CN101163020B - Charging correlation method, device and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a billing association method, device and system, wherein the billing association method is: generating a billing association identifier of a user who needs billing association accessing a broadband internet protocol network, and storing the billing association identifier Send to the second network integrated with the broadband Internet protocol access network; the broadband Internet protocol access network receives the charging association identification of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network; the broadband Internet protocol The access network performs associated charging according to the charging association identifier of the user's broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the second network; using this method, the user's sessions in the above two networks can be associated and charged , so that when the two networks belong to different operators, it is convenient for each operator to perform account reconciliation.

Description

Billing association method, device and system

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of billing management of communication networks, in particular to a billing association method, device and system.

Background technique

With the increase of users' demand for mobile multimedia services and the development of high-performance mobile terminals, users' demands for broadband wireless access are becoming stronger and stronger. Moreover, with the rapid development of the Internet, the voice of the broadband Internet Protocol IP technology in the next-generation broadband communication network is also getting louder and louder.

The concept of broadband IP access was proposed in such an environment. It is not only the result of mobile users' expanding demand for network bandwidth and multimedia services, but also an important means to solve the broadband mobile access of the next generation broadband communication network. . Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is an emerging broadband IP access technology that can provide "last mile" broadband connectivity in a wide geographical range. Based on wireless standards, its network structure is shown in Figure 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, the WiMAX network mainly includes: a mobile user terminal MS (Mobile Station) 101, which is connected to an access service network ASN (Access Service Network) provided by a network access provider NAP (Network Access Provider) through an R1 interface; a NAP Able to provide multiple ASNs, ASNs are connected by R4 interface; ASN includes base station BS (Base Station) 102 and access service network gateway ASN-GW (ASN Gateway) 103, which are connected by R6 interface; ASN is connected through R3 interface Connect with connection service network CSN (Connectivity Service Network) 104, described CSN is provided by network service provider NSP (Network Service Provider), connects with MS through R2 interface, and CSN is also provided with the network or Internet that application service provider ASP provides Internet connection, CSN mainly includes logical entities such as prepaid server PPS (Prepaid Server), authentication, accounting and authorization server AAA Server; there are two types of NSP: Visited NSP and Home NSP, which only exist when roaming Distinction, when the user is in the home network, there is no such situation; Figure 1 describes the situation when roaming, so the CSN 104 provided by the Visited NSP is connected to the corresponding ASP Network/Internet 105, and the CSN is also connected through the R5 interface Connect with the CSN 106 provided by HomeNSP, and the CSN provided by Home NSP is also connected with the corresponding ASPNetwork/Internet 107.

Because the present invention relates to the network quality of service QoS (Quality of Service) of WiMAX network, the standard QoS framework of WiMAX network that WiMAX network working group NWG (Network Group) provides below is introduced, referring to Fig. 2.

As shown in Figure 2, this framework mainly includes: mobile user terminal MS 201, which is connected to the service flow management entity SFM 203 provided by the access service network ASN 202 through the R1 interface, and the SFM is responsible for establishing user service flows and allocating service sessions For functions such as wireless resources, the SFM is connected to the service flow authorization entity SFA 204 through the R6 interface, and the SFA is responsible for authorizing the corresponding service flow, and the SFA is also provided by the ASN; the SFA is connected to the policy function entity PF 207 provided by the Visited NSP 205 through the R3 interface. PF is used to provide policy decisions for a certain user business session. In the case of roaming, there will be Visited PF and Home PF 210; PF is also connected to the application service function entity AF 206 in the same NSP, and the user terminal directly passes the application When the layer protocol is connected to visit the AF, the AF will notify the PF to actively create a service flow for the user; the Visited PF is also connected to the PF provided by the Home NSP 208 through the R5 interface, and the HomePF will also be connected to the AF 209 in the same NSP.

The present invention also relates to the billing of the WiMAX network, and then introduces the standard billing framework provided by the WiMAX NWG, see FIG. 3 .

As shown in Figure 3, this framework mainly includes: mobile user terminal MS 301, mainly acts as the user's role in billing, it and the authentication that access service network ASN 303 provides, billing and authorization agent/client AAA Proxy/ Client 304 connection, where AAA Client is used to collect all accounting information and send it to the authentication, accounting and authorization AAA Server, AAA Proxy is an intermediate device, an optional device, mainly used for the received accounting information The fee message is processed, and a new billing message is generated, and then forwarded to the real AAA Server; the network access provider and the visited network service provider NAP+Visited NSP 302, wherein the NAP is used to provide the ASN, Visited NSP is used to provide connection service network;

Figure 3 describes the billing architecture in the case of roaming, so the AAA Proxy or AAA Client sends the message through the R3 interface to the visiting authentication, billing and authorization server VisitedAAA Server 306 provided by the connection service network. The Visited AAA Server is mainly used for roaming The functional entity of accounting information recording, transparent transmission and forwarding; the Visited AAA Server is connected with the home authentication, accounting and authorization server Home AAA Server 310 through the R5 interface, and the Home AAA Server is the authentication, accounting and authorization server of the user's locality , on which there is the user's subscription information, including billing policy and other information, on which the user's billing process is performed, and the Home AAA Server is provided by the connection service network CSN 308 provided by the home network service provider HomeNSP 307, The CSN also provides prepaid server PPS309 and authentication, billing and authorization agent/client or hotline device AAA Client/PPC/HLD 311, wherein, PPS is mainly used to process online charging of prepaid users, which stores user Account information, real-time billing operations for users after the user goes online; PPC is a prepaid client, which mainly applies for real-time billing quotas for users, such as applying for quotas to PPS, and starts again after judging that the user’s usage reaches the threshold Quota application, until the user's balance is insufficient, the user will be dealt with accordingly, such as forcing the user to go offline or reminding the user of insufficient balance;

The Home AAA Server is also connected with the hotline application entity HLA (Hot-lining Application) 312. Both HLD (Hot-lining Device) and HLA are related to the implementation entity of Hot-lining. Users of data services provide an operation that effectively solves problems. If a user has a problem, he has no right to use the data packet service, and the wireless operator will notify him that he is in the Hot-lining state; The packet service returns to the normal state; HLD is the execution device, which is used to notify the user that it is in the Hot-lining state, and HLA does some processing on the application layer, such as providing information for notifying the user, and can also provide users with services such as online recharge.

The WiMAX network has been described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. As an emerging technology, WiMAX has a broad market prospect. However, in many cases, the WiMAX network needs to be integrated with other networks to meet the needs of users for multiple networks. Because the WiMAX network and other networks that need to be integrated are likely to belong to different operators, so there is a need for reconciliation between different operators, and there is no associated billing mechanism for WiMAX networks and other networks. It is impossible to accurately reconcile accounts during the period, which is not conducive to the promotion and development of WiMAX.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a billing association method, device and system, which can carry out associated billing for users under the condition that the broadband internet protocol access network merges with another network.

In order to solve the problems of the technologies described above, the purpose of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions:

A method for billing association, comprising:

Generate the charging association identification of the user who needs charging association in the broadband Internet protocol access network, and send the charging association identification to the second network integrated with the broadband Internet protocol access network; the broadband Internet protocol access The network receives the charging association identifier of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network;

The broadband Internet protocol access network performs associated charging according to the charging association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the second network.

Wherein, the second network is an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, and the charging association identifier of the second network is generated by a call session control function agent unit in the IMS network.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the IMS network is an IMS network charging identifier.

Wherein, the broadband Internet Protocol access network is an interoperable WiMAX network of the Global Microwave Access System.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the charging association function entity device ACF in the converged network between the WiMAX network and the second network;

After receiving the charging association identifier of the second network, the ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server of the WiMAX network;

The charging association function entity device sends the generated charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized network quality of service QoS request message;

When the service process is initiated by the network side, the billing association identifier of the second network and the billing association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the billing server of the WiMAX network, specifically:

The ACF sends the resource request message with the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the service flow authorization function entity SFA in the WiMAX network; The charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging client in the message; the charging client carries the charging information of the second network in the charging message. The association identifier and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging server;

The charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the second network by the ACF through an authorized QoS resource response message.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS request message;

When the service process is initiated by the client, the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network, specifically:

The ACF carries the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the resource response message and sends it to the SFA in the WiMAX network; the SFA carries the charging identifier interaction request message or primitive The charging association identification of the second network and the charging association identification of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging client; the charging client carries the charging association identification of the second network and the WiMAX network in the charging message The billing association identifier sent to the billing server;

The charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the second network by the ACF through a notification message.

Preferably, when there is an interface between the ACF and the accounting server:

The charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through a charging association identifier request message;

The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging association identifier request message;

After receiving the response from the charging server, the ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a charging association identifier response message.

Preferably, the ACF is a policy function entity in a WiMAX network, a policy decision function entity in an IMS network, a policy charging rule entity or a service flow authorization entity.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is a packet data flow identifier or a service data flow identifier.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by a charging client or a charging server in the WiMAX network;

After receiving the charging association identifier of the second network, the ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the charging server of the WiMAX network;

The charging client sends the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF, and the ACF then sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network.

Preferably, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS resource request message;

When the service process is initiated by the network end, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network as follows:

The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the SFA in the WiMAX network through a resource request message; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the charging client through a charging identifier interaction request message or primitive end; the charging client sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging message;

The billing client sends the saved billing association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF, specifically:

The charging client includes the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the charging identifier interaction response message or primitive and sends it to the SFA; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF through a resource response message;

The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a notification message.

Wherein, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS resource request message;

When the service process is initiated by the client, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network as follows:

The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the SFA in the WiMAX network through a resource response message; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the charging client through a charging identifier interaction request message or a primitive; The charging client sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging message;

The charging client sends the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF as follows:

The charging client carries the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the charging identifier interaction response message or primitive and sends it to the SFA; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF through a report message;

The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a notification message.

Preferably, when there is an interface between the ACF and the charging server, the charging association identification of the second network is sent to the ACF through a charging identification request message; the ACF sends the charging association identification request message of the second network to the ACF The billing association identifier is directly sent to the billing server;

The charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the ACF by the charging server through a charging association identifier response message; the ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a charging association identifier response message.

Wherein, when the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the charging client, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is a charging session identifier;

When the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the charging server, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is a charging multi-session identifier.

A billing-associated functional entity device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

The broadband internet protocol access network message receiving unit is used to receive the message sent by the broadband internet protocol access network;

The second network message receiving unit is configured to receive a message sent by the second network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message sent by the broadband internet protocol access network and the message sent by the second network;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used for storing the billing association identifier obtained through analysis;

The charging association identification sending unit is configured to send the charging association identification of the broadband Internet protocol access network to the second network, and send the charging association identification of the second network to the broadband Internet protocol access network.

A billing-associated functional entity device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

The second network message receiving unit is configured to receive a message sent by the second network;

A charging association identification analysis unit, configured to analyze the charging association identification of the user in the second network in the message sent by the second network;

The charging association identifier storage unit is used to save the generated charging association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the user on the second network;

The billing association identifier sending unit is configured to send the billing association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network to the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network, and send the billing association identifier of the user on the second network to the Broadband Internet Protocol access network.

A billing client device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

A message receiving unit, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the broadband Internet protocol access network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the network;

The billing association identifier parsing unit is used for parsing the billing association identifier in the received message or primitive;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used for storing the billing association identifier obtained through analysis;

The billing association identifier sending unit is configured to send the resolved user's billing association identifier on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the user's billing association identifier on the second network to the billing server; When the charging association identifier of the Internet protocol access network is generated by the charging server, the charging association identifier sending unit is further configured to send the charging association identifier generated by the charging server to the second network.

A billing client device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

A message receiving unit, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the broadband Internet protocol access network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the second network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message or primitive;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used to save the generated billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the resolved user's billing association identifier in the second network;

The charging association identification sending unit is used to send the generated charging association identification of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the resolved charging association identification of the user in the second network to the charging server; and sending the generated charging association identifier of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network to the second network.

A billing server device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

A message receiving unit, configured to receive messages sent by functional entities in the converged network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used for associating and storing the resolved billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network;

The charging unit is configured to put the user's charging association identifier between the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network as charging record information into the bill generated for the user.

A billing server device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, comprising:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

A charging association identification sending unit, configured to send the generated charging association identification to functional entities in the converged network;

a message receiving unit, configured to receive a message sent by the functional entity;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used for associating and storing the billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network;

The charging unit is configured to put the user's charging association identifier between the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network as charging record information into the bill generated for the user.

A billing-associated system comprising:

The billing association identifier generating unit of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to generate the billing association identifier of the user accessing the broadband Internet protocol network;

The charging association identification receiving unit of the second network is configured to receive the charging association identification of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network;

A charging association identification association processing unit, configured to send the charging association identification of the broadband Internet protocol access network to the second network, and send the charging association identification of the second network to the broadband Internet protocol access network;

The billing unit of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to obtain the charging association identification of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identification of the second network, and according to the user's information in the broadband Internet protocol access network The charging association identifier and the charging association identifier of the second network perform associated charging.

Wherein, the second network is an IMS network, and the charging association identifier of the second network is generated by a call session control function agent unit of the IMS network.

Wherein, the broadband internet protocol access network is a WiMAX network, and the billing association identifier generating unit of the WiMAX network is a billing association functional entity unit in the WiMAX network and the second network billing association fusion architecture, and a billing association unit in the WiMAX network. Server or billing client in the WiMAX network.

As can be seen from the above technical solutions, since each network of the present invention generates the corresponding charging association identification of the user, and the charging device connected to the network by the broadband Internet protocol associates these identifications, and uses the associated charging association identification as a charging record The information is put into the charging bill generated for the user, thereby realizing the purpose of associated charging for the same user in different networks; in one embodiment of the present invention, WiMAX network and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem IMS are adopted The network implements associated billing, and there are many ways to realize associated billing according to network conditions and user needs, and only a small improvement to the existing network is required to realize associated billing; in this way, different operators It is possible to carry out reconciliation with more relevant billing results, so that the reconciliation results are more accurate, which is beneficial to the promotion and development of WiMAX, and helps WiMAX to obtain better market application prospects.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a WiMAX network structure diagram;

Fig. 2 is a framework diagram of WiMAX network QoS;

Figure 3 is a WiMAX network standard billing architecture diagram;

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a billing-related functional entity device in the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a billing client device of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a structural diagram of the billing server device of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of a system for associated charging provided by the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a specific structural diagram of the first embodiment of the system of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the method for associated charging provided by the present invention;

Fig. 10 is a specific flowchart of the first embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Fig. 11 is a specific flowchart of the second embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Fig. 12 is a specific flowchart of the third embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Fig. 13 is a specific flowchart of the fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Fig. 14 is a specific flow chart of the fifth embodiment of the method of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The present invention is a billing-related method, device, and system. In order to make the purpose, technical solution, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following describes the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

First introduce the device related to billing association provided by the present invention, see Figure 4, Figure 4 is a structural diagram of the billing association function entity device provided by the present invention, as shown in Figure 4, the device includes:

Broadband Internet Protocol access network message receiving unit 401, configured to receive messages sent by Broadband Internet Protocol access network;

Through the interface with the broadband internet protocol access network, receive the messages sent by the functional entity of the broadband internet protocol access network, some of the messages are charging messages containing the charging association identifier, and some of the messages are ordinary business messages;

A second network message receiving unit 402, configured to receive a message sent by the second network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit 403, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message sent by the broadband Internet protocol access network and the message sent by the second network;

Because the billing association identifier is sent together with other messages, the received message needs to be parsed to obtain the billing association identifier;

A charging association identification storage unit 404, configured to store the analyzed charging association identification;

The billing association identifier obtained by parsing may not be transmitted directly, so it is necessary to save the billing association identifier obtained by parsing so that it can be transmitted when it needs to be transmitted;

The charging association identifier sending unit 405 is configured to send the charging association identifier of the broadband Internet protocol access network to the second network, and send the charging association identifier of the second network to the broadband Internet protocol access network.

Because associated billing is required, both networks need to have the billing association identifier of the user on the other network, so that when generating bills, it can be distinguished which is intra-network billing and which is inter-network billing, so that the operator can Credentials are available when reconciliation is required.

Because associated billing is required, both networks need to have the billing association identifier of the user on the other network, so that when generating bills, it can be distinguished which is intra-network billing and which is inter-network billing, so that the operator can Credentials are available when reconciliation is required.

The present invention also provides another billing-associated function entity device, which differs from the device described in Figure 4 in that: the billing-associated identification of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network is accessed by the broadband Internet protocol in the device Generated by a network charging association identifier generation unit, the device includes:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

Each user's information is unique in the network, so as long as the user information is put into the billing association identifier, the billing association identifier is also unique in the network, so the billing association identifier can be used as the billing identifier use without affecting the user's billing;

The second network message receiving unit is configured to receive a message sent by the second network;

A charging association identification analysis unit, configured to analyze the charging association identification of the user in the second network in the message sent by the second network;

The charging association identifier storage unit is used to save the generated charging association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the user on the second network;

The billing association identifier sending unit is configured to send the billing association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network to the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network, and send the billing association identifier of the user on the second network to the Broadband Internet Protocol access network.

The specific circumstances under which the charging-related functional entity device is prompted to generate the charging-related identifier can be determined according to the state and environment of the network;

Referring to Fig. 5, Fig. 5 is a structural diagram of the billing client device provided by the present invention. As shown in Fig. 5, the device includes:

A message receiving unit 501, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the broadband Internet protocol access network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the network;

This message can be sent by the charging server or by other functional entities in the network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit 502, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the received message or primitive;

The billing association identifier storage unit 503 is configured to save the billing association identifier obtained through analysis;

The charging association identification sending unit 504 is configured to send the analyzed user's charging association identification on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the user's charging association identification on the second network to the charging server; When the charging association identifier of the broadband Internet protocol access network is generated by the charging server, the charging association identifier sending unit is also used to send the charging association identifier generated by the charging server to the second network;

The purpose of sending to the billing server is to enable the billing server to correlate the billing association IDs of the two networks, so as to put the associated billing association IDs into the billing bills generated for the user as billing record information , to realize associated charging for the user; if the charging associated ID is generated by the charging server, it needs to send the charging associated ID to the second network, so as to ensure that the second network can also perform associated charging for the user .

The present invention also provides another billing client device, which is different from the device described in Figure 5 in that: the billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network is determined by the broadband Internet protocol access network in the device Generated by a billing association identifier generation unit, the device includes:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

A message receiving unit, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the broadband Internet protocol access network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the second network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message or primitive;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used to save the generated billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the resolved user's billing association identifier in the second network;

The charging association identification sending unit is used to send the generated charging association identification of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the resolved charging association identification of the user in the second network to the charging server; to send the generated charging association identifier of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network to the second network;

The purpose of sending to the second network is to ensure that the second network can also implement associated charging for the user.

Referring to Fig. 6, Fig. 6 is a structural diagram of a billing server device provided by the present invention. As shown in Fig. 6, the device includes:

A message receiving unit 601, configured to receive messages sent by functional entities in the converged network;

The billing server is generally connected to the billing client, so the received messages are generally sent by the billing client; however, if there is an interface between the billing server and the billing-related functional entity, it can also receive messages from the billing client. The billing association identifier sent by the billing association functional entity contains the charging association identifier of the user on the second network. The charging association identifier of the protocol access network; the functional entity can be selected according to the network environment and the needs of users, and the present invention does not limit which functional entity the functional entity is;

A charging association identifier parsing unit 602, configured to resolve the charging association identifier in the message;

The billing client generally puts the billing association ID that needs to be associated with billing in a message and sends it to the billing server, because the billing association ID is sent in a message, so the message needs to be parsed to obtain the billing association ID;

The billing association identifier storage unit 603 is used for associating and storing the analyzed user's billing association identifier in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network;

The purpose of associating and storing the charging association identifiers of different networks is to facilitate billing for users;

The charging unit 604 is configured to put the user's charging association identifier between the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network as charging record information into the bill generated for the user;

The billing unit charges the billing operations within the user network and between the networks, and records the inter-network billing to include the billing association identifier of the corresponding network, so that the billing can be done according to the billing association identifier and the corresponding network. Carriers reconcile.

The present invention also provides another billing server device, which is different from the device described in Figure 5 in that: the billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network is calculated by the broadband Internet protocol access network in the device Generated by a fee-associated identification generating unit, the device includes:

The broadband internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit is used to generate the charging association identification of the user in the broadband internet protocol access network according to the user information;

A charging association identification sending unit, configured to send the generated charging association identification to functional entities in the converged network;

Generally, it is sent to the billing client device, and then indirectly sent to the second network in the converged network by the billing client device through the functional entity in the network; Interface, which can be directly sent to the charging-related functional entity, and then sent to the second network by the charging-related functional entity;

a message receiving unit, configured to receive a message sent by the functional entity;

The received message may be from the charging client, and at this time, the message includes the charging association identifier of the user on the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the user on the second network; If there is an interface, the message can also come from the charging association functional entity. At this time, the message only contains the charging association identifier of the user in the second network;

A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message;

The billing association identifier is transmitted through messages, so the message needs to be parsed to obtain the billing association identifier;

The billing association identifier storage unit is used for associating and storing the billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network;

The charging unit is configured to put the user's charging association identifier between the broadband Internet protocol access network and the second network as charging record information into the bill generated for the user.

According to the needs of the network, the billing server can be set to generate the billing association identifier of the user accessing the broadband Internet protocol network, and because the billing association identifier needs to be sent to the second network, the second network can also provide the user with For associated charging, it is necessary to send the charging association ID to the billing client charging associated functional entity, and then the billing client or the charging associated functional entity will send the charging associated ID of the user to the broadband Internet protocol access network. sent to the second network.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of a billing-associated system provided by the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the system includes:

The charging association identification generating unit 701 of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to generate the charging association identification of the user accessing the broadband Internet protocol network;

The billing association identifier is generated according to the user information. The reason for generating the billing association identifier according to the user information is that the user information of different users is different, so for each user, a corresponding billing association identifier is generated according to its user information. In this way, The generated billing association identifier is also unique, which can ensure the accuracy of billing when billing;

The charging association identification receiving unit 702 of the second network is configured to receive the charging association identification of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network;

Similarly, the second network generates the charging association identifier of the user in the second network according to the user information, and sends the generated charging association identifier to the charging association system because the user needs to perform associated charging;

The charging association identifier association processing unit 703 is configured to send the charging association identifier of the broadband Internet protocol access network to the second network, and send the charging association identifier of the second network to the broadband Internet protocol access network ;

Because the associated charging needs the charging associated identification of two networks, and both networks need to perform associated charging, so the charging associated identification sending unit will send the charging associated identification of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network to the first The second network also sends the user's charging association identifier on the second network to the broadband Internet protocol access network;

The billing unit 704 of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to obtain the charging association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the second network, and according to the user's access to the network in the broadband Internet protocol Perform associated charging with the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the second network;

After the billing center receives the billing association identifier, it associates and stores the billing association identifier that needs to be associated with charging, so that when a user who accesses the broadband Internet protocol network has a charging operation on the second network, the user who accesses the broadband Internet protocol network The billing center puts the billing association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the billing association identifier of the user in the second network together as billing record information into the billing bill generated for the user, thereby The operator of the broadband internet protocol access network may perform account reconciliation with the second network according to the charging association identifier of the second network when reconciliation is required;

Similarly, the second network will also generate a billing bill of a corresponding broadband internet protocol access network user in the second network, and the bill also contains the billing association identifier of the user in the two networks, thereby The accuracy of billing is guaranteed.

This manual mainly adopts the integration of WiMAX network and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network to describe, and the structure related to the WiMAX network and IMS network charging provided by the present invention is obtained by making improvements on the existing structure , referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is an architecture diagram of an embodiment of a billing-associated system provided by the present invention. The two networks in this embodiment are a WiMAX network and an IMS network. As shown in FIG. 8, the architecture includes:

User terminal 801, as a user in billing, will send its own user information to the accounting server Accounting Server after it accesses the authentication process. After the authentication is passed, the user information will be carried in the session process message

User information is not sent directly to Accounting Server, but forwarded to Accounting Server through Accounting Client. If the user is roaming, the Visited Accounting Server receives the user information, and then the Visited Accounting Server sends it to Home AccountingServer;

The service flow authorization unit 803 is a functional unit in the WiMAX network access service network, which is used to authorize the service session of the user, and plays a relay role when sending the charging association identifier between the charging association functional entity device ACF and the Accounting Server , that is, forward the accounting association identifier sent by the ACF to the Accounting Server, and forward the accounting association identifier sent by the Accounting Server to the ACF;

Accounting server 802 is located in the access service network of the WiMAX network, and is a logical functional entity that charges user sessions. It has user subscription information, such as user billing policies and other information; Belonging Accounting Server is the Accounting Server of the user's home network. When the user is in the roaming state, the user directly exchanges information with the visiting Accounting Server, but the visiting Accounting Server does not have the user's subscription information and cannot bill the user session. Therefore, the visiting Accounting Server also needs to exchange information with the belonging Accounting Server, and the belonging Accounting Server bills the user session;

The billing client 804 collects the billing information of the user, and sends the collected billing information to an Accounting Server; the Accounting Client directly faces the user, and the messages to be sent to the Accounting Server are generally forwarded by the Accounting Client; It may be forwarded by said functional entity only when there is an interface between AccountingServer and other functional entities;

The billing association functional entity 805 is a functional entity added to the existing WiMAX-IMS architecture in this technical solution. It has the function of storing and forwarding the IMS billing association identifier, and also has the function of generating, storing, and forwarding the billing information of the WiMAX network. The function of association identification; it can be realized by a separate physical entity, or it can be integrated with the existing functional entities in the two networks, such as integrating with the service flow authorization entity SFA of the WiMAX network, or with the WiMAX network's The policy function entity PF, the policy decision function entity PDF of the IMS network, and the policy charging rule entity PCRF are integrated together, so the present invention does not limit the location of the ACF, no matter whether the ACF is a separate entity or integrated with other entities, as long as The functions realized are described in the present invention, and should be within the protection scope of the present invention;

The session service control function proxy unit 806 is a functional unit of the IMS network. In this technical solution, compared with its existing functions, it also needs to generate the charging association identifier of the user in the IMS network according to the user information, and send the generated charging Association ID. This charging association ID can be the IMS charging ID ICID or other IDs. As long as the user can be uniquely identified in the IMS network and appear in the billing bill, it should be in the Within the protection scope of the present invention;

The Serving-Call Session Control Function entity S-CSCF (Serving-Call Session Control Function) 809 has registration, authentication control and public session control functions;

Interrogating session service control function entity I-CSCF (Interrogating-Call Session Control Function) 808 is a unified initial entry point for the operator's home IMS network, which has the ability to assign a serving session service control function entity and query the called IMS user from the HSS -CSCF routing address information and network topology hiding function;

Home Subscriber Server HSS (Home Subscriber Server) 910, which stores all data related to users and servers;

Among them, the service call session control function entity, the inquiry session service control function entity and the home user server are some functional entities that are necessary to realize associated charging in the IMS network, and the session service control function agent unit receives the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network Finally, it must interact with these three entities, so as to realize associated charging for users in the IMS network;

The service flow management unit SFM 807 is a functional unit of the WiMAX network, which is used to establish user service flows and allocate wireless resources for this service session, which is a functional entity that needs to be used in QoS.

The basic functions of the functional units provided by this embodiment have been described above. According to the different entities generating the billing association identifier of the WiMAX network, there are several different technical solutions as follows on this system:

One is that after receiving the IMS charging association identifier and user information sent by the P-CSCF, the ACF generates the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network according to the user information, and then combines the IMS charging association identifier with the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network. The association identifier is sent to the Accounting Server together; the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network can be the packet data service flow identifier PDFID or the service data flow identifier SDFID; It also needs to be sent to the billing center of the IMS network, and the billing center also needs to perform associated billing for the user;

Another is that when the user accesses the authentication process, after the Accounting Client receives the user information, it generates the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network of the user; after the Accounting Client receives the IMS accounting association identifier forwarded by the ACF, it then generates The billing association identifier and the IMS billing association identifier are sent to the Accounting Server together; the accounting association identifier of the WiMAX network can be the accounting session identifier Acct-Session ID; The fee association identifier is also sent to the billing center of the IMS network, and the billing center also needs to perform associated billing for the user;

Another is that when the user accesses the authentication process, the Accounting Server generates the WiMAX-associated billing ID of the user after receiving the user information, and sends the generated WiMAX billing-associated ID to the Accounting Client, and the Accounting Client receives the ACF forwarding Accounting Client sends the WiMAX Accounting Association ID and IMS Accounting Association ID together to the Accounting Server; the accounting association ID of the WiMAX network can be the Acct-Multi-Session ID ; In order to realize associated charging and perform account reconciliation, the charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network is also sent to the charging center of the IMS network, and the charging center also needs to perform associated charging on the user;

Another is that after the ACF receives the IMS charging association ID, it directly sends the IMS charging association ID and user information to the Accounting Server through the interface between it and the Accounting Server, and the Accounting Server then generates the corresponding WiMAX accounting association ID; To implement associated charging and perform account reconciliation, the charging associated ID of the user in the WiMAX network is also sent to the billing center of the IMS network, and the charging center also performs associated charging for the user.

The above describes the technical solution for implementing charging association through this embodiment. In the drawings of this embodiment, there are still many functional entities in the WiMAX network and IMS network that are not described, and they are not described only because they are important to the realization of association. Billing is not very useful, and some functional modules only play a forwarding role for billing association identifiers, but they are essential for the smooth flow of the entire network, so the connections between each functional module in the figure are Virtual connection, that is to say, the information transmission between these functional modules may not be direct, but forwarded by other functional modules in the network. For example, the information transmission between SFA and Accounting Client is through the business flow management entity It is realized by SFM, and SFM mainly implements functions such as establishing user sessions and allocating wireless resources for established sessions.

The billing association system provided by the present invention has been described above, and the billing association method provided by the present invention will be described below, see FIG. 9, which is a flow chart of the method provided by the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, this The core idea of the inventive method is:

Step 901: Generate the charging association identification of the user who needs charging association on the broadband Internet protocol access network, and send the charging association identification to the second network integrated with the broadband Internet protocol access network; the broadband Internet protocol access network The protocol access network receives the charging association identifier of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network;

After receiving the user information, the network that requires associated charging can generate the corresponding charging association ID of the user in the network according to the user information. Because the user information is unique, the generated charging association ID is unique in a network. It is also unique, so the billing association identifier can uniquely identify the corresponding user; user information can be user identifier NAI and other information that can uniquely identify the user;

Step 902, the broadband Internet protocol access network performs associated charging according to the charging association identifier of the user in the broadband Internet protocol access network and the charging association identifier of the second network;

If a user of the broadband internet protocol network wants to access another network, it will send user information to the network. After receiving the user information, the network functional entity will generate the charging association identifier of the user in the network according to the user information, and then generate The billing association ID of the user is sent to the billing center of each network. After the billing center receives the billing association ID, it associates the billing association ID of the same user in each network, and uses the associated billing association ID as the billing center. The record information is put into the billing bill generated for the user; therefore, after the charging action of the user in each network is sent to the billing center, the billing center charges the action of the user according to the billing association identifier, and the user Consumption in each network is recorded in the billing center of the network that needs to be associated with billing. In this way, when different networks belong to different operators, it can be conveniently linked to the billing association identifier of the user in another network. Carrier reconciliation.

Introduce the specific embodiment of the method of the present invention below, the embodiment of the present invention all adopts the billing association of WiMAX network and IMS to describe, but it is not that the scheme of the present invention can only be applied to WiMAX network and IMS network, adopts the present invention to realize in other networks The basic flow of charging association is the same as that of implementing charging association on these two networks, so this description will not describe it repeatedly.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a specific flow chart of the first embodiment of the method of the present invention. This embodiment describes the situation where the ACF generates the WiMAX charging association identifier and the network side initiates a service session:

Step 1001, user (UE/MS) access authentication process;

During this process, the user will send his user information to the Accounting Server, and the Accounting Server will authenticate the user, and send an authentication message to the user after the authentication is passed; the Accounting Server can be the AAA Server in the WiMAX network. In the invention, only the billing function is taken; it can also be a separate billing function entity in the WiMAX network;

Step 1002, the user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF of the IMS network;

Service processing requests are exchanged through application layer session signaling. Service processing requests include service establishment requests, modification update requests and deletion requests. The service processing request messages carry user information;

Step 1003, P-CSCF sends an authorized QoS origination request message to ACF;

After receiving the service processing request sent by the user, the P-CSCF generates an IMS charging association identifier for the user according to the user information, which can be ICID, and interacts with other functional entities of the IMS system network for service processing. After the service processing response message sent by other entities in the system, it sends the authorized QoS resource request message carrying the IMS charging association identifier to the ACF; in addition, according to its own policy, it will feedback the result to the IMS system after completing the resource processing information Put into the authorized QoS resource request message;

Step 1004, the ACF responds to the P-CSCF with an authorized QoS resource response message;

After the ACF receives the authorized QoS resource request message, it obtains the IMS charging association identifier and saves it, and performs corresponding processing according to the information in the message whether to feed back the result to the IMS system after the resource processing is completed, and if so, after the resource processing is completed Feedback the result to the IMS system, if not, do not feed back the result to the IMS system after completing the resource processing; generate the corresponding WiMAX charging association identifier according to the user information, and the WiMAX charging association identifier can be a packet data service flow identifier PDFID, and carry the WiMAX charging association identifier in the authorized QoS resource response message;

Step 1005, P-CSCF and user exchange service processing response message;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource response message, the P-CSCF saves the WiMAX charging association identifier in the corresponding call detail record CDR, which is established for each user according to the user information; and passes it to the IMS in the subsequent process Other network entities of the system then interact with the user on service processing response messages, and notify the user of some information, such as the data encoding format used in the session, and the network side, that is, the ACF initiates the service session establishment process and other information;

Step 1006, ACF sends a resource request message to SFA;

After the ACF receives the authorized QoS resource request, it determines the network side to initiate the process according to the policy, and generates a resource request message with a WiMAX charging association identifier and an IMS charging association identifier. The resource request message can be an RR-Request message, and send it to the Service Flow Authorization Functional Entity SFA;

Step 1007, SFA sends an accounting identification interaction request message to the Accounting Client;

After the SFA receives the resource request message, it puts the WiMAX billing association identifier and IMS billing association identifier in the accounting identifier interaction request message and sends it to the Accounting Client. The accounting identifier interaction request message is passed through internal primitives or external messages send;

Step 1008, the Accounting Client sends an accounting identification interaction response message to the SFA;

After the Accounting Client receives the Accounting ID Interaction Request message, it will send an Accounting ID Interaction Response message to the service flow authorization functional entity, informing the SFA that the Accounting ID Interaction Request message has been received;

Step 1009, Accounting Client and Accounting Server exchange billing messages;

After the Accounting Client receives the Accounting ID Interaction Request message, it sends an accounting message with the corresponding user's WiMAX Accounting Association ID and IMS Accounting Association ID to the Accounting Server. The Accounting Request message can be an Accounting Request message, and the Accounting The Server performs subsequent association processing, and the Accounting Server associates the received billing association identifiers, and charges the billing information with the billing association identifiers together, so as to realize the associated billing between the two networks;

Step 1010, SFA sends a resource request message to the service flow management functional entity SFM;

After receiving the resource request message sent by the ACF, the SFA applies a local policy according to the content of the message, and after successfully applying its local policy, sends a resource request message to the SFM;

Step 1011, SFM sends a resource request message to the user;

After receiving the resource request message sent by the SFA, the SFM judges whether to allow user access according to the content of the message, and sends a resource request message to the user if local access is allowed;

Step 1012, the user responds to the SFM with a resource response message;

After receiving the resource request message sent by the SFM, the user responds to the SFM resource response message, which can be a DSA-RSP message, a DSC-RSP message or a DSD-RSP message, and confirms the acceptance of the establishment, modification or deletion request of the service flow ;

Step 1013, SFM sends a resource response message to SFA;

After receiving the resource response message, the SFM responds to the SFA with a resource response message, which may be an RR-Response message;

Step 1014, SFA sends a resource response message to ACF;

After receiving the resource response message, the SFA responds to the resource response message to the ACF;

Step 1015, ACF and P-CSCF exchange notification messages;

This step is an optional step. After the resource processing is completed, the ACF decides whether to interact with the IMS system according to the results in steps 1003 and 1004 about whether to notify the IMS system after the completion of the subsequent resource process, and notify the IMS system network functional entities that the resource processing has been completed. .

As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, the ACF generates the WiMAX charging association identifier, and the ACF initiates the service session process, thereby realizing the charging association between WiMAX and the IMS network; in the description of the embodiment, the sent message is description, but the above only describes some of the messages that can realize the present invention, and other messages can also be used to achieve the purpose of the invention, so the present invention does not limit the messages between entities; and the above steps 1004 and 1006, 1007 and 1010, 1008 and 1009 can be performed at the same time, and they are numbered for the convenience of description, rather than limiting their execution sequence.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a specific flow chart of the second embodiment of the method of the present invention. This embodiment describes the situation where the ACF generates the WiMAX charging association identifier and the user initiates a service session:

Step 1101, user access authentication process;

The user will send his user information to the Accounting Server, and the Accounting Server will authenticate the user, and send an authentication message to the user after the authentication is passed;

Step 1102, the user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF;

The business processing request contains user information;

Step 1103, P-CSCF sends an authorized QoS resource request message to ACF;

The P-CSCF generates an IMS charging association identifier for the user, and interacts with other functional entities of the IMS system network for service session processing. After receiving the service processing response message sent by other entities of the IMS system, it sends an The authorized QoS resource request message of the charging association identifier; in addition, according to its own policy, the information that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system is put into the authorized QoS resource request message;

Step 1104, the ACF responds to the P-CSCF with an authorized QoS resource response message;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource request, the ACF obtains the IMS charging association identifier and saves it, and performs corresponding processing according to the information in the message that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system. Carry the information instructing the client to initiate the service resource processing flow in the authorized QoS resource response message replied to the P-CSCF;

Step 1105, the P-CSCF exchanges service processing response messages with the user;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource response message, the P-CSCF interacts with the user on the service processing response message, notifying the user of some information, such as the data encoding format used in the session, and instructing the client to initiate the service session process and other information;

Step 1106, the user sends a resource request message to the SFM;

After receiving the service processing response message sent by the P-CSCF, the user sends a resource request message to the SFM according to the message content, and initiates the process of establishing a service session. The resource request message can be a DSA-REQ message, a DSC-REQ message or a DSD-REQ message ;

Step 1107, SFM sends a resource request message to SFA;

After the SFM successfully applies the access permission, it sends a resource request message to the SFA, and the resource request message can be a PD-Request message;

Step 1108, SFA sends a resource request message to ACF;

After the SFA successfully applies the local policy, it sends a resource request message to the ACF;

Step 1109, ACF and P-CSCF exchange notification messages;

After the resource processing is completed and the corresponding WiMAX charging association identifier is generated according to the user information, the ACF notifies the IMS system of the interaction result after the completion of the subsequent resource process in steps 1103 and 1104, and the notification message contains the WiMAX charging association identifier;

Step 1110, the ACF responds to the SFA with a resource response message;

After the ACF successfully authorizes the user, it will send the WiMAX charging association identifier and the previously stored IMS charging association identifier to the SFA in the resource response message returned. The resource response message can be a PD-Response message or a policy decision response message;

Step 1111, SFA sends an accounting identification interaction request message u to the Accounting Client;

After receiving the resource response message sent by the ACF, the SFA sends the WiMAX charging association identifier and IMS charging association identifier to the Accounting Client through an accounting identifier interaction request message, and the accounting identifier interaction request message is passed through an internal primitive or an external message send;

Step 1112, the Accounting Client responds to the SFA with a charging identification interaction response message;

After the Accounting Client receives the Accounting ID Interaction Request message, it will send an Accounting ID Interaction Response message to the SFA, and the Accounting ID Interaction Response message is also sent through internal primitives or external messages;

Step 1113, Accounting Client and Accounting Server exchange billing messages;

After the Accounting Client receives the Accounting Identification Interaction Request message, it sends an accounting message with the WiMAX Accounting Association ID and IMS Accounting Association ID corresponding to the user to the Accounting Server. The accounting message can be an Accounting Request message, Subsequent association processing is performed by the Accounting Server to complete the association of the WiMAX-IMS billing ID;

Step 1114, SFA responds to SFM with a resource response message;

After receiving the resource response message sent by the ACF, the SFA successfully applies the local policy and sends a resource response message to the SFM;

Step 1115, SFM responds to the user with a resource response message;

The SFM sends a resource response message indicating that the service session is successfully processed to the user.

It can be seen from the above that in this embodiment, the ACF generates the WiMAX charging association identifier, and the user initiates the service session process, thereby realizing the charging association between WiMAX and the IMS network; in the description of the embodiment, the sent message is described , but the above only describes some of the messages that can realize the present invention, and other messages can also be used to achieve the purpose of the invention, so the present invention does not limit the messages between entities; and the above steps 1109 and 1110, 1111 and 1114, 1112, and 1113 can be performed at the same time, and they are numbered for the convenience of description, rather than limiting their execution sequence.

Referring to Fig. 12, Fig. 12 is a specific flow chart of the third embodiment of the method of the present invention. What this embodiment describes is that the Accounting Client or Accounting Server generates the WiMAX charging association identifier, and the network end initiates a service session:

Step 1201, user access authentication process;

During the process, the Accounting Server generates the WiMAX billing association ID, which can be the Acct-Multi-Session ID for the billing multi-session ID, which is passed to the Accounting Client during the interaction with the Accounting Client, and the Accounting Client will save the WiMAX billing association identifier; or Accounting Client generates and saves WiMAX billing association identifier, which can identify Acct-Session ID for the accounting session;

Step 1202, the user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF;

The user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF, and carries user information in the service processing request messages;

Step 1203, P-CSCF sends an authorized QoS resource request message to ACF;

The P-CSCF generates an IMS charging association identifier for the user, and interacts with other functional entities of the IMS system network on service session processing. After receiving the service processing response message sent by other entities of the IMS system, the P-CSCF sends an The authorized QoS resource request message associated with the identifier; in addition, according to its own policy, the information of feeding back the result of service flow processing to the IMS system after resource processing is put into the authorized QoS resource request message; here the result of service flow processing must be fed back For the IMS system, this is because the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network needs to be included in the notification message, so as to facilitate the associated charging of the IMS network;

Step 1204, the ACF responds to the P-CSCF with an authorized QoS resource response message;

After the ACF receives the request for authorized QoS resources, it obtains the IMS charging association identifier and saves it, and performs corresponding processing according to the information in the message that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system; and responds to the P-CSCF to authorize the QoS resources response message;

Step 1205, the P-CSCF exchanges service processing response messages with the user;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource response message, the P-CSCF interacts with the user on the service processing response message, and notifies the user of some information, such as the data encoding format used by the session, and the service session process initiated by the network side;

Step 1206, ACF sends a resource request message to SFA;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource request, the ACF decides to initiate the process on the network side according to the policy, and generates a resource request message with an IMS charging association identifier, and sends it to the SFA;

Step 1207, SFA sends an accounting identification interaction request message to the Accounting Client;

After receiving the resource request message, the SFA sends the IMS charging association identifier to the Accounting Client through the charging identifier interaction request message;

Step 1208, the Accounting Client responds to the SFA with a charging identification interaction response message;

After the Accounting Client receives the billing identity interaction request message, it will extract the IMS billing correlation flag and save it, and then send the billing flag interaction response message carrying the WiMAX billing flag to the SFA;

Step 1209, Accounting Client interacts with Accounting Server for billing messages;

After the Accounting Client receives the charging identification interaction request message, it sends the accounting message with the WiMAX accounting association identification and IMS accounting association identification of the corresponding user to the Accounting Server according to its policy, and the Accounting Server performs subsequent association processing;

Step 1210, SFA sends a resource request message to SFM;

After receiving the resource request message sent by the ACF, the SFA successfully applies its local policy and sends a resource request message to the SFM;

Step 1211, SFM sends a resource request message to the user;

After receiving the resource request message sent by the SFA, the SFM successfully applies the local access permission judgment, and then sends a resource request message to the user;

Step 1212, the user responds to the SFM with a resource response message;

Step 1213, SFM responds to SFA with a resource response message;

Step 1214, the SFA responds to the ACF with a resource response message;

The response message carries the WiMAX charging association identifier;

Step 1215, ACF and P-CSCF exchange notification messages;

After completing the resource processing, the ACF notifies the P-CSCF of the resource interaction result according to the interaction result notified to the IMS system after the subsequent resource process is completed in step 1203 and step 1204, and the notification message contains the WiMAX charging association identifier.

The above describes the specific process of generating the associated charging identifier of the WiMAX network by the Accounting Client or Accounting Server, and the ACF initiates the service session process to realize the associated charging of the WiMAX and IMS network; in the process, steps 1204 and 1206, 1207 and 1210, 1208 and 1209 can be performed at the same time, and they are numbered for the convenience of description, rather than limiting their execution order.

Referring to Fig. 13, Fig. 13 is a specific flow chart of the fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention. What this embodiment describes is that the Accounting Client or Accounting Server generates the WiMAX charging association identifier, and the user initiates a service session:

Step 1301, user access authentication process;

During the process, the Accounting Server generates the WiMAX billing association identifier, and passes it to the Accounting Client during the interaction with the AccountingClient, and the Accounting Client will save the WiMAX billing association identifier; or the Accounting Client generates and saves the WiMAX billing association identifier;

Step 1302, the user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF;

The service processing request message contains user information;

Step 1303, P-CSCF sends an authorized QoS resource request message to ACF;

The P-CSCF generates the IMS charging association identifier for the user and interacts with other functional entities of the IMS system network to process the service session. After receiving the service processing response message sent by other entities of the IMS system, it sends the IMS charging association identifier to the ACF. The authorized QoS resource request message; in addition, according to its own policy, the information that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system is put into the authorized QoS resource request message; the reason why the result must be fed back to the IMS system is because the notification message contains There is the billing association mark of the WiMAX network, which is convenient for the associated billing of the IMS network;

Step 1304, the ACF responds to the P-CSCF with an authorized QoS resource response message;

After the ACF receives the authorized QoS resource request message, it obtains the IMS charging association identifier and saves it, and performs corresponding processing according to the information in the message that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system; the authorized QoS resource response message carries Information instructing the client to initiate a business resource processing process;

Step 1305, the P-CSCF exchanges service processing response messages with the user;

After receiving the authorized QoS resource response message, the P-CSCF interacts with the user on the service processing response message, and notifies the user of some information, such as the data encoding format adopted by the session, and instructs the client to initiate the service resource processing process and other information;

Step 1306, the user sends a resource request message to the SFM;

After receiving the service processing response message, the user sends a resource request message to the SFM according to the content of the message, and initiates the process of establishing a service session;

Step 1307, SFM sends a resource request message to SFA;

After the SFM successfully applies the access permission, it sends a resource request message SFA;

Step 1308, SFA sends a resource response message to ACF;

After the SFA successfully applies the local policy, it sends a resource request message to the ACF;

Step 1309, the ACF responds to the SFA with a resource response message;

After the ACF successfully authorizes the user, it sends the previously stored IMS charging association identifier to the SFA in a resource response message, and the resource response message can be a resource reservation response message or a policy decision response message;

Step 1310, SFA sends an accounting identification interaction request message to the Accounting Client;

After receiving the resource response message sent by the ACF, the SFA sends the IMS charging association identifier in it to the Accounting Client through the charging identifier interaction request message;

Step 1311, the Accounting Client responds to the SFA with an interactive response message of the charging identifier;

After the Accounting Client receives the charging identity interaction request message, it will extract the IMS accounting association identity from it and save it, and send a charging identity interaction response message carrying the WiMAX accounting association identity to the SFA;

Step 1312, SFA sends a report message to ACF;

After the SFA receives the Accounting Client sending the Accounting Identification Interaction Response message carrying the WiMAX Accounting Association ID, it feeds back the report message carrying the WiMAX Accounting Association ID to the ACF;

Step 1313, ACF and P-CSCF exchange notification messages;

After the ACF judges that the resource processing is completed, according to the interaction result notified to the IMS system after the completion of the subsequent resource process in steps 1403 and 1404, the WiMAX charging association identifier is included in the notification message;

Step 1314, Accounting Client and Accounting Server billing message;

After the Accounting Client receives the charging identity interaction request message, it sends the accounting message with the corresponding user's WiMAX accounting association identity and IMS accounting association identity to the AccountingServer according to its policy, and the Accounting Server performs subsequent association processing to complete the WiMAX- Association of IMS charging identity;

Step 1315, the SFA responds to the SFM with a resource response message;

After the SFA sends a resource report message to the ACF, it successfully applies its local policy and sends a resource response message to the SFM;

Step 1316, the SFM sends a resource response message to the user.

The above describes the specific process of generating the associated charging identifier of the WiMAX network by the Accounting Client or Accounting Server, and the user initiates a service session process to realize the associated charging of the WiMAX and IMS network; in the process, steps 1310 and 1312 can be performed simultaneously, They are numbered for the convenience of description, not to limit their execution sequence.

Referring to FIG. 14, FIG. 14 is a specific flow chart of the fifth embodiment of the method of the present invention. This embodiment is another implementation in which the WiMAX charging association identifier is generated by the Accounting Server or the Accounting Client:

Step 1401, user access authentication process;

The user sends the user information to the Accounting Server and requests the Accounting Server to authenticate it. After the authentication is passed, the Accounting Server will send an authentication message to the user;

Step 1402, the user exchanges service processing request messages with the P-CSCF;

After receiving the authentication message, the user sends a service processing request message to the P-CSCF, and the service processing request message contains user information;

Step 1403, the P-CSCF sends a charging association identification request message to the ACF;

After receiving the service processing request message, the P-CSCF generates an IMS charging association identifier, and sends the IMS charging association identifier to the ACF through a charging association identifier request message, and the charging association identifier request message may be a Diameter AAR message;

Step 1404, ACF sends a charging identification request message to Accounting Server;

After receiving the Diameter AAR message, the ACF adds the IMS charging association identifier to the charging association identifier request message that can carry the accounting association identifier, and sends the charging association identifier request message through the interface between it and the Accounting Server To the Accounting Server, the billing association identification request can be an AAA&ACF Switch REQ message; and do corresponding processing according to the information in the message that the resource processing is completed and the result is fed back to the IMS system;

Step 1405, the Accounting Server sends a charging association identification response message to the ACF;

After the Accounting Server receives the billing association identifier request message, it saves the IMS accounting association identifier in the corresponding user record according to the user information in the message, and generates the corresponding WiMAX accounting association identifier, which is included in the billing association identifier response message Send it to the ACF with the WiMAX network accounting association identifier. The accounting association identifier response message can be an AAA & ACF Switch RSP message; when the WiMAX accounting association identifier is generated by the Accounting Client, the Accounting Server needs to interact with the Accounting Client to obtain After the billing association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the Accounting Client, it is sent through the billing association identifier response message;

Step 1406, the ACF sends a charging association identifier response message to the P-CSCF;

After receiving the response message, the ACF sends the WiMAX charging association identifier to the P-CSCF through the charging association identifier corresponding message, and the charging association identifier response message may be a Diameter AAA message;

Step 1407, P-CSCF and user exchange service processing response message;

After receiving the WiMAX charging association identifier, the P-CSCF interacts with the user on a service processing response message, notifying the user of some information, such as the data encoding format used in the session, and instructing the client to initiate a service resource processing process and other information;

The above describes another specific process for realizing associated charging between WiMAX and IMS networks in which the associated charging identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the Accounting Client or Accounting Server, and the user initiates the service session process; the interface between the ACF and the Accounting Server is used Send the IMS charging correlation ID directly to the Accounting Server, and then the Accounting Server/Client regenerates the WiMAX charging correlation ID and associates the two IDs to realize the charging association between the WiMAX network and the IMS network.

Adopting the technical solution of the fifth embodiment can also adopt the sixth embodiment to achieve the purpose of the invention. The difference between the sixth embodiment and the fifth embodiment is that the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the sixth embodiment is generated by the ACF :

Step 1404, ACF sends a billing association identification request message to Accounting Server;

In the sixth embodiment, not only the charging association identifier of the IMS network but also the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network generated by the ACF must be carried in the charging association identifier request message;

Step 1405, the Accounting Server sends a charging association identification response message to the ACF;

In the sixth embodiment, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network does not need to be carried in the charging association identifier response message, because the charging association identifier has been saved on the ACF;

Other steps are the same as those in the fifth embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

The billing association method, device and system provided by the present invention have been introduced in detail above. In this paper, specific examples have been used to illustrate the principle and implementation of the present invention. The descriptions of the above embodiments are only used to help understand the present invention. method and its core idea; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation and application scope. Invention Limitations.

Claims (23)

1. A method for charging association, characterized in that, comprising: The charging association function entity device ACF in the converged network of the interoperable WiMAX network of the Global Microwave Access System and the second network generates the charging association identifier of the user who needs charging association in the WiMAX network, and the ACF sends the The billing association identifier is sent to the second network integrated with the WiMAX network; After the ACF receives the charging association identifier of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network, it sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the WiMAX network together The charging server performs associated charging according to the charging association identifier of the user on the WiMAX network and the charging association identifier of the second network. 2. The method for charging association as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second network is an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, and the charging association identification of the second network is determined by the call session in the IMS network Controls function proxy unit generation. 3. The charging association method according to claim 2, wherein the charging association identifier of the IMS network is an IMS network charging identifier. 4. The method for charging association according to claim 1, wherein the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized network quality of service (QoS) request message; When the service process is initiated by the network side, the billing association identifier of the second network and the billing association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the billing server of the WiMAX network, specifically: The ACF sends the resource request message with the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the service flow authorization function entity SFA in the WiMAX network; The charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging client in the message; the charging client carries the charging information of the second network in the charging message. The association identifier and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging server; The charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the second network by the ACF through an authorized QoS resource response message. 5. The method for charging association according to claim 1, wherein the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS request message; When the service process is initiated by the client, the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network, specifically: ACF sends the resource response message with the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the service flow authorization entity SFA in the WiMAX network; the SFA sends the charging identifier interaction request message or primitive The charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging client; the charging client carries the charging association of the second network in the charging message The identification and the charging association identification of the WiMAX network are sent to the charging server; The charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the second network by the ACF through a notification message. 6. The charging association method according to claim 1, wherein when there is an interface between the ACF and the charging server: The charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through a charging association identifier request message; The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging association identifier request message; After receiving the response from the charging server, the ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a charging association identifier response message. 7. The charging association method according to claim 1, wherein the ACF is a policy function entity in a WiMAX network, a policy decision function entity in an IMS network, a policy charging rule entity or a service flow authorization entity. 8. The charging association method according to claim 1, wherein the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is a packet data flow identifier or a service data flow identifier. 9. A charging association method, comprising: The billing client or billing server in the Interoperability WiMAX network of the Global Microwave Access System generates the billing association identifier of the user who needs billing association in the WiMAX network, and the converged network of the WiMAX network and the second network The charging association function entity device ACF in the device sends the charging association identifier to the second network integrated with the WiMAX network; After the ACF receives the charging association identifier of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network, it sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the charging server of the WiMAX network, and according to the user Association charging is performed between the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network and the charging association identifier of the second network. 10. The method for charging association according to claim 9, wherein if the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by a charging client in the WiMAX network; The charging client sends the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF, and the ACF then sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network. 11. The charging association method according to claim 9, wherein the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS resource request message; When the service process is initiated by the network end, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network as follows: The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the service flow authorization entity SFA in the WiMAX network through a resource request message; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the second network through a charging identifier interaction request message or a primitive To the charging client; the charging client sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging message; The billing client sends the saved billing association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF, specifically: The charging client includes the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the charging identifier interaction response message or primitive and sends it to the SFA; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF through a resource response message; The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a notification message. 12. The charging association method according to claim 9, wherein the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through an authorized QoS resource request message; When the service process is initiated by the client, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the charging server of the WiMAX network as follows: The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network to the service flow authorization entity SFA in the WiMAX network through a resource response message; The charging client; the charging client sends the charging association identifier of the second network and the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the charging server through a charging message; The charging client sends the saved charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF as follows: The charging client carries the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network in the charging identifier interaction response message or primitive and sends it to the SFA; the SFA sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the ACF through a report message; The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a notification message. 13. The charging association method according to claim 9, wherein when there is an interface between the ACF and the charging server, the charging association identifier of the second network is sent to the ACF through a charging identifier request message The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the second network directly to the charging server through the charging association identifier request message; the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is sent to the ACF by the charging server through the charging association identifier response message ; The ACF sends the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network to the second network through a charging association identifier response message. 14. The method for charging association according to claim 9, characterized in that, when the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is generated by the charging client, the charging association identifier of the WiMAX network is a charging session ID: when the charging server generates the charging association ID of the WiMAX network, the charging association ID of the WiMAX network is a charging multi-session ID. 15. A billing-associated function entity device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: The broadband internet protocol access network message receiving unit is used to receive the message sent by the WiMAX network; the second network message receiving unit is used to receive the message sent by the second network; A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message sent by the WiMAX network and the message sent by the second network; The billing association identifier storage unit is used for storing the billing association identifier obtained through analysis; The charging association identification sending unit is used to send the charging association identification of the WiMAX network to the second network, and send the charging association identification of the second network to the charging server of the WiMAX network, so that the charging server will send the WiMAX network identification to the charging server of the WiMAX network. The charging association identifier of the second network is associated with the charging association identifier of the second network to implement associated charging, and the second network can perform associated charging. 16. A billing-associated functional entity device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: A broadband Internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit, used to generate the user's charging association identification in the WiMAX network according to user information; The second network message receiving unit is configured to receive a message sent by the second network; A charging association identification analysis unit, configured to analyze the charging association identification of the user in the second network in the message sent by the second network; A charging association identifier storage unit, configured to save the generated charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the charging association identifier of the user in the second network; The charging association identification sending unit is used to send the charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network to the WiMAX network and the second network, and send the charging association identification of the user in the second network to the charging association identification of the WiMAX network. server, so that the charging server associates the charging association identifier of the user on the WiMAX network with the charging association identifier of the second network to implement associated charging, and the second network can perform associated charging. 17. A billing client device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: A message receiving unit, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the WiMAX network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the network; The billing association identifier parsing unit is used for parsing the billing association identifier in the received message or primitive; The billing association identifier storage unit is used for storing the billing association identifier obtained through analysis; The charging association identification sending unit is configured to send the analyzed user's charging association identification on the WiMAX network and the user's charging association identification on the second network to the charging server, so that the charging server can send the user's The charging association identification of the WiMAX network is associated with the charging association identification of the second network to realize the associated charging of the user; when the charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network is generated by the charging server, the charging The association identification sending unit is further configured to send the charging association identification generated by the charging server to the second network, so that the second network can perform associated charging for the user. 18. A billing client device, applied to a billing-associated fusion network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: A broadband Internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit, used to generate the user's charging association identification in the WiMAX network according to user information; A message receiving unit, configured to receive a message or primitive sent by a functional entity in the WiMAX network where the device is located and containing the charging association identifier of the user in the second network; A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message or primitive; A charging association identifier storage unit, configured to save the generated charging association identifier of the user on the WiMAX network and the resolved user's charging association identifier on the second network; The charging association identification sending unit is configured to send the generated charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network and the resolved charging association identification of the user in the second network to the charging server, so that the charging server Associating the charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network with the charging association identification of the second network to realize the associated charging of the user; it is also used to associate the generated charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network and sent to the second network, so that the second network can perform associated charging on the user. 19. A billing server device, which is applied to a billing-associated fusion network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: A message receiving unit, configured to receive messages sent by functional entities in the converged network; A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message; The billing association identifier storage unit is used for associating and storing the resolved billing association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the second network; The billing unit is used to put the charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the second network as billing record information into the bill generated for the user when recording the inter-network billing, and to set the bill according to the billing at the time of checkout. Reconcile the fee-associated identifier with the operator of the corresponding network. 20. A billing server device, applied to a billing-associated converged network between a broadband Internet protocol access network and a second network, characterized in that it includes: A broadband Internet protocol access network charging association identification generating unit, used to generate the user's charging association identification in the WiMAX network according to user information; A charging association identification sending unit, configured to send the generated charging association identification to functional entities in the converged network; a message receiving unit, configured to receive a message sent by the functional entity; A billing association identifier parsing unit, configured to parse the billing association identifier in the message; A charging association identifier storage unit, configured to associate and save the charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the second network; The billing unit is used to put the charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the second network as billing record information into the bill generated for the user when recording the inter-network billing, and to set the bill according to the billing at the time of checkout. Reconcile the fee-associated identifier with the operator of the corresponding network. 21. A billing association system, comprising: The billing association identification generation unit of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to generate the billing association identification of the user in the WiMAX network; The charging association identification receiving unit of the second network is configured to receive the charging association identification of the user in the second network generated and sent by the second network; A charging association identification association processing unit, configured to send the charging association identification of the WiMAX network to a second network, and send the charging association identification of the second network to a charging server of the WiMAX network; The billing unit of the broadband Internet protocol access network is used to obtain the charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network and the charging association identification of the second network, and according to the charging association identification of the user in the WiMAX network and the second network The billing associated identification of the user is associated with charging, and the charging associated identification of the user in the WiMAX network and the charging associated identification of the second network are put into the bill generated for the user as the charging record information; The second network generates a charging bill of the user in the second network, and the billing bill includes the charging association identifier of the user in the WiMAX network and the charging association identifier of the second network. 22. The charging association system according to claim 21, wherein the second network is an IMS network, and the charging association identification of the second network is generated by a call session control function proxy unit of the IMS network . 23. The billing association system according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the billing association identifier generation unit of the WiMAX network is a billing association functional entity in the converged architecture of the WiMAX network and the second network billing association unit, a charging server in a WiMAX network, or a charging client in a WiMAX network.

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