Proxy OCS for Roaming Credit Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
In LTE/EPC networks, interfacing with the home Online Charging System (OCS) for roaming sessions is impractical due to signaling security and delay issues, making it desirable to perform online charging within the visited network instead of relying on the home network.
Innovation Solution
Introducing a proxy Online Charging System (OCS) in the visited network that interfaces with the home OCS to retrieve charging information and provide real-time credit control, allowing it to grant service units and manage quotas for network elements serving roaming users, thereby performing credit control locally.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the visited network interfaces with the home OCS for roaming sessions, then charging information can be obtained from the home network, but signaling security issues and delay issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
A proxy OCS is introduced as an intermediary system in the visited network. The proxy OCS receives charging requests from visited network elements, retrieves charging information from the home OCS, and provides credit control decisions locally. This mediator approach allows the visited network to obtain accurate charging information from the home network while avoiding direct interfacing issues, thus resolving the contradiction between charging information reliability and signaling security/delay problems
Solution Approach 2:
The charging system is segmented into two functional parts: the home OCS that maintains the subscriber's charging profile and account information, and the proxy OCS in the visited network that handles real-time credit control operations. This segmentation allows the home OCS to remain secure and unchanged while the proxy OCS handles the interactive charging requests, separating the functions to avoid signaling security and delay issues
2Reliability
If online charging is performed in the home network, then charging information is accurate, but real-time credit control efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The proxy OCS acts as a local intermediary that caches and processes charging information, reducing the need for continuous real-time communication with the home OCS. It can make immediate credit control decisions based on locally stored charging profiles, thereby improving real-time credit control efficiency while maintaining accurate charging information from the home network
Solution Approach 2:
The proxy OCS performs preliminary actions by pre-fetching and caching charging information from the home OCS before it is needed for real-time credit control. This preliminary preparation allows the proxy OCS to respond quickly to charging requests without waiting for home network responses, thus improving real-time credit control efficiency while maintaining accurate charging information
Data Source
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AI summary
Communication networks (100) and methods are disclosed for performing online charging credit control in a visited network (120) when a user (130) is roaming. The visited network (120) which is providing service to a roaming user (130) includes a proxy online charging system, OCS, (124) that communicates with a home OCS (114) in a home network (110) of the user. The proxy OCS (124) transmits an online charging request message to a home OCS (114) in a home network (110) for the roaming user (130) requesting charging information for the roaming user (130). The proxy OCS (124) receives an online charging response message from the home OCS (114) that includes the charging information for the roaming user (130). The proxy OCS (124) then processes the charging information to perform credit control for one or more network elements (122) in the visited network (120) that is serving the session.