Online Charging System Usage Triggered Allowance Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current telecommunications systems face high overhead and complexity in managing short recurring subscription periods, requiring batch processing that is resource-intensive and inefficient, especially when offering daily allowances, which leads to performance impacts and revenue leakage.
Innovation Solution
An Online Charging System (OCS) that processes charges in real-time, allowing allowances to be triggered by subscriber usage rather than batch processing, enabling flexible time periods for granting credits or debits, and reducing dependency on the Billing and Revenue Management System (BRM) for authorization and accounting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If batch processing is used to manage short recurring subscription periods, then subscription management capability is improved, but network load and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing charging parameters, allowances, and pricing rules in the OCS before they are needed. This allows the system to handle short recurring subscription periods without requiring complex batch processing at runtime, as the authorization and accounting data are already prepared and available for immediate use.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the charging management functionality from the traditional batch processing system and places it directly in the OCS. By taking out the authorization and accounting operations from the Billing and Revenue Management System and implementing them in real-time within the OCS, the system eliminates the need for complex batch processing while maintaining subscription management capabilities.
2Measurement precision
If batch processing is used for charging operations, then charging accuracy is improved, but performance impact and revenue leakage occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-computing charging parameters, allowances, and pricing rules and storing them in the OCS before they are needed for actual charging operations. This ensures charging accuracy is maintained while eliminating the performance impact and revenue leakage associated with batch processing, as all charging decisions are made in real-time with pre-prepared data.
3Productivity
If real-time processing is implemented in OCS, then operational efficiency is improved, but dependency on BRM increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the authorization and accounting operations from the Billing and Revenue Management System and implements them directly in the OCS. This reduces dependency on BRM by making the OCS self-sufficient for real-time charging decisions, while maintaining operational efficiency through pre-computed charging parameters stored locally in the OCS.
4Ease of operation
If short recurring subscription periods are offered, then customer spending control is improved, but network overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing all charging parameters, allowances, and pricing rules for short recurring subscription periods in the OCS before they are needed. This enables the system to offer flexible short-term subscription plans with precise spending control while minimizing network overhead, as no additional batch processing or complex calculations are required at runtime.
Data Source
AI summary
An Online Charging System (“OCS”) that processes charging on a telecommunications network receives an indication of usage of a telecommunications service by a subscriber. In response to the indication, the OCS determines a configured offering for the service, where the configured offering includes a time period, and a credit and/or debit. The OCS determines if the usage of the service is a first usage within the time period, and when the usage is the first usage, applies the credit and/or debit. The OCS then determines a charge for the usage based on credit and/or debit.