Gateway User Plane Direct Charging Session Establishment
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Solution Overview
Problem
In online charging systems, the decoupled architecture of gateway devices results in an extremely long charging path and large charging delays, which affects real-time credit control and service usage management.
Innovation Solution
Establishing a direct session between the user plane entity of the gateway device and the online charging system using a service identifier, allowing for direct interaction and reducing the reliance on the control plane for message forwarding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the gateway device is decoupled into control plane entity and user plane entity, then security and access control are improved, but the charging path becomes extremely long and charging delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a charging path optimization mechanism where the control plane entity acts as an intermediary to establish charging sessions. The control plane entity receives service requests, interacts with the online charging system to establish charging sessions, and then forwards service requests to the user plane entity with charging session identifiers. This intermediary approach maintains security while optimizing the charging path by pre-establishing charging sessions before service activation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary charging session establishment before service activation. The control plane entity interacts with the online charging system in advance to set up charging sessions, obtain charging identifiers, and configure charging parameters. This preliminary action ensures that when service requests are forwarded to the user plane entity, the charging path is already optimized and ready, reducing charging delays during actual service delivery.
2Ease of operation
If the control plane entity manages all charging interactions, then charging policy control is improved, but the charging path length increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the charging interaction process into two distinct phases: control plane charging session establishment and user plane service delivery. The control plane entity handles session management, policy control, and online charging system interactions, while the user plane entity handles service delivery using pre-configured charging identifiers. This segmentation allows policy control to remain centralized in the control plane while shortening the actual charging path during service delivery, as the user plane entity can directly use pre-established charging session identifiers without requiring continuous control plane involvement.
3Loss of time
If direct session establishment between user plane entity and online charging system is implemented, then charging delay is reduced, but control over charging policy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a copying mechanism where the control plane entity creates charging session identifiers and charging context information that are then copied to the user plane entity. The user plane entity uses these copied charging identifiers to establish direct sessions with the online charging system, reducing charging delays. Meanwhile, the control plane entity retains policy control by maintaining the original charging context and being able to modify or revoke charging sessions as needed, thus balancing direct session benefits with centralized policy control.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of the present invention provide an online charging method, a gateway device, and an online charging device. The online charging method includes: sending, by a control plane entity of a gateway device, a service identifier to a user plane entity of the gateway device, where the service identifier is used by the user plane entity of the gateway device to establish a first session, which is associated with a service, with an online charging system according to the service identifier and perform charging interaction on the first session, and the first session is a session between the user plane entity of the gateway device and the online charging system. According to the present invention, the first session is established between the online charging system and the user plane of the gateway device by using the service identifier, so that direct interaction between the user plane of the gateway device and the online charging system is implemented, and a technical problem that a gateway device in a decoupled architecture has an extremely long charging path and a large charging delay is resolved.