KR100878013B1 - Service billing system and method in mobile communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to billing for multimedia data services in a mobile communication network, and the service billing system according to the present invention retains subscriber information accessible to a network that is limitedly accessible, and requests for access to the network by a mobile terminal. And a service accounting processing device for processing billing by data traffic between the mobile terminal and the network based on the state management agent for processing the request and the subscriber information.

Service Billing, WCDMA

Description

System and method for service charging in mobile communication network

1 is an exemplary view showing the structure of a service billing system according to the prior art.

2 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a service charging method according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a service charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a service billing processing device shown in FIG. 3.

5 is a diagram illustrating a call connection method for performing service charging according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is an exemplary diagram illustrating a subscriber registration method in the call connection method shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6B is an exemplary diagram illustrating a call connection notification method in the call connection method illustrated in FIG. 5.

7 is a diagram illustrating a call connection method for performing service charging according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a diagram illustrating a call release method for terminating a service charge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Main Parts of Drawings>

310: mobile terminal

320: SGSN

330: GGSN

350: health management agent

360: service charging processing unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to service billing in a mobile communication network, and more particularly, to a service billing system and a method for more efficiently performing billing for service use when a user uses a multimedia data service using a mobile communication terminal.

In the related art, there is a limitation in that a multimedia data service through a communication network can be used only by using a computer at a fixed position. However, the development of communication technology and the improvement of the economic level have made it possible to use various types of multimedia data services on the move without restriction of location by using mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones and PDA phones. In addition, a method of paying a service fee by a user using a multimedia data service is becoming more diverse.

1 is an exemplary view showing a structure of a service billing system according to the related art, and shows a structure of a service billing system in a WCDMA environment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional service charging system includes a base station, a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Serving GPRS Supporting Node (hereinafter referred to as 'SGSN'), a Gateway GPRS Support Node ( Gateway GPRS Suppoting Node (hereinafter referred to as 'GGSN'), router, billing server and communication network, the conventional service billing system includes a number of SGSN and GGSN, each GGSN through a router connected to it Connect to the network.

The base station is a primary access point of the mobile terminal, and transmits and receives various signals and data with the mobile terminal, and the radio network controller controls the base station to manage radio resources.

The SGSN is a node in charge of data packet transmission with the mobile terminal, and can establish and manage a session so that the mobile terminal can use the service. SGSN can perform tasks such as packet routing and transmission, mobility management, logical link management and authentication.

GGSN acts as a gateway to provide services. The GGSN may deliver data provided from the communication network to the SGSN which has established a session with the mobile terminal, and may assign an IP address to the mobile terminal. The GGSN also provides charging information for the mobile terminal to the charging server. Examples of the billing information include an IP address assigned to the mobile terminal, a service type to which the mobile terminal is subscribed, and the like.

The billing server calculates a fee for service use of the mobile terminal according to the billing information provided from the GGSN.

The communication network includes a general Internet network or an in-house portal network unique to a communication provider.

First, when a user wants to use various services provided from a communication network, the mobile terminal sends a PDP (Active PDP Context Request) message, and the transmitted message passes through a base station and a wireless network controller. Delivered to SGSN. Then, the SGSN sends a Create PDP Context Request to the GGSN to request the PDP context setting.

The GGSN allocates an IP address to be used by the mobile terminal, and when a PDP context is normally generated, a GTP tunnel can be created between the SGSN and the GGSN by transmitting a Create PDP Context Response message to the SGSN. . The creation of the GTP tunnel enables the actual data packet transmission. In addition, the GGSN may request that the mobile terminal handle the charging when the mobile terminal uses the service provided by the communication network by transmitting the charging request message to the charging server, and may receive a response message from the charging server. When the charging server receives the charging request message from the GGSN, the charging server may start charging processing.

Upon receiving the PDP context creation response message, the SGSN transmits an PDP Activation Accept message to the mobile terminal via the radio network controller and the base station, thereby creating a radio channel between the mobile terminal and the base station.

Accordingly, a passage through which a mobile terminal can use a service provided from a communication network is established, and a user can use a variety of services by accessing a general internet or in-house portal network using a mobile terminal, and billing for service use by a billing server. This is processed.

However, according to the conventional service charging system as described above, the charging server does not perform charging processing by measuring the data packet flow, that is, the data traffic between the GGSN and the router in real time, but tapping, that is, copying the data traffic. Since the billing process is performed based on the copied information, a problem may occur in the billing process when copying is not performed properly.

In addition, the conventional service billing system has a structure that it is difficult to apply a specific billing method for each carrier, there is a problem that as many billing servers as the number of GGSN constituting a mobile communication network.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a service billing system and method for measuring a data packet related to a service in real time to minimize errors in billing processing for service use and to easily apply a billing method specialized for each service provider.

The object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned object, and other objects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the service billing system according to the present invention retains subscriber information accessible to a network with limited access, and is a state management agent for processing a connection request to access the network by a mobile terminal; And a service charging processing device for processing charging by data traffic between the mobile terminal and the network based on an access request and the subscriber information.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the service billing method according to the present invention comprises the steps of (a) registering the subscriber information of the subscriber that is accessible to the network with limited access, and receives a request for access of the mobile terminal to the network; And (c) processing charging by data traffic between the mobile terminal and the network based on the access request and the registered subscriber information.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the service billing method according to the present invention comprises the steps of (a) registering the subscriber information of the subscriber that is accessible to the network with limited access, and receives a request for access of the mobile terminal to the network; And (c) processing charging by data traffic between the mobile terminal and the network based on the access request and the registered subscriber information.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims.

2 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a service charging method according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the gateway node 220 is an access node for interworking different heterogeneous networks 210 and 240, and includes protocol conversion for communication between the first network 210 and the second network 240. It analyzes packets transmitted from each network and transmits them to other networks appropriately. Preferably, the first network 210 is a wireless network for communication to a mobile terminal, and the second network 240 is exclusive to a network or general users that a communication service provider establishes and provides an in-house portal service. It can be understood as a network with limited access, including a private network with personality. That is, the second network 240 may be understood as a communication network in which only a mobile terminal having a predetermined requirement can access the service, rather than a communication network that anyone can access. For example, if the second network 240 is composed of a plurality of servers established by the mobile service provider and provide various services, only the subscriber using the mobile communication service provided by the mobile service provider may use the second network ( In operation 240, a user who uses a mobile communication service provided by another mobile service provider cannot access the second network 240.

At this time, in the present invention, the service billing server 230 does not tap and copy the data traffic generated between the gateway node 220 and the second network 240, but rather directly controls the data traffic and types of packets. Alternatively, the charging of the service used by the mobile terminal is performed according to the amount of packets.

In addition, even if there are a plurality of gateway nodes 220, since the service billing server 230 only needs to be located at an access point to the second network 240, only one gateway node 220 may be used regardless of the number of gateway nodes 220. Only the service billing server 230 may process billing for services provided by the second network 240.

Therefore, when a communication network has its own network, each communication provider can easily provide a variety of charges for service use by establishing a specific charging method for each service provider and reflecting it on the service billing server 230. .

In addition, since the service billing server 230 is present in the data traffic between the gateway node 220 and the second network 240, it is possible to control illegal access or indiscriminate access to the second network 240 by the mobile terminal. You can also

3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a service charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) environment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the service charging system 300 according to the present invention includes a base station 312, a wireless network controller 314, an SGSN 320, a GGSN 330, a service charging processing device 360, and a state management agent. And 350.

The base station 312 is a primary access point of the mobile terminal 310, transmits and receives various signals and data with the mobile terminal 312, and the radio network controller 314 manages radio resources via the base station 312.

The SGSN 320 is a node that is responsible for data packet transmission with a mobile terminal in a service area, and has functions such as packet routing and transmission, mobility management, logical link management, authentication, and charging, and the SGSN's location register is a SGSN. Stores location information (cell, visitor location register, etc.), user profile (international mobile terminal identification number: IMSI), and the like of a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) user.

The GGSN 330 is a node in charge of the connection function between the GPRS backbone network and the external packet data network. The GGSN 330 converts the GPRS packet from the SGSN into an appropriate packet data protocol (PDP) format (for example, IP, X.25), and sends and receives the call. It has the function of converting the PDP address of packet data into the global mobile communication system (GSM) address of the receiver. It also stores the current user's SGSN address and user profile in the SGSN's location register and performs authentication and charging functions.

When the user uses a service provided from the internal network 380 by using the mobile terminal 310, the service billing processing apparatus 360 provides a function of processing billing by measuring data traffic according to service use. In this case, the internal network 380 is a network corresponding to the second network 240 shown in FIG. 2, and can be understood as a communication network with limited access.

The state management agent 350 manages the information on the user using the service and the information on the mobile terminal, and informs the service billing processing device 360 of the request for starting / stopping the use of the service from the mobile terminal 310. Allow billing to be processed.

The router 370 is connected to the GGSN 330 to provide a routing function for the Internet 380 which can be freely accessed by the mobile terminal, and the GGSN 330 may be responsible for the charging process according to the Internet 380 connection. have.

Meanwhile, the structure of the service charging processing apparatus 360 shown in FIG. 3 is illustrated in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 4, the service charging processing apparatus 360 includes a state management agent interworking module 362 and a packet analysis module. 364 and the charging processing module 366.

The state management agent interworking module 362 cooperates with the state management agent 350 to register a subscriber or perform an operation such as a call connection notification or call release.

The packet analysis module 364 analyzes data packets transmitted from the mobile terminal 310 to the internal network 380 via the GGSN 330 or transmitted from the internal network 380 to the mobile terminal 310.

The charging processing module 366 performs charging processing for service usage based on the result analyzed by the packet analysis module 364.

In this case, the term 'module' used in the present embodiment refers to software or a hardware component such as an FPGA or an ASIC, and a module plays a role. However, modules are not meant to be limited to software or hardware. The module may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and may be configured to play one or more processors. Thus, as an example, a module may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines. , Segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided within the components and modules may be combined into a smaller number of components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

Hereinafter, a method of performing a call connection for service charging according to the present invention by the configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

5 is a diagram illustrating a call connection method for performing service charging according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, information about all WCDMA subscribers (for example, basic information and service usage information of each subscriber) is registered in the state management agent 350 by the state management agent interworking module 362 of the service charging processing apparatus 360 ( S510). By pre-registering such a subscriber, for example, when a mobile terminal wishing to use a service requests a call connection, the state management agent 350 notifies the service billing apparatus 360 of such a change in presence. It is possible to cause the charging processing device 360 to start charging.

As a method of performing subscriber registration, a known Session Initiation Protocol (SIP: RFC3261) may be used, and a subscriber registration process by SIP is illustrated in FIG. 6A.

Referring to FIG. 6A, the state management agent interworking module 362 of the service billing processing apparatus 360 transmits information on all users who can access the corporate network 380 as a 'Subscribe' message (S512). In response, the state management agent 350 transmits a '200 OK' message to the state management agent interworking module 362 as a response message when the subscriber registration is normally performed (S514).

After the information of all subscribers accessible to the internal network 380 is registered with the state management agent 350 according to the above-described method, the mobile terminal 310 establishes a session to use a service provided from the internal network 380. Activate PDP Context Request message (Activate PDP Context Request) is transmitted from the mobile terminal 310 to the SGSN 320 (S520), again SGSN 320 to the GGSN (330) PDP context creation request message (Create PDP) Context Request) is transmitted to request setting of the PDP context (S522). In this case, the SGSN 320 may transmit a message to the GGSN 330 using an access point name (APN) included in an PDP context activation request message. The APN represents the name of an access point for GPRS.

The GGSN 330 checks the APN information, checks a selection table when an access point, i.e., an access server needs to be linked, and delivers an access request message to the corresponding access server. The access server may be, for example, an AAA server that manages authentication, authorization, and accounting.

When the GGSN 330 receives an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 performs an internal process such as IP allocation to the mobile terminal and sends a PDP context creation response message to the SGSN 320 to accept the PDP context creation request. Create PDP Context Response) is transmitted (S540). If the GGSN 330 does not receive an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 transmits a Create PDP Context Response message indicating that the PDP context creation failed to the SGSN 320. Upon receiving the PDP content generation response message from the GGSN 330, the SGSN 320 transmits a PDP context activation response message to the mobile terminal 310 (S542), thereby transmitting data packets between the SGSN 320 and the GGSN 330. Possible channels are formed.

On the other hand, when the GGSN 330 receives an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 transmits a message requesting to start charging to the state management agent 350 (S530), and the state management agent 350 sends a GGSN ( In step 532, the charging start response message is transmitted. Then, the state management agent 350 updates the state information of the corresponding mobile terminal 310 to the 'Active' state.

At this time, the message for requesting to start charging includes billing session information for the corresponding mobile terminal, and the billing session information may apply the conventional billing session information. For example, the IP address of the GGS, the corresponding move. IP address of the terminal, unique identification information for the corresponding charging session, authentication method, unique key of the entire charging session in the multi-PDP environment, time when charging of the corresponding PDP context is started, IP address of the type SGSN of the PDP context For example, the payment settlement period for the subscribers of the prepaid intelligent network is based on the location information, the time, or the packet amount where the terminal is located.

The state management agent 350 informs the service charging processing device 360 that a call connection request from the mobile terminal 310 has occurred (S550).

As a method of performing call access notification, a known session initiation protocol (SIP: RFC3261) may be used, such as the aforementioned subscriber registration (S510), and a call access notification process by SIP is illustrated in FIG. 6B. .

Referring to FIG. 6B, the state management agent 350 transmits the state information and session information of the mobile terminal 310 to the state management agent interworking module 362 of the service charging processing device 360 as a 'Notify' message. In step S552, in response, the state management agent interworking module 362 transmits a '200 OK' message indicating that the call connection notification has been normally received to the state management agent 350 (S554).

If the reception of data traffic from the mobile terminal 310 precedes the response to SIP 'Notify', that is, the data packet transmitted from the mobile terminal 310 before the step S554 in FIG. When reaching 360, the service billing processing device 360 blocks or temporarily stores the traffic of the corresponding session.

When the step S550 related to the call connection notification ends, the data packet transmitted from the mobile terminal 310 is transferred to the service billing processing device 360 (S560), and the packet analysis module 364 of the service billing processing device 360. Will analyze the data packet. At this time, the charging processing module 3666 processes the charging based on the analysis result by the packet analysis module 364. The data packet transmitted to the service billing processing device 360 is delivered to the application server 382 belonging to the internal network 380 again (S570), and the application server 382 requests the service requested for the mobile terminal 310. It will be provided (S580). Similarly, the service billing processing apparatus 360 may analyze the data traffic in real time with respect to the data packet transmitted from the application server 382 to the mobile terminal 310 to perform billing processing.

On the other hand, if the traffic of the session is blocked because the reception of data traffic from the mobile terminal 310 precedes the response to SIP 'Notify', the traffic blocking of the session is terminated after the '200 OK' response, and service charge is performed. Packet analysis and charging of the processing device 360 begins.

7 is a diagram illustrating a call connection method for performing service charging according to another embodiment of the present invention.

First, in order for the mobile terminal 310 to use a service provided from the internal network 380, an PDP context activation request message for establishing a session is transmitted from the mobile terminal 310 to the SGSN 320. In operation S710, the SGSN 320 transmits a PDP context creation request message to the GGSN 330 to request the setting of the PDP context (S712). In this case, the SGSN 320 may transmit a message to the GGSN 330 using an access point name (APN) included in an PDP context activation request message. The APN represents the name of an access point for GPRS. The GGSN 330 checks the APN information, checks a selection table when an access point, i.e., an access server needs to be linked, and delivers an access request message to the corresponding access server. For example, the access server may be an AAA server that manages authentication, authorization, and accounting.

When the GGSN 330 receives an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 performs an internal process such as IP allocation to the mobile terminal and sends a PDP context creation response message to the SGSN 320 to accept the PDP context creation request. Create PDP Context Response) is transmitted (S730). If the GGSN 330 does not receive an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 transmits a Create PDP Context Response message indicating that the PDP context creation failed to the SGSN 320. Upon receiving the PDP content generation response message from the GGSN 330, the SGSN 320 transmits a PDP context activation response message to the mobile terminal 310 (S732), thereby transmitting data packets between the SGSN 320 and the GGSN 330. Possible channels are formed.

On the other hand, when the GGSN 330 receives an Access Accept message from the access server, the GGSN 330 transmits a message for requesting to start charging to the state management agent 350 (S720), and the state management agent 350 sends a GGSN ( In step 330, the charging start response message is transmitted (S722). Then, the state management agent 350 updates the state information of the corresponding mobile terminal 310 to the 'Active' state.

At this time, the message for requesting to start charging includes the charging session information for the corresponding mobile terminal, which has been described above.

After the above operation is completed, if the service billing processing device 360 receives the data packet from the mobile terminal 301, it blocks the data traffic of the session or buffers and temporarily stores the data packet (S740).

Then, the state management agent interworking module 362 of the service billing processing device 360 performs a subscriber registration procedure in association with the state management agent 350 (S750). The subscriber registration process may be performed according to the method illustrated in FIG. 6A. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, all subscriber information that can be connected to the internal network 380 is registered at the time of subscriber registration. However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, only subscriber information for the mobile terminal 310 is registered. . That is, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, subscriber information for all subscribers is initially registered, but in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, every time a connection is attempted from the mobile terminal as the internal network 380, The difference is that only subscriber information for the mobile terminal is registered.

The service charging processing device 360 transmits a SIP 'Subscribe' message to the state management agent 350 to request state information about the mobile terminal 310.

The state management agent 350 transmits the presence information and the session information on the mobile terminal 310 to the service charging processing device 360 through the call connection notification operation (S760), and the call connection notification is shown in FIG. 6B. It may be performed according to the method shown. For example, when the state management agent 350 transmits a SIP 'Notify' message to transfer the state information and session information about the mobile terminal 310 to the service billing processing device 360, the service billing processing device 360 Transmits a 200 OK message to the state management agent 350 indicating that the call connection notification has been normally received.

After the call connection notification (S760) operation is finished, the service charging processing device 360 terminates the traffic blocking of the corresponding session, and starts packet analysis and charging (S770).

8 is a diagram illustrating a call release method for terminating a service charge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, in order to terminate the use of the service provided from the internal network 380, the mobile terminal 310 transmits a PDP context deactivation request message (Deactivate PDP Context Request) to the SGSN 320 (S810), and again SGSN 320 ) Transmits a PDP context delete request message to the GGSN 330 to request the release of the PDP context (S812). The GGSN 330 then performs a release for the particular PDP context or session as a whole based on the information received from the SGSN 320. That is, the GGSN 330 transmits a PDP context delete response message (Delete PDP Context Response) to accept the PDP context deletion request to the GSN 320 (S830), and the SGSN 320 sends a PDP context to the mobile terminal 310. Deactivation of the PDP context or session is performed by transmitting a deactivate PDP Context Accept (S832).

Meanwhile, when the GGSN 330 transmits a message requesting termination of charging to the state management agent 350 (S820), the state management agent 350 displays the presence information of the corresponding mobile terminal 310 as 'children'. After updating to the (Idle) 'state, the charging end response message is transmitted to the GGSN 330 (S822).

Then, the state management agent 350 performs a call release notification (S840) procedure for notifying that the call has been released by the mobile terminal 310 to transmit the state information and session information of the corresponding mobile terminal 310 to the service billing processing device ( 360, and thus the charging process of the service charging processing device 360 is terminated.

After the above operation is completed, if the service billing processing device 360 receives a data packet from the mobile terminal 301, it blocks or buffers the data traffic of the session to temporarily store (S740).

The call release notification (S840) procedure may be performed according to the method illustrated in FIG. 6B. For example, the status management agent 350 transmits the presence information and the corresponding session information to the service charging processing device 360 through the SIP 'Notify' message, and the service charging processing device 360 transmits the SIP '200 OK'. And the packet analysis and charging ends.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the error of billing processing for service use by measuring the data packet related to the service in real time, and it is easy to apply a billing method specialized for each service provider.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an effect that can generate charge separately from the general Internet traffic.

Claims (14)

A state management agent having subscriber information accessible to a network to which access is limited and processing an access request to access the network by a mobile terminal; A gateway, wherein the gateway is an access node for accessing the network; And Service billing, which is located on the traffic line between the gateway and the network, processes charging for a service used by the mobile terminal while controlling data traffic between the gateway and the network based on the access request and the subscriber information. A service billing system comprising a processing unit. The method of claim 1, And if a data packet destined for the network is received from the mobile terminal before the connection request is received, the service billing processing device blocks transmission of the received data packet to the network. delete The method of claim 1, And the state management agent is configured to be on the line of data traffic between the gateway node and the network. The method of claim 1, And the state management agent retains the subscriber information before the connection request occurs. The method of claim 1, And the state management agent retains subscriber information corresponding to the mobile terminal that has made the access request whenever the access request occurs. (A) registering subscriber information of a subscriber accessible to a restricted access network; (B) receiving an access request of a mobile terminal to the network; And (C) processing charging in real time for a service used by the mobile terminal while controlling data traffic between the gateway for accessing the network and the network based on the access request and the registered subscriber information; Service billing method comprising the step. The method of claim 7, wherein In the step (a), the registration procedure is performed by the Session Initiation Protocol. The method of claim 7, wherein The step (b) includes the step of blocking transmission of the received data packet to the network if a data packet destined for the network is received from the mobile terminal before the connection request is received. Charging method. delete (A) receiving a charging start request of a mobile terminal for a network with limited access; (B) blocking transmission of data packets from the mobile terminal to the network; After registering subscriber information corresponding to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal controls the data traffic between the gateway and the network, which is an access node for accessing the network according to a call connection notification from the mobile terminal. (C) processing the charging in real time for the service to be used. The method of claim 11, The registration of the subscriber information and the call connection notification is performed by the Session Initiation Protocol. The method of claim 11, The step (c) includes the step of releasing the transmission of the blocked data packet according to the call connection notification from the mobile terminal. delete

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