 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35943075 |
Filed Date | 2006-03-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060045250 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cai; Yigang ; et
al. |
March 2, 2006 |
PRE-BILLER CAPABILITY IN ENHANCED CHARGING COLLECTION FUNCTION
(CCF) APPLICATIONS
Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for charging
and billing of Circuit Switch, Packet Switch, and IP Multimedia
Subsystems in third generation telecommunication systems. The
charges for a call are computed by a rating engine, a software
system comprising data tables and a program for calculating charges
from the parameters of the call, such as the calling and called
numbers, the length of the call, and special charge items such as
priority service. For calls whose billing cannot be deferred,
referred to as on-line billing calls, the rating engine is accessed
immediately. For calls whose billing can be deferred, referred to
as off-line billing calls, the rating engine performs its function
only when the rating engine is not busy rating on-line billing
calls, for example, during periods outside the busy hour.
Advantageously, only a single rating engine is required, and the
capacity of that single rating engine is determined only by the
busy-hour volume of on-line billing calls.
Inventors: |
Cai; Yigang; (Naperville,
IL) ; He; Qing Hong; (Beijing, CN) ; Liu;
Min; (Beijing, CN) ; Reid; John B.;
(Naperville, IL) ; Trivedi; Ashish; (Naperville,
IL) ; Wang; Yile Enoch; (Freehold, NJ) ; Zhao;
Jay Z.; (Beijing, CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WERNER ULRICH
434 MAPLE STREET
GLEN ELLYN
IL
60137-3826
US
|
Family ID: |
35943075 |
Appl. No.: |
10/926864 |
Filed: |
August 26, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
379/126 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 2215/7263 20130101;
H04M 2215/0152 20130101; H04M 15/80 20130101; H04M 15/00 20130101;
H04M 15/77 20130101; H04M 2215/208 20130101; H04M 2215/7254
20130101; H04M 15/41 20130101; H04M 2215/7442 20130101; H04M
15/7655 20130101; H04M 15/8038 20130101; H04M 2215/0164 20130101;
H04M 15/57 20130101; H04M 15/772 20130101; H04M 2215/725 20130101;
H04M 2215/204 20130101; H04M 15/43 20130101; H04M 2215/34
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
379/126 |
International
Class: |
H04M 15/00 20060101
H04M015/00 |
Claims
1. In a telecommunications network, a method of performing the
processing of off-line billed telecommunications calls, comprising
the steps of: responsive to receipt of a telecommunications call,
building up a call data record that is missing call cost data;
accessing a rating engine for calculating call cost data from
parameters of said call stored in said call data record; and
completing said call data record including call cost data obtained
from said rating engine; characterized in that: said rating engine
is accessed for obtaining call cost data for off-line charged calls
in such a way as to give preference to the rating of on-line
charged calls and without reducing the capacity of said rating
engine to rate on-line charged calls; wherein a common rating
engine is used for rating off-line and on-line rated calls; wherein
the completed call data record including call cost data is formed
prior to transmitting said call data record to a billing
system.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of accessing said rating
engine comprises the step of: queuing data for an off-line billed
call until said rating engine is not processing on-line billed
calls.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of queuing comprises the
step of queuing in said rating engine.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of queuing comprises the
steps of: testing whether said rating engine is available; and if
said rating engine is available, by-passing the step of queuing and
directly accessing the rating engine for calculating call cost for
an off-line billed call.
5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of: separately
queuing data for on-line billed calls in a queue for on-line billed
calls; wherein off-line billed calls are processed by said rating
engine only if the queue for on-line billed calls is empty.
6. In a telecommunications network, apparatus for performing the
processing of off-line billed telecommunications calls, comprising:
means, responsive to receipt of a telecommunications call, for
building up a call data record that is missing call cost data;
means for accessing a rating engine for calculating call cost data
from parameters of said call stored in said call data record; and
means for completing said call data record including call cost data
obtained from said rating engine; characterized in that: said means
for accessing said rating engine for obtaining call cost data for
off-line charged calls gives preference to the rating of on-line
charged calls without reducing the capacity of said rating engine
to rate on-line charged calls; wherein said rating engine is a
common rating engine used for rating off-line and on-line rated
calls; wherein said means for completing said call data record
transmits said completed call data record including call charging
information to a billing system.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said means for accessing said
rating engine comprises: means for queuing data for an off-line
billed call until said rating engine is not processing on-line
billed calls.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said means for queuing
comprises means for queuing in said rating engine.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said means for queuing
comprises: means for testing whether said rating engine is
available; and if said rating engine is available, by-passing the
process of queuing and directly accessing the rating engine for
calculating call cost for an off-line billed call.
10. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprises: means for
separately queuing data for on-line billed calls in a queue for
on-line billed calls; wherein off-line billed calls are processed
by said rating engine only if said queue for on-line billed calls
is empty.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to an application of Xiang Yang
Li, Min Liu, John B. Reid, Guy H. Starner, Ashish Trivedi, Peng
Wang, Yile Enoch Wang, Jun Zheng Yang, Lei Zhang, and Jay Z. Zhao
entitled "New Call Authorization And Billing Message Routing
Capability", which application is assigned to the assignee of the
present application and is being filed concurrently herewith.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This invention relates to a method and apparatus for
charging and billing of Circuit Switch, Packet Switch, and IP
Multimedia Subsystems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] This document describes a method and apparatus for enhancing
the charge collection function, using third generation
telecommunication systems as an example.
[0004] The introduction of the third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) and the third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2)
harmonization effort known as IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia
Sub-system (IMS) has introduced new convergence network elements
based on IP based signaling protocols and bearer connections. The
goal is to create a harmonized wireless and wireline IP based
control network for telecommunications. The IMS network nodes
include the Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF),
Interrogating-CSCF (I-CSCF), Serving-CSCF (S-CSCF), Media Gateway
Control Function (MGCF), the Breakout Gateway Control Function
(BGCF), the Media Resource Function Controller (MRFC), and
Application Servers (AS). In order to perform charging functions in
the converged IMS network, each of the network elements have a
defined interface to a new node called the Charging Collection
Function (CCF). CCF, defined in 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards documents,
is an off-line charging network node in the IMS network. CCF
collects session charging information from IMS nodes, and
constructs and formats Call Detail Records (CDRs). It provides
intermediate data storage buffering and provides a mechanism to
transfer charging information to the operator's billing system
(BS).
[0005] For IMS, the CCF provides the mechanism to transfer charging
information from the IMS nodes to the operator's chosen Billing
System(s). The CCF is responsible for the collection of session
charging information from the IMS nodes. The CCF may also act as an
intermediate data storage device and therefore needs to support
storage of CDRs for a specified period of time given a usage
profile. Further, the CCF in 3GPP standards must create ASN.1
(Abstract Syntax Notation.1) base Charging Detail Records. These
CDRs are transferred to the BS/BMD (Billing Mediation Device)
nominally using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), but other protocols
and transport methods are possible. The CCF can receive data from
the IMS nodes in a near real-time mode. It should have enough
storage to enable it to transmit the collected charging data to the
BS in file mode. The CCF may support several transmission protocols
towards the BS. One of the purposes for the CCF is to reduce the
number of different interfaces between the BS and the IMS nodes
sending charging data.
[0006] In the IMS system, on-line charging is conducted by an
Online Charging Server (OCS). IMS nodes query OCS with charging
information. OCS rates calls with a built-in rating engine and
provides charging cost and generates CDRs. OCS can support both
prepaid and postpaid modes.
[0007] 3GPP and 3GPP2 are generalizing the aforementioned IMS
charging architecture to the entire 3G network, which includes
Circuit Switch and Packet Switch networks.
[0008] However, there are no standards (neither 3GPP nor 3GPP2)
which support the charging and rating concept in CCF so that it
cannot provide call cost in CDRs. All rating and billing
information must be processed in a back office billing system. That
limits the capability of IMS/CCF to postpaid and offline billing
only.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] Applicants have carefully analyzed the characteristics of
prior art billing arrangements. In the most modern of these billing
arrangements, designed for use with the third generation
telecommunications systems, there are two distinct methods of
billing calls, one method for use with deferred (off-line) billing
(via CCF) and a second method for use with immediate billing
(on-line) (via OCS). Calls with deferred billing build up a call
data record (CDR) for each call, the call data record having data
from which charging information can be derived (e.g., length of
call or start and finish time of a call, calling and called
customer identification); the call data records for these calls are
then passed on to a billing system. The billing system includes a
rating engine (i.e., software and data tables for calculating the
charge for a call given the parameters of the call). The billing
system then generates the customer's bills. Customer Care Systems
can retrieve the CDRs from the billing system if the customers
complain; the customer service representatives can modify charge
records by crediting back an amount to the customer account if
there is charge error.
[0010] For calls requiring immediate (on-line) billing, a call data
record is built up and passed to an on-line charging system which
includes a rating engine. This system can provide an output to
whatever system needs the charging information (e.g., a hotel data
link to provide charging information to a hotel or a prepaid
account manager to adjust a prepaid balance). The on-line charging
system then passes the call data record to the billing system which
prepares bills (e.g., the bill to the hotel) for calls requiring
both on-line and off-line charging.
[0011] Applicants have inventively discovered a method and
apparatus for streamlining both the on-line and off-line billing
process by utilizing a common charging system, which includes
charging, rating, and subscriber balance management functions. The
charging system is able to process online calls as an Online
Charging System (OCS) as defined by 3GPP and 3GPP2, as well as a
charging system for offline calls in real-time or non-real-time. If
an offline call requires real-time charging, a call data record is
built and a single rating engine built within the OCS is consulted
immediately to determine charges on that call; for an offline call
requiring only non-real-time billing, the call data record is built
without immediately including the charge information and the single
rating engine built within the OCS is consulted only when that
rating engine is not busy calculating charges for an on-line
billing call. As a result, advantageously, a common charging system
can be used for both online and offline calls, thus achieving
charging convergence, which reduces service provider investment,
operation, and maintenance cost and enhances end user service
experience. Advantageously, the billing information for calls
requiring off-line billing can be derived outside the busy hour;
advantageously, the billing system does not need to calculate bills
but is required only to store a billing database in order to
generate monthly invoices, statistical reports, etc.
Advantageously, with this arrangement call data records with call
cost can be stored in the billing database and be ready to be
pulled by any back-office system, e.g., report generation, customer
care, and invoice generation systems. Another benefit of this
arrangement is that it can support charging for prepaid subscribers
in case the subscriber is roaming in a foreign network that has no
real time charging protocol support.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of a
prior art system;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of
Applicants' invention; and
[0014] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of
rating data by the rating engine.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of a
prior art system. The system is used in the third generation
telecommunications systems and specifically in Internet Protocol
(IP) Multimedia Subsystems for the third generation partnership
project (3GPP). When a telecommunications call is processed using a
call processing system 1 one of the outputs of this call processing
system is a pair of outputs for billing purposes. Outputs for
billing of calls billed by an off-line billing process are
transmitted through an Rf interface 3. The Rf interface is defined,
for example, by Section 5.1 of document 3GPP TS32.225, a standards
document. The output for calls requiring on-line billing are
transmitted through R.sub.o interface 5 which is defined in Section
6.1 of the same document. The output of Rf interface 3 is
transmitted to the charge collection function 7. The function of
charge collection function 7 is to build a call data record which
has the parameters for charging but contains no charging data (call
cost) since the charging data will eventually be calculated by
billing system 11, which includes a billing database 12 for storing
billing records. The output of the charge collection function I in
block 7 is transmitted to this billing system 11 which includes an
off-line rating engine 13 for determining charges based on the call
parameters of a call data record.
[0016] The back-office systems access and process the billing
records in a batch mode. They do not wait for CDRs to come in for
processing, but process whatever CDRs are available at a given
time.
[0017] For calls requiring on-line billing processing, the
connection from the call processing system 1 via R.sub.o interface
5 is terminated on on-line charging system (OCS) 9. OCS 9 includes
an on-line rating engine 10 for use in calculating charges for
calls processed by OCS 9. Accordingly, OCS 9 builds a call data
record including the call cost and transmits this call data record
to billing system 11 for subsequent printing of bills and other
back-office operations, and for access by the back-office
systems.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of
Applicants' invention. The treatment of calls requiring on-line
processing is very similar to the treatment of such calls in the
prior art system of FIG. 1. Data is sent from call processing via
R.sub.o interface 5 to on-line charging system 31. OCS 31 has been
expanded from OCS 9 to illustrate that the block for building the
call data record 33 is separate from the rating engine 35, in order
to allow the rating engine 35 to be accessed by either the block
for building a call data record 33 or the charge collection
function (CCF) 21 to be described below. The data connection
between blocks 33 and 35 requires immediate access because the
calls must be billed on line. In contrast, the data connection
between CCF 21 and rating engine 35 can accommodate deferred
requests.
[0019] For calls requiring only off-line charge processing, the
data is transmitted from call processing 1 via Rf interface 3 to
CCF 21. Block 21 includes rating parameter forming rules software
and tables (block 23), which populate call data records with
corresponding rating parameters of interest, a charging information
records manager 25, and a pre-biller unit 27 for interfacing with
rating engine 35. The pre-biller unit 27 interfaces with rating
engine 35 via R.sub.0 interface 5. Requests from the pre-biller to
the rating engine can be deferred if the rating engine is fully
occupied with rating on-line calls during the busy hour.
[0020] After charging information has been obtained for a
particular call by the pre-biller 27, the charging information
records manager 25 sends the call data record to a billing system
41, which includes a billing database 42 that can be accessed by
the back-office systems. Note that the billing database 42 contains
complete charging information for both on-line charged calls, the
data being received from OCS 31, and for off-line charged calls,
the data being received from CCF 21.
[0021] The system of FIG. 2 can also serve off-line billed calls
received from other networks 51. Data for these calls passes
through a CDR parser 53 to CCF 21.
[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates the processing of off-line, non-real-time
charged calls. The call processing system 1 builds a call data
record without charging data (action block 300). The pre-biller
requests charging information (action block 301). The pre-biller
sends a message over the R.sub.o interface to the rating engine
(action block 303). Test 305 determines whether the rating engine
is available. If it is available, the rating engine processes the
charging data (action block 306) and returns call cost data to the
pre-biller via the R.sub.o interface (action block 307).
[0023] If the rating engine is not available (negative result of
test 305), the rating engine stores the charging data for
subsequent processing (action block 311). The rating engine then
queues the call charging data (action block 313) for processing
when the rating engine becomes available. The rating engine (FIG.
2, block 35) contains a queue 36 for storing deferred processing
call charging data. It may also be desirable to have a separate
queue for charging data for real-time charged calls, to handle a
flurry of requests. The latter queue (not shown) would be served
before queue 36; queue 36 would only be served if this latter queue
were empty. When the rating engine becomes available and has
processed all previous queued calls, the rating engine processes
the charging data for this call (action block 315). The rating
engine then returns the call cost data to the pre-biller, via the
R.sub.0 interface (action block 307, previously described).
[0024] The above description is of one preferred embodiment of
Applicants' invention. Other embodiments, including embodiments for
operation with other telecommunication systems, will be apparent to
those of ordinary skills in the art without departing from the
scope of the invention. The invention is limited only by the
attached claims.
* * * * *