Charging System Client Server Usage Reporting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current charging systems face challenges in handling services that may change from free-of-charge to chargeable, leading to potential credit loss for operators due to lack of proper monitoring and reporting, especially when no quota is reserved for free services.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where the server instructs the client to measure and report usage of free-of-charge services at predetermined conditions, such as time or data volume, without reserving quota, allowing the server to determine if the service has changed to a chargeable type and adjust handling modes accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the server does not reserve quota for free-of-charge services, then service delivery is simplified and faster, but credit loss occurs when services change from free to chargeable
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs preliminary actions by issuing a control message to the client that includes instructions for measuring and reporting usage even for free services. This preliminary setup ensures that when services transition from free to chargeable, the necessary monitoring infrastructure is already in place, preventing credit loss while maintaining fast service delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the client measures usage and reports back to the server according to predetermined conditions specified in the control message. This feedback loop enables the server to track service usage in real-time, allowing accurate credit control when services change from free to chargeable, while not interfering with the speed of service delivery.
2Reliability
If the server issues re-authorization requests for each session to track service type changes, then credit control accuracy is improved, but processing burden and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the measurement and reporting functionality from the server and places it at the client side. The server only needs to issue a single control message with predetermined conditions, and the client autonomously measures and reports usage. This extraction significantly reduces the server's processing burden while maintaining accurate credit control through the client-side monitoring mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The client is empowered to perform self-service by autonomously measuring its own usage and reporting to the server based on predetermined conditions. This eliminates the need for the server to continuously monitor and issue re-authorization requests for each session, reducing server complexity while ensuring accurate tracking of service usage for credit control purposes.
3Ease of operation
If the server grants services without reserving quota, then ease of operation is improved, but usage allocation to specific charging methods becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs preliminary action by including predetermined conditions and charging method information in the initial control message issued to the client. This allows the service to be granted immediately without reserving quota, while the client is instructed to report usage according to specific conditions that include charging method allocation information, thus preserving necessary information for billing.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for handling a service of a predetermined type within a charging system comprising a server and a client. The method includes receiving, at the client, a request for the service of the predetermined type from a terminal, transmitting said request from the client to the server in a charging control request in which the service of the predetermined type is indicated, checking, at said server, whether the requested service of the predetermined type can be granted, and if granted, responding, by said server, with a control message to the client, and measuring, by the client, the usage of resources consumed by the granted service in response to said control message, and reporting the measured used resources for the service at a predetermined condition from the client to the server in a report message. The present invention relates also to a corresponding system and network entities.