WO2010081366A1 - Charging method, apparatus and system - Google Patents

Abstract

A charging method includes the steps of: receiving a request message, which carries a mobile terminal identifier of a subscriber and address information of a service support node of an access region of the subscriber; acquiring address information of a service support node of a home region of the subscriber according to the mobile terminal identifier; judging whether the address information of the service support node of the access region of the subscriber is identical with the address information of the service support node of the home region of the subscriber; performing charging for the subscriber by selecting corresponding fee policies according to the judgement result. By applying the embodiments of the present invention, whether the subscriber is currently in a state of roaming in network is judged by judging whether the address information of the service support node of the access region of the subscriber is identical with the address information of the service support node of the home region of the subscriber, so that charging for the subscriber is performed by selecting suitable roaming fee policies, and separated charging for roaming in a packet domain service network is realized.

Description

 Charging method, device and system

 This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200910105102.9, entitled "A Billing Method and Apparatus, System", filed on January 16, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In the application.

Technical field

 The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a charging method, apparatus, and system.

Background technique

 With the general packet radio service (GPRS), third-generation digital communication (3G) network construction and mobile terminal upgrades, it has become more and more common for users to use packet domain services through mobile terminals. For example, users can use various packet domain services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WLAN), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and streaming media; therefore, the development and operation of packet domain services are becoming more and more important. Received the attention of operators.

 At present, voice service roaming charging has the distinction of internet roaming charging and intra-network roaming charging. However, for packet domain services, existing systems generally can only determine whether the user has internet roaming, thereby determining whether to conduct inter-network roaming. Billing; It is impossible to judge whether the user has roamed between subnets within the same operator's network, and therefore cannot perform intranet roaming billing.

 However, with the rapid development of packet domain services and the emergence of more and more multinational operators, the operation of packet domain services will become more and more refined, and the demand for intra-network roaming and billing will gradually emerge. Summary of the invention

 The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is to implement intra-network roaming charging.

 To this end, an embodiment of the present invention provides a charging method, including:

 Receiving a request message, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing the location;

Obtaining, according to the mobile terminal identifier, location information of the user home location service support node; Determining whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location;

 When they are inconsistent, the user is charged according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy.

 An embodiment of the present invention provides a charging apparatus, including:

 a receiving module, configured to receive a request message, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier, and a service support node address information of the user accessing the location;

 a processing module, configured to obtain, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the address information of the service home node of the user's home location; and determine whether the address information of the service support node of the user access is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user's home location;

 The charging module is configured to: when the processing module determines that the address information of the service supporting node of the user is inconsistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user, the charging is performed according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy.

 An embodiment of the present invention provides a gateway device, including:

 An obtaining module, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and a service support node address information of the user accessing the location;

 And a sending module, configured to send a request message to the charging device, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user access location.

 An embodiment of the present invention provides a system, including:

 a charging device, configured to receive a request message from a gateway device, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user accessing the location; and acquiring the user attribution according to the mobile terminal identifier The local service supports the node address information, and determines whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location; when not, the user is counted according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy. fee.

a gateway device, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and a service support node address information of the user access; and send a request message to the charging device, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and The service access node address information of the user accessing the local area. An embodiment of the present invention provides a gateway device, including:

 An obtaining module, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and address information of the service support node of the user accessing the location; and obtain the address information of the service support node of the user attribution according to the mobile terminal identifier of the user;

 a determining module, configured to determine whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location;

 And a sending module, configured to provide the determination result to the charging device, so that the charging device performs a corresponding charging policy according to the determining result.

 The charging method, device and system provided by the embodiment of the present invention determine whether the user currently has intranet roaming by comparing whether the address information of the service supporting node accessed by the user is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location, so as to select corresponding The tariff policy charges the user, realizes roaming billing within the network, and has a small transformation to the existing network, and the coupling degree is low.

DRAWINGS

 1 is a schematic flowchart of a charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 2 is another schematic flowchart of a charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 4 is another schematic structural diagram of a charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 FIG. 7 is another schematic structural diagram of a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

 The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It is understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

 FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention, including:

S11 receives a request message, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and The request message may be sent by the WAP GW (Watt Gateway, WAP Gate Way), and received by the charging device, and the charging device is connected with the WAP GW to implement charging processing of the packet domain service, including but not limited to MDSP (Mobile Data Service) Network elements such as the platform, Mobile Data Service Platform, ISMP (Integrated Service Management Platform), and network elements in a similar position in the network.

 The mobile terminal identity may be a user mobile terminal number.

 The request message includes a field indicating the address information of the service support node that the user accesses, such as the SGSN IP, which is used to indicate the IP address of the Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node (SGSN). .

 S12: Obtain, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the user-local service support node address information.

 Specifically, the correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the user-supported service support node address information may be pre-stored, and the correspondence may be stored by the charging device, or may be stored by an independent storage device, or may be in the form of a mapping table. recording.

 After receiving the request message, the charging device searches for the corresponding user-local service support node address information in the mapping table according to the mobile terminal identifier carried in the request message.

 S13: Comparing whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the serving home node of the user.

 When S14 is inconsistent, the user is charged according to a corresponding roaming tariff policy.

 Specifically, when the address information of the service access node of the user access is inconsistent with the address information of the service support node of the user, the charging device searches for the roaming tariff policy set by the operator administrator, and according to the roaming tariff policy The user performs billing.

In this embodiment, it is determined whether the user is currently in the in-network roaming state by determining whether the user accessing the service supporting node address information and the user attribution service supporting node address information are consistent, so that the user is in the in-network roaming state, and then selecting Corresponding roaming tariff policy charges the user, realizes roaming differential charging in the packet domain service network, and uses the method to implement the network Roaming differentiates billing without modifying other network elements on the live network, and the coupling degree is low.

 In an embodiment, the charging method in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 may also be used by the charging device when the service access node address information of the user access is consistent with the address information of the user home service support node. Billing is based on a non-roaming tariff policy. Specifically, when the address information of the service access node of the user access is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user, the charging device searches for the non-roaming tariff policy set by the operator administrator, and according to the non-roaming tariff. The policy charges the user.

 2 is another schematic flowchart of a charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, subnets A and B belong to the same carrier, and user aa of subnet B roams to subnet A and passes through a subnet. A's wireless network uses packet domain services, such as using a mobile terminal to watch online videos, download games, music, pictures, and more.

 Includes:

 521, the user aa of the subnet B roams to the subnet A to use the packet domain service, and initiates to the SGSN (Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node of the subnet A, denoted as SGSN-A in FIG. 2) Business request.

 522. The SGSN of the subnet A sends the service request of the user to the GGSN (Gateway General Packet Radio Service Support Node of the subnet B of the user, which is labeled as GGSN-B in FIG. 2).

 523. The GGSN of subnet B forwards the service request to the WAPGW of subnet B.

 S24, the WAPGW of the subnet B (labeled as WAPGW-B in FIG. 2) sends a request message to the charging device, and requests the charging device to perform authentication and accounting for the user aa using the current service, and carries the user mobility in the request message. The terminal number, the service access node address information of the user access location (in this case, the SGSN address information of the subnet A), and the like.

S25. The charging device searches for a corresponding user home location service support node address information in a mapping table that records a correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the user's home service support node address information according to the mobile terminal number sent by the WAPGW of the subnet B. At this point, the SGSN of subnet B Address information).

 Specifically, the mapping table records the correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier in the same carrier network and the service support node address information of the user's home location, and the mapping table may be stored in the charging device or may be stored in a separate storage device. . And support for adding, deleting, modifying and other operations.

 For example, the mapping table can be of the form:

 The specific implementation of the mapping table includes but is not limited to: database tables (such as Oracle, Informix, DB2, SQLServer, etc.), memory tables (such as List, Map, etc.), files, and so on.

 As you can see from the above table, the carrier has at least four subnets:

 The SGSNIP of the subnet A is 10.0.0.170, and the SGSNIP of the subnet B is 10.0.0.171, and the SGSNIP of the subnet C is 10.0.0.172. The user number segment covered by the network is [13600000000-13699999999].

 The SGSNIP of subnet D is 10.0.0.173, and the user number segment covered by this subnet is [13598680000-13598689999].

If the mobile terminal number sent by the WAPGW of the subnet B is 13888888888, the charging device searches the mapping table to learn that the mobile terminal number is in the range of 1380000000 to 13899999999, and the corresponding user home service support node address is 10.0.0.170. S26. The charging device determines whether the address information of the user-supported service support node and the address information of the service support node of the user access are consistent, and performs charging processing according to the determination result.

 If they are inconsistent, it means that the user has roamed in the network, and the charging device performs charging processing according to the roaming tariff policy set by the operator.

 For example, if the service access node address of the user accessing the WAPGW reported by the subnet B is

10.0.0.171, which is inconsistent with the user home service support node address 10.0.0.170 corresponding to the user mobile terminal identifier, and the charging device determines that the user has performed intranet roaming, and performs charging according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy set by the operator. deal with.

 If they are consistent, it means that the user does not roam, and the charging device performs charging processing according to the non-roaming tariff policy set by the operator.

 527. The charging device returns an authentication charging response to the WAPGW of the subnet B.

 528. The WAPGW of the subnet B acquires the user access content from the related application server.

 For example, the mobile phone returns to the webpage content of the user's browsing, watching the online video returning to the video stream, downloading games, music, and pictures to return specific games, music, picture content, and the like.

 S29. The WAPGW of the subnet B returns the specific content accessed by the user to the user.

 Specifically, the WAPGW of the subnet B returns the specific content of the user access to the GGSN of the subnet B, and the GGSN of the subnet B is returned to the SGSN of the subnet A, and the SGSN of the subnet A returns the specific content accessed by the user to the user.

 FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, including: a receiving module 31, configured to receive a request message, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier, and a service support node address information that the user accesses.

 The request message can be sent via WAPGW (WAP Gateway, WAP GateWay). The processing module 32 is configured to obtain, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the user-local service support node address information, and determine whether the user access location service support node address information is consistent with the user attribution service support node address information. .

Specifically, the user mobile terminal identifier and the user attribution service support node may be pre-stored. Correspondence of address information, which may be stored by the charging device, may be stored by an independent storage device, or may be recorded in the form of a mapping table. When the charging device is stored, as shown in FIG. 4, the charging device further includes a storage module 34, configured to store a mapping table that records the correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the user-supported service support node address information.

 After receiving the request message, the processing module 32 searches for the corresponding user-local service support node address information in the corresponding relationship according to the mobile terminal identifier carried in the request message.

 For details, see the instructions in S25.

 After the location information of the user-supported service support node is searched for, the processing module 32 determines whether the address information of the service-supported node of the user's home location is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user.

 For the specific process, refer to the description in S26.

 The charging module 33 is configured to: when the processing module 32 determines that the service access node address information of the user access is inconsistent with the address information of the user home service support node, the user is charged according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy. .

 If the address information of the service access node of the user is inconsistent with the address information of the service support node of the user, it indicates that the user has roamed in the network, and the charging module 33 performs the calculation according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy set by the operator. Fee processing.

 In an embodiment, the charging device 33 is further configured to: when the processing module 32 determines that the user access location service support node address information is consistent with the user home service support node address information, according to the non-roaming tariff policy The user performs billing. If the address information of the service access node of the user is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user, the charging module 33 performs charging according to the corresponding non-roaming tariff policy set by the operator. deal with.

The charging apparatus provided in this embodiment determines whether the user is currently in the in-network roaming state by determining whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user, so that the user is roaming in the network. In the status, select the corresponding roaming tariff policy pair The user performs charging, and realizes roaming and charging in the packet domain service network. Moreover, the method for implementing intra-network roaming and distinguishing charging does not need to modify other network elements of the existing network, and the coupling degree is low.

 FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention, including:

 The charging device 41 is configured to receive a request message from the gateway device 42, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user access; and obtains the information according to the mobile terminal identifier. The user's home service supports the node address information, and determines whether the service access node address information of the user access is consistent with the address information of the user's home service support node; when they are inconsistent, the user is compared according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy. Billing.

 The charging device 41 can interface with the gateway device 42 to implement billing processing of the packet domain service, including but not limited to MDSP (Mobile Data Service Platform), ISMP (Integrated Service Management Platform, Integrated Service Management Platform), and the like. Network elements, and network elements that are in a similar position in the network.

 The gateway device 42 is configured to acquire the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user accessing, and is further configured to send a request message to the charging device 41, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, And the service access node address information of the user accessing the location. The gateway device 42 can be a WAPGW and other network elements that implement the function.

 The charging device 41 can also be configured to store a correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the service support node address information of the user's home location.

 The obtaining the user-local service support node address information according to the mobile terminal identifier is: searching for the user-local service support node address information in the correspondence according to the mobile terminal identifier.

 For details of the above operations, the charging device 41 can be referred to the description in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and details are not described herein again.

 In addition, the request message received by the charging device 41 from the gateway device 42 may further include information such as usage flow, duration, and the like of the user.

In an embodiment, the charging device 41 is further configured to: when the user accesses the service supporting node When the address information is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location, the charging is performed according to the non-roaming tariff policy.

 FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention, including:

 The obtaining module 51 is configured to obtain the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the address information of the service support node of the user accessing the location;

 The mobile terminal identifier and the service support node address information of the user access may be carried in a service request sent by the GGSN to the device.

 The sending module 52 is configured to send a request message to the charging device, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service access node address information of the user access location.

 In addition, the obtaining module 51 can also obtain information such as the user's traffic, usage duration, and the like, and the sending unit 52 can also carry the information in the request message and send it.

 The gateway device may be a WAPGW and other network elements that implement the function. FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the gateway device 70 of this embodiment includes:

 The obtaining module 61 is configured to acquire the mobile terminal identifier of the user, the service support node address information of the user access location, and obtain the service support node address information of the user attribution according to the mobile terminal identifier of the user;

 The determining module 62 is configured to determine whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the user supporting local service supporting node;

 The sending module 63 is configured to provide the determining result to the charging device, so that the charging device executes a corresponding charging policy according to the determining result.

 If the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is inconsistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user, the user is charged according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy; if they are consistent, the charging is performed according to the non-roaming tariff policy.

In this embodiment, a correspondence between a user mobile terminal identifier and a user-supported service support node address information may be pre-stored, and the correspondence may be stored by the gateway device or may be The storage of the storage device can be recorded in the form of a mapping table. The gateway device searches for the corresponding user-local service support node address information in the mapping table according to the obtained mobile terminal identifier.

 It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention does not need to introduce independent functional components, and can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product in essence or in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions. The methods described in various embodiments of the invention are performed. The storage medium referred to herein, such as the ROM/RAM and the magnetic assembly, is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claim  A charging method, characterized in that it comprises:  Receiving a request message, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing the location;  Obtaining, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the user-local service support node address information; determining whether the user access location service support node address information is consistent with the user home service support node address information;  When they are inconsistent, the user is charged according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy.  2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: storing a correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the address information of the user-supported service support node;  And obtaining, according to the identifier of the mobile terminal, the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location, specifically:  And searching, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the user-localized service support node address information in the correspondence relationship.  The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the address information of the service access node of the user access is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user, the non-roaming tariff policy is used. fee.  4. A charging device, comprising:  a receiving module, configured to receive a request message, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier, and a service support node address information of the user accessing the location;  a processing module, configured to obtain, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the address information of the service home node of the user's home location; and determine whether the address information of the service support node of the user access is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user's home location; The charging module is configured to: when the processing module determines that the service access node address information of the user access is inconsistent with the address information of the user home service support node, the user is charged according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy. The charging device according to claim 4, further comprising: a storage unit, configured to store a correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home;  The processing module is specifically configured to search, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the address information of the service-supporting node of the user's home location in the corresponding relationship.  The charging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the charging module is further configured to: when the service support node address information of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the user home service support node , charging according to the non-roaming tariff policy.  7. A gateway device, comprising:  An obtaining module, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and a service support node address information of the user accessing the location;  And a sending module, configured to send a request message to the charging device, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user access location.  8. A system, comprising:  a charging device, configured to receive a request message from a gateway device, where the request message carries a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and the service support node address information of the user accessing the location; and acquiring the user attribution according to the mobile terminal identifier The local service supports the node address information, and determines whether the address information of the service support node of the user access is consistent with the address information of the service support node of the user's home location. When the information is inconsistent, the user is counted according to the corresponding roaming tariff policy. Fee  a gateway device, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and a service support node address information of the user access; and send a request message to the charging device, where the request message carries the mobile terminal identifier of the user, and The service access node address information of the user accessing the local area.  The system according to claim 8, wherein the charging device is further configured to store a correspondence between the user mobile terminal identifier and the address information of the user-supported service support node; The charging device is specifically configured to search, according to the mobile terminal identifier, the address information of the user-supported service supporting node in the corresponding relationship. The system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the charging device is further configured to: when the service access node address information of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the user home service support node , charging according to the non-roaming tariff policy.  A gateway device, comprising:  An obtaining module, configured to acquire a mobile terminal identifier of the user, and address information of the service support node of the user accessing the location; and obtain the address information of the service support node of the user attribution according to the mobile terminal identifier of the user;  a determining module, configured to determine whether the address information of the service supporting node of the user accessing is consistent with the address information of the service supporting node of the user's home location;  And a sending module, configured to provide the determination result to the charging device, so that the charging device performs a corresponding charging policy according to the determining result.