Inherit-Charging-Rules AVP for Diameter PCEF Rule Inheritance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing Diameter protocol requires redundant messaging for provisioning Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules across multiple IP-CAN sessions, leading to inefficient processing and resource utilization due to the need to send entire rule definitions for each session, even when the same rules are to be installed.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a new vendor-specific AVP, Inherit-Charging-Rules, allows for the inheritance of PCC rule definitions from an associated session, enabling the installation of dynamic rules at the Policy Charging and Enforcement Function (PCEF) by referencing existing rules and excluding specific rules or rulebases, thus optimizing rule installation and reducing redundant messaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire PCC rule definition is sent for each IP-CAN session, then the rule provisioning is complete and accurate, but the messaging overhead and processing load increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential rule identifiers (rule-name, rule-base-name) from the complete PCC rule definition and transmits them in the Diameter message. The actual rule definitions are retrieved locally from the PCEF's cache, eliminating the need to transmit large rule definition data structures repeatedly.
Solution Approach 2:
The PCEF pre-loads and caches complete PCC rule definitions locally before they are needed for session provisioning. When a session requires a rule, the PCEF retrieves it from its local cache rather than waiting for the complete definition to be transmitted, reducing message processing time and overhead.
2Device complexity
If the entire PCC rule definition is resent for each session, then no additional rule definition storage is needed at PCEF, but the message size and transmission time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The PCEF creates local copies of PCC rule definitions and stores them in its cache. These copies are then used to fulfill session provisioning requests without requiring the complete rule definition to be transmitted in each Diameter message, reducing transmission time and message size.
3Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic rules are provisioned for each subscriber individually, then each subscriber gets customized rules, but the same rule definitions are transmitted repeatedly across multiple sessions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables a single Diameter message containing rule identifiers to serve multiple subscribers by referencing the same cached rule definitions at the PCEF. This universal approach allows the same rule set to be efficiently provisioned across multiple sessions without repeating the full rule definition transmission for each subscriber.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods and computer software are disclosed for providing Diameter charging-rule inheritance support. In one embodiment a method is disclosed, comprising: provisioning, using an inherit-Charging Rules attribute value pair (AVP), dynamic rules at a Policy Charging and Enforcement Function (PCEF), wherein the inherit-Charging Rules AVP includes an AVP header, an associated session and at least one of a charging rule name, an exclude charging rule name, an exclude charging rule base name, and an AVP; and wherein the AVP inherits policy and charging control (PCC) rule definitions referenced in an Association-Session AVP.