CN101068148A - Tactical and charge metering control method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and device for policy and charging control. The method includes: acquiring terminal capability information; when receiving a service request, completing the access of the service request according to the terminal capability information and corresponding user subscription information Policy and billing controls. The device includes: an acquisition unit for acquiring terminal capability information; a policy and charging control unit for, when receiving a service request, completing the access policy of the service request according to the terminal capability information and corresponding user subscription information and billing control. The invention is convenient to improve the accuracy and timeliness of policy and charging control according to the terminal capability information, and reduce the waste of resources.

Description

Method and device for policy and charging control

technical field

The present invention relates to mobile communication technology, in particular to a method and device for policy charging control.

Background technique

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP, Third Generation Partnership Project), as the development trend and goal of next-generation digital communication technology innovation, is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics in the world today. The network structure of the 3GPP includes two parts, the circuit domain and the packet domain. On the basis of the existing PS domain network, the IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS, IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem) network is superimposed, and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP, Session Initiation Protocol) is introduced as the service control protocol, so that the use of SIP is simple and easy to expand With the feature of convenient combination with media, it separates service control from bearer control, and provides rich multimedia services for terminals. For more descriptions about IMS, please refer to the protocol 3GPP TS 23.228v6.10.0, which will not be described here.

However, in order to enhance the competitiveness of future networks, 3GPP is studying a new evolved network architecture, including System Architecture Evolution (SAE, System Architecture Evolution) and long-term evolution of access networks (LTE, Long Term Evolution). The access network is called E-UTRAN, and the evolved packet core network architecture mainly includes: Mobility Management Entity (MME, Mobility Management Entity), User Plane Entity (UPE, User Plane Entity) and user plane anchors between different access systems Point (IASA, Inter Access System Anchor) logical functional entity. Among them, the MME is responsible for the mobility management of the control plane, including user context and mobility state management, assigning temporary user IDs, etc., corresponding to the control plane part of the SGSN in the current GPRS/UMTS system; UPE manages and saves IP bearer parameters and intra-network routing Information, etc., corresponding to the data plane part of SGSN and GGSN in the current GPRS/UMTS system; IASA acts as the user plane anchor point between different access systems, and the 3GPP Anchor logical functional entity is 2G/3G access system and LTE access The user plane anchor point between systems, the SAE Anchor logical functional entity is the user plane anchor point between the 3GPP access system and the non-3GPP access system. The policy and charging rule functional entity (PCRF, Policy and Charging Rule Function) is used for policy control decision and flow charging control function. The Home Subscriber Server (HSS, Home Subscriber Server) is used to store user subscription information.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of Policy and Charging Control (PCC, Policy and Charging Control) in the prior art 3GPP system. As shown in Figure 1, the policy and charging control system includes: an application function entity (AF, Application Function) 11, a policy and charging rule function entity (PCRF, Policy and Charging Rules Function) 12, a user policy subscription database ( SPR, Subscription Profile Repository) 13, Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF, Policy and Charging Enforcement Function) 14, Online Charging System (OCS, Online Charging System) 15, Offline Charging System (OFCS, Offline Charging System) 16 and A logical entity such as a gateway (GW, Gateway) 14, wherein the AF11 is a network element providing an application, and this application requires dynamic policy control; the PCRF12 mainly performs policy control decision and flow charging control functions; the SPR13 is used for Storing the strategy and billing-related subscription data needed by PCRF12; the PCEF141 mainly includes the functions of business data flow detection, policy execution and flow charging, and is a functional entity integrated on the gateway 14 device; the OCS15 is mainly responsible for online Billing function; the OFCS16 is mainly responsible for the offline billing function.

At present, 3GPP is gradually adopting the PCC structure to complete bearer policy and charging control. The policy and charging can be initiated by the terminal or by the AF. Now take the AF initiated policy and charging as an example to illustrate, Its specific implementation process is:

Before establishing a service connection, the terminal completes service capability negotiation with AF, such as completing address negotiation and supported media types between the calling party and the called party; AF requests PCRF to establish a service connection, and the request includes user identification and IP access type , media type, service description, bandwidth requirements and other information; after receiving the request, the PCRF needs to obtain the subscription information of the user, and if the subscription information of the user can be obtained, according to the content of the subscription information and the request of AF The algorithm defined in its PCRF performs access policy and charging control. If the user is allowed to access, it requests the core network to implement the user's policy and charging rules; Network access initiates a wireless resource request; the wireless access network negotiates with the terminal to complete the control of wireless resources, allocates corresponding wireless resources for the user, and feeds back a response of wireless resource allocation completion to the core network.

In the above process, when PCRF performs policy and charging control, it will be based on the user's IP access type (GPRS, IWLAN, LTE, etc.) and service requirements, as well as user subscription information such as allowed service capabilities, charging methods, etc. , the maximum bandwidth corresponding to each type of service quality of the user is used as input to complete the control of the policy, and in the mobile network of the prior art, the user and the terminal can actually be separated (such as a mobile phone and a SIM card), the above information It cannot fully reflect the service support capabilities of users and terminals, that is, when the capabilities of the terminals actually used by the users do not fully match the subscription data of the users, policy delivery may fail, wireless resources may waste a certain amount of time, and user experience will deteriorate. That is to say, when the wireless access network negotiates service capabilities (such as supported bandwidth, etc.) with the terminal, if the service capabilities of the terminal cannot meet the requirements, the negotiation fails; However, the service requirement of the wireless access network is not less than 1M bandwidth, and the bandwidth of the user is 1M when signing the contract. At this time, the wireless access network fails to obtain accurate terminal capability information, resulting in the final negotiation failure with the terminal.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device for policy and charging control, so as to improve the accuracy and timeliness of policy and charging control according to terminal capability information, and reduce waste of resources.

In order to solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for policy and charging control, the method includes the steps of:

Obtain terminal capability information;

The access policy and charging control of the service request are completed according to the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a device for policy and charging control, the device includes:

an acquisition unit, configured to acquire terminal capability information;

The policy and charging control unit is used to complete the access policy and charging control of the service request according to the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention have the following advantages: before policy decision-making, the terminal capability information of the user is obtained first, and decision-making and charging control are performed based on this, so as to improve the accuracy of the PCC policy, timeliness.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a policy and charging control PCC in a prior art 3GPP system;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for policy and charging control in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a first embodiment of acquiring terminal capability information described in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a second embodiment of acquiring terminal capability information described in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a third embodiment of acquiring terminal capability information described in Fig. 2;

FIG. 6 is an application flowchart in which the terminal capability information is wireless access capability in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for policy and charging control in an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Below we will describe in detail the best implementation of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. First of all, it should be pointed out that the meanings of the terms, words and claims used in the present invention should not be limited to their literal and ordinary meanings, but also include meanings and concepts that are consistent with the technology of the present invention. This is because It is up to us, as inventors, to define terms appropriately in order to best describe our inventions. Therefore, the configurations given in this specification and the accompanying drawings are only preferred implementations of the present invention, rather than enumerating all technical characteristics of the present invention. We need to recognize that there are various equivalents or modifications that could replace ours.

The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of a method for policy and charging control in an embodiment of the present invention, the method includes:

Step S201: Obtain terminal capability information;

Step S201: complete the access policy and charging control of the service request according to the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information.

In this embodiment, the network side (such as PCRF, etc.) first needs to obtain the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information, and then make a comprehensive judgment based on the terminal capability information and user subscription information to complete the access strategy and plan of the service request. Fee rule control. Wherein, the terminal capability information includes: wireless access capability (such as IP-CAN type, etc.); supported service list (such as MBMS, etc.); maximum bandwidth (also can be the maximum bandwidth of the service level, etc.); remaining bandwidth. But not limited to the disclosed content, other information may also be included.

In this embodiment, the network side obtains terminal capability information through the following methods (but not limited thereto), and then completes access policy and charging control according to the terminal capability information and corresponding user subscription information. In order to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art, the following descriptions are given respectively.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is the first embodiment for acquiring terminal capability information described in FIG. 2 ; in this embodiment, when a service request (including establishment or modification) initiated by the network side, terminal capability information is carried in the service negotiation phase, and the The terminal capability information is notified to the PCRF, and the PCRF uses this information as an input to implement policy and charging control in combination with other information. Its specific implementation process is (the process described in this embodiment only relates to the relevant description of the present invention, and its actual process may be different from the above, which is not used to limit this application, the same below, and will not be repeated):

1. When the AF on the network side initiates a service request, the terminal completes the service negotiation with the AF, such as completing the address negotiation between the calling party and the called party; supported media types; terminal capability information, etc.;

2. The AF requests the PCRF on the network side to establish a service connection, and the request carries the user's identification, IP access type (such as GPRS, IWLAN, LTE, etc.), media type, bandwidth requirement, service description (such as source and destination) address, port number and protocol, etc.) and terminal capability information;

3. The PCRF first searches whether it has the user's subscription information, if there is no such user's subscription information, then according to the user's identification, obtains the user's subscription information from the user's subscription information database SPR, and the user's subscription The information includes: the service allowed by the user, the charging method, the maximum bandwidth corresponding to each type of service quality of the user, etc.; then, the access strategy is implemented according to the request of the AF (including terminal capability information), the contract content of the SPR, and the algorithm defined in the PCRF and billing control; that is, request to the core network to establish a service connection;

4. After the core network (or PCEF) receives the service establishment connection request, it establishes a bearer or modifies the original bearer according to the requirements of the policy and charging rules and the actual bearer situation, and initiates a radio resource request to the radio access network;

5. The radio access network receives a radio resource request, and allocates corresponding radio resources;

6. The radio access network negotiates with the terminal (UE) to complete radio resource control;

7. The wireless access network feeds back the completion information of wireless resource allocation to the core network;

8. The core network (or PCEF) feeds back a service connection establishment completion response to the PCRF;

9. The PCRF notifies the AF that the establishment of the service connection is completed.

In this embodiment, when the network side initiates a service request, the terminal capability information is first negotiated, and then the terminal capability information is sent to the PCRF through the AF, so that the PCRF can accurately obtain the terminal capability information, and use this as a basis for decision-making, and complete the process in a timely manner. Policy and billing controls for this user.

Please also refer to FIG. 4 , which is a second embodiment of acquiring terminal capability information in FIG. 2 . In the embodiment described above, the service request (establishment, modification) initiated by the terminal carries the terminal capability information in the request, and notifies the PCRF of the terminal capability information, and the PCRF uses this as input to complete the policy and Billing control, the specific implementation process is as follows:

0. The terminal initiates a bearer establishment request to the wireless access network, and the request includes terminal capability information;

1. The radio access network forwards the bearer establishment request to the core network;

2. The core network requests PCRF to obtain user subscription information, and the request carries the user's identification, IP access type (GPRS, IWLAN, LTE, etc.), bandwidth requirements, service description (source and destination addresses, port number and protocol) and terminal capability information;

The description of the subsequent step 3 to step 8 is the same as the description of step 3 to step 8 in FIG.

This embodiment is mainly to inform the PCRF of the terminal capability information when the core network sends a bearer establishment request to the PCRF, so that the PCRF can accurately obtain the terminal capability information, and use this as a basis for decision-making to complete the process in a timely manner. User policy and billing controls.

Please refer to FIG. 5 again, which is a third embodiment of acquiring terminal capability information described in FIG. 2 . In this embodiment, the terminal capability is notified to the PCRF during the user registration process. Its specific implementation process is:

1. The terminal initiates a registration request to the core network, and the registration request includes the user's terminal capability information;

2. The core network returns a registration response after being authenticated and authorized by the slave registration request;

3. The core network requests the PCRF for a default bearer rule, and the request carries the terminal capability of the user;

4. The PCRF records the location of the core network where the user is located, and checks whether it has the subscription information of the user. If there is no subscription information of the user, it obtains the subscription information of the user from the SPR, and the acquisition process is detailed in the above , will not repeat them here;

5. The PCRF feeds back a default bearer response message to the core network, and the response message includes the subscription information of the user;

6. The terminal, radio access network and core network create a default bearer;

7. The core network returns a registration response message to the terminal;

8. The terminal returns a registration confirmation message to the core network.

In this embodiment, the terminal capability information may also be sent to the PCRF through a registration request message so that the PCRF can accurately obtain the terminal capability information.

In addition, the application of terminal capability information in the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: wireless access capability, service capability, application of maximum supported bandwidth, and application of remaining bandwidth, but is not limited thereto, and may also include applications in other aspects. The following uses the above applications as examples to illustrate.

Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is an application flowchart in which the terminal capability information is wireless access capability in the embodiment of the present invention. When the wireless technology currently accessed by the user cannot meet the service requirements, the PCRF can give the preferred wireless access technology identifier according to the wireless access capability of the terminal, which can be used by the terminal or the access network as a handover trigger condition to select a more suitable one. access technology. For the same preferred radio access technology, the core network/PCEF can perform aggregation when creating bearers, which is beneficial to service continuity during subsequent handovers. The radio access technology identifier can be transparently transmitted to the terminal through an application layer or NAS layer message, or notified to the access network through a non-NAS layer message. Its specific implementation process is:

1. The PCRF receives a service request, and the service request includes the wireless access capability of the terminal;

2. The PCRF can give a preferred wireless access technology identifier according to the wireless access capability of the terminal, and use the terminal or the access network as a handover trigger condition to select a more suitable access technology;

3. The PCRF sends a service connection establishment request to the core network/PCEF, carrying the preferred wireless access technology and PCC rules;

4. The core network/PCEF establishes a bearer policy according to the wireless access capability of the terminal in the establishment request; in addition, for the same preferred wireless access technology, it can be aggregated when creating a bearer, which is conducive to the continuity of services during subsequent handovers ;

5. The core network sends a radio resource request message to the radio access network according to the bearer establishment policy, and the request message may include the preferred access technology identifier in the NAS layer message and transparently transmit it to the terminal, or the non-NAS layer message notifies the terminal access to the network;

6. The terminal and the wireless access network complete radio resource control;

7. The wireless access network returns a wireless access response to the core network;

8. The core network returns a service connection establishment completion message to the PCRF, and the message may carry a preferred access technology identifier;

9. The PCRF returns a response message to the AF, the message includes the preferred access technology identifier, and the AF can carry the preferred access technology identifier to the terminal through the application layer. (This step is optional, as shown by the dotted line in the figure)

Wherein, the steps 5, 8, and 9 in this embodiment are all transmission modes of the preferred access technology identifier, which may exist simultaneously or independently.

In addition, for applications with service capabilities and maximum supported bandwidth, such as MBMS services: when applying PCC policies to create bearers, PCRF can determine whether to authorize and policies based on whether the terminal supports MBMS services or the maximum supported bandwidth. The implementation principle is the same as The principles described in the embodiment in FIG. 7 are basically the same, and will not be repeated here.

For applications that support service lists: such as whether the terminal supports IPTV, etc.

For the application of remaining bandwidth: That is to say, when the terminal has started some services and occupies a certain bandwidth resource, PCRF can authorize more accurately according to the current remaining bandwidth of the terminal, thereby improving the accuracy and timeliness of the PCC strategy. to reduce waste of resources.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present invention also provides an apparatus for policy and charging control, the schematic diagram of which is shown in FIG. 7 . The device includes: an acquisition unit 71 and a policy and charging control unit 72 . Wherein, the obtaining unit 71 is used to obtain terminal capability information; the terminal capability information includes: wireless access capability, service capability and maximum supported bandwidth, supported service list and remaining bandwidth, but is not limited thereto, and may also be other. The policy and charging control unit 72 is configured to complete the access policy and charging control of service requests according to the terminal capability information and corresponding user subscription information.

The acquiring unit 71 includes at least one or more of a negotiation acquiring subunit 711 , a bearer establishment acquiring subunit 712 , a registration acquiring subunit 713 , and a sending subunit 714 . Wherein, the negotiation acquiring subunit 711 is configured to acquire the carried terminal capability information when the terminal performs service negotiation with the network side, and send the terminal capability information to the sending subunit 714; the bearer establishment acquiring The subunit 712 is configured to obtain the carried terminal capability information when the terminal initiates a bearer establishment request, and send the terminal capability information to the sending subunit 714; the registration acquisition subunit 713 is used to During the process, the carried terminal capability information is acquired, and the terminal capability information is sent to the sending subunit 714 . The sending subunit 714 is respectively connected to one or more of the negotiation acquisition subunit 711, the bearer establishment acquisition subunit 712, and the registration acquisition subunit 713, and is used to send the terminal capability information to the policy and charging control unit 72.

Preferably, the device can be integrated in the PCRF or in other devices.

For the functions and functions of each unit in the device, please refer to the specific implementation process of the above-mentioned method for details, and details will not be repeated here.

It can be seen that the embodiment of the present invention proposes to optimize the implementation process of the PCC policy according to the terminal capability information. That is to say, before the PCRF makes a policy decision, it first obtains the terminal capability information of the user, and judges based on it, so as to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and beneficial expansion of the PCC policy, and reduce or even avoid the failure of policy delivery. situation, thereby reducing waste of resources.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it should be pointed out that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, some improvements and modifications can also be made, and these improvements and modifications should also be It is regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. A method for policy and billing control, comprising the steps of: Obtain terminal capability information; The access policy and charging control of the service request are completed according to the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information. 2. The method for policy and charging control according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining terminal capability information includes any of the following methods: carrying terminal capability information when performing service negotiation on the terminal network side, and notifying the policy and charging rule functional entity PCRF of the terminal capability information; When the terminal initiates a bearer establishment request, notify the PCRF of the carried terminal capability information; During the user registration process, the PCRF is notified of the carried terminal capability information. 3. The method of policy and charging control according to claim 2, characterized in that the terminal capability information is carried when the service negotiation is performed on the terminal network side, and the terminal capability information is notified to the policy and charging rule functional entity The PCRF process includes: A service request is initiated on the network side, and the terminal completes service negotiation with the application function entity AF on the network side, and the negotiation process includes determining terminal capability information; The AF requests the PCRF on the network side to establish a service connection, and the request carries terminal capability information. 4. The method for policy and charging control according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the terminal initiates a bearer establishment request, the process of notifying the PCRF of the carried terminal capability information includes: A bearer establishment service request initiated by the terminal to the radio access network, where the request carries terminal capability information; The wireless access network forwards the bearer establishment service request to the PCRF through the core network. 5. The method of policy and charging control according to claim 2, characterized in that, the process of notifying PCRF of the carried terminal capability information during the user registration process is as follows: The terminal initiates a registration request to the core network, and the registration request carries terminal capability information; After passing the authentication and authorization, the core network requests the PCRF for a default bearer rule, the request carries terminal capability information, and the PCRF records the core network where the user is located. 6. The method of policy and charging control according to claim 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that the process of completing the policy and charging control of service requests according to terminal capability information and corresponding user subscription information is: The PCRF searches for the user's subscription information, and if not found, obtains the corresponding user subscription information from the user subscription information database SPR where the user is located, and completes the access strategy and plan of the service request in combination with the terminal capability information. fee control. 7. The policy and charging control method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the terminal capability includes: wireless access capability, supported service list, maximum bandwidth and/or remaining bandwidth. 8. A device for policy and charging control, comprising: an acquisition unit, configured to acquire terminal capability information; The policy and charging control unit is used to complete the access policy and charging control of the service request according to the terminal capability information and the corresponding user subscription information. 9. The device for policy and charging control according to claim 8, wherein the acquisition unit includes at least one of: The negotiation acquisition subunit is used to acquire the carried terminal capability information when the terminal performs service negotiation with the network side; The bearer establishment acquisition subunit is used to acquire the carried terminal capability information when the terminal initiates a bearer establishment request; The registration obtaining subunit is used to obtain terminal capability information carried during the user registration process. 10. The device for policy and charging control according to claim 9, wherein the acquisition unit further comprises: a sending unit, which is connected to one or more of the negotiation acquisition subunit, the bearer establishment acquisition subunit, and the registration acquisition subunit respectively. Multiple connections, used to send the terminal capability information to the policy and charging control unit. 11. The device for policy and charging control according to claim 8, characterized in that the device is integrated in PCRF.

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