Signaling Node Shared Data Store for IMS Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Telecommunications networks face scalability issues and increased routing complexity when handling large numbers of subscribers, particularly in IP telephony networks like IMS, where sharding techniques are used, leading to challenges in maintaining state information and providing redundancy for signaling nodes.
Innovation Solution
A system where signaling nodes in a cluster can process messages for any subscriber, with a shared data store allowing any node to read and write state information, and a network node ensures complete communication status messages are transmitted to a charging node, eliminating the need for longstanding assignments and reducing complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If sharding techniques are employed to allocate subscribers to specific signaling nodes, then memory and processing requirements at each node are reduced, but routing complexity increases and network scalability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
A shared data store acts as an intermediary between signaling nodes and the charging node. Instead of each signaling node directly managing subscriber state information, they access a common shared data store, which eliminates the need for complex routing logic while maintaining reduced memory requirements at each node.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared data store serves multiple functions: it stores subscriber state information, enables any signaling node to access any subscriber's data, and provides a universal interface for the charging node to receive communication status messages from any node in the cluster.
2Adaptability or versatility
If state information is replicated between all signaling nodes, then any node can process any subscriber's messages, but memory requirements become prohibitive for large networks
Solution Approach 1:
Individual node memory resources are merged into a single shared data store that is accessible by all signaling nodes. This consolidation provides the same information availability as replication would achieve, but with dramatically reduced total memory requirements and eliminated redundancy.
3Reliability
If signaling nodes maintain state information for allocated subscribers, then billing accuracy can be ensured, but network scalability is reduced when handling large numbers of subscribers
Solution Approach 1:
The shared data store serves as an intermediary that ensures the charging node receives accurate communication status information for billing purposes, while allowing the signaling nodes to scale independently without being constrained by memory capacity requirements.
4Device complexity
If longstanding subscriber assignments to signaling nodes are maintained, then state information management is simplified, but network resilience and flexibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static subscriber-node assignments to dynamic access patterns where any signaling node can access any subscriber's state information through the shared data store. This dynamic approach enhances network resilience while maintaining simplified state management through centralized storage.
Data Source
AI summary
Measures for processing communication status messages in a telecommunications network which includes a plurality of signaling nodes responsible for processing signaling information in the telecommunications network and a charging node responsible for processing billing information in the telecommunications network. A communication status message is received from a signaling node in the plurality. The received communication status message includes first communication status information. Second communication status information is generated on the basis of at least the first communication status information. One or more communication status messages are transmitted to the charging node. The one or more transmitted communication status messages include the first communication status information and the second communication status information.