A method, system and related device for billing processing

Abstract

A charging processing method includes: a charging trigger device sends a charging request message to a charging processing device, which contains redundant transmission information, that is, information related to the redundant transmission of a data connection service in a data connection session. The charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information, including determining a redundant service charging processing method, performing charging processing on the usage amount reported by the charging trigger device, or sending usage amount processing indication information to the charging trigger device, etc. This method helps to improve the accuracy of the charging result for the data connection service with redundant transmission.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, system, and related devices for charging data connection services in a data connection session. Background Art

[0002] To support URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication) data connection services, the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard specifications define redundant transmission technical solutions for reliable transmission in 5GS (5th Generation System). For example, through redundant PDU (protocol data unit) sessions, through the use of redundant data transmission tunnels for QoS (quality of service) flows (QoS Flows) of PDU sessions, or through the use of a transport layer redundant path for data transmission of PDU sessions.

[0003] Existing charging processing devices, such as the charging function (CHF) devices defined in 3GPP standard specifications, do not participate in the redundant transmission of data connection services and have no way of knowing the situation of the redundant transmission of data connection services. Charging according to its existing mechanism will not be able to meet the diverse charging needs of operators or end-users. For example, it may lead to inaccurate charging results: either missing the charging for the redundant transmission traffic, causing economic losses to the operator, or resulting in inconsistent charged traffic with the traffic that the user can perceive, causing misunderstandings among end-users and reducing the user experience.

[0004] How to enable the charging processing device to perform charging processing based on the situation of redundant transmission is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, it is necessary to provide a charging processing method that enables the charging processing device to perform charging processing based on the situation of redundant transmission of data connection services and solve the problem of inaccurate charging results in this case.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a charging processing method. This method is applied to a charging trigger device, and the charging trigger device communicates with a charging processing device. The method includes:

[0007] The billing trigger device sends a first billing request message to the billing processing device. The first billing request message includes redundancy transmission information, where the redundancy transmission information refers to the relevant information of the redundancy transmission used for the first data connection service in the data connection session;

[0008] The billing trigger device receives a first billing response message from the billing processing device. The first billing response message includes a billing processing result, and the billing processing result is the result of the billing processing device performing billing processing based on the redundancy transmission information.

[0009] This method enables the billing processing device to provide the billing processing device with the relevant information of the redundancy transmission of the data connection service in the data connection session, enabling the billing processing to promptly perceive the redundancy transmission situation and perform billing processing based on the redundancy transmission situation, which helps to improve the accuracy of the billing result of the data connection service with redundancy transmission and meet the diverse billing requirements of operators or end users.

[0010] In a possible solution, before sending the first billing request message to the billing processing device, the method further includes: the billing trigger device determines the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service.

[0011] In a possible solution, the redundancy transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is a redundancy transmission.

[0012] In a possible solution, the redundancy transmission information further indicates the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundancy transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy.

[0013] In a possible solution, the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, and the redundancy transmission information further indicates whether the data connection session is a primary data connection session or a secondary data connection session, or the redundancy transmission information further includes the information of the data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session.

[0014] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes the quota granted by the charging processing device for the first data connection service and corresponding first processing indication information, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the method further includes: the charging trigger device sending a second charging request message to the charging processing device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota and the redundancy flag; the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of the redundantly transmitted data connection service. This solution enables the charging processing device to more precisely determine which usage amounts need to perform redundancy-removing charging processing or redundancy-including charging processing, and can improve charging performance.

[0015] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes second processing indication information, where the second processing indication information instructs to perform: usage amount processing including redundancy or usage amount processing removing redundancy for the second data connection service in the data connection session. This method enables the charging trigger device to collect corresponding usage amounts according to the needs of the charging processing device, which helps to improve the performance of the overall charging processing system.

[0016] In a possible solution, the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, corresponds to the QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service; or, the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service or corresponds to the QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0017] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking half of the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage of the second data connection service; performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage of the second data connection service; or, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network as the usage of the second data connection service. Performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device as the usage of the second data connection service; or, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through one of two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage of the second data connection service. Performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage of the second data connection service.

[0018] In a possible solution, the second data connection service is an online charging service. Performing usage processing including redundancy or removing redundancy for the second data connection service further includes: consuming the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage of the second data connection service.

[0019] In a possible solution, the charging trigger device sends the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage description information to the charging processing device. The usage description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: traffic without performing usage processing for removing redundancy, traffic after performing usage processing for removing redundancy, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0020] In a possible solution, the charging trigger device sends the transmission delay of the first data connection service to the charging processing device.

[0021] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes non-charging indication information, and the non-charging indication information instructs the charging processing device to determine that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and not perform charging processing on it, or to determine to perform charging on a data connection session redundant to the data connection session and not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

[0022] In a possible solution, the charging trigger device determines that the data connection session becomes the primary data connection session; the charging trigger device sends a third charging request message to the charging processing device, and the third charging request message includes indication information that the data connection session becomes the primary data connection session.

[0023] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for charging processing. The method is applied to a charging processing device, and the charging processing device communicates with a charging trigger device. The method includes:

[0024] The charging processing device receives a first charging request message from the charging trigger device. The first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, and the redundant transmission information refers to relevant information on redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session;

[0025] The charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and sends a first charging response message to the charging trigger device. The first charging response message includes the charging processing result.

[0026] This method enables the charging processing device to obtain information about the redundant transmission of a data connection service and perform charging processing based on the redundant transmission situation, which helps to improve the accuracy of the charging result for the data connection service with redundant transmission.

[0027] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission.

[0028] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information further indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy.

[0029] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, and the redundant transmission information further indicates whether the data connection session is a primary data connection session or a secondary data connection session, or the redundant transmission information further includes information on a data connection session redundant to the data connection session.

[0030] In a possible solution, the charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: determining, based on the redundant transmission information, to perform redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the first data connection service, and granting a quota for the first data connection service; the charging processing result includes the quota; the method further includes: the charging processing device receiving a second charging request message from the charging trigger device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing device performing redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the quota.

[0031] In a possible solution, the method further includes: the charging processing device generating first processing indication information for the quota, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing result further includes the first processing indication information; the second charging request message further includes the redundancy flag; the charging processing device performing redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the quota includes: the charging processing device performing redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the quota based on the redundancy flag; the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

[0032] In a possible solution, the charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the charging processing device generating second processing indication information based on the redundant transmission information; the charging processing result includes the second processing indication information; where the second processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to perform: redundant-including usage amount processing or redundant-removing usage amount processing on a second data connection service in the data connection session.

[0033] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to a rate group in the first data connection service, corresponds to a QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to a data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service; or, the redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to a rate group in the first data connection service, or corresponds to a QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0034] In a possible solution, the method further includes: the charging processing device receives, from the charging trigger device, the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage amount description information, where the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: the traffic without redundant usage amount processing, the traffic after redundant usage amount processing, the traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, and the traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0035] In a possible solution, the method further includes: the charging processing device receives, from the charging trigger device, the transmission delay of the first data connection service; the charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the charging processing device performs charging processing according to the redundant transmission information and the transmission delay.

[0036] In a possible solution, the method further includes: the charging processing device writes the information of the first data connection service into the call detail record, where the information of the first data connection service includes any one of the following: redundant transmission information, usage amount description information, or transmission delay.

[0037] In a possible solution, the charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the charging processing device determines not to perform charging processing on the connection session; the charging processing device generates non - charging indication information, where the non - charging indication information indicates that the charging processing device determines that the data connection session is a slave data connection session and does not perform charging processing on it, or determines that the data connection session redundant to the data connection session performs charging and does not perform charging processing on it; the charging processing result includes the non - charging indication information.

[0038] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging processing system, including: a charging trigger device and a charging processing device, where the charging trigger device communicates with the charging processing device, and:

[0039] The charging trigger device is configured to: send a first charging request message to the charging processing device, where the first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, and the redundant transmission information refers to the relevant information of redundant transmission used for the first data connection service in the data connection session;

[0040] The charging processing device is configured to: perform charging processing based on the redundant transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and send a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, where the first charging response message includes the charging processing result.

[0041] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is a redundant transmission.

[0042] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information further indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy.

[0043] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, and the redundant transmission information further indicates whether the data connection session is a primary data connection session or a secondary data connection session, or the redundant transmission information further includes information about a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session.

[0044] In a possible solution, the charging processing device is further configured to: determine, based on the redundant transmission information, to perform redundant-removing charging processing on the usage of the first data connection service and grant a quota for the first data connection service; cause the charging processing result to include the quota; the charging trigger device is further configured to: send a second charging request message to the charging processing device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing device is further configured to: perform redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the quota.

[0045] In a possible solution, the charging processing device is further configured to: generate first processing indication information for the quota, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; cause the charging processing result to further include the first processing indication information; the charging trigger device is further configured to: include the redundancy flag in the second charging request message; where the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

[0046] In a possible solution, the charging processing device is further configured to: generate second processing indication information based on the redundant transmission information; cause the charging processing result to include the second processing indication information; the charging trigger device is further configured to: according to the second processing indication information, perform: redundant-including usage amount processing or redundant-removing usage amount processing on a second data connection service in the data connection session.

[0047] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information further indicates that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session, or the redundant transmission information includes information about a data connection session that is redundant to the data connection session; the charging processing device is further configured to: determine not to perform charging processing on the data connection session, generate non-charging indication information, and include the non-charging indication information in the charging processing result, where the non-charging indication information indicates that the charging processing device determines that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and does not perform charging processing on it, or determines to perform charging on a data connection session that is redundant to the data connection session and does not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

[0048] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging trigger device, which communicates with a charging processing device and includes a sending module and a receiving module, where:

[0049] The sending module is configured to: send a first charging request message to the charging processing device, where the first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, and the redundant transmission information refers to relevant information about redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session;

[0050] The receiving module is configured to: receive a first charging response message from the charging processing device, where the first charging response message includes a charging processing result, and the charging processing result is the result of the charging processing device performing charging processing based on the redundant transmission information.

[0051] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission.

[0052] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information further indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy.

[0053] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, and the redundant transmission information further indicates that the data connection session is a primary data connection session or a secondary data connection session, or the redundant transmission information further includes information about a data connection session that is redundant to the data connection session.

[0054] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes the quota granted by the charging processing device for the first data connection service and corresponding first processing indication information, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the sending module is further configured to: send a second charging request message to the charging processing device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota and the redundancy flag; the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of the redundantly transmitted data connection service.

[0055] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes second processing indication information, where the second processing indication information instructs to perform: usage amount processing including redundancy or usage amount processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service in the data connection session.

[0056] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to send the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and corresponding usage amount description information to the charging processing device, where the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: traffic for which redundancy removal usage amount processing has not been performed, traffic after redundancy removal usage amount processing has been performed, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0057] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to send the transmission delay of the first data connection service to the charging processing device.

[0058] In a possible solution, the charging processing result includes non-charging indication information, where the non-charging indication information instructs the charging processing device to determine that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and not perform charging processing on it, or to determine to perform charging on a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session and not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

[0059] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging processing device, where the charging processing device communicates with a charging trigger device and includes a receiving module and a sending module, where:

[0060] The receiving module is configured to: receive a first charging request message from the charging trigger device, where the first charging request message includes redundancy transmission information, and the redundancy transmission information refers to relevant information on redundant transmission used for the first data connection service in the data connection session;

[0061] The sending module is configured to: perform charging processing based on the redundant transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and send a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, where the first charging response message includes the charging processing result.

[0062] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission.

[0063] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information further indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy.

[0064] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, and the redundant transmission information further indicates that the data connection session is a primary data connection session or a secondary data connection session, or the redundant transmission information further includes information about a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session.

[0065] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to: determine, based on the redundant transmission information, to perform redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the first data connection service, and grant a quota for the first data connection service; the charging processing result includes the quota; the receiving module is further configured to: receive a second charging request message from the charging trigger device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing device performs redundant-removing charging processing or redundant-including charging processing on the usage amount of the quota.

[0066] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to: generate second processing indication information based on the redundant transmission information; the charging processing result includes the second processing indication information; where the second processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to perform: redundant-including usage amount processing or redundant-removing usage amount processing on a second data connection service in the data connection session.

[0067] In a possible solution, the receiving module is further configured to: receive from the charging trigger device the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage amount description information, where the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: traffic without redundant-removing usage amount processing, traffic after redundant-removing usage amount processing, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0068] In a possible solution, the receiving module is further configured to: receive the transmission delay of the first data connection service from the charging trigger device; the sending module is further configured to: perform charging processing according to the redundant transmission information and the transmission delay.

[0069] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to: write the information of the first data connection service into the call record, where the information of the first data connection service includes any one of the following: redundant transmission information, usage description information, or transmission delay.

[0070] In a possible solution, the sending module is further configured to: determine not to perform charging processing on the connection session; generate non-charging indication information, where the non-charging indication information instructs the charging processing device to determine that the data connection session is a slave data connection session and not perform charging processing on it, or determine that the data connection session redundant to the data connection session performs charging and not perform charging processing on it; the charging processing result includes the non-charging indication information.

[0071] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging trigger device, including a processor and a memory, where: the memory is used to store program instructions; the processor is used to call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory, so that the charging trigger device executes the charging processing method corresponding to the first aspect or any possible solution under the first aspect above.

[0072] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging processing device, including a processor and a memory, where: the memory is used to store program instructions; the processor is used to call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory, so that the charging processing device executes the charging processing method corresponding to the second aspect or any possible solution under the second aspect above.

[0073] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, which when running on a computer, cause the computer to execute the charging processing method corresponding to the first aspect, the second aspect, any possible solution under the first aspect, or any possible solution under the second aspect above. Description of the Drawings

[0074] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the session redundant transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0075] Figure 2A First schematic diagram of the tunnel redundant transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0076] Figure 2B Second schematic diagram of the tunnel redundant transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the transport layer redundant transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 4A First communication system architecture diagram provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0079] Figure 4B First method flowchart for charging and processing the redundant transmission data connection service provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0080] Figure 5 Second communication system architecture diagram provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0081] Figure 6A Second method flowchart for charging and processing the redundant transmission data connection service provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0082] Figure 6B Third method flowchart for charging and processing the redundant transmission data connection service provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0083] Figure 7A Third communication system architecture diagram provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0084] Figure 7B Fourth method flowchart for charging and processing the redundant transmission data connection service provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0085] Figure 8 Hardware structure diagram of the charging trigger device and the charging processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0086] Figure 9 Logical structure diagram of the charging processing device provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0087] Figure 10 Logical structure diagram of the charging trigger device provided by the embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0088] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Among them, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B may represent A or B; "and / or" in the present application is an association relationship describing associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. Here, A and B may be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "a plurality of" means two or more than two. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish identical items or similar items with basically the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art can understand that terms such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and terms such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit to be different.

[0089] For a data connection session or the data connection services in the data connection session, the operator communication network can at least adopt the following three redundant transmission methods to improve its reliability.

[0090] Session redundancy (denoted as "S1"): That is, the redundancy of the data connection session, which means that there are two mutually redundant data connection sessions between the user equipment and the data network, and the service data streams of the same service of the user are simultaneously transmitted in the two mutually redundant data connection sessions. For example, as Figure 1 shown, the UE (user equipment) 101 establishes two PDU (protocol data unit) sessions. Based on these two PDU sessions, two independent user plane paths are established for transmitting the same data between the UE 101 and the DN (Data Network) 109. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application will simply refer to this redundant transmission method as "session redundancy".

[0091] Tunnel redundancy (denoted as "S2"): It means that there are two user plane transmission tunnels for transmitting the same data between the radio access network device and the user plane data gateway, corresponding to the same QoS flow within the data connection session (that is, the service data stream in the QoS flow is redundantly transmitted through the two user plane transmission tunnels), constituting a transmission path at the level of two mutually redundant transmission tunnels (N3 / N9). For example, as Figure 2A or Figure 2BAs shown, during the establishment of a QoS flow, the SMF (Session Management Function) device 204 notifies the PSA (PDU session anchor) UPF (User Plane Function) device 205 and the NG-RAN (Next-Generation Radio Access Network) device 203 to perform redundant transmission at the QoS flow granularity. Specifically, it can be by transmitting the same data through two N3 interface tunnels (N3 Tunnel) between the PSA UPF device 205 and the NG-RAN device 203. These two N3 interface tunnels share the same QoS flow identifier, such as Figure 2A shown; or it can be by transmitting the same data through two N3 and N9 interface tunnels (N3 and N9 Tunnel) between the PSA UPF device 205 and the NG-RAN device 203. These two N3 and N9 tunnels also share the same QoS flow identifier, such as Figure 2B shown. For the convenience of description, the embodiment of this application abbreviates this redundant transmission method as "tunnel redundancy", which corresponds to the QoS flow identifier.

[0092] Transport layer redundancy (denoted as "S3"): It means that there are two transport layer paths corresponding to the data connection session between the radio access network device and the user plane data gateway to transmit the same data (that is, all service data flows in the data connection session pass through the two transport layer paths for redundant transmission respectively), constituting two mutually redundant transport paths at the data connection session level. For example, as Figure 3 shown, when establishing an N3 GTP-U (GPRS Tunneling Protocol-User Plane) tunnel, two independent transport layer paths (path at transport layer) are established between the UPF device 305 and the NG-RAN device 303; when the UPF device 305 sends downlink data to the N3 GTP-U tunnel, the downlink data is copied to the two transport layer paths, and the NG-RAN device 303 excludes duplicate downlink data and then forwards it to the UE 301 after receiving the downlink data; when the NG-RAN device 303 sends uplink data to the N3 GTP-U tunnel, the uplink data is also copied to the two transport layer paths, and the UPF device 305 excludes duplicate uplink data and then forwards it to the DN 307 after receiving the uplink data. For the convenience of description, this application abbreviates this redundant transmission method as "transport layer redundancy method".

[0093] Among them, during redundant transmission in the S1 mode, for any one of the two redundant data connection sessions, within any collection period, the traffic between the UE and the user plane data gateway is the same as the traffic between the user plane data gateway and the data network (without considering packet loss caused by policy control or network reasons); while redundant transmission in the S2 or S3 mode only occurs between the radio access network device and the user plane data gateway, and the traffic on both sides of the user plane data gateway for the same redundant transmission data connection service is inconsistent, that is: without considering network anomalies such as packet loss, within any collection period, the traffic on the radio access network device side is twice the traffic on the data network side.

[0094] The improvement in the above reliability is achieved by the additional network resources invested by the operator. For example, Figure 1 the second PDU session supported by NG-RAN 104 and UPF 107 in Figure 2A the N3 tunnel 2 between NG-RAN 203 and UPF 205 in Figure 2B the N3 tunnel 2 and N9 tunnel 2 between NG-RAN 203 and UPF 205 in Figure 3 and the second transport layer path between NG-RAN 303 and UPF 305 in

[0095] This requires the charging processing device to be able to obtain the redundant transmission situation of the data connection session in a timely manner during data transmission, manage the way of obtaining the usage amount in a timely manner, and perform corresponding charging processing on the obtained usage amount in a timely manner to meet the diverse charging needs of the operator or the end user.

[0096] Figure 4A FIG. 18 is a first communication system architecture diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application, which includes a user equipment 411, a radio network access device 412, a user plane data gateway 413, a data network 414, a charging processing device 402, and a charging trigger device 401; among them, the charging trigger device 401 and the charging processing device 402 form a charging processing system, which includes charging processing for a data connection session 415. In a possible solution, the charging processing system further includes a policy control device ( Figure 4A not shown), a bill management device (Figure 4A not shown), etc. Some of the devices will be briefly introduced below.

[0097] User Equipment 411: The device of the end user, which is connected to the wireless network device 412 through the air interface (note: the "connection" or "link" described in the embodiments of this application includes direct connection or indirect connection, and the latter refers to connection through one or more intermediate network devices, which will not be elaborated further); responsible for initiating the creation or deletion of the data connection session 415; communicating with the devices or servers in the data network 414 through the data connection session 415 to provide diverse services to the end user, such as voice calls, video playback, etc.

[0098] The user equipment 411 can be a UE (user equipment) defined by the 3GPP standard specification; exemplary user equipment includes: smart phones, laptops with wireless communication functions, tablet computers, wearable devices, AR (Augmented Reality) devices, IoT (Internet of Things) devices, etc.

[0099] It should be understood that in practical applications, Figure 4A there can be more user equipment in the shown communication system.

[0100] Radio Access Network Device 412: A network element in the radio access network, responsible for sending radio frequency signals to the user equipment 411 or receiving radio frequency signals from the user equipment 411, so as to send the data packets of the user plane data gateway 413 to the user equipment 411 or send the data packets sent by the user equipment 411 to the user plane data gateway 413; usually the NG-RAN defined by the 3GPP standard specification, including but not limited to eNB (evolved NodeB), gNB (gNodeB, 5G base station); it should be understood that in practical applications, Figure 4A there can be more radio access network devices in the shown communication system.

[0101] User Plane Data Gateway 413: A network element in the core network, which transmits the data packets from the user equipment 411 via the radio access network device 412 to the data network 414, or transmits the data packets sent by the data network 414 to the radio access network device 412 and then to the user equipment 411. Usually, it is a UPF device, PGW-U (packet data network gateway for user plane), or SGW-U (serving gateway for user plane) defined by the 3GPP standard specification; it should be understood that in practical applications,Figure 4A There can be more user plane data gateways in the communication system shown.

[0102] Data network 414: A network for transmitting data, formed with data switches as transfer points, such as the Internet, which includes application servers ( Figure 4A (not shown in the figure), and provides services or capabilities for various APPs (Applications) on the user equipment 411.

[0103] Data connection session 415: An association between the UE and a data network that provides a connectivity service, used to provide a connection service for communication between the user equipment 411 and the data network 414, so as to transmit data packets between the user equipment, the radio access network equipment, the user plane data gateway, and the data network; its creation process can be initiated by the user equipment 411, and its deletion process can be initiated by the user equipment 411 or other network devices.

[0104] The data connection session 415 can be a PDU session under the 5G network architecture, or an IP-CAN (IP-connectivity access network) session under the 4G (4th generation) network architecture, or other forms of sessions between the user equipment and the data network. The embodiments of this application do not make any limitations in this regard.

[0105] In some embodiments of this application, the data connection session is sometimes also simply referred to as a "session".

[0106] Charging trigger device 401: A device that collects charging information for the data in the data connection session 415 and reports the charging information to the charging processing device, and is respectively connected to the user plane data gateway 413 and the charging processing device 402. Its main functions include:

[0107] (1) Obtain information about the redundant transmission of the data connection session 415 or the data connection service therein, and form redundant transmission information accordingly;

[0108] (2) Send the redundant transmission information and charging data to the charging processing device 402;

[0109] (3) Receive the charging processing result from the charging processing device 402, and then perform further charging-related operations or stop charging-related operations based on this result.

[0110] In addition, in the S2 or S3 mode, considering the characteristic of asymmetric traffic on both sides of the user plane data gateway 413, the charging trigger device 401 can also report the traffic and description information (such as which side of the traffic is described) of the data connection service in the data connection session 415 transmitted on different sides of the user plane data gateway 413 to the charging processing device 402.

[0111] The charging trigger device 401 includes a CTF (Charging Trigger Function) defined by the 3GPP standard specification. The charging trigger device 401 can be deployed in the SMF device (i.e., the control plane gateway) defined by the 3GPP standard specification, or can be deployed in other devices with the same or similar functions as the SMF device, such as PGW-C (packet data network gateway for control plane, control plane packet user plane data gateway), SGW-C (serving gateway for control plane, control plane serving gateway), or can also be deployed in other devices that can obtain information such as the usage amount and redundant transmission method in the data connection session; the embodiment of the present application does not limit the physical deployment method of the charging trigger device 401.

[0112] It should be understood that in practical applications, Figure 4A the communication system shown may have more charging trigger devices. For example, in Figure 1 the schematic diagram of the redundant transmission method shown, there can be two charging trigger devices, which are respectively deployed in SMF 105 and SMF 108.

[0113] For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, sometimes the charging trigger device is also simply referred to as the "CTF device" or "CTF"; in the scenario where the CTF device is deployed in the SMF device, the "SMF device" or "SMF" is also directly used to refer to the "CTF device", and subsequent embodiments will not elaborate.

[0114] Charging processing device 402: A device that performs charging processing on the data connection service in the data connection session 415 based on the information sent by the charging trigger device (including the charging trigger device 401 and Figure 4A other charging trigger devices not shown), and its main functions include:

[0115] (1) Receive redundant transmission information from the charging trigger device to obtain information about the redundant transmission of the data connection session 415 or the data connection service therein;

[0116] (2) Perform a charging processing operation based on the redundant transmission information, and this operation includes any one of the following:

[0117] (2.1) Determine the redundant service charging processing method for the data connection session 415 or the data connection service therein based on the redundant transmission information, receive charging data from the charging trigger device, perform operations such as quota granting, account deduction, and call record writing for the data connection service in the data connection session, and send the results of these operations to the charging trigger device, so that the charging trigger device further performs charging-related operations such as quota application and usage reporting based on this result; optionally, other information such as user subscription information (user subscription information may specify whether to charge for additional traffic or the rate of additional traffic, etc.) can also be combined to determine the redundant service charging processing method;

[0118] (2.2) Determine the redundant service charging processing method for the data connection session 415 or the data connection service therein based on the redundant transmission information, and then determine the usage management method that meets the requirements of this redundant service charging processing method, and send indication information to the charging trigger device, so that the charging trigger device performs quota management, usage collection and reporting according to the specified usage management method; optionally, other information such as user subscription information and the policies stored locally in the charging processing device can also be combined to determine the usage management method;

[0119] (2.3) Determine that the data connection session does not need to be charged based on the redundant transmission information, and then send non-charging indication information to the charging trigger device to stop / suspend the charging operation for the data connection session; optionally, other information such as user subscription information and the policies stored locally in the charging processing device can also be combined to determine that the data connection session does not need to be charged.

[0120] In addition, in the S2 or S3 mode, if the charging trigger device 401 reports the traffic and description information of the data connection service in the data connection session 415 transmitted on different sides of the user plane data gateway 413, the charging processing device can also determine that the corresponding data connection service is redundantly transmitted based on this, and then perform charging processing according to the charging policy.

[0121] The charging processing device 402 may be implemented based on a CHF (Charging Function) device defined by the current 3GPP standard specification, or may be implemented based on a CCS (Converged Charging System) device (which includes the functions of the CHF device) defined by the current 3GPP standard specification, or may also be implemented based on other devices having equivalent or similar functions to the CHF device or the CCS device; in addition, the charging processing device 402 may be deployed separately in a physical device, or may be co-deployed with other functional devices in the same physical device; the embodiments of the present application do not limit the physical deployment method of the charging processing device 402.

[0122] It should be understood that in practical applications, Figure 4A there may be more charging processing devices in the communication system shown.

[0123] For the convenience of narration, in the embodiments of the present application, sometimes the charging processing device is also simply referred to as a "CHF device" or "CHF".

[0124] For the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, some concepts are explained below.

[0125] Traffic: refers to the number of bits transmitted by the user plane data gateway (such as the UPF device) within a specific time range (such as the collection period).

[0126] Usage: refers to the traffic reported to the charging processing device (such as the CHF device) for charging processing; in the embodiments of the present application, the usage information includes usage and usage description information.

[0127] QoS flow: is the smallest granularity of forwarding processing with QoS differentiation in a PDU session, and a QoS flow is usually identified by a QFI (QoS Flow Identifier).

[0128] Redundant transmission traffic: refers to the traffic transmitted on any one of two mutually redundant transmission paths.

[0129] Data connection service: is a set of service data flows in a data connection session, and can have any of the following granularities:

[0130] (1) Data connection session granularity (that is, the service data flows in the data connection service are the service data flows in the data connection session);

[0131] (2) QoS flow granularity (that is, the service data flows in the data connection service are the service data flows in a certain QoS flow in the data connection session);

[0132] (3) Rate group granularity (i.e., the service data flow in the data connection service is the service data flow in a certain rate group in the data connection session);

[0133] (4) Service granularity in the rate group (i.e., the service data flow in the data connection service is the service data flow corresponding to a certain service identifier in a certain rate group in the data connection session).

[0134] For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, sometimes the data connection service is also simply referred to as "service" or "data service". It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the service data flows that make up the data connection service all refer to the service data flows that need to be billed, and do not include free or service data flows that do not require billing.

[0135] Redundant transmission data connection service: Also known as redundant data connection service, it refers to the data connection service for which the communication network implements or uses redundant transmission, including not only the data connection service with redundant transmission implemented in the S2 or S3 manner, but also the data connection service with redundant transmission implemented in the S1 manner (i.e., the data in this data connection service is also redundantly transmitted in another data connection session).

[0136] Redundant transmission mode (RTM): It is the abbreviation of the network implementation method of redundant transmission, including at least the session redundancy (S1), tunnel redundancy (S2), or transport layer redundancy (S3) described above; "the redundant transmission mode of the data connection session" or "the redundant transmission mode of the data connection service" refers to the network implementation method of redundant transmission implemented or used by the communication network for this data connection session or data connection service. It should be understood that the redundant transmission mode can sometimes also be called "redundant transmission type".

[0137] Redundant Transmission Information (RTI): Refers to the relevant information for redundant transmission; the redundant transmission information of a certain data connection session or the data connection service in this data connection session may only indicate whether the communication network implements or uses redundant transmission for this data connection session or the data connection service in this data connection session, or whether the transmission of this data connection session or the data connection service in this data connection session is redundant transmission, and may also only indicate or further indicate the redundant transmission mode of this data connection session or the data connection service in this data connection session; optionally, when indicating that the redundant transmission mode is session redundancy, it may further indicate the "status" of this data connection session in two mutually redundant data connection sessions (or indicate the role of this data connection session in redundant transmission, such as the primary data connection session, the secondary data connection session), or further indicate the relevant information of another data connection session that is mutually redundant with this data connection session, such as the identifier of the other data connection session, the address or identifier of the user plane data gateway of the other data connection session, etc.

[0138] Optionally, the redundant transmission information also refers to the usage information from which the existence of redundant transmission can be deduced; for example, if the usage information includes the usage amount and the usage amount collection location (i.e., on which side of the user plane data gateway it is collected), it can also be regarded as a kind of redundant transmission information; for example, if the usage amount of the user plane data gateway in the radio access network is twice that of the data network side, the charging processing device can determine that the data connection service corresponding to the usage amount adopts redundant transmission in the S2 or S3 mode.

[0139] Redundant usage amount: Refers to the additional data traffic transmitted by the data connection service due to redundant transmission within a specific collection period.

[0140] Basic usage amount: Refers to the data traffic of the data connection service within a specific collection period assuming there is no redundant transmission.

[0141] In actual processing, the sources of redundant usage and basic usage are relative; in the S1 mode, in the two mutually redundant data connection sessions A and B, if part or all of the traffic (within the collection period) in data connection session A is regarded as basic usage, then the corresponding part or all of the traffic (within the collection period) in data connection session B is regarded as redundant usage, and vice versa; similarly, in the S2 mode, in the two mutually redundant tunnels A and B, if part or all of the traffic in tunnel A is regarded as basic usage, then the corresponding part or all of the traffic in tunnel B is regarded as redundant usage, and vice versa; similarly, in the S3 mode, in the two mutually redundant transport layer paths A and B, if part or all of the traffic in transport layer path A is regarded as basic usage, then the corresponding part or all of the traffic in transport layer path B is regarded as redundant usage, and vice versa.

[0142] Combined usage: It refers to the sum of basic usage and redundant usage. For example, if the basic usage is 2M and the redundant usage is also 2M, then the combined usage is 2M + 2M = 4M.

[0143] Redundant service billing processing method: It refers to the method by which the billing processing device bills the data connection service for redundant transmission, which is divided into "billing processing including redundancy" and "billing processing removing redundancy".

[0144] Billing processing including redundancy: It means that the billing processing device bills both the basic usage and the redundant usage of the data connection service for redundant transmission, such as account deduction or call record writing, etc. Among them, the basic usage and the redundant usage can adopt the same rate or different rates, specifically depending on the operator's billing policy.

[0145] Billing processing removing redundancy: It means that the billing processing device only bills the basic usage of the data connection service for redundant transmission, such as using a specific rate to deduct from the account and write call records for the basic usage, without processing the redundant usage.

[0146] Redundant usage processing method: Redundant usage processing refers to the management of the quota and / or usage of the data connection service for redundant transmission by the billing trigger device. The redundant usage processing method is the specific method of redundant usage processing, which is divided into "usage processing including redundancy" and "usage processing removing redundancy".

[0147] Usage processing involving redundancy: This refers to the processing operations performed by the charging trigger device on the data traffic of redundant transmission data connection services, so that the reported usage includes redundant usage (S2 / S3), or to meet the requirements of the charging processing device to perform charging processing involving redundancy (S1). These processing operations vary depending on the charging mode (online charging or offline charging) and the redundant transmission method. For details, refer to the embodiments of this application.

[0148] Usage processing for removing redundancy: This refers to the processing operations performed by the charging trigger device on the data traffic of redundant transmission data connection services, so that the reported usage does not include redundant usage (S2 / S3), or to meet the requirements of the charging processing device to perform charging processing for removing redundancy (S1). These processing operations vary depending on the charging mode and the redundant transmission method. For details, refer to the embodiments of this application.

[0149] Figure 4A In the shown communication system architecture, the charging processing device 402 can obtain relevant information on redundant transmission of the data connection session 415 or the data connection services in the data connection session through the charging trigger device 401 deployed on the SMF device or PGW-C, and perform charging processing accordingly. Specifically, further reference can be made to Figure 4B the corresponding method flow; in this method flow, unless otherwise specified, the "charging trigger device" refers to the charging trigger device 401, the "charging processing device" refers to the charging processing device 402, the "user equipment" refers to the user equipment 411, the "radio access network device" refers to the radio access network device 412, the "user plane data gateway" refers to the user plane data gateway 413, the "data network" refers to the data network 414, and the "data connection session" refers to the data connection session 415, which will not be elaborated further.

[0150] Figure 4B This is the first method flow chart for charging processing of redundant transmission data connection services provided by the embodiments of this application. In this method flow, the charging processing device determines that there is redundant transmission in the data connection services in the data connection session based on the redundant transmission information reported by the charging trigger device, and performs charging processing accordingly. There are the following possible scenarios for the interaction between the charging trigger device and the charging processing device:

[0151] (1) Based on the redundant transmission information, the charging processing device determines that the data connection session requires charging processing, and the charging processing device interacts with the charging trigger device for charging processing. Specifically, there are the following possible scenarios:

[0152] (1.1) The charging trigger device defaults to reporting the combined usage to the charging processing device, and the charging processing device performs charging processing based on the reported combined usage according to the redundant service charging processing method it determines;

[0153] (1.2) The charging processing device sends usage processing indication information to the charging trigger device according to the requirements of the redundant service charging processing method. The charging trigger device manages quotas, obtains and reports basic usage amounts, or obtains and reports basic usage amounts and redundant usage amounts according to this indication information.

[0154] (2) Based on the redundant transmission information, the charging processing device determines that charging processing for removing redundancy will be performed, and further determines that the redundant data connection session does not require charging processing, and terminates or suspends the interaction with the charging trigger device for charging processing.

[0155] Figure 4B The specific steps of the corresponding method flow are as follows:

[0156] Step 430: The charging trigger device sends a first charging request message to the charging processing device, and this request message contains redundant transmission information.

[0157] Specifically, the charging trigger device obtains redundant transmission information, that is, the information of redundant transmission implemented or used by the communication network for the first data connection service in the data connection session, and sends a first charging request message to the charging processing device, and this request message contains the redundant transmission information; of course, in addition to the redundant transmission information, those skilled in the art know that this charging request message may also contain other information related to the data connection session, such as the identifier of the first data connection session, the information of the first data connection service, etc.

[0158] The granularity of the first data connection service in this application can be the data connection session granularity or the QoS flow granularity in the data connection session, which will not be elaborated here.

[0159] In a possible solution, the redundant transmission information explicitly indicates that redundant transmission is used for the first data connection service, or explicitly indicates that the transmission of the data connection service is redundant transmission. For example, the redundant transmission information can be indication information such as "Redundant Indicator = true"; specifically, "the transmission of the data connection service is redundant transmission", for the S1 mode, it means that the data connection service uses a redundant data connection session, for the S2 mode, it means that the data connection service uses a redundant transmission tunnel, and for the S3 mode, it means that a redundant transport layer path is used.

[0160] In yet another possible solution, the redundant transmission information may also be information that implicitly indicates that the first data connection service uses redundant transmission. For example, the charging trigger device defaults to reporting the combined usage (e.g., the traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device in the S2 or S3 mode) and the basic usage (e.g., the traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network in the S2 or S3 mode) to the charging processing device at the same time. Based on the reported combined usage and basic usage, the charging processing device determines that the first data connection service is a data connection service with redundant transmission. Then, the combined usage and the basic usage together form the redundant transmission information.

[0161] In yet another possible solution, the redundant transmission information may also indicate the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service. For example: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy;

[0162] In yet another possible solution, the redundant transmission information may further indicate the "status" of the data connection session or its role in redundant transmission. For example, it indicates that the data connection session is the primary data connection session or the secondary data connection session, or indicates relevant information about another data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session, such as the identifier of another data connection session, the address or identifier of the corresponding user plane data gateway, etc.

[0163] It should be noted that the above several types of redundant transmission information can be used independently or in combination.

[0164] Optionally, the first charging request message may further include the transmission delay of the first data connection service.

[0165] In the embodiments of the present application, the charging request message may specifically be a charging resource creation request message or a charging resource update request message, which will not be elaborated here.

[0166] The manner in which the charging trigger device obtains the redundant transmission information is not limited. For example, the charging trigger device may determine the redundant transmission mode of the data connection session through the DNN (Data Network Name) or S-NSSAI (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information) included in the data connection session establishment request message and the locally configured policy.

[0167] Step 440: The charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information.

[0168] Specifically, the charging processing device receives and parses the first charging request message, obtains the redundant transmission information and other information related to the data connection session therefrom, and then performs charging processing. The specific processing process is as follows.

[0169] (1) If the redundant transmission information indicates that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission, and / or the redundant transmission mode indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, the charging processing device determines that there is redundant transmission for the first data connection service based on this, and further combines user subscription information, etc., to determine the redundant service charging processing method to be performed on the data connection service: including charging processing with redundancy or charging processing to remove redundancy. To implement these two redundant service charging processing methods, the charging processing device further performs the following operations.

[0170] (1.1) The charging processing device receives the combined usage amount from the charging trigger device, and performs charging processing with redundancy or charging processing to remove redundancy on the combined usage amount.

[0171] Specifically, the charging processing device may obtain the combined usage amount from the first charging request message, or may receive another charging request message from the charging trigger device and obtain the combined usage amount therefrom.

[0172] Specifically, if the redundant service charging processing method is charging processing with redundancy, the charging processing device directly performs charging processing on the combined usage amount (i.e., without distinguishing the basic usage amount and the redundant usage amount), or distinguishes the basic usage amount and the redundant usage amount from the combined usage amount and then performs separate charging processing, including but not limited to using different rates for the basic usage amount and the redundant usage amount. For example, the charging processing device may take half of the combined usage amount as the basic usage amount and charge at rate 1, and the other half as the redundant usage amount and charge at rate 2.

[0173] Specifically, if the redundant service charging processing method is charging processing to remove redundancy, the charging processing device obtains the basic usage amount from the combined usage amount and performs charging processing on the basic usage amount. For example, if the combined usage amount reported by the charging trigger device is 4M, then take half of the combined usage amount, 2M, as the basic usage amount and perform charging processing on this 2M basic usage amount.

[0174] If the first data connection service is an online charging service (i.e., a data connection service for which online charging should be performed), the charging processing device also grants a quota for the first data connection service (which can be granted passively based on a quota application sent by the charging trigger device, or actively granted in the case where no quota application is received from the charging trigger device); the quota can be twice the actual quota reserved by the charging processing device in the corresponding account (this can reduce the number of times the charging trigger device requests a quota from the charging processing device), or it can be equal to the actual reserved quota; optionally, the charging processing device can also generate first processing indication information corresponding to the quota, and this indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota, where the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount corresponding to the quota is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission; the charging processing device can send the first processing indication information to the charging trigger device together with the quota, or it can not send the first processing indication information, but instead save the correspondence between the redundancy flag and the quota locally.

[0175] (1.2) The charging processing device sends usage amount processing indication information to the charging trigger device, causing the charging trigger device to perform usage amount processing with redundancy or usage amount processing to remove redundancy, so as to meet the needs of charging processing with redundancy and charging processing to remove redundancy respectively.

[0176] Specifically, based on the determined redundant service charging processing method, the charging processing device generates second processing indication information: if the redundant service charging processing method is charging processing with redundancy, the second processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to perform usage amount processing with redundancy for the second data connection service in the data connection session; if the redundant service charging processing method is charging processing to remove redundancy, the second processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to perform usage amount processing to remove redundancy for the second data connection service.

[0177] If the redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission method of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0178] If the redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission method of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0179] (1.3) If the redundant transmission information is usage amount and collection location information, the charging processing device calculates the ratio between the usage amounts on both sides of the user plane data gateway. If the usage amount between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device is twice the usage amount between the user plane data gateway and the data network, it is determined that there is redundant transmission in the S2 or S3 mode for the first data connection service, and then the redundant service charging processing method is determined. Then, based on the usage amounts on both sides of the user plane data gateway, charging processing including redundancy or charging processing removing redundancy is performed; the charging processing device may regard the usage amount between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device as the combined usage amount, and regard the usage amount between the user plane data gateway and the data network as the basic usage amount; for how to perform charging processing including redundancy or charging processing removing redundancy, reference may be made to the relevant description in paragraph (1.1) of this step.

[0180] After successfully performing charging processing including redundancy or charging processing removing redundancy, the charging processing device generates an indication information of successful account deduction (for online charging) or an indication information of successful call detail record generation (for offline charging).

[0181] (2) If the redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission mode is session redundancy, and further indicates the "status" of the data connection session or its role in the redundant transmission, or further includes information about another data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session, to implement charging processing removing redundancy, the charging processing device may select one of the two mutually redundant data connection sessions for charging processing, as follows.

[0182] (2.1) Assume that the redundant transmission information indicates that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session. Then, the charging processing device may generate a non - charging indication information, which is used to indicate to the charging trigger device that the charging processing device does not perform charging processing on the data connection session because it is a secondary data connection session.

[0183] (2.2) Assume that the redundant transmission information indicates information about another data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session. Then, the charging processing device selects to perform charging on the other data connection session, and generates a non - charging indication information for the data connection session, which is used to indicate to the charging trigger device that charging is performed on the data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session and no charging processing is performed on the data connection session.

[0184] It should be understood that between the data connection session and another data connection session, the charging processing device does not necessarily choose not to charge the data connection session; regarding the choice between these two data connection sessions, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific selection method; the charging processing device can randomly select a data connection session, or can select a data connection session with a lower transmission delay. If these two data connection sessions are in different network slices, it can also select a data connection session with a higher priority of the network slice where it is located; the charging processing device can obtain the transmission delay of the data connection session from the charging request sent by the charging trigger device, and obtain the priority of the network slice where the data connection session is located from the network slice management device.

[0185] The non-charging indication information in the above two points can have various representation methods. For example, it can be composed of "failed to create charging resources" and "indication information that the reason for failure is that the data connection session is not charged", as detailed in the subsequent embodiments of the present application.

[0186] If the first charging request message includes the transmission delay of the first data connection service, the charging processing device performs charging processing according to the redundant transmission information and the transmission delay; for example, the charging processing device selects a data connection session that needs to be charged or a data connection session that does not need to be charged according to the transmission delay; for another example, when the charging processing device performs the charging processing of removing redundancy or the charging processing including redundancy as described above, it determines the charging rate of the usage according to the transmission delay; for another example, the charging processing device selects the usage to be charged according to the transmission delay (for example, in the S2 mode, the charging trigger device can report the usage and the corresponding transmission delay in each transmission tunnel respectively, and the charging processing device selects the usage corresponding to the smaller transmission delay).

[0187] If the data connection service is an offline charging service, it further includes: the charging processing device writes the information of the first data connection service into the call record, and the information of the first data connection service includes any one of the following: redundant transmission information, usage description information, or transmission delay (if the first charging request message includes the transmission delay).

[0188] Step 450: The charging processing device sends a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, and the first charging response message includes the result of the charging processing.

[0189] Specifically, the charging processing device constructs a first charging response message and sends it to the charging trigger device, and this response message includes the charging processing result, which is one of the following items:

[0190] - The quota granted by the charging processing device in step 440, or the granted quota and the corresponding first processing indication information;

[0191] - The second processing instruction information generated by the charging processing device in step 440;

[0192] - The indication information of successful account deduction or successful call record writing generated by the charging processing device in step 440;

[0193] - The non-charging instruction information generated by the charging processing device in step 440.

[0194] In the embodiments of the present application, the charging response message may specifically be a charging resource creation response message or a charging resource update response message, which will not be elaborated here. The first charging response message may be a response message corresponding to the charging request message in step 430, or a response message corresponding to other charging request messages.

[0195] The charging trigger device receives and parses the first charging response message, obtains the charging processing result provided by the charging processing device therefrom, and performs further operations based on this charging processing result. The specific operations are as follows.

[0196] (1) Specifically, if the charging processing result includes the quota granted by the charging processing device and the corresponding first processing instruction information, the charging trigger device manages the consumption of the quota, obtains the usage amount corresponding to the quota (which is a combined usage amount), and sends the usage amount and the above redundancy flag to the charging processing device through a second charging request message; subsequently, the charging processing device receives and parses the second charging request message, and performs redundant-included charging processing or redundancy-removed charging processing on the usage amount according to the redundancy flag therein. If the charging processing result does not include the redundancy flag, the charging processing device may perform redundant-included charging processing or redundancy-removed charging processing on the usage amount according to the redundancy flag locally saved in step 440. Regarding the redundant-included charging processing and redundancy-removed charging processing, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in step 440.

[0197] (2) Specifically, if the charging processing result includes the second processing instruction information generated by the charging processing device, the charging trigger device performs different processing according to different redundancy transmission methods and different redundancy usage amount processing methods indicated by the second processing instruction information, as follows:

[0198] (2.1) Regardless of whether the redundancy transmission method of the first data connection service is session redundancy, tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy, it can be processed in the following manner:

[0199] (2.1.1) If the second processing instruction information indicates that redundant usage amount processing is to be performed for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0200] Take half of the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage amount of the data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., half of the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session).

[0201] (2.1.2) If the second processing indication information indicates to perform usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0202] Take the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage amount of the data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session).

[0203] In the above two points, "the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session" refers to the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted in the data connection session in the S1 mode, and refers to the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway corresponding to the data connection session and the radio access network device in the S2 or S3 mode.

[0204] (2.2) If the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy, it can be processed as follows:

[0205] (2.2.1) If the second processing indication information indicates to perform usage processing to remove redundancy for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0206] Take the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway corresponding to the data connection session and the data network as the usage amount of the second data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network).

[0207] (2.2.2) If the second processing indication information indicates to perform usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0208] Take the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway corresponding to the data connection session and the radio access network device as the usage amount of the second data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device).

[0209] (2.3) Regardless of whether the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy, it can also be processed as follows:

[0210] (2.3.1) If the second processing indication information indicates to perform usage amount processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0211] Take the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through one of the two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage amount of the second data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through one of the two mutually redundant transmission paths).

[0212] Regarding the selection method of the transmission path, the embodiments of the present application do not make limitations; the charging trigger device can randomly select one of the above two transmission paths, or can select the one with lower transmission delay. If the two transmission paths are in different network slices, it can also select the transmission path with a higher network slice priority; the charging trigger device can obtain the transmission delay of the transmission path from the user plane data gateway.

[0213] (2.3.2) If the second processing indication information indicates to perform usage amount processing including redundancy for the second data connection service, the charging processing device performs the following operations according to this indication:

[0214] Take the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through the two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage amount of the second data connection service; if the second data connection service is an online charging service, also consume the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage amount of the second data connection service (i.e., the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through the two mutually redundant transmission paths).

[0215] In the above two points, "the two mutually redundant transmission paths" refer to two transmission tunnels in the S2 mode and two transport layer paths in the S3 mode.

[0216] It should be understood that the above traffic refers to the traffic generated within the time interval between two reported usage amounts (or within the collection period).

[0217] After obtaining the usage amount, the charging trigger device sends it to the charging processing device through another charging request message. Optionally, the charging trigger device can also generate usage description information for the obtained usage amount (for example, the usage amount corresponding to the rate group in the first data connection service, or the usage amount corresponding to the QoS flow in the first data connection service), and send it to the charging processing device together with the obtained usage amount. The usage description information is used to describe whether the usage amount is the traffic for which redundant usage processing has been performed, or to describe the location where the traffic occurs. For example, the usage description information indicates any of the following:

[0218] - Whether the usage amount is the traffic for which redundant usage processing has been performed, specifically: traffic for which redundant usage processing has not been performed or traffic after redundant usage processing has been performed;

[0219] - On which side of the user plane data gateway the usage amount is the traffic, specifically: traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device or traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0220] (3) Specifically, if the charging processing result contains the non-charging indication information generated by the charging processing device, the charging trigger device terminates or suspends charging. For example, quota management, usage amount collection, and interactions with the charging processing device for charging processing (such as requesting quotas from the charging processing device and sending charging data such as usage amounts).

[0221] Optionally, the charging trigger device can monitor the data connection session. Once it is found that the data connection session becomes the primary data connection session, a third charging request message is sent to the charging processing device, which contains the indication information that the data connection session is the primary data connection session. This indication information can be represented by the redundant transmission information described above.

[0222] In the above operation steps, the method for the charging trigger device to obtain the usage volume of the data connection service is not limited. For example, the charging trigger device can obtain the usage volume from the message actively reported by the user plane data gateway, or can send a request message for obtaining the usage volume to the user plane data gateway, and then obtain the usage volume from the corresponding response message or notification message. Optionally, the request message for obtaining the usage volume can specify which side of the user plane data gateway the traffic is required for. For example, the request message can include indication information of "NG-GW", indicating that the traffic transmitted between the radio access network device and the user plane data gateway needs to be obtained, or include indication information of "GW-DN", indicating that the traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network needs to be obtained.

[0223] Figure 4B The method flow enables the charging processing device to learn about the redundant transmission situation of the data connection service through the charging trigger device, and perform charging processing based on the redundant transmission situation, which helps to improve the accuracy of charging and meet the diverse charging requirements of operators or end users.

[0224] Figure 5 This is the second communication system architecture diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application. This communication system is formed by taking the devices defined by the 3GPP standard specification as examples for each device on the basis of the communication system shown in Figure 4A Specifically, the user equipment 411 is taken as an example of UE511, the access network device 412 is taken as an example of gNB 512, the user plane data gateway 413 is taken as an example of UPF device 513, the data network 414 is taken as an example of DN 514, the deployment location of the charging trigger device 401 is taken as an example of being deployed in the SMF device 501, the charging processing device 402 is taken as an example of CHF device 502, and the data connection session 415 is taken as an example of PDU session 515, as shown in Figure 5 shown. Exemplarily, the UPF device 513 communicates with the gNB 512 through the N3 interface, communicates with the DN 514 through the N6 interface, and communicates with the SMF device 501 through the N4 interface. The SMF device 501 communicates with the CHF device 502 through the N40 interface.

[0225] In the subsequent embodiments of the present application, based on Figure 5The method processes described in the architecture shown. In these method processes, unless otherwise specified, by default, "SMF" refers to the SMF device 501, "CHF" refers to the CHF device 502, "UE" refers to the UE 511, "gNB" refers to the gNB 512, "UPF" refers to the UPF device 513, "DN" refers to the DN 514, and "PDU session" refers to the PDU session 512. It should be noted that the function of the charging trigger device is deployed on the SMF device 501. Therefore, when describing operations related to charging, for example, in descriptions related to interacting with the CHF, managing quotas, or collecting usage amounts, the "SMF" mentioned refers to the "CTF".

[0226] Those skilled in the art will Figure 5 replace the devices in with equivalent or similar other devices to obtain technical solutions similar to those of the embodiments of the present application, which all fall within the scope protected by the present application.

[0227] Figure 6A This is the second method flowchart for charging the data connection service with redundant transmission provided by the embodiments of the present application, which is used to charge the first data connection service in the PDU session. The CHF performs charging processing including redundancy or removing redundancy on the combined usage amount reported by the SMF; the method process mainly includes the following steps:

[0228] Step 601: The SMF generates redundant transmission information RTI61 for the first data connection service.

[0229] Specifically, the granularity of the first data connection service is at the PDU session granularity or the QoS flow granularity.

[0230] If the SMF only determines that there is redundant transmission for the first data connection service, the generated RTI61 can only indicate that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission; specifically, "the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission", for the S1 mode, means that the first data connection service uses a redundant PDU session, for the S2 mode, means that the first data connection service uses a redundant N3 / N9 transmission tunnel, and for the S3 mode, means that the first data connection service uses a redundant transport layer path;

[0231] Exemplary RTI61 is as follows:

[0232] "Redundant Indicator":"True" / / indicating the existence of redundant transmission

[0233] The SMF can also further determine the redundant transmission mode of the PDU session, and the generated RTI61 also indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service. Exemplary RTI61 is as follows:

[0234] "RTI" {

[0235] "Redundant Indicator": "True" / / Indicates the existence of redundant transmission

[0236] "RedundantType": "1" / / Indicates that the redundant transmission method is session redundancy

[0237] }

[0238] Or

[0239] "Redundant Indicator": "2" / / Indicates the existence of redundant transmission and the redundant transmission method is tunnel redundancy. Regarding how the SMF determines the redundant transmission method, an exemplary method is as follows:

[0240] Determine that the redundant transmission method is S1 mode: The SMF determines that the PDU session requires a redundant PDU session based on the DNN or S-NSSAI in the PDU session establishment request and the local configuration information, and sends an indication to establish a dual connection to the radio network access device (such as NG-RAN 103). If the radio network access device successfully establishes a dual connection (the response message received by the SMF from the NG-RAN carries a success indication or does not carry a failure indication), the SMF determines that the PDU session is a redundant PDU session.

[0241] Determine that the redundant transmission method is S2 mode: During or after the establishment of the QoS flow for URLLC services, if the SMF decides to perform redundant transmission on the first data connection service based on the DNN or S-NSSAI in the PDU session establishment request, the local configuration information, the authorized 5QI (5G QoS Indicator, 5G QoS identifier), the capabilities of the NG-RAN, and / or the operator configuration information, the SMF notifies the PSA UPF via the N4 interface and notifies the NG-RAN via the N2 interface to perform redundant transmission.

[0242] Determine that the redundant transmission method is S3 mode: When the UE establishes a PDU session for URLLC services, the SMF selects a UPF that supports transport layer redundant transmission for the PDU session based on the DNN, S-NSSAI, the capabilities of the NG-RAN to support transport layer redundant transmission, etc., to establish two mutually redundant transport layer paths between the UPF and the NG-RAN.

[0243] Optionally, the generated RTI 61 may further indicate that the PDU session is a primary PDU session or a secondary PDU session, or indicate relevant information about another PDU session that is redundant with the PDU session, such as the identifier of another PDU session, the address or identifier of the corresponding user plane data gateway, etc. An exemplary RTI 61 is as follows:

[0244] "RTI" {

[0245] "RedundantPDUsess ionId": "XXXXXXX" / / Indicates the identifier of another PDU session that is redundant with the PDU session

[0246] }

[0247] If the SMF determines that the first data connection service is an online charging service (i.e., a data connection service that requires online charging), it proceeds to step 602;

[0248] If the SMF determines that the first data connection service is an offline charging service (i.e., a data connection service that requires offline charging), it proceeds to step 610.

[0249] Step 602: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF. This request message contains RTI 61, the identifier SesId61 of the PDU session, and an optional quota application RSU61.

[0250] Specifically, the SMF constructs a charging request message and sends it to the CHF, which contains RTI61 and SesId61; optionally, the charging request message also contains RSU61, where RSU61 is used to apply for a quota for one or more rate groups in the first data connection service. Optionally, the charging request message also contains the transmission delay.

[0251] Assuming that the charging request message is a charging resource creation request, an exemplary message structure is as follows:

[0252] ChargingResourceCreateRequest {

[0253] "SesId": "SesId61" / / Identifier of the PDU session

[0254] "RTI" { / / RTI61

[0255] "Redundant Indicator": "True"

[0256] "RTM": "1" / / Indicates that the redundant transmission method is session redundancy

[0257] }

[0258] "Delay":"XXms" / / Transmission delay

[0259] }

[0260] It should be noted that under different redundant transmission modes, the corresponding relationship between the redundant transmission information RTI and the data connection service is different. For example, for the S1 mode or the S3 mode, the RTI can correspond to the PDU session identifier; for the S2 mode, the RTI can correspond to the QoS flow identifier.

[0261] Optionally, the charging request message may further include the transmission delay of the first data connection service. When the first data connection service corresponds to the PDU session or the QoS flow, the example representations of the transmission delay are as follows:

[0262] "Ses Id":"Ses Id61" / / The identifier of the PDU session

[0263] "Delay":"50ms" / / The transmission delay corresponding to the PDU session

[0264] For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the transmission delay corresponding to the PDU session is referred to as the "transmission delay at the PDU session granularity".

[0265] Or

[0266] "QFI":"Qosflow61" / / The identifier (QFI) of a certain QoS flow in the PDU session

[0267] "Delay":"100ms" / / The transmission delay corresponding to the QoS flow

[0268] For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the transmission delay corresponding to the QoS flow is referred to as the "transmission delay at the QoS granularity".

[0269] Step 603: The CHF determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM61 according to the RTI61 and / or the transmission delay.

[0270] Specifically, the CHF receives and parses the charging request message, and obtains the RTI61, SesId61, and RSU61 (if any) and the transmission delay (if any) therefrom. The CHF determines that the transmission of the first data connection service is a redundant transmission based on the RTI 61. The CHF further determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM61 for the first data connection service according to the CHF charging policy or user subscription information and / or the transmission delay (if any); for example, the CHF may determine to adopt a charging process including redundancy for the first data connection service based on the RTI and user subscription information, or may determine to adopt a charging process removing redundancy for it; the CHF may also determine to adopt a charging process including redundancy when the transmission delay is higher than a preset threshold, and determine to adopt a charging process removing redundancy when the transmission delay is lower than the preset threshold.

[0271] Step 604: The CHF grants the quota GSU61 according to the RCM61.

[0272] Specifically, assume that the quota actually reserved by the CHF in the user account is A. Then: if the RCM61 is a charging process including redundancy, the GSU61 is A; if the RCM61 is a charging process removing redundancy, the GSU61 may be A or may be 2A.

[0273] Optionally, the CHF may also generate corresponding processing indication information ProcInd for the GSU61 (corresponding to the above first processing indication information), which is used to instruct the SMF to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the GSU61, so that the CHF will perform a charging process including redundancy or a charging process removing redundancy on the usage amount corresponding to the GSU61 as the usage amount of the redundant transmission data connection service subsequently.

[0274] Optionally, the CHF may grant the above quota for the first data connection service based on the RSU61.

[0275] Step 605: The CHF returns a charging response message to the SMF, and the response message includes the GSU61 and ProcInd (optional).

[0276] Specifically, the CHF constructs a charging response message and sends it to the SMF. The response message includes the GSU61. Optionally, the response message further includes the ProcInd. If the ProcInd is not included in the charging response message, the CHF may generate a redundancy flag Uflg for the GSU61 and store the identifier of the GSU61 and the Uflg corresponding to each other locally, where the redundancy flag Uflg is used to indicate that the usage amount of the GSU61 is the usage amount of the redundant transmission data connection service.

[0277] An exemplary charging response message is as follows:

[0278]

[0279] Step 606: The SMF obtains the usage amount USU61 corresponding to the GSU61.

[0280] Specifically, the SMF receives and parses the above charging response message, obtains the GSU61 and ProcInd (if any) therefrom, and then consumes the GSU61 for the first data connection service, and records the usage amount USU61 of the GSU61.

[0281] Specifically, for different redundant transmission modes, the SMF can consume the traffic consumption quota GSU61 in the "data traffic" column of Table 1 (where the data connection service is the first data connection service), and record the corresponding usage amount USU61. The SMF can send the GSU61 to the UPF (so that the UPF allows the service data flow to pass through with the limit of the GSU61).

[0282] Table 1

[0283]

[0284] If the above charging response message contains ProcInd, the SMF also generates a redundancy flag Uflg for the USU61, which is used to indicate that the USU61 is the usage amount of the data connection service with redundant transmission.

[0285] Step 607: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF, and the request message contains the USU61, the redundancy flag Uflg (optional), and the transmission delay (optional).

[0286] Specifically, the SMF constructs a charging request message and sends it to the CHF, and the update request message contains the USU61, the Uflg (if the CHF has issued ProcInd previously), and the transmission delay (optional).

[0287] An exemplary charging request message is as follows:

[0288]

[0289] It should be understood that the Uflg corresponds to the USU61, and the specific data structure is not limited.

[0290] Optionally, the charging request message further contains a transmission delay, and the transmission delay is the transmission delay at the PDU session granularity or the QoS flow granularity within the reporting period corresponding to the above charging request message; optionally, the transmission delay in the charging request message can correspond to a PDU session identifier, a QoS flow identifier, or a rate group.

[0291] Step 608: CHF performs account deduction based on USU61 according to RCM61 / Uflg.

[0292] Specifically, CHF receives and parses the charging request message from the SMF, and obtains USU61, Uflg (if any), and transmission delay (optional) therefrom. Further, CHF performs account deduction based on USU61 according to RCM61 / Uflg / delay.

[0293] Specifically, if USU61 has a corresponding Uflg (redundancy flag), then CHF determines that USU61 is the usage of a data connection service with redundant transmission, and further determines that account deduction for USU61 needs to be performed according to RCM61. If RCM61 is a charging process including redundancy, then CHF deducts the usage amount (2M) or corresponding fees of USU61 in the account corresponding to rate group RG1; if RCM61 is a charging process removing redundancy, then CHF deducts half of the usage amount of USU61 or corresponding fees in the said account.

[0294] CHF can indicate to the SMF through ProcInd to set the redundancy flag Uflg for USU61, which can more accurately identify whether the usage amount is the usage amount including redundant traffic, and then flexibly grant quotas and usage amount processing according to the charging requirements of redundant transmission, such as: only performing charging processes including redundancy or removing redundancy on some of the data connection services, and charging other data connection services according to the traditional charging method.

[0295] Optionally, CHF can also determine the rate used in the account deduction process according to the transmission delay.

[0296] Step 609: CHF sends a charging response message to the SMF, and this response message contains an indication information of successful account deduction. If there is a granted quota, it is the same as step 605.

[0297] After that, the SMF can continuously apply to the CHF for quotas and / or report new usage amounts through the charging request message.

[0298] Step 610: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF, and this request message contains RTI 61 and the identifier SesId61 of the PDU session.

[0299] Specifically, the SMF constructs a charging request message and sends it to the CHF, which contains RTI61 and SesId6, and optionally, also includes the transmission delay.

[0300] Assume that the charging request message is a charging resource creation request, and the message example is as follows:

[0301] ChargingResourceCreateRequest{

[0302] "SesId":"SesId61" / / Identification of the PDU session

[0303] "RTI" { / / RTI61

[0304] "Redundant":"True"

[0305] "RTM":"S3" / / Indicates that the redundant transmission method is transport layer redundancy

[0306] }

[0307] "Delay":"30ms" / / Transmission delay

[0308] }

[0309] It should be noted that under different redundant transmission methods, the corresponding relationship between the redundant transmission information RTI and the data connection service is different. For example: for the S1 method or the S3 method, RTI can correspond to the PDU session identification; for the S2 method, RTI can correspond to the QoS flow identification.

[0310] Step 611: The CHF determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM62 based on information such as RTI 61.

[0311] This step is similar to step 603 and will not be elaborated further.

[0312] Step 612: The CHF returns a charging response message to the SMF. Optionally, this response message contains ProcInd.

[0313] This step is similar to step 605 (except for not granting quotas) and will not be elaborated further.

[0314] An exemplary charging response message is as follows:

[0315] ChargingResourceCreateResponse{

[0316] "ResId":"ResId61" / / Charging resource identification

[0317] }

[0318] Optionally, CHF may also include processing indication information ProcInd in the response message to indicate that SMF sets a redundancy flag Uflg for the usage reported by it. Different from the ProcInd in step 605, the ProcInd in step 605 corresponds to the quota granted for a certain rate group, while here ProcInd may correspond to one rate group or several rate groups or all rate groups of the first data connection service.

[0319] Step 613: SMF obtains usage USU62.

[0320] The way for SMF to obtain usage USU62 is the same as the way to obtain usage USU61 in step 606, which will not be elaborated here.

[0321] Optionally, if the above charging response message also includes ProcInd, SMF may also generate a redundancy flag Uflg for USU62 to indicate that USU62 is the usage of the data connection service for redundant transmission.

[0322] Step 614: SMF sends a charging request message to CHF, and the request message includes USU62, redundancy flag Uf lg (optional), and transmission delay (optional).

[0323] Specifically, SMF constructs a charging request message and sends it to CHF. The update request message includes ResId61, USU61, Uflg (optional), and transmission delay (optional).

[0324] An exemplary charging request message is as follows:

[0325] ChargingResourceCreateRequest{

[0326] "ResId":"ResId61" / / Charging resource identifier

[0327] "USU"{ / / USU62

[0328] "Rat ingGroup":"RG1" / / Rate group identifier

[0329] "Volume":"4M" / / Usage

[0330] "Uflg":"USU for service wi th redundant transmiss ion" / / Indicates that USU62 is the usage of the data connection service for redundant transmission

[0331] "Delay":"30ms" / / Transmission delay

[0332] }

[0333] }

[0334] Step 615: The CHF generates a call detail record based on USU62 according to RCM62 / Uflg.

[0335] Specifically, the CHF receives and parses the charging request message from the SMF, and obtains USU62, Uflg (if any), and transmission delay (if any) therefrom. Then, the CHF writes redundant transmission information, usage amount, usage description information, or transmission delay into the call detail record of the PDU session.

[0336] Specifically, if there is a corresponding Uf lg for USU62, the CHF determines that USU62 is the usage amount of the redundant transmission data connection service, and then determines that it is necessary to generate a call detail record for USU62 according to RCM62. If RCM62 is a charging process including redundancy, the CHF writes the usage amount (4M) corresponding to USU62 into the call detail record; if RCM62 is a charging process removing redundancy, the CHF writes half of the usage amount corresponding to USU62 into the call detail record. If the call detail record does not exist, the CHF creates the call detail record.

[0337] Optionally, the CHF may also write any one or more of RTI61, RCM62, or Uflg, as well as USU62, into the call detail record.

[0338] Step 616: The CHF sends a charging response message to the SMF, and the response message contains an indication information indicating the success of generating the call detail record.

[0339] Thereafter, the SMF may continuously report new usage amounts to the CHF through the charging request message until the PDU session is interrupted and the process ends.

[0340] The above Figure 6A The corresponding method flow enables the CHF to timely detect the existence of redundant transmission based on the information reported by the SMF, and accordingly perform a charging process removing redundancy or a charging process including redundancy on the combined usage amount reported by the SMF, which can avoid the problem of inaccurate charging caused by redundant transmission and can also meet diverse charging requirements.

[0341] Figure 6B This is the third method flowchart for charging the redundant transmission data connection service provided by the embodiment of the present application, which is used to charge the first data connection service in the PDU session. The SMF performs a usage amount process removing redundancy or a usage amount process including redundancy, so that the CHF can perform a charging process removing redundancy or a charging process including redundancy; the method flow mainly includes the following steps:

[0342] Step 651: The SMF generates redundant transmission information RTI62 for the first data connection service.

[0343] This step is similar to step 601 and will not be elaborated.

[0344] If the SMF determines that QF2 is an online charging service, go to step 652;

[0345] If the SMF determines that QF2 is an offline charging service, go to step 660.

[0346] Step 652: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF. The request message contains the identifier SesId62 of the PDU session, RTI62, and a quota application RSU62 (optional).

[0347] This step is similar to step 602 and will not be elaborated. Optionally, the charging request message may also contain the transmission delay.

[0348] Assume that the charging request message is a charging resource creation request. The message example is as follows:

[0349] ChargingResourceCreateRequest{

[0350] "SesId":"SesId62" / / Identifier of the PDU session

[0351] "RTI"{ / / RTI62

[0352] "Redundant Indicator":"True" / / Indicates that the PDU session is a redundant PDU session

[0353] "RTM":"S2" / / Indicates that the redundant transmission method is tunnel redundancy

[0354] }

[0355] }

[0356] Step 653: The CHF determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM63 and generates quota and usage management indication information QUMI based on RTI62 and / or the transmission delay.

[0357] Specifically, the CHF receives and parses the charging request message, and obtains RTI62, SesId62, RSU62 (if any), and transmission delay (if any) therefrom. The CHF determines that the transmission of the first data connection service is redundant transmission based on RTI62. The CHF further determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM63 for the data connection service according to the charging policy or the user subscription information; for example, RCM63 can be determined to include redundant charging processing or can be determined to remove redundant charging processing.

[0358] Furthermore, the CHF generates quota and usage management indication information QUMI (corresponding to the above "second processing indication information") based on RCM63, which is used to instruct the SMF to perform a certain redundant usage processing on the second data connection service: if RCM63 is redundant-inclusive charging processing, QUMI is used to instruct the SMF to perform redundant-inclusive usage processing on the second data connection service; if RCM63 is redundant-removing charging processing, QUMI is used to instruct the SMF to perform redundant-removing usage processing on the second data connection service.

[0359] When the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0360] The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

[0361] It should be understood that QUMI can correspond to all data connection services in the PDU session, or can correspond to a certain or some QoS flows in the PDU session, can correspond to the service data flow corresponding to a certain service identifier in the QoS flow in the PDU session, and can also correspond to the rate group in the PDU session. For example, assuming that the charging process is performed on the QoS flow QF2 in the PDU session, QUMI can correspond to some service data flows in the QoS flow QF2, such as several service data flows corresponding to a certain rate group. The meaning of "correspond" here is "scope of action", that is, QUMI is used to instruct the SMF to perform a certain redundant usage processing on the data connection service within what scope. In this way, the CHF can issue QUMI for a part of the service data flows in the redundant-transmitted data connection service.

[0362] Step 654: The CHF grants quota GSU62 according to RCM63.

[0363] Specifically, CHF grants a quota GSU62 for the first data connection service based on RSU62.

[0364] Specifically, assume that the quota actually reserved by CHF in the user account is A. Then: If RCM63 is a billing process that includes redundancy, GSU62 is A; if RCM63 is a billing process that removes redundancy, GSU62 can be A or 2A.

[0365] Optionally, CHF may grant a quota GSU62 for the first data connection service based on RSU62.

[0366] Step 655: CHF returns a charging response message to the SMF, and the response message includes GSU62 and QUMI.

[0367] Specifically, CHF constructs a charging response message and sends it to the SMF, and the response message includes GSU62 and QUMI.

[0368] An exemplary charging response message is as follows:

[0369]

[0370] Step 656: The SMF obtains the usage amount USU63 corresponding to GSU62 according to QUMI.

[0371] Specifically, the SMF receives and parses the above charging response message, obtains GSU62 and QUMI from it, and then consumes GSU62 for the data connection service according to QUMI and records the corresponding usage amount USU63.

[0372] Specifically, for different quota and usage amount management indication information, different redundant transmission methods, the SMF can use the traffic consumption quota GSU62 in the "data traffic" column of Table 3 (where the data connection service is the second data connection service) and record the corresponding usage amount USU63. The SMF can send GSU62 to the UPF so that the UPF releases the service data stream of the second data connection service within the limit of GSU62 and obtains the data traffic shown in the "data traffic" column of Table 3 based on the message reported by the UPF.

[0373] Table 3

[0374]

[0375]

[0376] Optionally, the SMF also generates usage description information UD63 for USU63; UD63 indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following:

[0377] - Traffic without redundant usage processing performed,

[0378] - Traffic after redundant usage processing is performed,

[0379] - Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device,

[0380] - Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

[0381] UD63 can indicate the above 4 types of information, or more specifically, can also include the information in the "Data Traffic" column in Table 3.

[0382] Exemplary UD63 is shown in step 657.

[0383] Step 657: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF, and the request message contains USU63, UD63 (optional), and transmission delay Delay (optional).

[0384] Specifically, the SMF constructs a charging request message and sends it to the CHF, and the update request message contains USU63, UD63 (optional), and transmission delay (optional).

[0385] An exemplary charging request message is as follows:

[0386]

[0387] For the USU obtained by performing redundant usage processing, its UD63 can also be in the form of:

[0388] "UD":"UPF-DN" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted between the UPF and the DN

[0389] "UD":"gNB-UPF / 2" / / Indicates that the above 8M is half of the traffic transmitted between the UPF and the gNB

[0390] "UD":"1N3 Tunnel" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted in one of the two N3 tunnels

[0391] "UD":"1TL path" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted in one of the two transport layer paths

[0392] For the USU obtained by performing usage processing with redundancy, its UD63 can be in the form of:

[0393] "UD":"-UPF-" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted in the UPF

[0394] "UD":"gNB-UPF" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic between gNB and UPF

[0395] "UD":"2*UPF-DN" / / indicates that the above 8M is twice the traffic transmitted between UPF and DN

[0396] "UD":"2N3 Tunnels" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted in two N3 tunnels

[0397] "UD":"2TL paths" / / Indicates that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted on two transport layer paths

[0398] It should be understood that UD63 can be inside the data structure corresponding to USU63, or can be parallel to the data structure corresponding to USU63.

[0399] Optionally, the charging request message further includes a transmission delay, for details, please refer to the relevant description in step 607.

[0400] Step 658: CHF deducts the account based on USU63 / UD63 according to RCM63.

[0401] Specifically, CHF receives and parses the charging resource update request message from SMF, and obtains USU63, UD63 (if any) and transmission delay (optional) from it. Then, CHF deducts the account based on USU63 according to RCM63 / UD63 / transmission delay.

[0402] Specifically, CHF determines based on UD63 that the specific flow (8M) in USU63 is obtained by SMF through executing the QUMI instruction previously issued by CHF, and then directly deducts the flow (8M) or corresponding fees corresponding to USU63 from the account corresponding to QoS flow QF2. If there is no UD63 in the above-mentioned billing resource update request message, CHF assumes that the specific flow (8M) in USU63 is obtained by SMF through executing the usage processing containing redundancy, and then, if RCM63 is a billing processing to remove redundancy, CHF deducts half (i.e. 4M) of the flow (8M) corresponding to USU63 or half of the corresponding fees from the account corresponding to QoS flow QF2.

[0403] Optionally, CHF may determine the rate used in the account deduction according to the transmission delay, for example, a higher rate is used for the usage corresponding to a lower delay.

[0404] Step 659: CHF sends a billing resource update response message to SMF, which includes the indication information of successful account deduction. If there is a quota granted, the same as step 654.

[0405] After that, the SMF can continuously apply to the CHF for quotas and / or report new usage amounts through a charging resource update request message.

[0406] Step 660: The SMF sends a charging request message to the CHF. The request message contains the RTI 62 and the identifier SesId62 of the PDU session.

[0407] This step is similar to step 610 and will not be elaborated further.

[0408] Step 661: The CHF determines the redundant service charging processing method RCM64 according to the RTI62 and generates usage management indication information UMI

[0409] Compared with step 653, UMI is used in the offline charging mode, while QUMI is used in the online charging mode. Other than that, this step is similar to step 653.

[0410] Step 662: The CHF returns a charging response message to the SMF. The response message contains the charging processing result information of the CHF and the UMI.

[0411] This step is similar to step 654 (except that no quota is granted) and will not be elaborated further.

[0412] Step 663: The SMF obtains the usage amount USU64 according to the UMI.

[0413] Specifically, the SMF receives and parses the above charging response message, obtains the UMI from it, and then obtains the usage amount USU64 according to the UMI. The method for the SMF to obtain the USU64 is the same as that in step 654 and will not be elaborated further.

[0414] Optionally, the SMF also generates usage description information UD64 for the USU64. For details, reference can be made to the relevant description in step 654.

[0415] Step 664: The SMF sends a charging resource update request message to the CHF. The request message contains ResId62, USU64, UD64 (optional), and transmission delay Delay (optional).

[0416] Specifically, the SMF constructs a charging resource update request message and sends it to the CHF. The update request message contains ResId62, USU64, UD64 (optional), and transmission delay (optional).

[0417] An exemplary charging resource update request message is as follows:

[0418] ChargingResourceUpdateRequest{

[0419] "ResId": "ResId62" / / Billing resource identifier

[0420] "USU" { / / USU64

[0421] "QoSFlow": "QF2" / / QoS flow identifier

[0422] "Volume": "8M" / / Specific traffic volume of USU64

[0423] "UD": "UPF-DN" / / UD64, indicating that the above 8M is the traffic transmitted between UPF and DN

[0424] "Delay": "XXms" / / Transmission delay

[0425] }

[0426] }

[0427] For more examples of UD64, please refer to the relevant description in step 657.

[0428] Step 665: CHF generates a charging statement based on RCM64 / UD64 and USU64.

[0429] Specifically, CHF receives and parses the charging resource update request message from SMF, and obtains USU64, UD64 (if any), and transmission delay (optional) therefrom. Subsequently, CHF writes redundant transmission information, usage amount, usage amount description information, or transmission delay into the charging statement corresponding to the PDU session.

[0430] Specifically, CHF determines that the specific traffic volume (8M) in USU64 is obtained by SMF through executing the UMI instruction previously issued by CHF, and then directly writes the traffic volume (8M) corresponding to USU64 into the charging statement. If there is no UD64 in the above charging resource update request message, CHF defaults that the specific traffic volume (8M) in USU64 is obtained by SMF through executing usage amount processing with redundancy. Thus, if RCM64 is for redundant removal charging processing, CHF writes half of the traffic volume (8M) corresponding to USU64 (i.e., 4M) into the charging statement corresponding to the PDU session. If the charging statement does not exist, CHF creates the charging statement.

[0431] Optionally, CHF may also write any one or more of RTI62, RCM64, or UD64, as well as USU64, into the charging statement.

[0432] Step 666: CHF sends a charging resource update response message to SMF, and the response message contains an indication information that the charging statement is successfully written.

[0433] After that, the SMF can continuously report new usage to the CHF through a charging resource update request message until the PDU session is interrupted and the process ends.

[0434] The above Figure 6B The corresponding method flow enables the CHF to not only timely perceive the existence of redundant transmission based on the information reported by the SMF, but also indicate to the SMF to report the traffic processed with the usage including redundancy or the traffic processed with the redundancy removed for some service data flows in the data connection service, which can save unnecessary performance overhead on the SMF and also reduce the bandwidth consumption between the SMF and the CHF. In addition, since the usage is collected by the SMF that directly interacts with the UPF on demand, the accuracy of charging can be improved to a certain extent.

[0435] Figure 7A This is the third communication system architecture diagram provided by the embodiment of the present application. This communication system adds a gNB 522, a UPF 523, and an SMF 521 on the basis of the Figure 5 shown communication system, so that a second PDU session can be established between the UE and the DN, that is, the PDU session between UE 511 - gNB 522 - UPF 523 - DN 514. For easy distinction, this PDU session is called PDU session 2, while the PDU session 515 is called PDU session 1, the SMF 501 is called SMF1, and the SMF 521 is called SMF2.

[0436] Figure 7B This is the fourth method flow chart for charging processing of data connection services with redundant transmission provided by the embodiment of the present application. This method flow is implemented based on the Figure 7A shown architecture. Among them, it is assumed that PDU session 1 and PDU session 2 are redundant PDU sessions, and the CHF performs redundant removal charging processing on them and selects one of them for charging processing. This method flow mainly includes the following steps:

[0437] Step 701 - 1: The SMF1 generates redundant transmission information RTI71 for the data connection service in PDU session 1.

[0438] Step 701 - 2: The SMF2 generates redundant transmission information RTI72 for the data connection service in PDU session 2.

[0439] The above two steps are similar to step 601 and will not be elaborated.

[0440] Step 702 - 1: The SMF1 sends a charging request message to the CHF, and this request message includes RTI71, the identifier SesId71 of PDU session 1, and the transmission delay Delay71 (optional).

[0441] Specifically, if SMF1 determines to perform charging for the mutually redundant PDU session 1, it sends a charging request message to the CHF.

[0442] This step is similar to step 660 and will not be elaborated here.

[0443] An exemplary charging resource creation request message is as follows:

[0444]

[0445] Among them, the primary PDU session refers to the PDU session corresponding to the primary NG-RAN, and the secondary PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the secondary NG-RAN.

[0446] Subsequently, the CHF receives and parses the charging request message described in this step, obtains SedId71 and RTI71 from it, and based on information such as RTI71, determines to perform redundant removal charging processing on PDU session 1.

[0447] If the CHF determines to perform redundant-included charging processing on PDU session 1, further operations can refer to Figure 6A or Figure 6B the corresponding method flow.

[0448] Step 702-2: SMF2 sends a charging request message to the CHF, and the request message includes RTI72, the identifier SesId72 of PDU session 2, and the transmission delay Delay72 (optional).

[0449] Specifically, if SMF2 determines to perform charging for the mutually redundant PDU session 1, it does not send a charging request message to the CHF. At this time, it means that for these two mutually redundant PDU sessions, only PDU session 1 will be charged; or, if SMF2 determines to perform charging for the mutually redundant PDU session 2, it sends a charging request message to the CHF.

[0450] This step is similar to step 660 and will not be elaborated here.

[0451] An exemplary charging resource creation request message is as follows:

[0452]

[0453] Subsequently, the CHF receives and parses the charging resource creation request message described in the step, obtains SedId72 and RTI72 from it, and based on RTI72 and the charging policy, determines to perform redundant removal charging processing on PDU session 2.

[0454] Step 703: The CHF determines to perform redundant removal charging processing: charge PDU session 1 and not charge PDU session 2.

[0455] Specifically, if RTI71 or RTI72 contains a "RoleInRT" field (indicating the role of the corresponding PDU session in redundant transmission: whether it is the primary PDU session or the secondary PDU session), the CHF can determine which PDU session to charge according to the information indicated by this field. Usually, the CHF decides to charge the primary PDU session and does not charge the secondary PDU session. Therefore, the CHF sends an indication message NoChgInd of "no charge" to the SMF2 (the CHF can send NoChgInd as long as it receives the charging resource creation request message in step 702-2).

[0456] Specifically, if RTI71 or RTI72 contains a "SiblingSession" field, the CHF can determine which PDU session to charge according to this field. For example, the CHF can randomly select a PDU session to charge. If RTI71 or RTI72 also contains a "Delay" field (indicating the delay between the corresponding PDU session between the UE and the corresponding UPF), the CHF can compare the delays of the two PDU sessions after receiving both charging resource creation request messages, and select the PDU session with the smaller delay to charge. If RTI71 or RTI72 also contains an "NSId" field (indicating the identifier of the network slice where the corresponding PDU session is located), the CHF can, after receiving both charging resource creation request messages, obtain the priority information of the network slice where each PDU session is located based on the "NSId" field (for example, query this priority information from the network slice management device), and then select the PDU session with the higher priority of the network slice where it is located to charge. After such determination, the CHF sends an indication message NoChgInd of "no charge" to the SMF corresponding to the PDU session that does not need to be charged.

[0457] It should be understood that the form of the "no charge" indication message is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0458] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, if the CHF determines to charge both PDU session 1 and PDU session 2, its processing can be referred to Figure 6A and Figure 6B the corresponding embodiments.

[0459] The following assumes that the decision of the CHF is to charge PDU session 1 and not to charge PDU session 2.

[0460] Step 704-1: The CHF sends a charging resource creation response message to the SMF1.

[0461] Specifically, the CHF constructs a charging resource creation response message and sends it to the SMF1.

[0462] Step 704-2: The CHF sends a charging resource creation response message to the SMF2, and the response message contains NoChgInd.

[0463] Specifically, the CHF constructs a charging resource creation response message and sends it to the SMF2, and the response message contains NoChgInd.

[0464] Step 705-1: The SMF1 performs a charging operation for the PDU session 1.

[0465] Specifically, the SMF1 performs charging-related operations for the PDU session 1, such as applying for a quota from the CHF for the data connection service in the PDU session 1, reporting the usage amount of the data connection service in the PDU session 1 to the CHF, etc.

[0466] Step 705-2: The SMF2 stops performing a charging operation for the PDU session 2.

[0467] Specifically, the SMF2 ends or pauses charging for the PDU session 2.

[0468] Step 706-1: The SMF1 discovers that the PDU session 1 becomes a secondary PDU session.

[0469] Specifically, the SMF1 determines that the PDU session 1 becomes a secondary PDU session according to the information sent by the UE.

[0470] Step 706-2: The SMF2 discovers that the PDU session 2 becomes a primary PDU session.

[0471] Specifically, the SMF2 determines that the PDU session 2 becomes a primary PDU session according to the information sent by the UE.

[0472] Step 707-1: The SMF1 sends a charging resource update request message to the CHF, and the request message contains the indication information ToSecondary of "becoming a secondary PDU session".

[0473] Step 707-2: The SMF2 sends a charging resource update request message to the CHF, and the request message contains the indication information ToMastery of "becoming a primary PDU session".

[0474] Step 708: The CHF determines to charge for the PDU session 2 and not to charge for the PDU session 1.

[0475] This step is similar to step 703 and will not be elaborated.

[0476] Step 709-1: The CHF sends a charging resource update response message to the SMF1, and the response message contains NoChgInd.

[0477] Step 709-2: CHF sends a charging resource update response message to SMF2.

[0478] Step 710-1: SMF1 stops performing charging operations for PDU session 1.

[0479] This step is similar to step 705-2 and will not be elaborated.

[0480] Step 710-2: SMF2 performs charging operations for PDU session 2.

[0481] This step is similar to step 705-1 and will not be elaborated.

[0482] It should be understood that the order between the above steps is exemplary and not restrictive. For example, the order between step 702-1 and step 702-2, between step 704-2 and step 704-2, and between step 705-1 and step 705-2 can be reversed.

[0483] The above Figure 7B Corresponding method flow enables CHF to select one of two redundant PDU sessions for charging processing, which can reduce the performance overhead of SMF and also reduce the bandwidth consumption between SMF and CHF.

[0484] It should be understood that the technical solutions between the above different method flows can be freely combined. For example, Figure 6B The usage description information in Figure 6A can also be used for the method flow of

[0485] It should also be noted that the embodiments of the present application are described by taking "two-way redundancy" as an example, that is: there are two PDU sessions in S1 mode, two transmission tunnels in S2 mode, and two transport layer paths in S3 mode. With the improvement of reliability requirements, there may also be "multi-way redundancy" solutions. Those skilled in the art can extend it to support "multi-way redundancy" solutions on this basis. For example, assuming the total number of redundant paths is R, in the embodiments of the present application, in the redundant usage processing removed by the "halving" method (such as step 609, step 615, step 656, etc.), the ratio can be adjusted to (R - 1) / R. In the redundant usage processing removed by the "select one from two" method (such as step 656, step 663, etc.), it can be changed to "select one from R". For example, select one tunnel from R redundant N3 tunnels, or select one PDU session from R redundant PDU sessions, etc., which will not be elaborated.

[0486] Figure 8 This is the hardware structure diagram of the charging trigger device and the charging processing device provided by the embodiments of the present application. All charging trigger devices (or SMF devices, CTF devices) in the embodiments of the present application, for example,Figure 4A and Figure 4B the charging trigger device (or CHF device, e.g., Figure 4A and Figure 4B the charging processing device (or CHF device, e.g., Figure 8 shown in can all be implemented using the general computer hardware structure shown in which includes a processor 801, a memory 802, a bus 803, an input device 804, an output device 805, and a network interface 806, where the input device 804 and the output device 805 are optional.

[0487] Specifically, the memory 802 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory and / or random access memory. The memory 802 may store an operating system, application programs, other program modules, executable code, and program data.

[0488] The input device 804 may be used to input information to facilitate the system administrator to operate and manage the charging trigger device and the charging processing device, etc. For example, configuring a charging policy on the charging processing device, setting a default usage acquisition method on the charging trigger device, etc.; the input device 804 may be a keyboard or a pointing device, such as a mouse, trackball, touchpad, microphone, joystick, gamepad, satellite TV antenna, scanner, or similar device, all of which can be connected to the processor 801 through the bus 803.

[0489] The output device 805 may be used to output information to facilitate the system administrator to operate and manage the charging trigger device and the charging processing device, etc.; for example, displaying a charging policy on the charging processing device, displaying a default usage acquisition method on the charging trigger device, etc.; in addition to the monitor, the output device 805 may also be other peripheral output devices, such as speakers and / or printing devices, which can also be connected to the processor 801 through the bus 803.

[0490] Both the charging trigger device and the charging processing device can be connected to the network through the network interface 806, for example, connected to a local area network (LAN). In a networked environment, the computer-executable instructions stored in the charging trigger device and the charging processing device can be stored in a remote storage device, rather than being limited to local storage.

[0491] When the processor 801 in the charging trigger device executes the executable code or application program stored in the memory 802, the charging trigger device can execute the method steps corresponding to the charging trigger device (or SMF) in all the above embodiments, such as steps 430, 601, 606, 613, 651, 656, 663, 701-1, and 705-2, etc.; for the specific execution process, refer to the above embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

[0492] When the processor 801 in the charging processing device executes the executable code or application program stored in the memory 802, the charging processing device can execute the method steps corresponding to the charging processing device (or CHF) in all the above embodiments, such as steps 440, 603, 604, 608, 615, 653, 661, 665, 703, and 708; for the specific execution process, refer to the above embodiments and will not be elaborated here.

[0493] Figure 9 The following is a schematic logical structure diagram of the charging processing device provided by the embodiments of the present application. The charging processing device is connected to a charging trigger device and includes:

[0494] - A receiving module 901, configured to receive a first charging request message from the charging trigger device. The first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, where the redundant transmission information refers to the relevant information of redundant transmission used for the first data connection service in a data connection session. For the specific execution process, refer to the step descriptions on the charging processing device (or SMF) side in the above embodiments, such as steps 430, 602, 607, 610, 652, 657, 702-1, and 702-2, etc.;

[0495] - A sending module 902, configured to perform charging processing based on the redundant transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and send a first charging response message to the charging trigger device. For the specific execution process, refer to the step descriptions on the charging processing device (or SMF) side in the above embodiments, such as steps 440, 603, 604, 653, 654, 661, 703, and 708, etc.

[0496] Figure 10 The following is a schematic logical structure diagram of the charging trigger device provided by the embodiments of the present application. The charging trigger device communicates with the charging processing device and includes:

[0497] - A sending module 1002, configured to send a first charging request message to the charging processing device. The first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, where the redundant transmission information refers to the relevant information of redundant transmission used for the first data connection service in a data connection session. For the specific execution process, refer to the step descriptions on the charging trigger device (or SMF) side in the above embodiments, such as steps 430, 602, 607, 610, 652, 655, 702-1, and 702-2, etc.

[0498] - A receiving module 1001, configured to receive a first charging response message from the charging processing device, where the first charging response message includes a charging processing result, and the charging processing result is the result of the charging processing device performing charging processing based on the redundant transmission information. For the specific execution process, refer to the step descriptions on the charging trigger device (or SMF) side in the foregoing embodiments, such as steps 450, 605, 609, 612, 655, 659, 662, 704-1, and 704-2, etc.

[0499] Figure 9 The charging processing device shown Figure 10 The charging trigger device shown is presented in the form of a functional module. Here, a "module" may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and a memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art can conceive that these devices can also be in the form shown Figure 8 For example, the receiving module 901, the sending module 1002, the sending module 902, and the receiving module 1001 can all be implemented by Figure 8 the processor 801 and the memory 802 therein. For example, the function of the receiving module 901 to receive a charging request message and the function of the sending module 1002 to send a charging request message can both be implemented by the processor 801 executing the code stored in the memory 802.

[0500] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the components and steps of each example have been generally described according to their functions in the above description. Whether these functions are executed in a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of this application.

[0501] Those of ordinary skill in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be elaborated herein.

[0502] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. 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 can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Additionally, the displayed or discussed couplings or direct couplings or communication connections between each other can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices, or units, and can also be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms of connection.

[0503] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiments of the present application.

[0504] In addition, each functional unit in various embodiments of the present application can be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0505] If the above-mentioned integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories, random access memories, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0506] The above is only the specific implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present application can easily think of various equivalent modifications or substitutions, and these modifications or substitutions should all be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for charging processing, applied to a charging trigger device, where the charging trigger device communicates with a charging processing device, Characterized in that, It includes: The charging trigger device sends a first charging request message to the charging processing device, and the first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, where the redundant transmission information refers to relevant information on redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session; the redundant transmission information indicates the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy; and when the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, the redundant transmission information further includes information on a data connection session that is redundant to the data connection session; The charging trigger device receives a first charging response message from the charging processing device, and the first charging response message includes a charging processing result, where the charging processing result is the result of the charging processing device performing charging processing based on the redundant transmission information.

2. The method according to claim 1, Characterized in that: The charging processing result includes a quota granted by the charging processing device for the first data connection service and corresponding first processing indication information, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundant flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; The method further includes: the charging trigger device sends a second charging request message to the charging processing device, and the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota and the redundant flag; The redundant flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Characterized in that: The charging processing result includes second processing indication information, where the second processing indication information instructs to perform: usage amount processing including redundancy or usage amount processing to remove redundancy for a second data connection service in the data connection session.

4. The method according to claim 3, Characterized in that: The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to a rate group in the first data connection service, corresponds to a QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to a data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service; Or, The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to a rate group in the first data connection service or corresponds to a QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

5. The method according to claim 3, Characterized in that: The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking half of the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage of the second data connection service; performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the redundant transmission of the second data connection service in the data connection session as the usage of the second data connection service; Or, The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network as the usage of the second data connection service. Performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device as the usage of the second data connection service; Or, The redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy or transport layer redundancy. Performing usage processing for removing redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through one of two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage of the second data connection service. Performing usage processing including redundancy for the second data connection service includes: taking the traffic of the second data connection service transmitted through two mutually redundant transmission paths as the usage of the second data connection service.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The second data connection service is an online charging service. Performing usage processing including redundancy or removing redundancy for the second data connection service further includes: consuming the quota granted by the charging processing device with the usage of the second data connection service.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The method further includes: The charging trigger device sends the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage description information to the charging processing device. The usage description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: Traffic for which usage processing for removing redundancy has not been performed, Traffic after performing usage processing for removing redundancy, Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The method further includes: The charging trigger device sends the transmission delay of the first data connection service to the charging processing device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The charging processing result includes a non-charging indication message, and the non-charging indication message instructs the charging processing device to determine that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and not perform charging processing on it, or to determine to perform charging on a data connection session redundant to the data connection session and not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

10. A method for charging processing, which is applied to a charging processing device, and the charging processing device communicates with a charging trigger device. Characterized in that: It includes: The charging processing device receives a first charging request message from the charging trigger device, and the first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, where the redundant transmission information refers to relevant information on redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session; the redundant transmission information indicates a redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy; and when the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, the redundant transmission information further includes information on a data connection session redundant to the data connection session. The charging processing device performs charging processing based on the redundant transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and sends a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, and the first charging response message includes the charging processing result.

11. The method according to claim 10. Characterized in that: The charging processing device performing charging processing based on the redundant transmission information includes: determining, based on the redundant transmission information, to perform redundant-removed charging processing or redundant-included charging processing on the usage amount of the first data connection service, and granting a quota for the first data connection service. The charging processing result includes the quota. The method further includes: the charging processing device receives a second charging request message from the charging trigger device, and the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing device performs redundant-removed charging processing or redundant-included charging processing on the usage amount of the quota.

12. The method according to claim 11. Characterized in that: The method further includes: The charging processing device generates first processing indication information for the quota, and the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota. The charging processing result further includes the first processing indication information. The second charging request message further includes the redundancy flag. The charging processing device performing redundant-removed charging processing or redundant-included charging processing on the usage amount of the quota includes: the charging processing device performing redundant-removed charging processing or redundant-included charging processing on the usage amount of the quota based on the redundancy flag. The redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10-12. Characterized in that: The billing processing device performs billing processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the billing processing device generates second processing indication information based on the redundant transmission information; The billing processing result includes the second processing indication information; Wherein, the second processing indication information instructs the billing trigger device to perform, for the second data connection service in the data connection session: usage processing including redundancy or usage processing to remove redundancy.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy or transport layer redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service, corresponds to the QoS flow in the first data connection service, or corresponds to the data connection session corresponding to the first data connection service; Or, The redundant transmission information indicates that the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is tunnel redundancy, and the second data connection service corresponds to the rate group in the first data connection service or corresponds to the QoS flow corresponding to the first data connection service.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, wherein, The method further includes: The billing processing device receives from the billing trigger device the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage amount description information, and the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: Traffic for which redundancy removal usage processing has not been performed, Traffic after redundancy removal usage processing has been performed, Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device, Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, wherein: The method further includes: the billing processing device receives from the billing trigger device the transmission delay of the first data connection service; The billing processing device performs billing processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the billing processing device performs billing processing according to the redundant transmission information and the transmission delay.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein, The method further includes: The billing processing device writes the information of the first data connection service into the call record, and the information of the first data connection service includes any one of the following: redundant transmission information, usage amount description information, or transmission delay.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The billing processing device performs billing processing based on the redundant transmission information, including: the billing processing device determines not to perform billing processing on the connection session; the billing processing device generates non-billing indication information, and the non-billing indication information indicates that the billing processing device determines that the data connection session is a slave data connection session and does not perform billing processing on it, or determines that the data connection session redundant to the data connection session performs billing and does not perform billing processing on it; The billing processing result includes the non-billing indication information.

19. A charging processing system, comprising: a charging trigger device and a charging processing device, where the charging trigger device communicates with the charging processing device, and is characterized in that: the charging trigger device is configured to: send a first charging request message to the charging processing device, the first charging request message including redundancy transmission information, where the redundancy transmission information refers to relevant information of redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session; the redundancy transmission information indicates a redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundancy transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy; and when the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, the redundancy transmission information further includes information of a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session; the charging processing device is configured to: perform charging processing based on the redundancy transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and send a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, the first charging response message including the charging processing result.

20. The charging processing system according to claim 19, characterized in that the charging processing device is further configured to: grant a quota for the first data connection service, and generate first processing indication information for the quota, where the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundancy flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota; and make the charging processing result further include the first processing indication information; the charging trigger device is further configured to: send a second charging request message to the charging processing device, and include the redundancy flag in the second charging request message; wherein, the redundancy flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

21. The charging processing system according to claim 19, characterized in that: the charging processing device is further configured to: generate second processing indication information based on the redundancy transmission information; and make the charging processing result include the second processing indication information; the charging trigger device is further configured to: according to the second processing indication information, perform for a second data connection service in the data connection session: usage amount processing including redundancy or usage amount processing removing redundancy.

22. The charging processing system according to claim 19, characterized in that: the redundancy transmission information further indicates that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session or the redundancy transmission information includes information of a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session; the charging processing device is further configured to: determine not to perform charging processing on the data connection session, generate non-charging indication information, and make the charging processing result include the non-charging indication information, where the non-charging indication information indicates that the charging processing device determines that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and does not perform charging processing on it, or determines to perform charging on a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session and does not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

23. A charging trigger device, which communicates with a charging processing device, includes a sending module and a receiving module. Characterized in that: The sending module is configured to: send a first charging request message to the charging processing device, where the first charging request message includes redundant transmission information, and the redundant transmission information refers to relevant information of redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session; the redundant transmission information indicates a redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundant transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy; and when the redundant transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, the redundant transmission information further includes information of a data connection session that is redundant with the data connection session. The receiving module is configured to: receive a first charging response message from the charging processing device, where the first charging response message includes a charging processing result, and the charging processing result is a result of the charging processing device performing charging processing based on the redundant transmission information.

24. The charging trigger device according to claim 23, Characterized in that: The charging processing result includes a quota granted by the charging processing device for the first data connection service and corresponding first processing indication information, and the first processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to set a redundant flag for the usage amount corresponding to the quota. The sending module is further configured to: send a second charging request message to the charging processing device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota and the redundant flag. The redundant flag indicates that the usage amount is the usage amount of a data connection service with redundant transmission.

25. The charging trigger device according to claim 23 or 24, Characterized in that: The charging processing result includes second processing indication information, and the second processing indication information instructs to perform: usage amount processing including redundancy or usage amount processing to remove redundancy for a second data connection service in the data connection session.

26. The charging trigger device according to claim 23 or 24, Characterized in that: The sending module is further configured to send to the charging processing device the usage amount corresponding to a rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and corresponding usage amount description information, and the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: Traffic for which usage amount processing to remove redundancy has not been performed, Traffic after usage amount processing to remove redundancy has been performed, Traffic transmitted between a user plane data gateway and a radio access network device, Traffic transmitted between a user plane data gateway and a data network.

27. The charging trigger device according to claim 23 or 24, Characterized in that: The sending module is further configured to send the transmission delay of the first data connection service to the charging processing device.

28. The charging trigger device according to claim 23, Characterized in that: The charging processing result includes non - charging indication information, and the non - charging indication information instructs the charging processing device to determine that the data connection session is a secondary data connection session and not perform charging processing on it, or to determine to perform charging on a data connection session redundant to the data connection session and not perform charging processing on the data connection session.

29. A charging processing device, which communicates with a charging trigger device, includes a receiving module and a sending module. Characterized in that: The receiving module is configured to: receive a first charging request message from the charging trigger device, where the first charging request message includes redundancy transmission information, and the redundancy transmission information refers to the relevant information of redundant transmission used for a first data connection service in a data connection session; the redundancy transmission information indicates the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service, and the redundancy transmission mode is any one of the following: session redundancy, tunnel redundancy, or transport layer redundancy; and when the redundancy transmission mode of the first data connection service is session redundancy, the redundancy transmission information further includes information about a data connection session redundant to the data connection session. The sending module is configured to: perform charging processing based on the redundancy transmission information to obtain a charging processing result, and send a first charging response message to the charging trigger device, where the first charging response message includes the charging processing result.

30. The charging processing device according to claim 29. Characterized in that: The sending module is further configured to: determine to perform redundancy - removed charging processing or redundancy - included charging processing on the usage amount of the first data connection service based on the redundancy transmission information, and grant a quota for the first data connection service. The charging processing result includes the quota. The receiving module is further configured to: receive a second charging request message from the charging trigger device, where the second charging request message includes the usage amount corresponding to the quota; the charging processing device performs redundancy - removed charging processing or redundancy - included charging processing on the usage amount of the quota.

31. The charging processing device according to claim 29 or 30. Characterized in that: The sending module is further configured to: generate second processing indication information based on the redundancy transmission information. The charging processing result includes the second processing indication information. Wherein, the second processing indication information instructs the charging trigger device to perform: redundancy - included usage amount processing or redundancy - removed usage amount processing for a second data connection service in the data connection session.

32. The charging processing device according to claim 29 or 30. Characterized in that: The receiving module is further configured to: receive from the charging trigger device the usage amount corresponding to the rate group or QoS flow in the first data connection service and the corresponding usage amount description information, and the usage amount description information indicates that the usage amount is any one of the following: Traffic for which redundancy - removed usage amount processing has not been performed. Traffic after redundancy - removed usage amount processing. Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the radio access network device. Traffic transmitted between the user plane data gateway and the data network.

33. The charging processing device according to claim 29 or 30, characterized in that: the receiving module is further configured to: receive the transmission delay of the first data connection service from the charging trigger device; the sending module is further configured to: perform charging processing according to the redundant transmission information and the transmission delay.

34. The charging processing device according to claim 33, characterized in that: the sending module is further configured to: write the information of the first data connection service into the call record, and the information of the first data connection service includes any one of the following: redundant transmission information, usage description information or transmission delay.

35. The charging processing device according to claim 29, characterized in that: the sending module is further configured to: determine not to perform charging processing on the connection session; generate non-charging indication information, where the non-charging indication information indicates that the charging processing device determines that the data connection session is a slave data connection session and does not perform charging processing on it, or determines that the data connection session redundant to the data connection session performs charging and does not perform charging processing on it; the charging processing result includes the non-charging indication information.

36. A charging trigger device, comprising a processor and a memory, characterized in that: the memory is used for storing program instructions; the processor is used for calling and executing the program instructions stored in the memory, so that the charging trigger device executes the charging processing method according to any one of claims 1-9.

37. A charging processing device, comprising a processor and a memory, characterized in that: the memory is used for storing program instructions; the processor is used for calling and executing the program instructions stored in the memory, so that the charging processing device executes the charging processing method according to any one of claims 10-18.

38. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, when running on a computer, enabling the computer to execute the charging processing method according to any one of claims 1-18.

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