Rating Group Charging Triggers in PDU Session Establishment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current 3GPP specifications do not enable the Charging Function (CHF) to provision triggers and thresholds at the granularity of rating groups for offline charging during PDU session establishment, leading to missed billing opportunities and complex workarounds.

Innovation Solution

The network element sends a ChargingDataRequest to the CHF during PDU session establishment, indicating the rating group, allowing the CHF to arm triggers and thresholds for offline charging, thereby enabling immediate provisioning at the rating group level.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If the CHF waits until after PDU session establishment to receive rating group information, then the system can operate without a priori knowledge of rating groups, but triggers and thresholds cannot be armed instantaneously during session establishment

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetime to arm triggers and thresholdsVSAvoidoperation without a priori knowledge of rating groups

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having the network element send rating group information to the CHF during PDU session establishment, before service usage begins. This allows the CHF to arm triggers and thresholds in advance for offline charging, eliminating delays that would occur if rating group information were only provided after session establishment. The ChargingDataRequest message includes rating group identifiers that enable the CHF to pre-configure charging parameters.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of manufacture

If the system uses current 3GPP specifications without modifications, then implementation is straightforward, but rating group-level triggers and thresholds cannot be provisioned for offline charging

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of implementationVSAvoidcapability to provision rating group-level charging

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies segmentation by separating online charging and offline charging into distinct operational modes with different information requirements. The ChargingDataRequest message structure is segmented to include optional rating group information specifically for offline charging scenarios. This allows the system to maintain compatibility with existing 3GPP specifications while adding the capability to provision rating group-level triggers and thresholds for offline charging without affecting online charging operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses the ChargingDataRequest message as an intermediary mechanism to transfer rating group information from the network element to the CHF during PDU session establishment. This intermediary message structure enables the provisioning of offline charging parameters without requiring modifications to the core 3GPP charging architecture, thus maintaining ease of implementation while adding adaptability for rating group-level charging.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Productivity

If triggers and thresholds are armed after service usage begins, then the system can operate with existing specifications, but billing opportunities are missed and revenue is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebilling efficiencyVSAvoidcomplexity of charging architecture

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by enabling the CHF to receive and process rating group information during PDU session establishment, before any service usage occurs. This allows triggers and thresholds to be armed in advance for offline charging events, ensuring that billing opportunities are captured from the moment service usage begins, rather than being missed due to delayed configuration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS11425262B2Split control and data plane architecture to enable rating group-level thresholds and triggers from charging function for offline charging

Publication Date: 2022.08.23 CISCO TECHNOLOGY INC

AI summary

A network element configured to support charging for a service in a network accesses policy rules defining a rating group to be used for offline charging. While a protocol data unit (PDU) session for user equipment is being established in the network, the network element sends, to a charging function configured to send charging data records related to service usage to a billing domain, a charging data request that establishes offline charging for the PDU session and indicates the rating group. The network element also receives, from the charging function, a charging data response including one or more triggers and thresholds for the rating group for the offline charging.