Service Validation Message for Roaming Charge Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobile communication systems lack a mechanism for the home operator to validate roaming charges for locally routed services, relying on trust between operators rather than verification, which can lead to fraud and lack of control over roaming charges.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced where the UE device generates and sends service validation messages digitally signed with an integrity protection key shared between the UE and the home network, allowing the home operator to verify charges by enhancing the Charging Trigger Function (CTF) in the visited network, and forwarding these messages through the TAP charging mechanism to the home network, ensuring integrity and reliability of roaming charges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the home operator trusts the visited network without verification, then the charging mechanism is simple and operates automatically, but the reliability of charging information is compromised and fraud risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The service validation message is generated in advance by the UE before the charging process completes. This preliminary action allows the home operator to verify the accuracy of charging information before final billing, preventing fraud while maintaining a relatively simple overall mechanism by using pre-generated validation data
Solution Approach 2:
The service validation message acts as an intermediary element between the UE and the home operator. It carries verification information that mediates the trust relationship, allowing the home operator to validate charging information without directly monitoring all network resource usage, thus balancing reliability with operational simplicity
2Measurement precision
If the home operator implements verification of roaming charges, then control over charging accuracy is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to additional validation steps
Solution Approach 1:
The UE autonomously generates the service validation message using its own resources and the integrity protection key. This self-service approach eliminates the need for the home operator to implement complex verification procedures, as the validation information is automatically prepared by the UE itself, maintaining ease of operation while achieving precise charging verification
Solution Approach 2:
The service validation message provides feedback to the home operator about the actual network resource usage. This feedback mechanism enables precise verification of charging information without requiring complex manual intervention, as the system automatically receives and can verify the validation data against billed charges
3Reliability
If digitally signed service validation messages are implemented, then protection against charge manipulation is improved, but the device complexity increases due to cryptographic operations
Solution Approach 1:
The cryptographic signing operation is performed in advance by the UE when generating the service validation message. By completing the computationally intensive cryptographic operation beforehand rather than during verification, the patent reduces the burden on the home operator's systems while maintaining strong integrity protection, effectively managing device complexity at the source rather than at the verification point
Solution Approach 2:
The service validation message serves as a cryptographic copy or representation of the network resource usage information. Instead of verifying the original complex usage data, the home operator verifies this simplified signed copy, which contains essential validation information. This copying approach maintains reliability through cryptographic protection while reducing the complexity of verification operations
Data Source
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Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention provides a method of authenticating a transaction performed by a mobile communication user equipment, UE, device which has performed an authentication and key agreement procedure between the UE device and a mobile management entity of a visited network in order to establish a secure context between the UE device and the visited network, the method comprising sending a service validation message from the UE device to the visited network, the service validation message having been digitally signed by the UE device using an integrity protection key shared between the UE device and a home operator network; and forwarding the service validation message from the visited network to the home operator network.