KR100576377B1 - Minimizing Data Service Charge Error in Wireless Communication System - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for minimizing data service charging errors in a wireless communication system. The present invention relates to a method for minimizing errors in charging data caused by a mismatch of data transmission rates between a radio access network (RAN) and a data core network (DCN), which is a wired network. In the data service charging error minimization method, when overflow occurs in a data buffer in which data transmitted from a packet data service node (PDSN) is accumulated, overflow data accumulating the amount of overflowed data in a radio access network (RAN) Accumulation step; At the start of the data call release procedure, in consideration of the amount of remaining data and the amount of overflowed data, the residue that reports the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) to the PDSN. Data reporting step; And a charging correction step in which the PDSN corrects the charging data based on the 'number of data packets that the RAN did not transmit to the MS' reported from the RAN.

Billing error, overflow data, residual data, billing data

Description

Data service assessment error minimization method in wireless telecommunication system             

1 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of generating a data service charging error due to a data buffer overflow of a radio access network (RAN) according to the prior art;

2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of generating a data service charging error due to call release in a state where data accumulated in a data buffer of a radio access network (RAN) exists according to the prior art;

3 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a wireless communication system to which the present invention is applied;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of minimizing data service charging error according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawing

10: mobile communication terminal (MS) 20: wireless access network (RAN)

21: base station (BTS) 22: base station controller (BSC)

23: packet controller (PCF) 30: packet data service node (PDSN)

40: authorization / certification / billing (AAA) server 50: home agent (HA)

The present invention relates to a method of minimizing data service charging error in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mismatch of data transmission rates between a radio access network (RAN) and a data core network (DCN). The present invention relates to a data service charging error minimization method capable of minimizing an error of billing data generated by a computer and a computer readable recording medium storing a program for realizing the method.

For better understanding, a process of generating a data service charging error according to the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

The wireless communication system includes a mobile station (MS) 10, a base station transceiver subsystem (BTS) 21, a base station controller (BSC) 22, and a packet controller (PCF). A function 23 is organically connected between a Radio Access Network (RAN) 20 and a Data Core Network (DCN), which is a wired network.

Here, the wired data core network (CN) includes a packet data serving node (PDSN) 30, an authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40, and a home agent (HA: Home). Agent) 50 or the like.

Functions of the components of the wireless communication system will be described in more detail below.

Typically, data transmitted from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 to the packet controller (PCF) 23 of the radio access network (RAN) 20 is transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS). Prior to transmission to the 10), it is preferentially stored in the base station controller (BSC) 22 of the radio access network (RAN) 20.

The reason is that the transmission speed of public network cannot be the same as that of wired network. That is, since the transmission rate of data transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 is different from the data transmission speed in the data core network (DCN), which is a wired network, the radio access network (RAN) The data is first stored before the data is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 at 20.

In general, the wireless communication charging method may be divided into a circuit based charging method and a packet based charging method. The circuit-based billing method mainly calculates the fee by measuring time, and the packet-based billing method mainly calculates the fee by measuring the delivery volume of the packet. Of course, there is also a flat fee. Packet-based billing is a technology that is attracting much attention in recent years regarding the activation of wireless Internet service because it is suitable for connectionless services such as Internet service and low cost. Of these, the present invention relates to packet-based charging schemes.

The collection of charging data in the packet data call supported by the wireless communication system is performed in the packet data service node (PDSN) 30, and is performed by the mobile communication terminal (MS) through the wireless access network (RAN) 20. By transmitting the number of Data Packets (Data Packets) transmitted / received to the < RTI ID = 0.0 > 10) < / RTI >

However, the accuracy of the number of data packets transmitted and received with the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 through the radio access network (RAN) 20 may vary greatly depending on the data transmission speed and the quality of the public network.

Therefore, as described above, since the transmission speed of the public network cannot be the same as the transmission speed of the wired network, that is, the transmission speed and the wired network of data transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10. Since the data transmission speed in the DCN is different, the data is preferentially stored in the data buffer before the data is transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10. .

By the way, the number of data packets transmitted from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30, which is the basis of charging, to the radio access network (RAN) 20, actually moves in the radio access network (RAN) 20. It may be much larger than the number of packet data transmitted to the communication terminal (MS) 10.

This problem is caused by a large amount of data from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 exceeding the size of the data buffer set in the radio access network (RAN) 20 as shown in FIG. 20 may occur when received. That is, when overflow occurs because the data storage space (data buffer) of the radio access network (RAN) 20 is insufficient, a charging error occurs as much as the amount of discarded data (101).

In addition, the problem may occur when there is data accumulated in the radio access network (RAN) 20 at the time when the data call is released 201 as shown in FIG. In other words, when there is data accumulated in the radio access network (RAN) 20 at the time when the data call is released, a charging error occurs as much as the accumulated data amount (remaining data amount) (202). In other words, if the call is released in the state where data accumulated in the radio access network (RAN) 20 exists, a charging error occurs as much as the amount of residual data accumulated in the data storage space (data buffer).

Therefore, in recent years when wireless data services are becoming more common, there is an urgent need for a method of minimizing the above billing error.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, and to minimize the error of the billing data caused by the mismatch of data transmission rate between the radio access network (RAN) and the data core network (DCN) that is a wired network, data service billing error It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of minimizing and a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for realizing the method.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, it will be readily appreciated that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the claims.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for minimizing data service charging error in a wireless communication system, wherein an overflow occurs in a data buffer in which data transmitted from a packet data service node (PDSN) is accumulated. An overflow data accumulation step of accumulating the amount of data overflowed in the RAN); At the start of the data call release procedure, in consideration of the amount of remaining data and the amount of overflowed data, the residue that reports the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) to the PDSN. Data reporting step; And a charging correction step in which the PDSN corrects the charging data based on the 'number of data packets which the RAN did not transmit to the MS' reported from the RAN.

Meanwhile, the present invention provides a wireless access network (RAN) when an overflow occurs in a wireless communication system including a processor in a data buffer in which data transmitted from a packet data service node (PDSN) is accumulated. An overflow data accumulation function for accumulating the amount of overflowed data in the system; At the start of the data call release procedure, in consideration of the amount of remaining data and the amount of overflowed data, the residue that reports the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) to the PDSN. Data reporting function; And a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing a billing correction function for correcting billing data based on the 'number of data packets the RAN did not transmit to the MS' reported from the RAN. to provide.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. There will be. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a wireless communication system to which the present invention is applied.

Radio access network (RAN) 20 is composed of a packet controller (PCF) 23, a base station controller (BSC) 22, a base station (BTS) 21, and visitor location register (VLR) (drawings) Mobility management and authentication of a mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 is provided through a Home Location Register (HLR) (not shown) and a Home Location Register (HLR).

Here, the base station controller (BSC) 22 controls and manages one or more base stations (BTS) 21, traffic and signaling methods associated with call processing, mobility management, and mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 management, etc. Do this.

In addition, the packet controller (PCF) 23 may exist inside the base station controller (BSC) 22, may be implemented as a separate system to the outside, and the mobile communication terminal delivered from the radio access network (RAN) 20 The data of the (MS) 10 are connected to a packet data service node (PDSN) 30.

The packet data service node (PDSN) 30 performs a foreign agent (FA) function. The packet data service node (PDSN) 30 delivers incoming and outgoing packets for packet data of the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 to an appropriate path. (MS) performs the termination role of setting and managing the connection layer protocol of the (10).

Authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40 provides Internet protocol functionality to support authentication, authorization, and billing functions.

The home agent (HA) 50 manages the IP address of the external agent (FA) as a table of location information on the mobile IP, and transmits transmission data for the subscriber through tunnel and encryption as necessary. .

When the basic authentication of the data call is completed, the radio access network (RAN) 20 establishes a virtual connection for the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 and the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) protocol.

The packet data service node (PDSN) 30 establishes a point-to-point protocol (PPP) connection with a mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 and authorizes, authenticates, and charges (AAA) servers. Through 40, the subscriber authentication and billing information is transmitted.

In providing the mobile IP service, the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 performs an external agent (FA) function, and the home agent (HA) 50 existing in the home network of the mobile communication terminal IP address provides a mobile IP. It performs functions such as location information management and tunnel setting for

In particular, the packet controller (PCF) 23 is an interworking system of a radio access network (RAN) 20 for interworking with a packet network, and the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 is a radio access network (RAN) ( It functions as an access node for connecting the data subscriber connected through the network 20 to the packet network, and the radio access network (RAN) 20 and the packet network are completely separated from each other.

Accordingly, the packet controller (PCF) 23 may exist inside the base station controller (BSC) 22 system or may be implemented as a separate system. However, the packet controller (PCF) 23 may be implemented as an independent system mainly for providing effective mobility in the mobile network. have.

Looking at the function of the packet controller (PCF) 23 in more detail, the data of the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 In order to make a connection, a connection method between a radio access network (RAN) and a packet data network (PDN) called an "RP interface" is used, and a subscriber-specific virtual link connection for data transmission in an RP connection Tunneling of user data through GRE protocol encapsulation and decapsulation. In addition, the temporary storage for transmitting the link layer packets to be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 received from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 over the air interface (Air Interface) ( Buffer) and packet segmentation function.

Packet data service node (PDSN) 30 performs PPP / GRE protocol processing to process packets received from packet controller (PCF) 23.

By the way, in packet charging, the most important devices are the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 and the authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40. The functions of these two devices 30 and 40 and the contents of the messages sent and received are defined by the standard. The functions and messages related to charging in the two devices 30 and 40 are as follows.

The packet data service node 30 is a device through which a packet requesting service authentication and packet data for an actual authenticated user are passed. The packet data service node 30 accepts an authentication / authorization message as it is. To pass on. The amount of packets transmitted for the actual service is counted during the session, and the result is notified to the authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40.

An authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40 is a device for authentication, authorization acceptance, packet count measurement, etc. for a service, and processes an authentication or authorization acceptance message sent by a packet data service node (PDSN) 30. It is responsible for classifying the packet usage for the user. In particular, the authorization / authentication / billing (AAA) server 40 may obtain necessary information by using parameters of an account request message and a bearer data message.

Here, the accounting request message has a terminal address (IP) and a network access identifier (NAI) information about the packet. Using this information, the mapping relationship between IP and NAI is defined, and billing-related information that is found through bearer data message is classified by NAI.

In addition, a bearer data message has a source IP, a destination IP, a direction flag, a number of packets transmitted, a source port, and a destination port information. In this case, the corresponding port is used to distinguish a service in a content provider CP.

However, as described above, since the transmission rate of data transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 is different from the data transmission rate in the data core network (DCN), which is a wired network, Prior to transmitting data from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10, data is preferentially stored in a data buffer. In this process, the data storage space of the radio access network (RAN) 20 is stored. If the overflow occurs due to lack of (data buffer), charging error occurs as much as the amount of discarded data, or if the call is released in the presence of accumulated data in the radio access network (RAN) 20, the data storage space (data buffer) The charging error occurs as much as the amount of residual data accumulated in the).

In order to minimize this charging error, the number of data packets transmitted by the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 to the radio access network (RAN) 20 and the radio access network (RAN) 20 are mobile communication. The function of correcting the number of data packets transmitted to the terminal (MS) 10 is required. In the present invention, the data storage space (data buffer) of the radio access network (RAN) 20 is provided through the correction function. If this lack (see Fig. 1), or when there is data remaining in the radio access network (RAN) 20 when the data call is released (see Fig. 2) can minimize the charging error.

Looking at this in detail.

When the wireless connection is established and the session is activated and charging is started, data is transmitted from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 to the packet controller (PCF) 23 of the radio access network (RAN) 20.

At this time, the radio access network (RAN) 20 monitors the overflow of the data buffer in real time. If an overflow occurs due to insufficient data storage space (data buffer) (401), the overflow data amount is determined. Accumulate (402).

That is, the radio access network (RAN) 20 accumulates the amount of overflowed data that is insufficient to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10 due to lack of data storage space (data buffer). In other words, each time the radio access network (RAN) 20 receives data from the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 above the data buffer size, it accumulates the overflowed data amount.

This data overflow phenomenon may occur at any time when data is transmitted from the radio access network (RAN) 20 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10, and thus accumulates the overflowed data amount at each time.

Then, at the beginning of the data call release procedure (403), the radio access network (RAN) 20 adds the amount of data accumulated in the current data buffer and the amount of overflowed data, and finally The radio access network (RAN) 20 calculates the number of data packets not transmitted to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10, and reports them to the packet data service node (PDSN) 30 (405).

At this time, the radio access network (RAN) 20 reports the residual data to the packet data service node (PDSN) 30, and the radio access network (RAN) 20 sends the MS 10 to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10. A new message capable of transmitting the number of data packets that could not be transmitted can be notified or a number of data packets that the radio access network (RAN) 20 cannot transmit to the MS 10 can be transmitted to an existing message. You can notify it by adding a message field.

Next, in the packet data service node (PDSN) 30, a data packet that the 'RAN 20 reported from the radio access network (RAN) 20 does not transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) 10. The billing data is corrected based on the number '(406).

By doing so, the final call processing procedure is completed (407).

As described above, the method of the present invention may be implemented as a program and stored in a recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.) in a computer-readable form. Since this process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art will not be described in more detail.

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is not limited by the drawings.

The present invention as described above, can minimize the charging error due to the difference between the data transmission speed of the public network and the data transmission speed of the wired network, in particular to minimize the charging error due to the data buffer overflow (Overflow) of the radio access network (RAN) In addition, there is an effect that the charging error due to the data remaining in the radio access network (RAN) at the time when the data call is released.

Claims (3)

In the data service charging error minimization method in a wireless communication system, An overflow data accumulation step of accumulating the amount of overflowed data in the radio access network (RAN) when an overflow occurs in the 'data buffer in which data transmitted from the packet data service node PDSN is accumulated'; At the start of the data call release procedure, in consideration of the amount of remaining data and the amount of overflowed data, the residue that reports the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) to the PDSN. Data reporting step; And A billing correction step in which the PDSN corrects the billing data based on the 'number of data packets that the RAN did not transmit to the MS' reported from the RAN; Method of minimizing data service charging error in a wireless communication system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The method of reporting the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the MS in the residual data reporting step, A method of minimizing data service charging error in a wireless communication system, characterized in that reported between the RAN and the PDSN through a newly defined message or a message field added to an existing message. In order to minimize the data service charge error, in a wireless communication system having a processor, An overflow data accumulation function for accumulating the amount of overflowed data in the radio access network (RAN) when an overflow occurs in the 'data buffer in which data transmitted from the packet data service node PDSN is accumulated'; At the start of the data call release procedure, in consideration of the amount of remaining data and the amount of overflowed data, the residue that reports the number of data packets that the RAN failed to transmit to the mobile communication terminal (MS) to the PDSN. Data reporting function; And A billing correction function for correcting billing data based on the 'number of data packets that the RAN did not transmit to the MS' reported by the PDSN. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing this.

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