CN100550959C - telecommunication charging system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of telecommunications, and discloses a telecommunications billing system and a method thereof, so that various business scenarios can be supported, and different billing methods can be used for the same service. In the present invention, the service provision subsystem requests the decision of the charging process from the process decision subsystem before providing the service, and the process decision subsystem judges whether the charging process of the service may need to be switched, and if so, sends a message containing The billing message of the billing method and billing suspension condition, the service provider subsystem selects the corresponding billing subsystem according to the billing mode, and ends the current billing process when the billing suspension condition is satisfied but the service is still continuing, and the request process The decision-making subsystem re-determines the subsequent billing process.

Description

Telecom billing system and its method

technical field

The invention relates to the field of telecommunications, in particular to charging technology.

Background technique

Telecom billing is the core of telecom operations and the main thread running through the entire telecom development. It is not only directly related to the benefit and development of telecommunication enterprises, but also reflects the service level of telecommunication enterprises to the majority of telecommunication users. The continuous development of telecommunication technology, the continuous renewal and growth of telecommunication services and the transformation of telecommunication operation mode have put forward higher requirements for billing.

Currently, there are two billing processes in the telecom billing system, one is offline billing based on Call Detail Record (CDR), and the other is online billing based on billing event messages.

When offline charging is used, after the service provided by the operator to the user, including voice calls and data services, etc., the service providing subsystem generates CDR, and the charging subsystem collects the CDR for batch charging and accounting processing. There is a large delay in offline billing, and the billing subsystem has no ability to control the service during the service process, which is prone to overdraft and arrears. Offline charging is usually applied to the post-paid charging method, that is, the user can use the service first and then pay; or applied to the quasi-prepaid charging method, that is, the user is required to pay the fee before using the service, but it is not strictly controlled.

When online charging is used, when the user uses services including the circuit domain, data domain and Internet Protocol Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, referred to as "IMS"), etc., the service providing subsystem generates a charging event message to the charging Subsystem, the billing subsystem performs authentication, budget, real-time billing, real-time fee monitoring and quota management for users using services. Online billing can accurately control the service usage according to the account balance, and stop the service when the user balance is insufficient, thereby avoiding user overdraft and arrears. However, in the process of providing the same service, more system resources will be required if online charging is used than offline charging. Online charging is usually applied to the prepaid charging method, that is, the user pays first and then uses the service.

With the development of business, new business scenarios are constantly emerging, and there may be business that requires time-sharing charging, that is, two or more different charging methods need to be used to charge different time periods of the same service . For example, User A pays for the same service using a company-provided postpaid account and a private prepaid account. From 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, pay with a postpaid account, and at other times with a prepaid account. In this case, the postpaid account should be charged using offline charging, and the prepaid account should be charged using online charging. This may cause offline charging and online charging to be used separately in different time periods in the same service. If the user starts to use a service from 7:45 in the evening, during the period from 7:45 to 8:00 in the evening, the payment time for the postpaid account can be billed for the service using the offline billing process; after 8:00 in the evening, When the payment account is switched from a postpaid account to a prepaid account, it is necessary to use the online billing process to charge for this service, so as to ensure that user A's prepaid account is not overdrawn. In this way, at 8 o'clock in the evening, there will be a switch from offline charging to online charging. By the same token, there may be a switch from online billing to offline billing at 8 am. In addition, due to different charging standards for the same service in different time periods or scenarios, there may be situations where offline charging is switched to offline charging and online charging is switched to online charging.

Solution 1 of the prior art adopts an offline charging process, and its message interaction process is shown in FIG. 1 .

First, the service providing subsystem sends a service request to the process decision subsystem. After receiving the service request, the process decision-making subsystem checks the user's subscription and order information, decides to use offline charging for the service, and then sends an offline charging message to the service providing subsystem. After the service ends, the service providing subsystem generates a CDR for the offline charging subsystem to collect. During the service submission process, the service providing subsystem may also generate some CDRs for the offline charging subsystem to collect.

Solution 2 of the prior art adopts an online charging process, and its message interaction process is shown in FIG. 2 .

First, the service providing subsystem sends a service request to the process decision subsystem. Next, the process decision-making subsystem checks the user's subscription and order information, decides that online charging should be used for the service, and then sends an online charging message to the service providing subsystem. After receiving the online charging message, the service providing subsystem sends a quota request to the online charging subsystem. Next, the online billing subsystem checks the account status, and if there is no balance, it sends a quota failure message to the service providing subsystem, and the service providing subsystem terminates the user service and notifies the user of the reason for the termination; if the account has a balance, online billing The subsystem performs quota calculation, and sends a quota success message to the service providing subsystem, and the message includes the quota. After receiving the quota success message, the service providing subsystem provides services to users. If the quota is not used up but the service has ended, the service providing subsystem sends a charging event message to the online charging subsystem; if the quota is used up, the service providing subsystem sends a quota request to the online charging subsystem again.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that the existing process decision-making subsystem can be a home location register (Home Location Register, referred to as "HLR"), and the service-providing subsystem sends a service request message to the HLR, and the HLR decides whether to use an offline Billing or online billing.

In practical application, the above-mentioned solutions have the following problems: the existing technical solution 1 may cause the user’s prepaid account to be overdrawn; Second, managing the same user will cause complicated management, which cannot be well applied to the above-mentioned time-sharing charging business.

The main reason for this situation is that the existing technical solution can only use one charging process for the same service, and cannot switch between different charging processes, so it cannot well support the service of time-sharing charging.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a telecommunications charging system and method thereof, so that various business scenarios can be supported, and different charging methods can be used for the same service.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a telecommunications billing system, including: a service providing subsystem for providing services and billing information, billing subsystems with at least two different billing methods, and a process decision sub-system The system is used to decide whether to use the charging switching process of the switchable charging method when receiving the service request message from the service providing subsystem, and if so, send the charging message carrying the charging method and the charging suspension condition providing subsystems for said service;

The service providing subsystem is also configured to send the service request message to the process decision subsystem when the service starts, and select the corresponding charging method according to the charging method in the message when receiving the charging message As the target of the current billing information, the subsystem starts the billing process corresponding to the billing method. If the service has not ended when the billing termination condition in the message is reached, the billing corresponding to the billing method ends. process, and send the service request message to the process decision subsystem again.

Wherein, the charging suspension condition includes one of the following or any combination thereof:

The current time reaches a preset value, the current accumulated communication time reaches a preset threshold, the current accumulated communication fee reaches a preset threshold, and the current accumulated communication traffic reaches a preset threshold.

In addition, in the system, the charging mode of the charging subsystem includes offline charging and online charging.

In addition, in the system, if the process decision subsystem decides not to use the charging switching process of the switchable charging mode, it will send a normal online charging message or offline charging message to the service providing subsystem .

In addition, in the system, the type of charging switching process includes one of the following or any combination thereof: switching from offline charging to online charging, switching from online charging to offline charging, switching between offline charging Switching, switching between online charging.

The present invention also provides a telecommunications billing method, comprising the following steps:

A service providing subsystem sends a service request message to the process decision subsystem;

The B process decision-making subsystem judges whether the service corresponding to the service request message is a charging service with a switchable charging method, and if so, generates a charging message carrying a charging method and a charging termination condition and sends it to the service providing subsystem;

C. The service providing subsystem selects the corresponding charging subsystem for charging according to the charging method, and if the service is still continuing when the charging suspension condition is reached, the charging of the charging method is ended process and return to step A as described.

Wherein, the charging suspension condition includes one of the following or any combination thereof:

The current time reaches a preset value, the current accumulated communication time reaches a preset threshold, the current accumulated communication fee reaches a preset threshold, and the current accumulated communication traffic reaches a preset threshold.

In addition, in the method, if the charging method in the charging message is offline charging, and the charging suspension condition is that the current time reaches a preset value, then the step C also includes the following sub-steps:

C11 If the current time does not reach the preset value when the service ends, the service providing subsystem sends the call detail record of the service to the offline charging subsystem;

C12 If the service is still continuing when the current time reaches the preset value, the service providing subsystem sends the call detail record of the service to the offline charging subsystem and returns to step A.

In addition, in the method, if the charging method in the charging message is online charging, the charging termination condition is that the current time reaches a preset value, and the step C also includes the following sub-steps:

The service providing subsystem described in C21 requests a quota from the online charging subsystem;

C22 If the account balance is insufficient, end the service; otherwise, the online charging subsystem sends a quota success message carrying the quota to the service providing subsystem, and the service providing subsystem provides the service;

C23 If the quota is exhausted before the current time reaches the preset value, return to the step C21;

C24 If the current time has not reached the preset value and the service has ended when the quota has not been exhausted, the service providing subsystem sends charging information to the online charging subsystem;

C25 If the quota has not been exhausted and the service has not ended when the current time reaches the preset value, the service providing subsystem sends charging information to the online charging subsystem and returns to step A.

In addition, in the method, if in the step B, if the process decision-making subsystem determines that the service corresponding to the service request message is not a charging service with a switchable charging mode, it will send a normal online message to the service providing subsystem. Charging message or offline charging message.

Through comparison, it can be found that the main difference between the technical solution of the present invention and the prior art is that the service providing subsystem requests the decision-making of the charging process from the process decision-making subsystem before providing the service, and the process decision-making subsystem judges the charging process of the service Is it possible to switch, if so, send a charging message containing the charging method and charging suspension condition to the service providing subsystem, the service providing subsystem selects the corresponding charging subsystem according to the charging method, and When the conditions are met but the service is still continuing, the current billing process is terminated, and the process decision subsystem is requested to re-determine the subsequent billing process.

The difference in this technical solution has brought obvious beneficial effects, that is, because the solution of the present invention is suitable for various business scenarios, it not only supports services that only use online charging or offline charging in the prior art, but also supports the use of distributed charging. Timely billing service, which can realize switching between different billing methods, thus avoiding the possible overdraft of the user's online billing account caused by the existing technical solution 1, and avoiding the large system resources occupied by the existing technical solution 2 Shortcomings, thereby guaranteeing the interests of operators and service providers to the greatest extent; and the scheme of the present invention can ensure the continuity of user services, and will not cause service interruption due to changes in service billing methods, which greatly facilitates users.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a message interaction process using an offline charging process;

Figure 2 is a message interaction process using an online charging process;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the composition of the telecommunications billing system according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the composition of the telecommunications billing system in the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is the flow chart of the telecommunications billing method according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the time-limited offline charging flow in the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the time-limited online charging flow of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the switching process from offline charging to offline charging according to the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the switching process from offline charging to online charging according to the fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 10 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the switching process from online charging to online charging according to the sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 11 is a flow of message interaction between entities in the switching process from online charging to offline charging according to the seventh preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the object, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

It should be noted that the subsystem referred to in the present invention only represents the next level of the system, and the subsystem can undertake work independently, and does not necessarily depend on other subsystems in the system. For example, the online charging subsystem in the present invention can independently complete the online charging function, and can also cooperate with the service providing subsystem to complete the online charging function of the corresponding service.

Based on the prior art, the present invention adds support for switching flow in the service providing subsystem and the flow decision-making subsystem. Among them, the switching process includes switching from offline charging to online charging, switching from online charging to offline charging, switching from offline charging to offline charging, and switching from online charging to online charging. By using time-limited offline charging and time-limited online Billing is implemented.

In addition to supporting all the functions of the existing process decision-making subsystem, the process decision-making subsystem is also used to decide whether to use the switching process for the service when receiving the service request message, and generate a time-limited offline schedule when using the switching process for the service. The billing message or time-limited online charging message is sent to the service providing subsystem.

In addition to supporting all functions of the existing service providing subsystem, the service providing subsystem is also used to start the corresponding offline charging process or time-limiting charging process when receiving a time-limited offline charging message or a time-limited online charging message, and Resend the service request message to the process decision subsystem when the time limit is reached.

Billing method of the present invention mainly comprises the following steps:

1. When the service is initiated, the service provisioning subsystem sends a service request message to the process decision-making subsystem;

2. The process decision-making subsystem judges whether the service corresponding to the service request message is a time-of-use charging service, and if so, determines the initial charging method and time limit according to the service initiation time and the setting of time-of-use charging, otherwise proceeds normally according to the existing technical solution deal with;

3. If the initial charging method of the time-of-use charging service is offline charging, the process decision-making subsystem generates a time-limited offline charging message according to the initial charging method and time limit determined in step 2 and sends it to the service providing subsystem;

4. If the initial charging method of the time-sharing charging service is online charging, the process decision-making subsystem generates a time-limited online charging message according to the initial charging method and time limit determined in step 2 and sends it to the service providing subsystem;

5. The service providing subsystem judges whether the received message is a time-limited offline charging message or a time-limited online charging message, if so, performs offline charging or online charging, and ends offline charging or online charging when the time limit is reached , and send the service request message to the process decision subsystem again, otherwise, perform normal processing according to the prior art solution.

Since the solution of the present invention is suitable for various business scenarios, it not only supports services that only use online charging or offline charging in the prior art, but also supports services that use time-sharing charging, and can realize switching between different charging methods, so It not only avoids the overdraft of the user's online charging account that may be caused by the existing technical solution 1, but also avoids the shortcomings of the existing technical solution 2 that occupies relatively large system resources, thereby maximizing the interests of operators and service providers; and this The inventive scheme can guarantee the continuity of the user service, and will not cause service interruption due to the change of the service billing mode, which greatly facilitates the user.

The telecommunications billing system according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3 .

The telecom billing system includes service provision subsystem, process decision subsystem, online billing subsystem and offline billing subsystem. Among them, the service providing subsystem is connected with the process decision subsystem through a two-way process decision interface, connected with the online charge subsystem through a two-way online charging interface, and connected with the offline charge subsystem through a one-way offline charge interface.

The online charging subsystem and the offline charging subsystem are used to realize online charging and offline charging respectively. Wherein, when the online charging subsystem receives the quota request message through the online charging interface, it checks the balance of the user's online charging account. If the balance is insufficient, it sends a quota unsuccessful message to the service providing subsystem through the online charging interface, otherwise Send the quota success message carrying the quota to the service providing subsystem through the online charging interface, the online charging subsystem also performs online charging operations according to the charging event message received from the online charging interface; the offline charging subsystem according to The CDR received from the offline charging interface performs offline charging operations. The online charging subsystem, the offline charging subsystem and the interface between them and the service providing subsystem are completely the same as the prior art solutions, and will not be described in detail here.

On the basis of the existing technology, the service provision subsystem adds the identification of time-limited offline charging messages and time-limited online charging messages, and can perform normal offline charging within the time limit carried by time-limited offline charging messages or time-limited online charging messages Charging or online charging, when the time limit is reached, the previous charging process is ended and the service request message is sent to the process decision subsystem again. Among them, the time-limited offline charging message and the time-limited online charging message carry the time limit for offline charging and online charging respectively, and the service provision subsystem sets the timer duration based on this, and initiates a new billing process. Those of ordinary skill in the art understand that when the service provision subsystem sends a service request message to the process decision subsystem when the time limit is reached, it is equivalent to restarting a new charging process, so that switching between different charging methods can be realized , the switching types of charging methods include: switching from offline charging to online charging, switching from online charging to offline charging, switching between different offline charging and switching between different online charging. It is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that when the user terminates the service before the time limit is reached, the charging method is the same as online charging or offline charging. service, the service providing subsystem will report the CDR to the offline charging subsystem, and if the user ends the service within the charging period of the time-limited online charging message, the service providing subsystem will report the charging event message to the online charging system , and at the same time, the service providing subsystem will no longer reserve timers for the service.

On the basis of the existing technology, the process decision-making subsystem adds support for switching processes, and can determine the initial billing method and time limit used at the beginning of the service when it is necessary to adopt time-sharing billing for the service corresponding to the service request message. Based on this, a time-limited offline charging message or a time-limited online charging message is generated and sent to the service providing subsystem. Among them, the initial charging method can be online charging or offline charging, which can be determined by the service initiation time; the time limit carried in the time-limited offline charging message or the time-limiting online charging message determines the maximum usage time of the initial charging method, and the time limit can be Obtained by setting the service initiation time and service billing period.

For example, for the above-mentioned time-sharing billing service, the user starts to use the service at 7:45 in the evening, and the time from 7:45 to 8:00 in the evening is the postpaid account payment time. In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention In the process decision subsystem, when receiving a service request, the initial charging method can be determined as offline charging according to the service initiation time, and the time limit can be determined to be 15 minutes according to the time difference between the service initiation time and the charging method switching time point, so the process The decision-making subsystem sends a time-limited offline charging message with a time limit of 15 minutes to the service-providing subsystem; the service-providing subsystem determines that the initial charging method is offline charging according to the received time-limited offline charging message, and initiates normal offline charging At the same time, according to the time limit of 15 minutes, the corresponding timer of the service is set to 15 minutes. When 15 minutes are reached, a CDR is sent to the offline charging subsystem to end the offline charging process, and the service decision subsystem is sent again. Send a service request message to adopt a new charging method for subsequent charging.

It should be noted that the process decision subsystem can also be composed of multiple modules. For example, based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the telecommunications billing system of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4 . Among them, the Mobile Switching Center (MSC for short)/Service Switch Point (SSP for short) is equivalent to the service provision subsystem, and the Service Control Point (SCP for short) is Online charging subsystem, business operation support system (Business and Operation Support System, referred to as "BOSS") is an offline charging subsystem, which controls the HLR of offline charging service and online charging service and the time-sharing charging service. The time billing process decision-making subsystem together constitutes the process decision-making subsystem. When the process decision-making subsystem receives the service request message, it first uses the HLR to judge whether it is an offline charging service or an online charging service. If not, the time-sharing charging process decision-making subsystem determines the charging method and time limit.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that the present invention divides the modules functionally. In practical applications, the process decision-making subsystem, the online charging subsystem and the offline charging subsystem can be mutually independent subsystems, or It may be a set of integrated charging system including customized service identification, online charging and offline charging, which does not affect the essence of the present invention.

The flow of the telecommunications charging method according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5 .

First enter step 410, the service providing subsystem sends a service request message to the process decision subsystem. Wherein, the implementation of this step is exactly the same as that of the prior art solution, and will not be described in detail here.

Then enter step 420 , the process decision subsystem judges whether the service corresponding to the service request message is a time-sharing charging service, if yes, enter step 440 , otherwise enter step 430 . In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process decision subsystem can determine the charging type of the corresponding service according to the service request message, and the charging type of the service includes: offline charging, online charging and time-sharing charging.

In step 430, the processing is performed according to the prior art solution. Wherein, if the service is not a time-of-use charging service, it means that the service is an offline charging service or an online charging service, and the charging processing at this time is completely the same as the prior art solution, and will not be described in detail here.

In step 440, the process decision subsystem determines the initial charging method and time limit according to the service initiation time and charging settings. If the service is a time-sharing billing service, in the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process decision system uses the service billing method corresponding to the time corresponding to the service request message as the initial billing method, and uses the time corresponding to the service request message and Then, the time difference between the latest billing mode change times is used as the time limit.

Then go to step 450, judge whether the initial charging method is online charging, if yes, go to step 460, otherwise go to step 480. If the initial charging method is online charging, it means that online charging needs to be used within the period set by the time limit; if the initial charging method is offline charging, it means that offline charging needs to be used within the period set time limit.

In step 460, the process decision subsystem generates a time-limited online charging message according to the time limit and sends it to the service provision subsystem. Wherein, the time-limited online charging message is a newly added message of the present invention, and the message indicates that the initial charging method is online charging, and indicates the time limit for using online charging.

In step 470, the service providing subsystem and the online charging subsystem perform online charging. The online charging in this step is similar to the online charging in the prior art, and both can be realized through the quota request mode between the online charging subsystem and the online charging subsystem.

Then enter step 480, the process decision subsystem generates a time-limited offline charging message according to the time limit and sends it to the service provision subsystem. Wherein, the time-limited offline charging message is a newly added message of the present invention, which indicates that the initial charging method is offline charging, and indicates the time limit for using offline charging.

Then enter step 490, the service providing subsystem and the offline charging subsystem perform offline charging. The online charging in this step is similar to the online charging in the prior art, and the CDR is reported to the offline charging subsystem at the end of the offline charging for implementation.

Then enter step 500, judge whether the user terminates the service, if yes, enter step 520, otherwise enter step 510. If in this step, the user ends the service, the subsequent steps should end the service and billing operations.

In step 510 , when the time limit is reached, the previous charging process ends, and the process returns to step 410 . Since the user does not end the service before the time limit expires, the charging mode of the time-sharing charging service needs to be switched when the time limit expires, that is, switching of the charging mode is required. In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the switching of the charging method is realized by returning to step 410, that is, resending the service request message and the subsequent charging method is determined by the flow decision subsystem.

In step 520, billing and service are ended.

Based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process of message interaction between entities in the time-limited offline charging process of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 6 .

First, the service provision subsystem sends a service request to the process decision subsystem.

Next, the process decision subsystem sends a time-limited offline charging message to the service provision subsystem.

Finally, when the time limit is reached or the user terminates the service, the service providing subsystem submits the CDR to the offline charging system.

Based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process of message interaction between entities in the time-limited online charging process of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 7 .

First, the service providing subsystem sends a service request to the process decision subsystem.

Next, the process decision subsystem sends an online charging message to the service provision subsystem.

Then, after receiving the online charging message, the service providing subsystem sends a quota request to the online charging subsystem.

Next, the online billing subsystem checks the account status, and if there is no balance, it sends a quota failure message to the service providing subsystem, and the service providing subsystem terminates the user service and notifies the user of the reason for the termination; if the account has a balance, online billing The subsystem performs quota calculation, and sends a quota success message to the service providing subsystem, and the message includes the quota.

Then, after receiving the quota success message, the service providing subsystem provides services to the user.

Finally, if the quota is not exhausted but the service has ended or the time limit is reached, the service providing subsystem sends a charging event message to the online charging subsystem; if the quota is exhausted, the service providing subsystem sends the quota to the online charging subsystem again ask.

Based on the first preferred implementation mode of the present invention, the message interaction process between entities in the switching process from offline charging to offline charging according to the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 8 .

First, execute the time-limited offline charging process shown in FIG. 6 .

Next, when the time limit is reached, the time-limited offline charging process shown in FIG. 6 is repeated again.

Based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the flow of message interaction between entities in the process of switching from offline charging to online charging in the fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 9 .

First, execute the time-limited offline charging process shown in FIG. 6 .

Next, when the time limit is reached, the time-limited online charging process shown in FIG. 7 is executed.

Based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process of message interaction between entities in the switching process from online charging to online charging in the sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 10 .

First, execute the time-limited online charging process shown in FIG. 7 .

Next, when the time limit is reached, the time-limited online charging process shown in FIG. 7 is repeated again.

Based on the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process of message interaction between entities in the process of switching from online charging to offline charging in the seventh preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 11 .

First, execute the time-limited online charging process shown in FIG. 7 .

Next, when the time limit is reached, the time-limited online charging process shown in FIG. 6 is executed.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can see that by using the combination of the time-limited offline charging process shown in Figure 6 and the time-limited online charging process shown in Figure 7, any charging mode can be switched, thereby supporting any type of Time-of-use billing scheme.

The above-mentioned time-sharing charging method is essentially to switch the charging method within a time limit. In fact, the switching of the charging method can also be based on other conditions, for example, the current accumulated communication fee reaches the preset threshold, and the current accumulated communication traffic reaches the preset threshold. set thresholds etc.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the present invention. The spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (11)

1. telecommunication charging system, comprise: be used to provide the service of service and charge information that the charge subsystem of subsystem, at least two different charge modes is provided, it is characterized in that, also comprise the flow process decision-making subsystem, be used for whether using the charging switching flow of changeable charging way receiving when providing the service request information of subsystem decision, provide subsystem to described service if then send the charging message that carries charging way and charging termination condition from described service;

Described service provides subsystem also to be used for sending described service request information to described flow process decision-making subsystem when the service beginning, when receiving described charging message, select the object of corresponding charge subsystem according to the charging way in this charging message as current charge information transmission, start the charging flow of this charging way correspondence, if described service finishes as yet when reaching the charging termination condition in this charging message, then finish the charging flow of this charging way correspondence, and send described service request information to described flow process decision-making subsystem once more.

2. telecommunication charging system according to claim 1 is characterized in that, described charging termination condition comprises one of following or its combination in any:

Current time reaches preset value, current accumulative total call duration time and reaches and preset thresholding, current accumulative total communication cost and reach and preset thresholding and current accumulative total communication flows and reach and preset thresholding.

3. telecommunication charging system according to claim 1 and 2 is characterized in that the charging way of described charge subsystem comprises offline charging and online charging.

4. telecommunication charging system according to claim 3, it is characterized in that, if the charging switching flow of described changeable charging way is not used in described flow process decision-making subsystem decision, then provide subsystem to send the online charging message or the offline charging message of not carrying charging termination condition to described service.

5. telecommunication charging system according to claim 3, it is characterized in that the kind of described charging switching flow comprises one of following or its combination in any: offline charging to the switching of online charging, online charging to the switching of offline charging, the switching between the offline charging, the switching between the online charging.

6. a telecom charging method is characterized in that, comprises following steps:

The A service provides subsystem to send service request information to the flow process decision-making subsystem;

B flow process decision-making subsystem judges whether described service request information corresponding with service is the charging service of changeable charging way, provides subsystem if then generate to carry the charging message of charging way and charging termination condition and send to serve;

The described service of C provides subsystem to select corresponding charge subsystem to charge according to described charging way, if when reaching described charging and ending condition described service also continuing, then finish the charging flow of this charging way and return described steps A.

7. telecom charging method according to claim 6 is characterized in that, described charging termination condition comprises one of following or its combination in any:

Current time reaches preset value, current accumulative total call duration time and reaches and preset thresholding, current accumulative total communication cost and reach and preset thresholding and current accumulative total communication flows and reach and preset thresholding.

8. telecom charging method according to claim 7 is characterized in that, if the charging way in the described charging message is an offline charging, charging termination condition is the current time to reach preset value, and then described step C also comprises following substep:

If the current time did not reach preset value when the described service of C11 finished, then described service provides call detail record that subsystem sends this service to the offline charging subsystem;

If the C12 current time when reaching preset value described service also continuing, then described service provides call detail record that subsystem sends this service to described offline charging subsystem and return described steps A.

9. telecom charging method according to claim 7 is characterized in that, if the charging way in the described charging message is an online charging, charging termination condition is the current time to reach preset value, and described step C also comprises following substep:

The described service of C21 provides subsystem to online charging subsystem request quota;

If C22 account balance deficiency then finishes described service, carry the quota success message of described quota otherwise described online charging subsystem provides subsystem to send to described service, and provide subsystem that described service is provided by described service;

Use up if the C23 current time reaches the preceding described quota of preset value, then return described step C21;

If the C24 current time do not reach preset value and described quota when still unexhausted described service finish, then described service provides subsystem to send charge information to described online charging subsystem;

If the C25 current time is the still unexhausted and described service end as yet of described quota when reaching preset value, then described service provides subsystem to send charge information and return described steps A to described online charging subsystem.

10. telecom charging method according to claim 6, it is characterized in that, if among the described step B, if the flow process decision-making subsystem is judged the charging service that described service request information corresponding with service is not changeable charging way, then provide subsystem to send the online charging message or the offline charging message of not carrying charging termination condition to described service.

11, a kind of flow process decision-making subsystem that is used for telecom charging is characterized in that,

Described flow process decision-making subsystem provides subsystem to be connected by two-way flow process decision interface with service, be used for receiving when providing the service request information of subsystem from described service, whether decision uses the charging switching flow of changeable charging way, provides subsystem if then send the charging message that carries charging way and charging termination condition to described service.

12, a kind of service that is used for telecom charging provides subsystem, it is characterized in that,

Described service provides subsystem to be connected with the flow process decision-making subsystem by two-way flow process decision interface, be connected with the online charging subsystem by two-way online charging interface, be connected with the offline charging subsystem by unidirectional offline charging interface, be used for when the service beginning, sending service request information to described flow process decision-making subsystem, receive from described flow process decision-making subsystem carry the charging message of charging way and charging termination condition the time, select the object of corresponding charge subsystem according to the charging way in this charging message as current charge information transmission, start the charging flow of this charging way correspondence, if described service finishes as yet when reaching the charging termination condition in this charging message, then finish the charging flow of this charging way correspondence, and send described service request information to described flow process decision-making subsystem once more.

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