Charging Trigger Machine Synchronizing Online Offline Billing Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inconsistencies between online and offline charging systems in mobile networks lead to user dissatisfaction due to discrepancies in data usage notifications and billing, as the offline system is updated less frequently than the online system, resulting in users being billed for overage without prior notification.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a Charging Trigger Machine (CTM) that synchronizes data usage records by sending Account Charging Requests (ACRs) to the Offline Charging System (OFCS) simultaneously with Credit Control Requests (CCRs) to the Online Charging System (OCS), allowing for alignment and verification of charging data records to prevent inaccuracies and ensure timely notifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the offline charging system is updated less frequently to reduce processing load, then system resource consumption is reduced, but data consistency between online and offline systems deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a synchronization mechanism that acts as an intermediary between the online charging system and offline charging system. This synchronization component receives data from both systems and reconciles discrepancies, ensuring data consistency without requiring the offline system to update at the same high frequency as the online system, thus maintaining both resource efficiency and data accuracy
2Loss of time
If the online charging system updates frequently to provide timely alerts, then user notification timeliness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the charging system into distinct online and offline components with different update frequencies and functions. The online charging system handles real-time alerting with frequent updates, while the offline charging system processes billing with less frequent updates. This segmentation allows each subsystem to operate independently at its optimal frequency, maintaining notification timeliness without unnecessarily increasing overall system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for synchronizing online and offline charging data are disclosed. In some implementations, a charging trigger machine (CTM) determines that charging data for a mobile user account at an online charging system (OCS) and charging data for the mobile user account at an offline charging system (OFCS) are to be synchronized. The CTM sends a credit control request (CCR) to the OCS. The CTM sends an account charging request (ACR) to the OFCS simultaneously with sending the CCR to the OCS and in response to determining that the charging data at the OCS and the charging data at the OFCS are to be synchronized. The ACR includes an instruction for a service data container (SDC) level trigger to be added to an output charging data record (CDR) created at the OFCS and associated with the mobile user account.