A network joint billing credit control processing method and device

Abstract

The present invention provides a network joint charging credit control processing method and apparatus. The method includes: converting charging messages into internal call records respectively based on a service gateway module and a decoding module, and decoding offline call records into internal call records and forwarding them to a charging gateway module; the offline call records and the charging messages are in a connection relationship and have the same session identifier; determining the start time and end time of the current call record according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; determining the usage information of the current session based on a charging gateway memory database module; sending the internal call record containing the cumulative usage information, start time and end time to a rating function module by the charging gateway module for rating processing; and performing user credit control processing based on a credit control module. By adopting the method disclosed by the present invention, it is possible to ensure that the services subscribed by users take effect in a timely manner, the charging system triggers reminder messages and credit control in a timely and accurate manner, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of mobile communications, and in particular to a network joint charging and credit control processing method and apparatus. Additionally, it also relates to an electronic device and a processor-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] When the current 4G (the 4th generation mobile communication technology) charging system processes online messages, it first queries the session MDB (Memory Database) for session management, calculates the start time of the current bill based on the previous bill of the session, accumulates the traffic, and fills in the frozen volume information. The processed bill will be sent to the online rating module for deduction and trigger credit control, and is stored as an online bill. When the 4G charging system processes offline bills, it first queries the cumulative MDB, obtains the cumulative usage of the current session, and fills it into the bill. The processed bill will be sent to the offline rating module for deduction and is stored as an offline bill. The credit control module processes the bill after rating and triggers credit control. Under the 4G online charging architecture, when the 4G network element PGW (PDN GateWay) encounters an abnormal online charging processing message, it will cache the session in the form of an offline bill. Before the end of this session, the bill will no longer be sent to the online charging process in the form of a message.

[0003] However, under the 5G (5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, 5th-Generation, hereinafter referred to as 5G or 5G technology) online charging service-based architecture, when the 5G network element CHF (Charging Function) encounters an abnormal online charging processing message, it will cache the session in the form of an offline bill. After waiting for a period of time, CHF will send the session to the online charging process in the form of a message again. At this time, multiple bills of a session will be processed partially in the form of online messages and partially in the form of offline bills. For example Figure 2As shown in the figure, under the 4G online charging architecture, after an exception occurs in the online charging process No. 3, the call records from No. 3 to No. 12 will be transmitted to the charging system as offline call records. Under the 5G charging architecture, when problems occur in the online charging process No. 3 and No. 8 call records, CHF will provide the call records from No. 3 to No. 4 and from No. 8 to No. 10 to the 5G charging system in the form of offline call records, and the others will be sent to the 5G charging system in the form of online messages. Therefore, using the existing 4G charging system to process 5G call records will cause many problems. For example: (1) When CHF changes the session from the offline call record state back to the online message state, the start time of the call record is filled in inaccurately. Since the 4G charging message only has the time stamp of the current message, the start time of the current call record needs to take the time stamp of the previous message. When CHF changes the session from the offline call record state back to the online message (i.e., charging message) state, when the 4G charging system processes the No. 5 call record, the start time of the No. 5 call record will be the termination time of the No. 2 call record. In fact, the start time of the No. 5 call record is the termination time of the No. 4 call record. The start time of the call record is related to whether the user's subscribed service will take effect, thus affecting the rated tariff and ultimately affecting the final charging result. And the charging result will affect the 5G user experience. For example, if a user subscribes to a 5G high-speed rate service, the inaccurate call record time will cause the user to be unable to use the traffic service at the high speed rate. (2) When CHF changes the session from the offline call record state back to the online message state, the cumulative amount of the call record is filled in inaccurately. The 4G charging system processes offline call records and online messages separately, so it will separately count the cumulative amount of offline call records and the cumulative amount of online call records separately. The cumulative amount of the call record is regularly adjusted for traffic by the accounting system non-real-time. Since it takes a long time for the 4G online to offline and then back to online again, the 4G charging system can adopt this method. However, the 5G online charging system has processing exceptions many times, and CHF will change the session from the offline call record state back to the online message state in real time many times. The original non-real-time method will increase the deviation of the regularization and increase the charging deviation. (3) The charging deviation will cause the user to not receive accurate reminder information, especially under the 5G high-speed traffic characteristics, the impact will be greater. The user cannot know the current traffic service usage situation in the first time, which will cause the charging system to be unable to perform accurate credit control on the user, affecting the 5G user experience and resulting in a decline in user satisfaction.

[0004] Therefore, how to design an online and offline combined charging and credit control processing solution based on the 5G service-oriented architecture has become an important research topic in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0005] For this reason, the present invention provides a network combined charging and credit control processing method and device to solve the problems in the prior art that when the session changes from the offline call record state back to the online message state, the start time and cumulative amount of the call record are inaccurate, and accurate charging cannot be achieved under the 5G charging architecture, resulting in the user not being able to receive accurate reminder information and the user experience being poor.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a network combined charging and credit control processing method, including:

[0007] Receiving, by a service gateway module, a charging message sent by a charging function module and converting the charging message into an internal call record for forwarding to a charging gateway module; and receiving, by a decoding module, an offline call record sent by the charging function module and decoding the offline call record into an internal call record for forwarding to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier;

[0008] Determining, according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, the start time and end time of the current call record; and sending, by the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to a charging gateway memory database module;

[0009] Accumulating, by the charging gateway memory database module, the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier and returning the accumulated usage information of the current session to the charging gateway module; sending, by the charging gateway module, an internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to a rating function module for rating processing;

[0010] Sending, by the rating function module, a rated call record to a credit control module and performing user credit control processing by using the credit control module.

[0011] In one embodiment, the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes: the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message; or, the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record;

[0012] The determining the start time and end time of the current call record according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes:

[0013] If the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message, then taking, by the charging gateway module, the start time and end time of the offline call record and writing them into the internal call record to determine the start time and end time of the current call record;

[0014] If the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record, then taking, by the charging gateway module, the start time and end time of the charging message and writing them into the internal call record to determine the start time and end time of the current call record.

[0015] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing method further includes: calculating, by the rating function module, user fees based on the rated call record.

[0016] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing method further includes: writing the cumulative usage information into the call detail record based on the charging gateway module.

[0017] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing method further includes:

[0018] Determining an authentication result based on the credit control module and sending the authentication result to the rating function module; wherein the authentication result includes the user's available quota and the user's available rate;

[0019] Returning the authentication result to the charging gateway module based on the rating function module;

[0020] Forwarding the authentication result to the service gateway module based on the charging gateway module;

[0021] Encoding the authentication result into a charging response message by the service gateway module and forwarding the charging response message to the charging function module.

[0022] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing method further includes: sending the rated call detail record to the detailed call record library based on the credit control module.

[0023] In one embodiment, the user credit control processing using the credit control module specifically includes: if it is determined that the user balance is sufficient, allocating the corresponding user available quota and user available rate based on the credit control module; if the user balance is insufficient, triggering user reminder and service suspension based on the credit control module.

[0024] In a second aspect, the present invention further provides a network combined charging and credit control processing device, including:

[0025] An internal call detail record forwarding unit, configured to receive a charging message sent by the charging function module based on the service gateway module and convert the charging message into an internal call detail record and forward it to the charging gateway module; and receive an offline call detail record sent by the charging function module based on the decoding module and decode the offline call detail record into an internal call detail record and forward it to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a connection relationship between the offline call detail record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier;

[0026] A call detail record information determination and forwarding unit, configured to determine the start time and end time of the current call detail record according to the connection relationship between the offline call detail record and the charging message; and send the session identifier of the current call detail record and the usage information carried by the current call detail record to the charging gateway memory database module based on the charging gateway module;

[0027] The call record information accumulation and sending unit is used to accumulate the usage information of the current session based on the charging gateway memory database module according to the session identifier, and return the accumulated usage information of the current session to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, send the internal call record containing the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to the rating function module for rating processing;

[0028] The rated call record sending and credit control unit is used to send the rated call record to the credit control module based on the rating function module, and use the credit control module to perform user credit control processing.

[0029] In one embodiment, there is a consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, specifically including: the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message; or, the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record;

[0030] The call record information determination and forwarding unit is specifically used for:

[0031] If the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message, then based on the charging gateway module, take the start time and end time of the offline call record and write them into the internal call record, and determine them as the start time and end time of the current call record;

[0032] If the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record, then based on the charging gateway module, take the start time and end time of the charging message and write them into the internal call record, and determine them as the start time and end time of the current call record.

[0033] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing device further includes: a user fee calculation unit, which is used to calculate the user fee based on the rated call record by using the rating function module.

[0034] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing device further includes: an accumulated usage writing unit, which is used to write the accumulated usage information into the call record based on the charging gateway module.

[0035] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing device further includes:

[0036] Determine the authentication result based on the credit control module and send the authentication result to the rating function module; wherein, the authentication result includes the user's available quota and the user's available rate;

[0037] Based on the rating function module, return the authentication result to the charging gateway module;

[0038] Based on the charging gateway module, forward the authentication result to the service gateway module;

[0039] Based on the service gateway module, encode the authentication result into a charging response message and forward it to the charging function module.

[0040] In one embodiment, the network combined charging and credit control processing device further includes: a detailed bill library storage unit, configured to send the rated bills to the detailed bill library based on the credit control module.

[0041] In one embodiment, the user credit control processing using the credit control module specifically includes: if it is determined that the user balance is sufficient, allocate corresponding user available quotas and user available rates based on the credit control module; if the user balance is insufficient, trigger user reminders and service suspension based on the credit control module.

[0042] In a third aspect, the present invention further provides an electronic device, including: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, where when the processor executes the program, the steps of the network combined charging and credit control processing method as described in any one of the above are implemented.

[0043] In a fourth aspect, the present invention further provides a processor-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the network combined charging and credit control processing method as described in any one of the above are implemented.

[0044] By adopting the network combined charging and credit control processing method of the present invention, it is possible to perform fusion processing on online charging messages and offline bills through a combined charging method, and then accurately determine the cumulative amount. By directly extracting the start time and end time in the 5G message / bill instead of the original timestamp, the start time of the bill after offline conversion to online can be accurately filled, so as to accurately obtain the cumulative amount and the start time of the bill, ensure the timely activation of the services subscribed by 5G users, and the charging system can timely and accurately trigger reminder information and credit control, effectively improving the user experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are some embodiments of the present invention, and those of ordinary skill in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0046] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of the network combined charging and credit control processing method provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 2Schematic diagram of 4G and 5G online charging session timings provided by embodiments of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 3 Flowchart of an online and offline combined charging method based on a 5G service-based architecture provided by embodiments of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 4 Processing timings of a charging system for processing charging messages from a CHF provided by embodiments of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 5 Processing timings of a charging system for processing offline call detail records from a CHF provided by embodiments of the present invention;

[0051] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the structure of a network combined charging and credit control processing device provided by embodiments of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the physical structure of an electronic device provided by embodiments of the present invention. Detailed implementation manners

[0053] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without making creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0054] Based on the network combined charging and credit control processing method described in the present invention, its embodiments will be described in detail below. As Figure 1 shown, it is a flowchart of the network combined charging and credit control processing method provided by embodiments of the present invention, and the specific implementation process includes the following steps:

[0055] Step 101: Receive a charging message sent by a charging function module based on a service gateway module and convert the charging message into an internal call detail record for forwarding to a charging gateway module; and receive an offline call detail record sent by the charging function module based on a decoding module and decode the offline call detail record into an internal call detail record for forwarding to the charging gateway module. Among them, there is a sequential relationship between the offline call detail record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier.

[0056] In the embodiments of the present invention, the sequential relationship between the offline call detail record and the charging message may specifically include: the offline call detail record is a continuation of the charging message; or, the charging message is a continuation of the offline call detail record.

[0057] Among them, the service gateway module is the service gateway SG (Service Gateway) module; the charging function module is the charging function CHF (Charing Function) module; the charging gateway module is the charging gateway CG (Charging Gateway) module.

[0058] The service gateway SG (Service Gateway) is used to connect to the messages of the charging function CHF (Charing Function) module, package the charging messages into charging internal call records, and provide them to the charging gateway CG (Charging Gateway) module for processing. The decoding module is used to parse the call records landed by the charging function CHF (Charing Function) module into charging internal call records and provide them to the charging gateway CG (Charging Gateway) module for processing.

[0059] Specifically, when the charging system processes the charging messages from the charging function module, it can, based on the charging function module, send the user charging information in the form of charging messages to the service gateway module, and based on the service gateway module, convert the charging messages into charging internal call records and forward them to the charging gateway module. When the charging system processes the offline call records from the charging function module, it can, based on the charging function module, send the offline call records to the decoding module, and based on the decoding module, decode the offline call records into internal call records and forward them to the charging gateway module.

[0060] Step 102: Determine the start time and end time of the current call record according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; based on the charging gateway module, send the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to the charging gateway memory database module.

[0061] In the embodiment of the present invention, if the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message, then based on the charging gateway module, take the start time and end time of the offline call record and write them into the internal call record, and determine them as the start time and end time of the current call record; based on the charging gateway module, send the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to the charging gateway memory database module. The charging gateway memory database module is the charging gateway memory database CG_MDB (Charging Gateway Memory Database) module.

[0062] If the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record, the start time and end time of the charging message retrieved based on the charging gateway module are written into the internal call record, and determined as the start time and end time of the current call record; based on the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record are sent to the charging gateway memory database module.

[0063] Step 103: Based on the charging gateway memory database module, accumulate the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier, and return the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, send the internal call record containing the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to the rating function module for rating processing. Based on the rated call record, the rating function module calculates the user fee.

[0064] Step 104: Based on the rating function module, send the rated call record to the credit control module, and use the credit control module to perform user credit control processing.

[0065] Specifically, if it is determined that the user balance is sufficient, the corresponding user available quota and user available rate are allocated based on the credit control module; if the user balance is insufficient, the user reminder and shutdown are triggered based on the credit control module. And based on the credit control module, the rated call record is sent to the detailed call record library. Further, the authentication result can also be determined based on the credit control module and sent to the rating function module; where the authentication result includes the user available quota and the user available rate. Based on the rating function module, the authentication result is returned to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the authentication result is forwarded to the service gateway module; and based on the service gateway module, the authentication result is encoded into a charging response message and forwarded to the charging function module. Among them, the rating function module is the rating function RF (Rating Function) module.

[0066] As Figure 3 shown, in a complete implementation process, based on the 5G service-based architecture, the charging gateway module and the charging gateway memory database module are used to integrate the online charging and offline charging processing flows, and the credit control is uniformly triggered. Specifically, it includes: the processing timing of the charging system for the charging message from the charging function module; and the processing timing of the charging system for the offline call record from the charging function module.

[0067] As Figure 4 shown, the processing timing of the charging system for the charging message from the charging function module includes:

[0068] Based on the charging function module, the user charging information is sent to the service gateway module in the form of a charging message; based on the service gateway module, the charging message is converted into an internal charging call sheet and forwarded to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the start time and end time of the charging message are retrieved and filled into the internal call sheet; based on the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call sheet and the usage information carried by the current call sheet are sent to the charging gateway memory database module; based on the charging gateway memory database module, the usage of the user is accumulated according to the session; based on the CG MDB module, the accumulated usage of the current session is returned to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the accumulated usage information is filled into the call sheet; based on the charging gateway module, the call sheet is sent to the rating function module; based on the rating function module, rating is performed to calculate the user fee; based on the rating function module, the rated call sheet is sent to the credit control module; based on the credit control module, credit control processing is performed. If the user balance is sufficient, the credit control module allocates the available quota and available rate. If the user balance is insufficient, user reminder and shutdown are triggered. Based on the credit control module, the rated call sheet is sent to the detailed call sheet library; based on the credit control module, the processed authentication result is sent to the rating function module; based on the rating function module, the authentication result is returned to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the authentication result (including the available quota and available rate) is forwarded to the service gateway module; based on the service gateway module, the authentication result is encoded into a charging response message and forwarded to the charging function module

[0069] As Figure 5 shown, the processing timing sequence of the charging system for offline call sheets from the charging function module:

[0070] Based on the charging function module, the offline call sheet is sent to the decoding module; based on the decoding module, the offline call sheet is decoded into an internal call sheet and forwarded to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the start time and end time of the offline call sheet are retrieved and filled into the internal call sheet; based on the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call sheet and the usage information carried by the current call sheet are sent to the charging gateway memory database module; based on the charging gateway memory database module, the usage of the user is accumulated according to the session; based on the CG MDB module, the accumulated usage of the current session is returned to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, the accumulated usage information is filled into the call sheet; based on the charging gateway module, the call sheet is sent to the rating function module; based on the rating function module, rating is performed to calculate the user fee; based on the rating function module, the rated call sheet is sent to the credit control module; based on the credit control module, credit control processing is performed; if the user balance is sufficient, the credit control module allocates the available quota and available rate; if the user balance is insufficient, user reminder and shutdown are triggered. And based on the credit control module, the rated call sheet is sent to the detailed call sheet library.

[0071] It should be noted that since the offline call detail records under the charging function module are the continuation of charging messages and have the same session identifier, the charging gateway module can directly use the start time and end time of the offline call detail records as the start time and end time of this call detail record. Based on the charging gateway memory database module, the usage can be accumulated based on the session status of the charging message, ensuring the accuracy of the accumulated usage of the current session. Its processing process is different from that of online charging messages. The charging system passes the rated call detail records to the credit module for user credit control.

[0072] Furthermore, when the charging system processes the conversion from offline call detail records to online charging messages, since the charging function module converts the offline call detail records of the session into charging messages (after conversion to charging messages, it has the same time sequence Figure 4 ), this charging message is the continuation of the offline call detail record and has the same session identifier. Therefore, based on the charging gateway module, the start time and end time of the charging message can be directly used as the start time and end time of this call detail record (for example, taking the start time and end time of the 5th charging message in the 5G session Figure 2 ). Based on the charging gateway memory database module, the usage can be accumulated based on the session status of the offline call detail record, ensuring the accuracy of the accumulated usage of the current session (for example, the first call detail record uses 300 bytes in the online mode, the second call detail record uses 500 bytes in the offline charging mode, and the third call detail record uses 205 bytes in the online mode. According to the previous mode, they are separated offline, with 1k offline and 1k online rounded up, totaling 2k; while after the new combined charging mode, it is rounded up to 1k in total). Through the above combined charging method, the online charging messages and offline call detail records are fused and processed, thereby achieving the accurate filling of the accumulated amount. By directly taking the start time and end time in the 5G message / call detail record to replace the original timestamp method, the start time of the call detail record after the offline call detail record is converted back to an online charging message is accurately filled, thus achieving the accurate filling of the accumulated amount and the start time of the call detail record.

[0073] Among them, the service gateway module is the service gateway SG (Service Gateway) module; the charging function module is the charging function CHF (Charing Function) module; the charging gateway module is the charging gateway CG (Charging Gateway) module; the charging gateway memory database module is the charging gateway memory database CG_MDB (Charging Gateway Memory Database) module; the rating function module is the rating function RF (RatingFunction) module.

[0074] By adopting the network joint charging and credit control processing method described in the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to perform integrated processing on online charging messages and offline call records through the joint charging method, thereby accurately determining the cumulative amount. By directly extracting the start time and end time in the 5G message / call record to replace the original timestamp, the start time of the call record after the offline is transferred back to online can be accurately filled, so as to accurately obtain the cumulative amount and the start time of the call record, ensuring that the services subscribed by 5G users take effect in a timely manner, and the charging system can trigger reminder messages and credit control in a timely and accurate manner, effectively improving the user experience.

[0075] Corresponding to the network joint charging and credit control processing method provided above, the present invention also provides a network joint charging and credit control processing device. Since the embodiments of this device are similar to the above method embodiments, the description is relatively simple. For the relevant parts, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment section. The following description of the embodiments of the network joint charging and credit control processing device is only illustrative. Please refer to Figure 6 As shown, it is a schematic structural diagram of a network joint charging and credit control processing device provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The network joint charging and credit control processing device described in the present invention specifically includes the following parts:

[0076] The internal call record forwarding unit 601 is used to receive the charging message sent by the charging function module based on the serving gateway module and convert the charging message into an internal call record and forward it to the charging gateway module; and receive the offline call record sent by the charging function module based on the decoding module and decode the offline call record into an internal call record and forward it to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier;

[0077] The call record information determination and forwarding unit 602 is used to determine the start time and end time of the current call record according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; and send the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to the charging gateway memory database module based on the charging gateway module;

[0078] The call record information accumulation and sending unit 603 is used to accumulate the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier based on the charging gateway memory database module and return the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; send the internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to the rating function module for rating processing based on the charging gateway module;

[0079] The rated call record sending and credit control unit 604 is used to send the rated call record to the credit control module based on the rating function module and perform user credit control processing using the credit control module.

[0080] By using the network combined charging and credit control processing device described in the embodiments of the present invention and the network combined charging and credit control processing method described in the present invention, it is possible to perform integrated processing on online charging messages and offline call records through the combined charging method, and then accurately determine the cumulative amount. By directly extracting the start time and end time in the 5G message / call record to replace the original timestamp, the start time of the call record after the offline is transferred back to online can be accurately filled in, so as to accurately obtain the cumulative amount and the start time of the call record, ensure that the services subscribed by 5G users take effect in a timely manner, and the charging system triggers reminder information and credit control in a timely and accurate manner, effectively improving the user experience.

[0081] Corresponding to the above-provided network combined charging and credit control processing method, the present invention also provides an electronic device. Since the embodiments of this electronic device are similar to the above method embodiments, the description is relatively simple. For related parts, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment section. The electronic device described below is only illustrative. As Figure 7 shown, it is a schematic diagram of the physical structure of an electronic device disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device may include: a processor 701, a memory 702, and a communication bus 703. Among them, the processor 701 and the memory 702 communicate with each other through the communication bus 703. The processor 701 can call the logical instructions in the memory 702 to execute the network combined charging and credit control processing method, and this method includes: receiving a charging message sent by a charging function module based on a serving gateway module and converting the charging message into an internal call record and forwarding it to a charging gateway module; and receiving an offline call record sent by the charging function module based on a decoding module and decoding the offline call record into an internal call record and forwarding it to the charging gateway module; where there is a consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier; determining the start time and end time of the current call record according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; and sending the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to a charging gateway memory database module based on the charging gateway module; accumulating the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier based on the charging gateway memory database module and returning the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; sending an internal call record containing the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to a rating function module for rating processing based on the charging gateway module; and sending the rated call record to a credit control module based on the rating function module and performing user credit control processing using the credit control module.

[0082] In addition, when the logical instructions in the above-mentioned memory 702 are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0083] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes a computer program stored on a processor-readable storage medium. The computer program includes program instructions. When the program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer can execute the network combined charging and credit control processing method provided in each of the above method embodiments. The method includes: receiving, by a service gateway module, a charging message sent by a charging function module and converting the charging message into an internal call record and forwarding it to a charging gateway module; and receiving, by a decoding module, an offline call record sent by the charging function module and decoding the offline call record into an internal call record and forwarding it to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier; determining, according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, the start time and end time of the current call record; and sending, by the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to a charging gateway memory database module; accumulating, by the charging gateway memory database module, the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier and returning the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; sending, by the charging gateway module, an internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to a rating function module for rating processing; and sending, by the rating function module, a rated call record to a credit control module to perform user credit control processing using the credit control module.

[0084] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a processor-readable storage medium. A computer program is stored on the processor-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it is configured to execute the network joint charging and credit control processing method provided in the above embodiments. The method includes: receiving, by a service gateway module, a charging message sent by a charging function module and converting the charging message into an internal call record for forwarding to a charging gateway module; and receiving, by a decoding module, an offline call record sent by the charging function module and decoding the offline call record into an internal call record for forwarding to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier; determining, according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, the start time and end time of the current call record; and sending, by the charging gateway module, the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to a charging gateway memory database module; accumulating, by the charging gateway memory database module, the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier and returning the accumulated usage information of the current session to the charging gateway module; sending, by the charging gateway module, an internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to a rating function module for rating processing; and sending, by the rating function module, a rated call record to a credit control module for performing user credit control processing.

[0085] The processor-readable storage medium may be any available medium or data storage device accessible by the processor, including but not limited to magnetic memories (such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, magneto-optical disks (MO), etc.), optical memories (such as CDs, DVDs, BDs, HVDs, etc.), and semiconductor memories (such as ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, non-volatile memories (NANDFLASH), solid-state drives (SSD)).

[0086] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. 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 may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without creative efforts.

[0087] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course, it can also be implemented by hardware. Based on such an understanding, the essence of the above technical solution, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment or some parts of the embodiments.

[0088] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or perform equivalent replacements for some of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A network joint billing credit control processing method, characterized in that including: receiving a charging message sent by a charging function module based on a service gateway module, and converting the charging message into an internal call record and forwarding it to a charging gateway module; and receiving an offline call record sent by the charging function module based on a decoding module, and decoding the offline call record into an internal call record and forwarding it to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier; the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes: the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message; or, the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record; determining the start time and end time of the current call record according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; and sending the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to a charging gateway memory database module based on the charging gateway module; the determining the start time and end time of the current call record according to the connection relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes: if the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message, then taking the start time and end time of the offline call record based on the charging gateway module and writing them into the internal call record, and determining them as the start time and end time of the current call record; if the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record, then taking the start time and end time of the charging message based on the charging gateway module and writing them into the internal call record, and determining them as the start time and end time of the current call record; accumulating the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier based on the charging gateway memory database module, and returning the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; sending an internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to a rating function module for rating processing based on the charging gateway module; sending the rated call record to a credit control module based on the rating function module, and performing user credit control processing using the credit control module; the performing user credit control processing using the credit control module specifically includes: if it is determined that the user balance is sufficient, then allocating corresponding user available quotas and user available rates based on the credit control module; if the user balance is insufficient, then triggering user reminders and suspension based on the credit control module.

2. The network combined charging credit control processing method according to claim 1, wherein further including: calculating user fees using the rating function module based on the rated call record.

3. The network combined billing credit control processing method according to claim 1, characterized in that further including: writing the accumulated usage information into the call record based on the charging gateway module.

4. The network joint billing credit control processing method according to claim 1, wherein further including: determining an authentication result based on the credit control module, and sending the authentication result to the rating function module; wherein, the authentication result includes user available quotas and user available rates; returning the authentication result to the charging gateway module based on the rating function module; forwarding the authentication result to the service gateway module based on the charging gateway module; encoding the authentication result into a charging response message and forwarding it to the charging function module based on the service gateway module.

5. The network joint charging credit control processing method according to claim 1, wherein further including: sending the rated call record to a detailed call record library based on the credit control module.

6. A network joint billing credit control processing device, characterized in that, including: The internal call record forwarding unit is used to receive the charging message sent by the charging function module based on the serving gateway module and convert the charging message into an internal call record for forwarding to the charging gateway module; and receive the offline call record sent by the charging function module based on the decoding module and decode the offline call record into an internal call record for forwarding to the charging gateway module; wherein, there is a consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message, and they have the same session identifier; the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes: the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message; or, the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record; The call record information determination and forwarding unit is used to determine the start time and end time of the current call record according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message; and based on the charging gateway module, send the session identifier of the current call record and the usage information carried by the current call record to the charging gateway memory database module; the determination of the start time and end time of the current call record according to the consecutive relationship between the offline call record and the charging message specifically includes: if the offline call record is a continuation of the charging message, then based on the charging gateway module, obtain the start time and end time of the offline call record and write them into the internal call record, which are determined as the start time and end time of the current call record; if the charging message is a continuation of the offline call record, then based on the charging gateway module, obtain the start time and end time of the charging message and write them into the internal call record, which are determined as the start time and end time of the current call record; The call record information accumulation and sending unit is used to accumulate the usage information of the current session according to the session identifier based on the charging gateway memory database module, and return the accumulated usage information of the current session obtained to the charging gateway module; based on the charging gateway module, send the internal call record including the accumulated usage information of the current session, the start time, and the end time to the rating function module for rating processing; The rated call record sending and credit control unit is used to send the rated call record to the credit control module based on the rating function module, and use the credit control module to perform user credit control processing; the use of the credit control module to perform user credit control processing specifically includes: if it is determined that the user balance is sufficient, then based on the credit control module, allocate the corresponding user available quota and user available rate; if the user balance is insufficient, then based on the credit control module, trigger user reminder and suspension.

7. An electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the program, it implements the steps of the network combined charging and credit control processing method according to any one of claims 1-5.

8. A processor-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the network combined charging and credit control processing method according to any one of claims 1-5.

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