Charging Quota Pre-Granting to Prevent Network Flooding

Solution Overview

Problem

Current solutions for managing quota management in communication networks face issues with network flooding and inefficient resource utilization during transitions between active and inactive quota states, particularly during tariff switches, leading to overburdened compute, storage, and network resources.

Innovation Solution

A network node in the charging system grants a quota of units with an indication of whether management is active or inactive, allowing deferred application upon activation, tied to tariff changes, thereby avoiding initial flooding and optimizing resource usage.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If quota management is actively managed with repeated charging requests and quota grants, then service consumption can be authorized and tracked in real-time, but network flooding and overburdened compute, storage, and network resources occur during transitions between active and inactive quota states

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereal-time service authorizationVSAvoidnetwork resource burden

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-granting quotas to user devices before the actual service consumption period begins. The charging system receives service information in advance, calculates the required quota based on rating functions, and grants it proactively. This eliminates the need for repeated real-time charging requests during service delivery, thereby reducing network flooding and resource burden while maintaining reliable service authorization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts the quota granting operation from the continuous real-time charging process. By separating the quota grant from ongoing service consumption authorization, the system performs quota management as a distinct preliminary step. This extraction allows the main service delivery process to proceed without repeated charging interactions, reducing network traffic and computational overhead during active service periods.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Productivity

If repeated charging requests and quota grants are used for active quota management, then service consumption is properly authorized, but network traffic and processing overhead increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveservice consumption authorizationVSAvoidnetwork and compute resources

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-granting quotas to user devices before the actual service consumption period begins. The charging system receives service information in advance, calculates the required quota based on rating functions, and grants it proactively. This eliminates the need for repeated real-time charging requests during service delivery, thereby reducing network flooding and resource burden while maintaining reliable service authorization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Device complexity

If quota management is suspended during certain periods, then network resource utilization is optimized, but service consumption tracking and authorization become less controlled

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork resource utilizationVSAvoidservice consumption control

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-granting quotas to user devices before the actual service consumption period begins. The charging system receives service information in advance, calculates the required quota based on rating functions, and grants it proactively. This eliminates the need for repeated real-time charging requests during service delivery, thereby reducing network flooding and resource burden while maintaining reliable service authorization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS12513496B2Method and apparatus for managing charging operations for a communication network

Publication Date: 2025.12.30 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

A node of a charging system associated with a communication network grants a charging request, with the response including a granted quota of units for authorizing consumption of the involved communication service by a user device, along with an indication of whether the granted quota applies on an immediate basis or on a deferred basis. For example, the response indicates whether quota management is active for the involved communication service, with the granted quota applying immediately to consumption of the service if quota management is active and applying on a deferred basis if quota management is inactive. Providing a granted quota while quota management is inactive offers several advantages, such as proactively providing individual charging sessions with granted units of service consumption that may be used subsequently, upon quota management becoming active, thereby avoiding the “flood” of charging session requests that would otherwise be generated upon quota management becoming active.