Intelligent Router Rerouting Charging System Accounting Requests
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Solution Overview
Problem
In existing charging systems, when a CCF server experiences overload or transient failure, the D-RTR fails to efficiently reroute accounting requests, leading to an infinite loop and delayed recovery due to its unawareness of the load situation at the CCF servers, causing operational inefficiencies and increased provisioning needs.
Innovation Solution
A router in the charging system that acts as a proxy for receiving and modifying accounting requests, determining whether to resend them to the same CCF server or route them to an alternate server based on load indices and availability, ensuring efficient error handling and load distribution without involving the originating network element.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the D-RTR uses simple round-robin load distribution without awareness of CCF server load status, then the routing method is simple and easy to implement, but it causes infinite loops when CCF servers experience overload or transient failures, leading to delayed recovery and operational inefficiencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where CCF servers send load status information (such as overload indicators and transient failure flags) back to the D-RTR. The D-RTR uses this feedback to dynamically adjust its routing decisions, avoiding overloaded or failed servers and enabling automatic recovery when servers become available again, thus resolving the infinite loop problem while maintaining operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The routing strategy transitions from static round-robin to dynamic routing based on real-time CCF server status. The D-RTR continuously adapts its routing decisions based on current load conditions, server availability, and failure states, allowing the system to respond dynamically to changing conditions and avoid the rigidity that causes infinite loops.
2Reliability
If the D-RTR implements intelligent rerouting based on CCF server load status, then system reliability and recovery capability improve, but the device complexity and provisioning requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having CCF servers pre-establish their load status and availability information, which is then made available to the D-RTR before routing decisions are needed. This allows the D-RTR to make informed routing decisions without complex real-time analysis, reducing processing complexity while maintaining high reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where load status information is transmitted between CCF servers and the D-RTR through standardized protocols. This intermediary layer simplifies the D-RTR's processing burden by providing structured, pre-processed status information, reducing the complexity of intelligent rerouting while improving system reliability.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the D-RTR resends ACRs to the same CCF server after receiving error responses, then message delivery consistency is maintained, but infinite loops occur when the CCF server remains overloaded or failed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses feedback from CCF server error responses (overload indicators, transient failure flags) to dynamically adjust routing behavior. When feedback indicates persistent failure or overload, the D-RTR switches from resending to the same server to rerouting to alternative servers, preventing infinite loops while maintaining message delivery consistency through structured retry logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The routing strategy dynamically adapts based on CCF server response patterns. The D-RTR transitions from static resend behavior to dynamic routing decisions, adjusting its behavior based on real-time server status feedback. This allows the system to maintain consistency when servers are temporarily unavailable while avoiding infinite loops when servers are persistently overloaded or failed.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for using a charging system to account for service provided by a network element (NE) of a service provider network includes receiving an accounting request (ACR) from the NE at a router in the charging system, the ACR associated with service provided by the NE in the service provider network in conjunction with a communication session; modifying the ACR to form a modified ACR; sending the modified ACR to a charging collection function (CCF) server; receiving an accounting answer from the CCF server indicating the CCF server was not able to process the modified ACR; and resending the modified ACR to the CCF server or changing the modified ACR to form a revised ACR and sending the revised ACR to an alternate CCF server. A router associated with the method includes a service network communication module, a message processing module, and a charging system communication module.