CN102918800B

CN102918800B - Online charging method and Online Charging System

Info

Publication number: CN102918800B
Application number: CN201180000656.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 蔡慧
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-05-31
Filing date: 2011-05-31
Publication date: 2015-11-25
Anticipated expiration: 2031-05-31
Also published as: WO2011157123A3; WO2011157123A2; CN102918800A

Abstract

This invention provides an online billing method, an online billing system, and policy and billing rule functional entities, relating to the field of communications. The online billing method includes: obtaining total quota information required for a service; determining whether the user's account balance is sufficient to complete the service based on the total quota information and the user's account balance, and generating a determination result; when the determination result is yes, executing quota management to achieve online billing. The online billing system includes: a first total quota acquisition module, a first determination module, and an online billing module. The policy and billing rule functional entities include: a second total quota acquisition module, a balance acquisition module, a second determination module, and a rule processing module. This invention improves the user's service experience.

Description

Online charging method and online charging system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to an online charging method, an online charging system, and a policy and charging rule function entity.

Background

Currently, an online charging networking architecture of a 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) network is shown in fig. 1, and specifically includes the following logical entities: a PCRF (policy and charging rules function), an AF (application function) connected with the PCRF through an Rx reference point, a PCEF (policy and charging enforcement function) connected with the PCRF through a Gx reference point, and an OCS (online charging system) connected with the PCRF through a Sy reference point, wherein the PCEF is connected with the OCS through a Gy reference point.

Based on the above online charging networking architecture, a connection of a bearer layer is established between a UE (user equipment) and an AF of a bearer network, and between a PCRF and a PCEF, after a service is activated between the UE and the AF, the AF provides policy control information to the PCRF through an Rx reference point, the PCRF is mainly responsible for issuing a policy and a charging control rule according to a pccritical provided by the AF, and then the PCRF issues the formulated pccritical to the PCEF through a Gx reference point, and executes the pccritical, performs charging information interaction with an OCS, and completes online charging by the OCS.

The online charging function mainly refers to charging the provided service in real time; when the online charging user initiates a service, the PCEF applies for quota to the OCS in real time, the OCS determines whether the user is allowed to perform the service according to the user information and the amount in the user account, and if the user is allowed to perform the service, the user quota is drawn from the user account to perform real-time issuing on the PCEF, so that online charging is realized.

In the online charging mode, there are three ways for the PCEF to apply for quota from the OCS:

1) charging for an immediate event (ImmediateEventCharging), after receiving a quota application request of the PCEF, the OCS deducts corresponding fees at one time; this approach is applicable to event-like services such as short messages.

2) Charging for a unit reservation event (eventchingwithreservation), wherein the PCEF applies for a quota to the OCS once, and the OCS gives the PCEF a certain quota and locks a corresponding quota limit, but does not really deduct the quota limit. If the user terminates the service before the quota is used for light, the PCEF retransmits the residual credit to the OCS, and the OCS makes a corresponding deduction.

3) The unit reservation session charging (sessioncharging with reservation) is applicable to the session service, the PCEF applies for quota to the OCS for many times, and the OCS gives a certain quota to the PCEF and locks the corresponding quota limit at the same time, but does not really deduct. If the user terminates the service before the quota is used for light, the PCEF retransmits the residual credit to the OCS, and the OCS makes a corresponding deduction. If the subscriber does not terminate the service, the OCS supplements a certain amount of new quota to the PCEF before the previous credits are exhausted.

In the process of implementing the invention, the inventor finds that the prior art has at least the following problems: in the online charging mode, which one of the three modes of immediate event charging, unit reservation event charging or unit reservation session charging is specifically used is decided by the PCEF or the PCRF, and there is no specific specification in the prior art. If online charging based on the Session mode is used, the PCEF applies quota to the OCS in a segmented way, the quota applied each time is the quota used by the service at the time, when the quota is consumed, the application of next-stage quota of the service is carried out, when the balance of a user account in the OCS is insufficient, the PCEF fails to apply quota, and the service is interrupted; however, the used service quota is already charged to the user, for example, when a movie is downloaded and half of the movie is downloaded, it is found that the balance of the user account in the OCS is insufficient and the service is interrupted, but the downloaded traffic is already charged to the user, such a charging mechanism is prone to generate tariff disputes, so that the service experience of the user is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to improve the service experience of a user, the embodiment of the invention provides an online charging method, an online charging system and a policy and charging rule functional entity. The technical scheme is as follows:

an online charging method, the method comprising:

an online charging system OCS receives a quota application message sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, wherein the quota application message carries total quota information required by a service, and the total quota information required by the service is sent to the PCEF by an application function entity AF through a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF;

the OCS acquires total quota information needed by the service from the quota application message;

the OCS queries a user account, and acquires the balance of the user account according to the user account;

the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and generates a judgment result;

when the judgment result is yes, quota management is executed, and online charging is realized;

wherein the performing quota management comprises:

the OCS judges whether a quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information, if so, when an online charging mode is immediate event charging, a total quota required by a service is deducted from the balance of the user account, and the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota required by the deducted service;

or,

the OCS judges whether a quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information, if so, when an online charging mode is unit reservation event charging or unit reservation session charging, a total quota required by a service is reserved in a balance of a user account, and the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota needed by the reserved service;

or,

the OCS judges whether a quota application message carries immediate event charging indication information or not, if so, the total quota required by the service is deducted from the balance of the user account, and the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota required by the deducted service;

or,

the OCS judges whether a quota application message carries unit reserved event charging indication information or not, if so, a total quota required by a service is reserved in the balance of the user account, and the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota needed by the reserved service;

and the PCRF or the PCEF decides the online charging mode according to the service uninterruptible indication information.

An online charging system, OCS, comprising: the system comprises a first total quota obtaining module, a first judging module and an online charging module; wherein the first total quota acquiring module comprises: the first determining module includes: a balance acquisition unit and a judgment unit;

the first receiving unit is configured to receive a quota application message sent by a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF, where the quota application message carries total quota information required by a service, and the total quota information required by the service is sent to the PCEF by an application function entity AF through a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF;

the third total quota acquiring unit is configured to acquire total quota information required by a service from the quota application message;

the balance obtaining unit is used for inquiring a user account and obtaining the balance of the user account according to the user account;

the judging unit is used for judging whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and generating a judgment result;

the online charging module is used for executing quota management to realize online charging when the judgment result is yes;

wherein the online charging module executing quota management comprises:

judging whether a quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information or not, if so, deducting total quota required by service from balance of the user account when an online charging mode is immediate event charging, wherein the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota required by the deducted service;

or,

judging whether a quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information, if so, reserving a total quota required by a service in the balance of the user account when an online charging mode is unit reservation event charging or unit reservation session charging, wherein the quota application message is generated by the PCEF according to a PCC rule and is sent to the OCS; the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the total quota needed by the reserved service;

or,

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention has the beneficial effects that: the OCS decides whether to issue quota according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and executes quota management and issues quota only when the balance of the user account is enough for the service no matter which online charging mode is adopted, so that online charging is realized; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 3GPP online charging networking architecture provided in the prior art;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 3 of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 4 of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 5 of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 6 of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 7 of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 8 of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 9 of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 10 of the present invention;

fig. 12a is a schematic diagram of a first structure of an online charging system OCS according to embodiment 11 of the present invention;

fig. 12b is a schematic diagram of a second structure of an online charging system OCS according to embodiment 11 of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 12 of the present invention;

fig. 14a is a schematic diagram of a first structure of an online charging system OCS according to an embodiment 13 of the present invention;

fig. 14b is a schematic diagram of a second structure of an online charging system OCS according to an embodiment 13 of the present invention;

fig. 14c is a schematic diagram of a third structure of an online charging system OCS according to an embodiment 13 of the present invention;

fig. 14d is a schematic diagram of a fourth structure of an online charging system OCS according to an embodiment 13 of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 14 of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 15 of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 16 of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 17 of the present invention;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 18 of the present invention;

fig. 20a is a first structural diagram of an embodiment of a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF according to embodiment 19 of the present invention;

fig. 20b is a second schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF according to embodiment 19 of the present invention;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF according to embodiment 20 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the invention provides an online charging method, an online charging system and a policy and charging rule functional entity.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 1 of the present invention, where the online charging method includes:

s201: and acquiring total quota information needed by the service.

S202: and judging whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and generating a judgment result.

S203: and when the judgment result is yes, executing quota management to realize online charging.

In practical application, when the judgment result is yes, quota management is executed between the PCEF and the OCS, and an online charging function is realized; specifically, the OCS obtains a first quota from a quota application message sent by the PCEF, allocates the first quota in the balance of the user account, and sends the allocated first quota to the PCEF, and performs online charging between the PCEF and the OCS according to the first quota; the first quota is the service volume applied in real time according to the service requirement of the user.

The first quota may be a total quota needed by the service, or may be a part of the total quota needed by the service. Specifically, when the online charging mode is ImmediateEventCharging and eventchingwithreservation, the first quota is the total quota required by the service. When the online charging mode is sessionchargingwithrereservation, the first quota may be a total quota required by the service; or may be a quota applied in real time, which is a part of the total quota required by the service.

In this embodiment, whether quota is issued is decided according to total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and regardless of which online charging mode is adopted, the OCS executes quota management and issues quota only when the balance of the user account is sufficient for the service, thereby realizing online charging; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 2:

referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the OCS obtains the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, thereby implementing an online charging function; wherein, the total quota information needed by the service is carried in a quota application message sent by the PCEF.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s301: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

In practical application, the connections of the bearer layer are established between the UE and the AF, PCRF and PCEF of the bearer network.

S302: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S303: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

The policy control information includes total quota information required by the service, a service type, description information of the service data stream, QoS (quality of service) information, charging-related policy information (including a charging identifier (AF-ChargingID) of the service layer AF), and the like. The total quota information required by the service may be at least one of the following information: flow information, duration information and tariff information; other expressions of quotas are also possible, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

S304: and the PCRF decides the control strategy of the service data stream on the bearing layer according to the strategy control information to generate PCCrule.

The PCCrule comprises total quota information required by the service, service data flow information, QoS information of decision, adopted charging strategy information and the like.

S305: and the PCRF sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

S306: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS, wherein the quota application message carries the total quota information required by the service.

S307: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

In practical application, the OCS receives a quota application message sent by the PCEF, where the quota application message carries total quota information and a first quota required by a service, and the first quota is a traffic volume that is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time according to a service requirement of a user when the UE initiates the service; acquiring total quota information required by the service from the quota application message; and the OCS inquires a user account and acquires the balance of the user account according to the user account.

S308: and the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and generates a judgment result.

Judging whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, specifically, when the total quota of the service in the total quota information required by the service is greater than the balance of the user account, indicating that the balance of the user account cannot finish the service, and generating a judgment result of no; when the total service quota in the total quota information needed by the service is less than or equal to the balance of the user account, it indicates that the balance of the user account can complete the service, and the generated judgment result is yes.

S309: and the OCS realizes online charging according to the judgment result.

In practical application, when the determination result is yes, the OCS performs quota management according to the first quota, so as to implement online charging; specifically, the OCS allocates the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message, and sends the first quota to the PCEF, and performs online charging according to the first quota. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted. In practical applications, the quota management process is a credit management process for implementing online charging.

And if the judgment result is negative, sending the insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply the quota.

In this embodiment, which of the three online charging modes, i.e., ImmediateEventCharging, eventchwithretaining or sessionchargetwithretaining, is specifically adopted is decided by the PCEF or the PCRF, which is similar to the prior art and is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, the AF belongs to a service gateway, the PCRF belongs to a policy gateway, the PCEF belongs to a data gateway, and the OCS belongs to a charging gateway; the service gateway, the strategy gateway, the data gateway and the charging gateway are network side gateways.

Preferably, in this embodiment, when the determination result is yes, the OCS directly deducts or reserves the total quota needed by the service from the balance of the user account according to the total quota information needed by the service. Specifically, whether to deduct or reserve the total quota required by the service is determined according to the online charging mode.

In this embodiment, the OCS decides whether to perform quota management according to total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and regardless of which online charging mode is used, the OCS performs quota management only when the balance of the user account is sufficient for the service, and issues a quota, and when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the quota application fails; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 3:

referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 3 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the OCS obtains total quota information required by the service and a balance of the user account, and when the balance of the user account is sufficient and the quota application message carries relevant indication information that the service is not interrupted, the total quota required by the service is deducted or reserved from the balance of the user account. The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s401: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S402: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S403: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

The policy control information includes total quota information needed by the service, a service type, description information of the service data flow, QoS information, charging-related policy information (including a charging identifier (AF-ChargingID) of the service layer AF), and the like. The total quota information required by the service may be at least one of the following information: flow information, duration information and tariff information; other expressions of quotas are also possible, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

The policy control information may further include service uninterruptible indication information; or, the policy control information may further include immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information, where the immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information is used to indicate that the service applies for quota once, and is not interruptible, and the role of the immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information is similar to the role of the service non-interruptible indication information.

And when the policy control information comprises service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information, executing the following process.

S404: and the PCRF decides the control strategy of the service data stream on the bearing layer according to the strategy control information to generate PCCrule.

The PCCrule comprises total quota information required by the service, service data flow information, QoS information of decision and adopted charging strategy information; the PCCrule also comprises service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information.

S405: and the PCRF sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

S406: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS.

Wherein, the quota application message carries total quota information needed by the service; the quota application message also carries service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information.

S407: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

In practical application, the OCS receives a quota application message sent by the PCEF, where the quota application message carries total quota information and a first quota required by a service; acquiring total quota information required by the service from the quota application message; and the OCS inquires a user account and acquires the balance of the user account according to the user account.

S408: the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and if so, S409 is executed; if not, S411 is executed.

S409: the OCS deducts or reserves a total quota needed for the service in the balance of the user account.

When the determination result is yes, the OCS determines whether the quota application message carries one of the following information: and if the quota application message is received, acquiring the service uninterruptible indication information, the immediate event charging indication information or the unit reserved event charging indication information from the quota application message. The service uninterruptible indication information, the immediate event charging indication information, or the unit reserved event charging indication information may indicate that the service must be completely executed and uninterruptible.

If the acquired information of quota application is uninterruptible indication information, which indicates that the service must be completely executed and does not support continuous transmission, the online charging mode may be any one of ImmediateEventCharging, eventchingwithretaining or sessionchargewithretaining, specifically, the PCRF or the PCEF makes a decision according to the uninterruptible indication information, and if the acquired information of quota application is sessionchargingwithretaining, the first quota for the first application is specified to be the total quota required by the service;

or,

if the quota application information is acquired as immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information, the online charging mode is ImmediateEventCharging or eventchingwithreservation respectively, and the online charging mode is decided by the AF.

After obtaining the uninterruptible indication information, or the immediate event charging indication information, or the unit reserved event charging indication information from the quota application information, specifically, when the online charging mode is ImmediateEventCharging, deducting the total quota required by the service from the balance of the user account;

or,

when the online charging mode is eventchargeningwithreservation or SessionchargingwithReservation, the total quota required for the service is reserved in the balance of the user account.

In addition, for the session service adopting the sessionchargingwithreresvariation mode in the prior art, in this embodiment, the online charging mode of the session service may also be implemented by converting the sessionchargingwithreresvariation mode into an eventchwithresvariation mode.

S410: and the OCS marks the first quota from the total quota required by the deducted or reserved service and sends the first quota to the PCEF, so that online charging is realized.

The OCS marks the first quota from the total quota required by the deducted or reserved service according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, so that an online charging function is realized; and the first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time according to the requirement of the user equipment when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

S411: and sending the information of insufficient balance to the PCEF, and failing to apply for quota.

In this embodiment, after the PCEF executes the PCCrule in S406, the quota application message may not be sent to the OCS first, but the total quota information required by the service may be sent to the OCS first; when the OCS judges that the quota of the user account is enough to complete the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, the OCS sends the enough balance information to the PCEF, the PCEF sends a quota application message again, the quota application message does not carry the total quota information needed by the service, and the PCEF and the OCS execute quota management according to the first quota carried in the quota application message to realize online charging. Preferably, when the OCS determines that the balance of the user account is sufficient to complete the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, the OCS deducts or reserves the total quota needed by the service from the balance of the user account according to the total quota information needed by the service; and when the quota application message sent by the PCEF is not received within the preset time, releasing the total quota required by deducting or reserving the service to the balance of the user account.

In this embodiment, the online charging system decides whether to issue a quota according to total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and only when the balance of the user account is enough for the service, the quota is issued no matter which online charging mode is adopted; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

In addition, which online charging mode is adopted in the prior art is decided by PCRF or PCEF, and there is no specification specifically, but in this embodiment, which online charging mode is adopted by the AF decision, and the AF decision adopts ImmediateEventCharging or eventchingwithretaining, which can also overcome the problem that the prior art adopts sessionchargingwithretaining, and also improve the service experience of the user.

Example 4:

referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 4 of the present invention. In this embodiment, an OCS acquires total quota information required by a service and a balance of a user account, where the total quota information required by the service is carried in a quota application message sent by a PCEF; when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the OCS, the PCRF or the PCEF decides to reject the service request, and informs other network element equipment of rejecting the service request.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s501: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S502: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S503: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

The policy control information includes total quota information needed by the service, a service type, description information of the service data flow, QoS information, charging-related policy information (including a charging identifier (AF-ChargingID) of the service layer AF), and the like. The total quota information required by the service may be flow information, duration information, or tariff information, or may be other expression forms of a quota, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Preferably, the policy control information may further include service uninterruptible indication information, or the policy control information may further include service uninterruptible indication information immediate event charging indication information or unit reservation event charging indication information.

S504: and the PCRF decides the control strategy of the service data stream on the bearing layer according to the strategy control information to generate PCCrule.

The PCCrule comprises total quota information required by the service, service data flow information, QoS information of decision and adopted charging strategy information;

preferably, the pccrale further includes service non-interruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information.

S505: and the PCRF sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

S506: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS.

Wherein, the quota application message carries total quota information needed by the service;

preferably, the quota application message further carries service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information.

S507: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

S508: the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, if so, S509 is executed; if not, S510 is performed.

S509: the OCS sends a first quota to the PCEF.

In practical applications, when the determination result is yes, the OCS executes a quota management process according to the first quota, and specifically, allocates the first quota in the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, thereby implementing an online charging function; the first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

Preferably, when the quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information, deducting or reserving a total quota required by a service from a balance of the user account, and drawing a first quota from the deducted or reserved total quota required by the service to send to the PCEF, thereby implementing online charging; specifically, reference may be made to the description of S409 and S410 in embodiment 3, which is not described herein again.

S510: the OCS decides to reject the request for service and informs the PCEF of the rejection of the request for service.

S511: the PCEF informs the PCRF of the request for rejecting the service.

And the PCEF deletes the relevant records of the service on the self equipment according to the received notice of rejecting the service request, and informs the PCRF of rejecting the service request.

S512: and the PCRF informs the AF of rejecting the service request.

And the PCRF deletes the relevant records of the service on the self equipment according to the received notification of rejecting the service request, and notifies the AF to reject the service request.

In addition to the decision-making method and the subsequent processing in S510, the decision-making and the subsequent processing may be performed in any one of the following manners, specifically:

1) the OCS does not decide, and the OCS informs the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient; the PCEF decides to reject the service request according to the notification of insufficient balance of the user account, and notifies the OCS and the PCRF of rejecting the service request; and the PCRF informs the AF of rejecting the service request.

2) The OCS does not decide and informs the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient; the PCEF informs the PCRF that the balance of the user account is insufficient; the PCRF decides to reject the service request according to the notification of insufficient balance of the user account, and notifies AF and PCEF to reject the service request; the PCEF informs the OCS of the rejection of the request for service.

In this embodiment, after the PCEF executes the pccrile, the OCS may first send the total quota information required by the service to the OCS without sending a quota application message to the OCS, and the OCS executes a subsequent processing procedure, which may specifically refer to the related description in embodiment 3 and is not described herein again.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the OCS, the PCEF, or the PCRF decides to reject the service request, and notifies other network element devices of rejecting the service request, so that the service experience of the user is improved.

Example 5:

referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 5 of the present invention. In this embodiment, an OCS acquires total quota information required by a service and a balance of a user account, where the total quota information required by the service is carried in a quota application message sent by a PCEF; and when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the message platform is notified to perform subsequent processing.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s601: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S602: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S603: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

S604: and the PCRF decides the control strategy of the service data stream on the bearing layer according to the strategy control information to generate PCCrule.

S605: and the PCRF sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

S606: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS.

S607: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

S608: the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and if so, S609 is executed; if not, S610 is performed.

S609: the OCS sends a first quota to the PCEF.

In practical application, when the determination result is yes, the OCS executes a quota management process according to the first quota, specifically, the OCS allocates the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, thereby implementing an online charging function; the first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

Preferably, when the quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information, deducting or reserving a total quota required by a service from a balance of the user account, and drawing the first quota from the deducted or reserved total quota required by the service to send to the PCEF, thereby implementing online charging; specifically, reference may be made to the description of S409 and S410 in embodiment 3, which is not described herein again.

S610: and the OCS informs a recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

The recharging message platform is any platform for interaction between a network side and user equipment.

S611: and the recharging message platform informs the UE that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S612: and the UE decides whether the user equipment is charged and whether the service is continued, generates a user decision result, and sends the user decision result to a charging message platform.

In practical application, the UE decides whether the user equipment supplements with charge and whether the service continues according to the notice of insufficient balance of the user account to generate a user decision result; the user decision result comprises that the user equipment is charged and the service is continued, or the user equipment is not charged and the service is not continued.

S613: and the recharging message platform sends the user decision result to the OCS.

S614: and the OCS executes preset processing according to the user decision result.

In practical application, the step of the OCS executing the predetermined processing according to the user decision result is specifically as follows:

the OCS judges the user decision result, when the user decision result is that the user equipment is recharged and the service continues, the OCS acquires a recharged user account, judges whether the balance of the recharged user account is enough to finish the service, if so, performs quota management to realize online charging, and particularly, draws the first quota from the balance of the recharged user account and sends the first quota to the PCEF.

When the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; at this time, although the balance of the user account is not enough to complete the service completely, since the UE intends to continue the service, this embodiment sends the balance of the user account to the PCEF while ignoring whether the service is complete.

And when the user decision result indicates that the user equipment does not recharge and the service does not continue, sending insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply quota.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the OCS informs the message platform to execute subsequent recharging and other processing, so that the service experience of the user is improved.

Example 6:

referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 6 of the present invention. In this embodiment, an OCS acquires total quota information required by a service and a balance of a user account, where the total quota information required by the service is carried in a quota application message sent by a PCEF; when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCEF or the PCRF informs a recharging message platform to execute a subsequent processing flow.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s701: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S702: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S703: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

The policy control information includes total quota information required by the service, a service type, description information of the service data stream, quality of service (QoS) information, charging-related policy information (including a charging identifier (AF-ChargingID) of the service layer AF), and the like. The total quota information required by the service may be at least one of the following information: flow information, duration information and tariff information; other expressions of quotas are also possible, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

S704: and the PCRF decides the control strategy of the service data stream on the bearing layer according to the strategy control information to generate PCCrule.

S705: and the PCRF sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

S706: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS.

S707: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

S708: the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and if so, S709 is executed; if not, S710 is performed.

S709: the OCS draws the first quota from the balance of the user account and sends the first quota to the PCEF.

In practical application, when the determination result is yes, the OCS allocates the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, thereby implementing an online charging function; the first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

S710: the OCS informs the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S711: and the PCEF informs the PCRF that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S712: and the PCRF informs a charging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S713: and the recharging message platform informs the UE that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S714: and the UE decides whether the user equipment is charged and whether the service is continued, generates a user decision result, and sends the user decision result to a charging message platform.

In practical application, the UE decides whether the user equipment is recharged or not and whether the service is continued or not according to the insufficient balance information to generate a user decision result; the user decision result comprises that the user equipment is charged and the service is continued, or the user equipment is not charged and the service is not continued.

S715: and the recharging message platform sends the user decision result to the PCRF.

S716: the PCRF judges the user decision result, and when the user decision result is user equipment recharging and service continuation, the PCEF is informed of the recharging and service continuation of the user equipment; when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues, informing the PCEF that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues; and when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service does not continue, rejecting the service request and informing the PCEF to reject the service request.

And when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service does not continue, the PCRF deletes the relevant records of the service on the PCRF and rejects the request of the service.

S717: and the OCS receives the notice sent by the PCEF and executes preset processing according to the notice.

In practical applications, the step of the OCS executing the predetermined processing according to the notification specifically includes:

when the PCEF receives the notice that the user equipment is charged and the service is continued, the OCS is informed of charging and service continuation of the user equipment; and the OCS acquires the user account after recharging, judges whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service, and if so, draws the first quota from the balance of the user account and sends the first quota to the PCEF.

When the PCEF receives the notice that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues, the OCS is informed that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues; the OCS sends the balance of the user account to the PCEF.

When the PCEF receives the notification of the rejection of the service request, the OCS is notified of the rejection of the service request.

After receiving the notification of the service rejection request, the PCEF deletes the service-related record on the PCEF, and rejects the service request; and after receiving the notification of rejecting the service request, the OCS deletes the relevant record of the service on the OCS, and rejects the service request.

In the above S711, the PCEF may not notify the PCRF that the balance of the user account is insufficient, but directly notify a recharge message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient; the recharging message platform executes corresponding processing, and the corresponding processing refers to S713-S715 specifically; the difference is that the recharge message platform sends the user decision result to the PCEF, the PCEF notifies the OCS according to the user decision result, and the OCS executes a subsequent processing procedure, which may specifically refer to the related description in S717, and is not described herein again.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCEF or the PCRF informs the recharging message platform to execute a subsequent recharging processing flow, and the service experience degree of the user is also improved.

Example 7:

referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 7 of the present invention. In this embodiment, an OCS acquires total quota information required by a service and a balance of a user account, where the total quota information required by the service is sent by a PCRF; and when the balance of the user account is enough, the PCRF formulates the PCCrule and executes a subsequent quota issuing process.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s801: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S802: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S803: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

S804: and the PCRF acquires total quota information required by the service according to the policy control information and sends the total quota information required by the service to the OCS.

The PCRF and the OCS exchange information through a Sy interface, wherein the Sy interface is promoted by Ericsson in the 3GPP standard organization, and standardization is not completed at present.

S805: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

In practical application, the OCS receives total quota information required by the service, so as to obtain the total quota information required by the service; and the OCS inquires a user account and acquires the balance of the user account according to the user account.

S806: and the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and generates a judgment result.

S807: and the OCS sends predetermined information to the PCRF according to the judgment result, wherein the predetermined information comprises sufficient balance information and insufficient balance information.

When the judgment result is yes, sending sufficient balance information to the PCRF; and when the judgment result is negative, sending the insufficient balance information to the PCRF.

S808: and the PCRF executes predetermined processing according to the predetermined information.

And when the predetermined information is the information with enough balance, the PCRF generates the PCCrule according to the policy control information and sends the PCCrule to the PCEF.

The PCCrule comprises service data flow information, decision QoS information and adopted charging strategy information;

And when the predetermined information is insufficient balance information, the PCRF decides to reject the service request and informs the AF of rejecting the service request.

The PCEF and the OCS perform quota management according to the PCC rule, and specifically refer to the following description of S809-S810 in this embodiment.

S809: and the PCEF executes the PCCrule and sends a quota application message to the OCS.

Wherein the quota application message carries a first quota;

preferably, the quota application message carries service uninterruptible indication information or immediate event charging indication information or unit reserved event charging indication information.

S810: and the OCS sends the first quota to the PCEF according to the quota application message.

In practical application, the OCS allocates the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message, and sends the allocated first quota to the PCEF, thereby implementing an online charging function. The first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

Preferably, after acquiring total quota information required by a service, the PCRF sends a quota application message to the OCS, where the quota application message carries the total quota information required by the service and the first quota; the OCS acquires total quota information needed by the service from the quota application message, judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, deducts or reserves the total quota needed by the service from the balance of the user account if the total quota needed by the user account is enough to finish the service, and transmits the deducted or reserved total quota needed by the service to the PCRF to realize online charging; the PCRF receives the total quota required by the service, generates a PCCrule according to the total quota required by the service and sends the PCCrule to the PCEF, wherein the PCCrule contains a notice that the PCRF has received the total quota required by the service, so that the PCEF does not need to apply for the quota to the OCS any more; and the PCEF executes the PCCrule to complete the subsequent flow.

Or,

preferably, in this embodiment, after the OCS obtains the total quota information needed by the service, the OCS deducts or reserves the total quota needed by the service from the balance of the user account; after the OCS performs judgment, when the judgment result is yes, sending sufficient balance information to the PCRF, generating a quota application message by the PCRF according to the sufficient balance information, and sending the quota application message to the OCS, wherein the quota application message carries a first quota; the OCS sends the first quota to the PCRF according to the quota application message; the PCRF receives the first quota, generates a PCCrule according to the first quota and sends the PCCrule to the PCEF, wherein the PCCrule comprises a notice that the PCRF has received the first quota, so that the PCEF does not need to apply for the quota to the OCS any more; and the PCEF executes the PCCrule to complete the subsequent flow.

In this embodiment, the PCRF directly sends total quota information needed by the service to the OCS, the OCS decides whether to issue a quota according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and the PCRF formulates a pccrile only when the balance of the user account is enough for the service, and executes a subsequent quota issuing process; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 8

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 8 of the present invention. In this embodiment 8, an OCS acquires total quota information required by a service and a balance of a user account, where the total quota information required by the service is sent by a PCRF; in this embodiment, on the basis of embodiment 7, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCRF or the OCS notifies the message platform to execute the subsequent procedure.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s901: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S902: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S903: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

S904: and the PCRF acquires total quota information required by the service according to the policy control information and sends the total quota information required by the service to the OCS.

S905: and the OCS acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

S906: and the OCS judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and generates a judgment result.

S907: and the OCS sends predetermined information to the PCRF according to the judgment result, wherein the predetermined information comprises sufficient balance information and insufficient balance information.

S908: and the PCRF executes predetermined processing according to the predetermined information.

And when the predetermined information is the information with enough balance, the PCRF generates the PCCrule according to the policy control information and sends the PCCrule to the PCEF. Performing quota management by the PCEF and the OCS according to the PCC rule, specifically, performing the PCCrule by the PCEF, and sending a quota application message to the OCS, where the quota application message also carries a first quota; and the OCS draws the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF. This part is similar to the related contents in embodiment 7, and reference may be made to the related description of embodiment 7, which is not repeated herein.

And when the preset information is insufficient balance information, the PCRF sends the insufficient balance information to a recharging message platform.

S909: and the recharging message platform informs the UE that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S910: and the UE decides whether the user equipment is charged and whether the service is continued, generates a user decision result, and sends the user decision result to a charging message platform.

S911: and the recharging message platform sends the user decision result to the PCRF.

S912: the PCRF judges the user decision result, and when the user decision result is user equipment recharging and service continuation, the PCEF is informed of the recharging and service continuation of the user equipment; when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues, informing the PCEF that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues; and when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service does not continue, rejecting the service request and informing the PCEF to reject the service request.

S913: and the OCS receives the notice sent by the PCEF and executes preset processing according to the notice.

Specifically, when the determination result generated by the OCS is negative, the OCS directly notifies that the balance of the user account of the recharge message platform is insufficient, which is different from the case where the PCRF notifies that the balance of the user account of the recharge message platform is insufficient in S907. The recharging message platform performs subsequent processing, and the related process may refer to S909-S911, but the difference is that the recharging message platform sends the user decision result to the OCS, and the OCS performs the subsequent processing according to the user decision result, which may specifically refer to the related description in S913 and is not repeated herein.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCRF or the OCS notifies the message platform to execute a subsequent processing procedure, so that the service experience of the user is also improved.

Example 9

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 9 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the PCRF acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and determines the total quota information and the balance of the user account, so that the OCS implements the online charging function when the balance of the user account is sufficient.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s1001: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S1002: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S1003: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

S1004: the OCS queries a user account, acquires the balance of the user account, and sends the balance of the user account to the PCRF.

S1005: and the PCRF acquires total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

The PCRF receives policy control information sent by the AF and acquires total quota information required by a service from the policy control information;

and the PCRF receives the balance of the user account sent by the OCS so as to acquire the balance of the user account.

S1006: the PCRF judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, if so, generates a PCCrule according to the policy control information, and sends the PCCrule to a PCEF; and if not, the PCRF decides to reject the service request and informs the AF to reject the service request.

The PCEF and the OCS perform quota management according to the PCC rule, and specifically refer to the description of the following steps in this embodiment.

S1007: and after the PCCrule is executed by the PCEF, sending a quota application message to the OCS.

Wherein, the quota application message also carries a first quota;

S1008: and the OCS sends the first quota to the PCEF according to the quota application message.

In practical application, the OCS extracts the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, thereby implementing an online charging function. The first quota is a quota which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time when the user equipment initiates a service. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

In this embodiment, the PCRF decides whether to issue the quota according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and the PCRF makes the pccrile only when the balance of the user account is sufficient for the service, and executes a subsequent quota issuing procedure; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 10

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an online charging method according to embodiment 10 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the PCRF acquires the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and notifies the recharge message platform to perform subsequent processing when the balance of the user account is insufficient.

The online charging method comprises the following steps:

s1101: and establishing connection of a bearing layer between the user equipment UE and the bearing network.

S1102: and carrying out service activation between the UE and the AF.

S1103: and the AF sends the policy control information of the service data flow to the PCRF of the bearing layer.

S1104: the OCS queries a user account, acquires the balance of the user account, and sends the balance of the user account to the PCRF.

S1105: and the PCRF acquires total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account.

S1106: and the PCRF judges whether the balance of the user account is enough to finish the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and generates a judgment result.

S1107: and the PCRF executes predetermined processing according to the judgment result.

And when the judgment result is yes, the PCRF generates a PCCrule according to the policy control information and sends the PCCrule to the PCEF. Performing quota management by the PCEF and the OCS according to the PCC rule, specifically, performing the PCCrule by the PCEF, and sending a quota application message to the OCS, where the quota application message also carries a first quota; and the OCS draws the first quota from the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF. This part is similar to the related contents in embodiment 7, and reference may be made to the related description of embodiment 7, which is not repeated herein.

And if the judgment result is yes, sending the insufficient balance information to a recharging message platform.

S1108: and the recharging message platform informs the UE that the balance of the user account is insufficient.

S1109: and the UE decides whether the user equipment is charged and whether the service is continued, generates a user decision result, and sends the user decision result to a charging message platform.

S1110: and the recharging message platform sends the user decision result to the PCRF.

S1111: the PCRF judges the user decision result, and when the user decision result is user equipment recharging and service continuation, the PCEF is informed of the recharging and service continuation of the user equipment; when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues, informing the PCEF that the user equipment does not recharge and the service continues; and when the user decision result is that the user equipment does not recharge and the service does not continue, rejecting the service request and informing the PCEF to reject the service request.

S1112: and the OCS receives the notice sent by the PCEF and executes preset processing according to the notice.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCRF informs the recharging message platform to execute subsequent recharging and other processing flows, so that the service experience of the user is improved.

Example 11

Referring to fig. 12a, fig. 12a is a schematic diagram of a first structure of an online charging system OCS according to embodiment 11 of the present invention, where the online charging system OCS includes:

a first total quota obtaining module 1201, configured to obtain total quota information needed by the service.

The total quota information required by the service may be one of the following information: flow information, duration information and tariff information; other expressions of quotas are also possible, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

A first determining module 1202, configured to determine whether the balance of the user account is sufficient to complete the service according to the total quota information needed by the service and the balance of the user account, and generate a determination result.

And an online charging module 1203, configured to execute quota management to implement online charging when the determination result is yes.

In practical application, when the determination result is yes, the OCS performs quota management to implement online charging, and specifically, the OCS allocates a first quota in the balance of the user account according to the quota application message and sends the first quota to the PCEF, and performs online charging according to the first quota. The first quota is a traffic volume which is applied by the PCEF to the OCS in real time according to a service demand of a user when the user initiates a service, and specifically, may be carried by a quota application message. And when the quota application is successful, the service data stream starts to be transmitted.

The first determining module 1202 includes a balance obtaining unit and a determining unit, which is shown in fig. 12 b.

The balance obtaining unit 1202a is configured to query a user account and obtain the balance of the user account according to the user account.

The determining unit 1202b is configured to determine whether the balance of the user account is sufficient to complete the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and generate a determination result.

In this embodiment, the online charging system decides whether to execute quota management according to total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and executes quota management only when the balance of the user account is enough for the service requirement and issues quota no matter which online charging mode is adopted; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 12

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a first structure of an online charging system OCS according to embodiment 12 of the present invention. In this embodiment, on the basis of embodiment 11, the first total quota obtaining module 1201 and the online charging module 1203 are improved. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The first total balance obtaining module 1201 includes a first total quota obtaining unit 1201 a; correspondingly, the online charging module 1203 includes a first sending unit 1203a and a first online charging unit 1203 b;

the first total quota acquiring unit 1201a is configured to receive total quota information required by a service, which is sent by a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF;

the first sending unit 1203a is configured to, when the determination result is yes, send sufficient balance information to the PCRF, so that the PCRF generates and sends a policy and charging control PCC rule to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF according to the sufficient balance information;

the first online charging unit 1203b is configured to perform quota management with the PCEF according to the PCC rule.

Alternatively, the first total balance obtaining module 1201 may include a first total quota obtaining unit; correspondingly, the online charging module 1203 may include a first total quota processing unit, a balance sufficient sending unit, and a first quota managing unit;

the first total quota acquiring unit is used for receiving total quota information required by the service sent by the policy and charging rule function entity (PCRF);

the first total quota processing unit is used for deducting or reserving the total quota needed by the service from the balance of the user account according to the total quota information needed by the service;

the sufficient balance sending unit is used for sending sufficient balance information to the PCRF, so that the PCRF generates and sends a quota application message to the OCS according to the sufficient balance information;

and the first quota management unit executes quota management according to the quota application message and the total quota required by the deducted or reserved service.

Or, the first total balance obtaining module 1201 may include a quota application receiving unit and a second total quota obtaining unit, and correspondingly, the online charging module may specifically include a second total quota processing unit and a second quota managing unit;

the quota application receiving unit is used for receiving a quota application message sent by the PCRF, wherein the quota application message carries total quota information required by a service;

the second total quota acquiring unit is configured to acquire total quota information required by the service from the quota application message;

the second total quota processing unit deducts or reserves the total quota needed by the service in the balance of the user account according to the total quota information needed by the service;

and the second quota management unit executes quota management according to the quota application message and the total quota required by the deducted or reserved service.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a sending module 1204, configured to send, when the determination result is negative, insufficient balance information to the PCRF, so that the PCRF decides to reject the request for the service and notifies the AF of rejecting the request for the service.

Example 13

Referring to fig. 14a, fig. 14a is a schematic structural diagram of an online charging system OCS according to embodiment 13 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first total quota acquiring module 1201 is improved on the basis of embodiment 11. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The first total quota acquiring module 1201 includes:

a first receiving unit 1201b, configured to receive a quota application message sent by a PCEF, where the quota application message carries total quota information required by a service;

a third total quota obtaining unit 1201c, configured to obtain total quota information needed by the service from the quota application message.

The OCS further includes an application failure module 1205:

the application failure module 1205 is configured to send insufficient balance information to the PCEF when the determination result is negative, and the quota application fails.

Alternatively, the online charging system OCS further includes a decision notification module 1206, as shown in fig. 14b, fig. 14b is a second schematic structural diagram of an online charging system OCS embodiment provided in embodiment 13 of the present invention:

the decision notification module 1206 is configured to, when the determination result is negative, decide to reject the service request, and notify the PCEF, the PCRF, and the application function entity AF of rejecting the service request.

Alternatively, the online charging system OCS further includes a first notification module 1207, as shown in fig. 14c, where fig. 14c is a schematic diagram of a third structure of an online charging system OCS embodiment according to embodiment 13 of the present invention:

the first notifying module 1207 is configured to, when the determination result is negative, notify the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient, so that the PCEF makes a decision to reject the request of the service and notifies the OCS, the PCRF, and the AF of rejecting the request of the service.

Alternatively, the online charging system OCS further includes a second notification module 1208, as shown in fig. 14d, fig. 14d is a fourth schematic structural diagram of an online charging system OCS embodiment provided in embodiment 13 of the present invention:

the second notifying module 1208, configured to notify the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative, so that the PCRF decides to reject the service request according to the notification that the balance of the user account is insufficient sent by the PCEF, and notifies the AF, the PCEF, and the OCS of rejecting the service request.

In this embodiment, the OCS decides whether to issue a quota according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and regardless of which online charging mode is used, the quota is issued only when the balance of the user account is sufficient for the service; compared with the prior art, the method and the device can not generate charge dispute, and improve the service experience of the user.

Example 14

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS in an online charging system according to embodiment 14 of the present invention. In this embodiment, on the basis of embodiment 11, the first total quota obtaining module 1201 and the online charging module 1203 are improved. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The first total quota acquiring module 1201 comprises a first total quota acquiring unit 1201 a; the function of the first total quota acquiring unit 1201a is similar to that of the first total quota acquiring unit 1201a in embodiment 12, and reference may be specifically made to the related description in embodiment 12, and details are not described here. Correspondingly, the online charging module 1203 includes a first sending unit 1203a and a first online charging unit 1203b, and functions of the first sending unit 1203a and the first online charging unit 1203b are similar to those of the first sending unit 1203a and the first online charging unit 1203b in embodiment 12, which may specifically refer to the relevant description in embodiment 12 and are not described herein again.

Alternatively, the first total balance obtaining module 1201 may include a first total quota obtaining unit, where a function of the first total quota obtaining unit is similar to that of the first total quota obtaining unit in embodiment 12; correspondingly, the online charging module 1203 may include a first total quota processing unit, a sufficient balance sending unit, and a first quota managing unit, and functions of the first total quota processing unit, the sufficient balance sending unit, and the first quota managing unit are similar to those of the first total quota processing unit, the sufficient balance sending unit, and the first quota managing unit in embodiment 12; reference may be made to the description related to embodiment 12, and details are not repeated herein.

Or, the first total balance obtaining module 1201 may include a quota application receiving unit and a second total quota obtaining unit, where functions of the quota application receiving unit and the second total quota obtaining unit are similar to those of the quota application receiving unit and the second total quota obtaining unit in embodiment 12; correspondingly, the online charging module may specifically include a second total quota processing unit and a second quota managing unit, where functions of the second total quota processing unit and the second quota managing unit are similar to those of the second total quota processing unit and the second quota managing unit in embodiment 12; reference may be made to the description related to embodiment 12, and details are not repeated herein.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a third notifying module 1209, configured to notify the recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative;

a first receiving module 1210, configured to receive a user decision result sent by a recharge message platform;

a first processing module 1211, configured to determine the user decision result, obtain a user account after charging when the user decision result is UE charging and a service continues, determine whether the balance of the user account after charging is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, allocate the first quota in the balance of the user account after charging to the PCEF; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF; and when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, sending insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply quota.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the message platform is notified to execute a subsequent processing flow, so that the service experience of the user is improved.

Example 15

Referring to fig. 16, fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 15 of the present invention. In this embodiment, on the basis of embodiment 11, the first total quota obtaining module 1201 and the online charging module 1203 are improved. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a fourth notification module 1212, configured to notify, by the PCRF, that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative;

a second processing module 1213, configured to, when receiving the UE-recharged and service-continuing notification sent by the PCEF, obtain a recharged user account, determine whether the balance of the recharged user account is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, perform quota management to implement online charging; when receiving a notice that the UE is not recharged and the service is continued, which is sent by the PCEF, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; rejecting the request for service when receiving the notification sent by the PCEF rejecting the request for service.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCRF informs the message platform to execute a subsequent processing flow, so that the service experience of the user is improved.

Example 16

Referring to fig. 17, fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 16 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first total balance obtaining module 1201 is improved on the basis of embodiment 11. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The first total balance obtaining module 1201 includes: a first receiving unit 1201b and a third total quota acquiring unit 1201 c; the functions of the first receiving unit 1201b and the third total quota acquiring unit 1201c are similar to those of the first receiving unit 1201b and the third total quota acquiring unit 1201c in embodiment 13, and specific reference may be made to the relevant description in embodiment 13, and details are not repeated here.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a fifth notification module 1214, configured to notify the recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative.

A second receiving module 1215, configured to receive the user decision result sent by the recharge message platform.

A third processing module 1216, configured to determine the user decision result, obtain a user account after recharging when the user decision result is UE recharging and a service continues, determine whether the balance of the user account after recharging is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, perform quota management to implement online charging; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, the balance of the user account is sent to the PCEF, and online charging is realized; and when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, sending insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply quota.

Example 17

Referring to fig. 18, fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 17 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first total quota acquiring module 1201 is improved on the basis of embodiment 11. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a sixth notifying module 1217, configured to notify, through the PCEF, that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative.

A fourth processing module 1218, configured to, when receiving the notification that the UE is recharged and the service continues, obtain a recharged user account, determine whether a balance of the recharged user account is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, perform quota management to implement online charging; when receiving the notice that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; rejecting the request for service when receiving the notification of the rejection for the request for service.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCEF informs the recharging message platform to execute a subsequent recharging processing flow, and the service experience degree of the user is also improved.

Example 18

Referring to fig. 19, fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of an OCS embodiment of an online charging system according to embodiment 18 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first total quota acquiring module 1201 is improved on the basis of embodiment 11. The first determining module 1202 in this embodiment may include a balance obtaining unit 1202a and a determining unit 1202b, where functions of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b are similar to those of the balance obtaining unit 1202a and the determining unit 1202b in embodiment 11, and reference may be specifically made to the relevant description in embodiment 11, and details are not repeated here.

The online charging system OCS further includes:

a seventh notifying module 1219, configured to notify, through the PCEF and the PCRF, that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative.

A fifth processing module 1220, configured to, when receiving the UE-recharged and service-continuing notification sent by the PCEF, obtain a recharged user account, determine whether the balance of the recharged user account is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, perform quota management to implement online charging; when receiving a notice that the UE is not recharged and the service is continued, which is sent by the PCEF, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; rejecting the request for service when receiving the notification sent by the PCEF rejecting the request for service.

In addition, when the balance of the user account is insufficient, the PCRF informs the recharging message platform to execute a subsequent recharging processing flow, and the service experience degree of the user is also improved.

Example 19

Referring to fig. 20a, fig. 20a is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF, according to embodiment 19 of the present invention, where the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF includes:

a second total quota obtaining module 2001, configured to receive policy control information sent by an application function entity AF, and obtain total quota information required by a service from the policy control information.

The balance obtaining module 2002 is configured to receive a balance of the user account sent by the online charging system OCS.

A second judging module 2003, configured to judge whether the balance of the user account is sufficient to complete the service according to the total quota information required by the service and the balance of the user account, and generate a judgment result.

And a rule processing module 2004, configured to generate a PCC rule and send the PCC rule to a policy and charging enforcement function entity PCEF when the determination result is yes.

The PCRF further includes a sixth processing module 2005, as shown in fig. 20 b:

a sixth processing module 1905, configured to send insufficient balance information to the AF when the determination result is negative, so that the AF rejects the service request.

Example 20

Referring to fig. 21, fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a policy and charging rules function entity PCRF according to embodiment 20 of the present invention, where the policy and charging rules function entity PCRF includes: a second total quota obtaining module 2001, a balance obtaining module 2002, a second judging module 2003, and a rule processing module 2004, where functions of the second total quota obtaining module 2001, the balance obtaining module 2002, the second judging module 2003, and the rule processing module 2004 are similar to those of the second total quota obtaining module 2001, the balance obtaining module 2002, the second judging module 2003, and the rule processing module 2004 in embodiment 19, and specific reference may be made to the related description in embodiment 19, and details thereof are not repeated here.

The policy and charging rules function PCRF further comprises:

an eighth notifying module 2006, configured to notify the recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative.

A third receiving module 2007, configured to receive the user decision result sent by the recharge message platform.

A determination notifying module 2008, configured to determine the user decision result, and notify the pceffe of the UE recharging and service continuation when the user decision result is the UE recharging and service continuation; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, informing the PCEFUE that the UE does not recharge and the service continues; and when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, notifying the PCEF of rejecting the request of the service.

It should be noted that, in the present specification, the embodiments are all described in a progressive manner, each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments may be referred to each other. For the device-like embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is simple, and for the relevant points, reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiment.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps in the method for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a program instructing associated hardware, and the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium mentioned above may be a read-only memory, a magnetic or optical disk, etc.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.

Claims

1. An online charging method, characterized in that the method comprises:

wherein the performing quota management comprises:

or,

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the judgment result is negative, the OCS decides to reject the service request and informs the PCEF, the PCRF and the AF of rejecting the service request;

or,

when the judgment result is negative, the OCS informs the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient, so that the PCEF makes a decision to reject the service request and informs the OCS, the PCRF and the AF of rejecting the service request;

or,

and when the judgment result is negative, the OCS informs the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient, so that the PCRF makes a decision to reject the service request according to the insufficient balance notification of the user account sent by the PCEF and informs the AF, the PCEF and the OCS of rejecting the service request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the judgment result is negative, the OCS informs a recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient;

the recharging message platform informs User Equipment (UE) that the balance of the user account is insufficient, so that the UE makes a decision and sends a user decision result to the recharging message platform;

the recharging message platform receives the user decision result and sends the user decision result to the OCS;

the OCS judges the user decision result, when the user decision result is UE recharging and the service continues, a user account after recharging is obtained, whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service is judged, if yes, quota management is executed, and online charging is realized; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, the balance of the user account is sent to the PCEF, and online charging is realized; and when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, sending insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply quota.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the judgment result is negative, the OCS informs a recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient through the PCEF;

the recharging message platform informs the UE that the balance of the user account is insufficient, so that the UE makes a decision and sends a user decision result to the recharging message platform;

the recharging message platform receives the user decision result and sends the user decision result to the PCEF;

the PCEF judges the user decision result, and when the user decision result is UE recharging and service continuation, the OCSIE is informed of recharging and service continuation; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, informing the OCSIE that the UE does not recharge and the service continues; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, informing the OCS of rejecting the request of the service;

when the OCS receives the notice that the UE is recharged and the service continues, the OCS acquires a user account after recharging, judges whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service, and if so, executes quota management to realize online charging;

when the OCS receives the notice that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, the OCS sends the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging;

rejecting the request for the service when the OCS receives the notification rejecting the request for the service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the judgment result is negative, the OCS informs a recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient through the PCEF and the PCRF;

the recharging message platform receives the user decision result and sends the user decision result to the PCRF;

the PCRF judges the user decision result, and when the user decision result is UE recharging and service continuation, the PCEFUE is informed of recharging and service continuation; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, informing the PCEFUE that the UE does not recharge and the service continues; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, notifying the PCEF of rejecting the request of the service;

when the OCS receives the notice that the UE is recharged and the service continues, which is sent by the PCEF, the OCS acquires a user account after recharging, judges whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service, and if so, executes quota management to realize online charging;

when the OCS receives a notice that the UE is not charged and the service is continued, which is sent by the PCEF, the OCS sends the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging;

rejecting the request for service when the OCS receives the notification sent by the PCEF rejecting the request for service.

6. An OCS (online charging System), comprising: the system comprises a first total quota obtaining module, a first judging module and an online charging module; wherein the first total quota acquiring module comprises: the first determining module includes: a balance acquisition unit and a judgment unit;

wherein the online charging module executing quota management comprises:

or,

7. The OCS of claim 6, further comprising:

a decision notification module, configured to, if the determination result is negative, decide to reject the service request, and notify the PCEF, the PCRF, and the AF of the service rejection request;

or,

a first notification module, configured to notify the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative, so that the PCEF makes a decision to reject the request for the service and notifies the OCS, the PCRF, and the AF of rejecting the request for the service;

or,

and a second notification module, configured to notify the PCEF that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative, so that the PCRF decides to reject the service request according to the notification that the balance of the user account is insufficient, which is sent by the PCEF, and notifies the AF, the PCEF, and the OCS of rejecting the service request.

8. The OCS of claim 6, further comprising:

a fifth notification module, configured to notify the recharge message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient when the determination result is negative;

the second receiving module is used for receiving the user decision result sent by the recharging message platform;

the third processing module is used for judging the user decision result, acquiring a user account after recharging when the user decision result is that the User Equipment (UE) recharges and the service continues, judging whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service or not, and if so, executing quota management to realize online charging; when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, the balance of the user account is sent to the PCEF, and online charging is realized; and when the user decision result is that the UE does not recharge and the service does not continue, sending insufficient balance information to the PCEF, and failing to apply quota.

9. The OCS of claim 6, further comprising:

a sixth notification module, configured to notify, when the determination result is negative, a recharge message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient through the PCEF;

the fourth processing module is used for acquiring the user account after recharging when receiving the notice that the UE recharges and the service continues, judging whether the balance of the user account after recharging is enough to finish the service or not, and if so, executing quota management to realize online charging; when receiving a notice that the UE does not recharge and the service continues, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; rejecting the request for service when receiving a notification rejecting the request for service.

10. The OCS of claim 6, further comprising:

a seventh notifying module, configured to notify, when the determination result is negative, a recharging message platform that the balance of the user account is insufficient through the PCEF and the PCRF;

a fifth processing module, configured to, when receiving a notification that the UE is recharged and the service continues, sent by the PCEF, obtain a user account after recharging, determine whether a balance of the user account after recharging is sufficient to complete the service, and if so, perform quota management, thereby implementing online charging; when receiving a notice that the UE is not recharged and the service is continued, which is sent by the PCEF, sending the balance of the user account to the PCEF to realize online charging; rejecting the request for service when receiving a notification sent by the PCEF rejecting the request for service.