CN102883342B

CN102883342B - A kind of dosage monitoring method and system

Info

Publication number: CN102883342B
Application number: CN201110193189.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 毛玉欣; 周晓云; 吴锦花
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: Jiangsu Zhaofang Intelligent Equipment Co ltd
Priority date: 2011-07-11
Filing date: 2011-07-11
Publication date: 2018-06-08
Anticipated expiration: 2031-07-11
Also published as: WO2013007142A1; CN102883342A

Abstract

The invention discloses a kind of dosage monitoring method, including：Online charging system (OCS) receives the dosage monitoring request from "Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)；OCS carries out dosage monitoring decision, and issues dosage monitoring information to PCRF；PCRF carries out strategic decision-making, and issues control strategy and dosage monitoring notice to strategy and charge execution function (PCEF)；PCEF performs dosage monitoring according to the PCRF control strategies issued and dosage monitoring notice, alternatively, OCS contracts dosage information as user's allocation threshold in group according to group user, and issues the threshold value to PCRF；PCRF carries out dosage monitoring decision and strategic decision-making, and issue control strategy and dosage monitoring notice to PCEF according to the threshold value；PCEF performs dosage monitoring according to the PCRF control strategies issued and dosage monitoring notice.The present invention also accordingly discloses a kind of dosage monitoring system, by the invention it is possible to realize the dosage monitoring to group user.

Description

Usage monitoring method and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and a system for monitoring usage amount.

Background

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture for a mobile network defined by the third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), where functions of various entities in the 3GPP PCC R8 architecture are described as follows:

a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) that formulates a resource control Policy for a Service data stream included in a Service, including a quality of Service (QoS) control Policy and a Charging control Policy, using network resources during transmission;

a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) for enforcing a PCC rule issued by a PCRF or preconfigured on the PCEF, detecting an IP packet transmitted on a network, identifying a service data stream to which the IP packet belongs, and providing QoS and Charging control for the service data stream;

the Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function (BBERF) is mainly used for detecting an IP packet transmitted on a network and mapping the IP packet to a corresponding Bearer channel according to a rule. The BBERF also performs reporting of bearer-related events, for example, when a bearer is lost or an access network is switched, it is necessary to report a corresponding event to the PCRF to request the PCRF to make a corresponding decision;

a Subscription Storage (SPR) for storing service information subscribed by the user and providing necessary Subscription information for the PCRF to formulate PCC rules;

an Online Charging System (OCS) and an offline Charging System (offlnecharging System, OFCS) are used for offline and Online Charging, respectively.

In the process of developing services by users, PCC dynamically provides QoS guarantees for services (consisting of several service data streams) in the transmission process according to the following principle:

each service data flow contained in the service corresponds to a specific PCC rule, and the PCC rule defines QoS resources required to be used when the service data flow is transmitted. Before the service data stream is transmitted in the bearer network, the PCRF needs to make a decision for the service data stream according to various information and make a PCC rule. The information on which the PCRF makes decisions and makes PCC rules includes:

1) service negotiation information received from the AF is information for performing a service, which is negotiated with a communication opposite terminal when a user performs the service, for example, information for performing a QoS requirement of the service, IP addresses, port numbers, protocols used by both communication parties, and the like;

2) the user subscription information received from the SPR includes, for example, QoS information on a subscription between the user and the operator. When a user develops a service, the requirement of the service on the QoS cannot exceed the QoS information which can be used by the user and is specified by the user subscription information;

3) and the PCRF self-defines the policy by the operator stored in the PCRF. For example, an operator needs to perform differentiated control on the development of services by a roaming user and a non-roaming user, and a differentiated control policy defined by the operator can be configured on the PCRF;

4) access related information received from a PCEF or a BBERF. For example, when a user attaches to a network, the PCRF needs to acquire information of the user accessing the network through the PCEF or the BBERF, so that the PCRF performs policy decision for the user to develop a service;

5) credit information for the user is obtained from the OCS. For example, once a user's credit runs out or is insufficient, the PCRF cannot authorize the user to conduct a service.

And the PCRF makes a PCC rule for the service data flow decision according to the information and issues the PCC rule to the PCEF (if the BBERF exists in the network, the PCRF also needs to make a QoS rule and issues the QoS rule to the BBERF). The PCEF needs to establish a corresponding bearer according to the QoS requirement of the PCC rule, and bind the PCC rule to the corresponding bearer (if a BBERF exists in the network, the BBERF establishes the bearer according to the QoS rule). And if the network already has the bearer which is matched with the QoS indicated by the PCC rule or the QoS rule, binding the PCC rule or the QoS rule to the existing bearer.

After that, when the user develops a service and the service data stream is transmitted on the bearer network, the terminal and the network device may match the IP packet constituting the service data stream to the corresponding PCC rule/QoS rule according to the five-tuple (consisting of the source IP address, the source port number, the destination IP address, the destination port number, and the protocol), and may match the service data stream to the corresponding bearer according to the binding relationship between the PCC rule/QoS rule and the bearer, thereby providing QoS guarantee for the transmission of the service data stream on the bearer network. When the service developed by the user is finished, the corresponding PCC rule needs to be deleted from the bearer network, that is, the QoS resource allocated to the service is released. Through the PCC mechanism, on one hand, corresponding QoS resources can be distributed according to the QoS requirements of the services, on the other hand, the QoS resources can be distributed when needed, and can be released in time when the QoS resources are not needed, so that the purposes of improving the service experience of users and improving the use efficiency of network resources can be achieved through the PCC mechanism.

In order to improve the flexibility of network operation, for example, for a certain service, the operator may want the top 10M to be free for the user, and when the usage of the user exceeds 10M, the user needs to charge; for another example, an operator may want a bandwidth guarantee for a user within 10M of usage, and may need to limit the bandwidth of the user after the usage exceeds 10M. For the above scenario, when the user is required to develop the service, the PCRF issues a control policy for the service to the PCEF, and at the same time, needs to issue a usage monitoring instruction, which requires the PCEF to implement the usage monitoring on the service, and when the traffic of the service reaches a threshold required for monitoring, the PCEF needs to implement reporting on the usage monitoring, so that the PCRF makes a policy decision on the service again, and generates a new control policy.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flow of implementing usage monitoring in the prior art, as shown in fig. 2, the flow includes:

step A: and the PCRF issues the usage monitoring to the PCEF.

The service is composed of one or more service data flows, the implementation of policy control on the service is actually policy control aiming at the service data flows, a control policy (PCC rule) is formulated for the service data flows through the PCRF and issued to the PCEF for implementation, and the policy control aiming at the service is realized. If the traffic monitoring needs to be performed on the service, a PCC rule (charging rule definition) issued by the PCRF to the PCEF includes a usage monitoring identifier (monitoring key), and the PCRF generates a usage monitoring information (usage monitoring information) for the monitoring key and issues the usage monitoring information to the PCEF. The Usage monitoring information includes the monitoring key, the assigned threshold (grantedervice unit), and other information.

For example, if the traffic that needs to implement traffic monitoring in the flow includes traffic data flow-1 and traffic data flow-2, the procedure for the PCRF to issue the traffic monitoring indication to the PCEF is specifically described as step a 1-A3:

a1, PCEF sends a CCR request to PCRF;

and A2, the PCRF issues a CCA response to the PCEF, wherein the CCA response comprises PCC rule-1 (represented by charging rule definition-1) and PCC rule-2 (represented by charging rule definition-2) which are already used for monitoring information. Wherein,

PCC rule-1 includes a PCC rule name (denoted by charging rule name-1), and monitorngkey;

PCC rule-2 includes a PCC rule name (denoted by charging rule name-2), and monitorngkey;

the Usage monitoring information includes the monitoring key and a threshold (granted service unit) allocated by the PCRF.

The PCRF may also include the above-mentioned usage monitoring information in an RAR message sent to the PCEF.

A3. And the corresponding PCRF issues an RAR message to the PCEF, and the PCEF returns an RAA message to the PCRF.

And B: and after receiving the PCC rules issued by the PCRF, the PCEF installs the rules. And according to the usage monitoring information, performing usage monitoring on the service data flows (namely the service data flow 1 and the service data flow 2) corresponding to the PCC rules.

And C: and monitoring the reported usage of the PCEF.

The step C may specifically include:

C1. and when the accumulated usage monitored by the PCEF on the Monitoring Key reaches the threshold value issued in the step A2, the PCEF monitors and reports the usage. The PCEF sends a CCR message to the PCRF, which carries a Usage Monitoring Information, including the Monitoring Key and a cumulative Usage (Used Service Unit).

And C2. the PCRF returns a CCA response to the PCEF.

Step D: and according to the reported usage, the PCRF reformulates a corresponding control strategy for the service data flows (namely the service data flow-1 and the service data flow-2) which use the monitoring key for usage monitoring.

Step E: and the PCRF reformulates the strategy for issuing.

The step E may specifically include:

and E1, the PCRF issues an RAR message to the PCEF and retransmits a control strategy for the service data flows 1 and 2.

And E2, the PCEF returns a response to the PCRF.

The above flow describes the monitoring of the usage of a single service. Usage monitoring for the user is also described in the requirements. The user can develop various services, and the usage monitoring of the user is actually a support for the usage monitoring of the plurality of services. When the usage monitoring reporting mechanism is used to monitor the usage of multiple services developed by a user, the same network device is required to manage the subscription usage of the user. Because the user selects one PCRF for serving the user when attaching, namely, various services developed by the user are all provided with policy control by the PCRF, the PCRF manages the subscription usage of the user, and simultaneously, the same monitoring key is distributed to a plurality of services developed by the user, so that the usage monitoring implemented by the plurality of services developed by the user can be realized.

There is also a need in actual operation to perform usage monitoring for a group of users. For example, the operator opens a family package, signs a certain amount of free charge, each member in the family can use the signed amount of free charge, and once the amount of free charge exceeds, the amount of the family member is charged. For example, a group user package can obtain a higher service experience in the subscription consumption when a user in a group experiences a certain service, and when the subscription consumption is exceeded, the service experience effect cannot be guaranteed. For the above-mentioned home users or group users (collectively referred to as group users), although each member in the group users may share the subscription usage, it cannot be guaranteed that the same PCRF can be selected when the group users attach to the network, and therefore, the PCRF cannot be used to manage the subscription usage of the group users, and the usage monitoring of the group users cannot be implemented by using the existing usage monitoring mechanism. In addition, the users in the group may also use different SPRs to store subscription information, for example, in actual operation, an operator selects to combine PCRF and SPR, so that SPR is not suitable for uniformly managing subscription usage of the users in the group, and performs usage monitoring on the users in the group. In summary, no effective solution for monitoring usage of group users has been proposed.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides a usage monitoring method and system, which can monitor usage of group users.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

a usage monitoring method, comprising:

an online charging system OCS receives a usage monitoring request from a policy and charging rule function PCRF;

the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF;

PCRF makes policy decision and sends control policy and usage monitoring notification to policy and charging enforcement function PCEF;

and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

The usage monitoring request includes: the usage monitoring method comprises the steps of user identification needing usage monitoring, user group identification to which a user needing usage monitoring belongs, and usage monitoring indication.

The OCS makes a dosage monitoring decision as follows: deciding the usage monitoring state, distributing monitoring keys and monitoring threshold values for the users in the group according to the group user signed usage information,

the usage monitoring information includes: a monitoring key, a monitoring threshold and a usage monitoring status assigned to a user in the group.

The PCRF making policy decision and issuing control policy and usage monitoring notification to the PCEF comprises:

the PCRF carries out policy decision according to the usage monitoring state to generate a control policy, the control policy comprises the monitoring key,

and the usage monitoring notification sent by the PCRF to the PCEF at least comprises the monitoring key and the monitoring threshold.

Before the OCS receives the usage monitoring request from the PCRF, the method further includes: and the PCRF judges whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

The method further comprises the following steps:

the PCEF reports the usage monitoring to the OCS, and the reporting comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage;

the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision according to the reported accumulated monitoring usage and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF, wherein the usage monitoring decision comprises the following steps:

if the OCS decides to continue to execute usage monitoring on the user, the OCS decides to generate a usage monitoring state, allocates a new monitoring threshold value for the monitoring key, and sends the usage monitoring information to the PCRF, wherein the usage monitoring information comprises the usage monitoring state, the monitoring key and the monitoring threshold value;

and if the OCS does not decide to continue to execute the usage monitoring on the user, the OCS decides to generate a usage monitoring state, and the usage monitoring information issued to the PCRF includes the usage monitoring state.

The PCEF reports the accumulated monitoring usage amount to the OCS as follows: and the PCEF reports the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS through the PCRF, or directly reports the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS.

A usage monitoring method, comprising:

the OCS receives a usage monitoring request from the PCRF;

the OCS distributes a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information and issues the threshold value to the PCRF;

the PCRF carries out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the threshold value and issues a control policy and a usage monitoring notification to the PCEF;

The PCRF making a usage monitoring decision and a policy decision according to the threshold comprises the following steps:

PCRF distributes monitoring keys for the users in the group, and distributes monitoring threshold values for the monitoring keys according to the threshold values; and the PCRF carries out policy decision to generate a control policy, wherein the control policy comprises the monitoring key.

The method further comprises the following steps:

the PCEF reports the usage monitoring to the PCRF, wherein the reporting comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage;

and the PCRF makes a usage monitoring decision and a policy decision according to the reported accumulated monitoring usage, and the usage monitoring decision and the policy decision comprise the following steps:

when the accumulated usage reaches the monitoring threshold, the PCRF allocates a new monitoring threshold for the monitoring key according to the threshold, and simultaneously, the PCRF carries out policy decision to generate a new control policy,

and when the accumulated usage reaches the monitoring threshold and the monitoring threshold reaches the threshold, the PCRF reapplies a new threshold for the user to the OCS. If the OCS issues a new threshold value, the PCRF continues to execute a usage monitoring decision according to the new threshold value; and if the OCS does not issue a new threshold value, the PCRF stops the usage monitoring.

A usage monitoring system comprising: OCS, PCRF and PCEF; wherein,

the OCS is used for carrying out usage monitoring decision after receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF and sending usage monitoring information to the PCRF;

the PCRF is used for carrying out policy decision after receiving the usage monitoring information of the OCS and issuing a control policy and a usage monitoring notice to the PCEF;

and the PCEF is used for executing the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

And the PCRF is also used for judging whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts the usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

The PCEF is also used for reporting the usage monitoring to the OCS, and the reporting comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage;

the OCS is further configured to perform a usage monitoring decision according to the cumulative monitoring usage reported by the PCEF, and issue usage monitoring information to the PCRF, where the usage monitoring decision includes:

A usage monitoring system comprising: OCS, PCRF and PCEF; wherein,

the OCS is used for receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF, distributing a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information, and issuing the threshold value to the PCRF;

the PCRF is used for carrying out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the threshold value issued by the PCRF and issuing control policy and usage monitoring notification to the PCEF;

The PCEF is also used for reporting the usage monitoring to the PCRF, and the reporting comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage;

the PCRF is further configured to perform a usage monitoring decision and a policy decision according to the cumulative monitoring usage reported by the PCEF, and includes:

when the accumulated usage reaches the monitoring threshold and the monitoring threshold reaches the threshold, the PCRF reapplicates a new threshold for the user to the OCS, and if the OCS issues the new threshold, the PCRF continues to execute a usage monitoring decision according to the new threshold; and if the OCS does not issue a new threshold value, the PCRF stops the usage monitoring.

And the PCRF is also used for judging whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

The invention relates to a usage monitoring method and a usage monitoring system.A usage monitoring request from a PCRF is received by an OCS; the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF; PCRF makes policy decision and issues control policy and usage monitoring notification to PCEF; the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF, or the OCS distributes a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information and issues the threshold value to the PCRF; the PCRF carries out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the threshold value and issues a control policy and a usage monitoring notification to the PCEF; and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF. The invention can realize the usage monitoring of the group users.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a PCC architecture for a mobile network defined by 3 GPP;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a usage monitoring implementation in the prior art;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of another usage monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of usage monitoring and reporting according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic view of a usage monitoring and reporting process according to embodiment 3 of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to embodiment 4 of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of usage monitoring issuing and reporting according to embodiment 5 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The basic idea of the invention is: the OCS receives a usage monitoring request from the PCRF; the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF; PCRF makes policy decision and issues control policy and usage monitoring notification to PCEF; the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF, or the OCS distributes a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information and issues the threshold value to the PCRF; the PCRF carries out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the threshold value and issues a control policy and a usage monitoring notification to the PCEF; and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

The invention provides a method for monitoring the consumption of group users, which aims at solving the problem that the existing consumption monitoring and reporting mechanism can not realize the consumption monitoring of the group users sharing contracted consumption. The precondition for realizing the invention is as follows: assuming that a group user is managed by using a unified Online Charging System (OCS), the OCS manages subscription information of the group user uniformly, and the subscription information of the group user includes: user group identification, identification of users in the group, subscription amount of the group users and the like. The SPR stores the subscription information of the group user members, and the subscription information of each member in the group can be stored in different SPRs. According to existing PCRF discovery mechanisms, it is possible to select a different PCRF for serving each user in a group attached to the network. Configuring a monitoring state on the OCS, and configuring a corresponding relation between the monitoring state and a control policy on the PCRF, for example, configuring a monitoring state-1 on the PCRF indicates that "the monitoring usage does not reach a threshold value", and the monitoring state-1 corresponds to the control policy-1; the configuration of the monitoring state-2 indicates that the monitoring usage reaches a threshold value, and the monitoring state-2 corresponds to the control strategy-2. And when the PCRF receives the specific monitoring state from the OCS, executing a control strategy corresponding to the specific monitoring state according to the configuration on the PCRF.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

step 301: the OCS receives the usage monitoring request from the PCRF.

The usage monitoring request at least comprises: the usage monitoring method comprises the steps of user identification needing usage monitoring, user group identification to which a user needing usage monitoring belongs, and usage monitoring indication. The usage monitoring indication is used for explaining the usage monitoring implemented for the users in the group.

It should be noted that, before receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF, the OCS may further include: and the PCRF judges whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

Step 302: and the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF.

And after receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF, the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision according to the group user subscription usage information, wherein the usage monitoring decision comprises a usage monitoring decision state for the users in the group, and a monitoring key and a monitoring threshold value are distributed to the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information. The usage monitoring information issued by the OCS to the PCRF generally includes: a monitoring key (monitoring key), a monitoring threshold (threshold), and a usage monitoring status (monitoring status) assigned to the users in the group.

Step 303: the PCRF makes policy decision and issues control policy and usage monitoring notification to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF).

The PCRF specifically generates a control policy according to the usage monitoring state decision from the OCS, where the control policy includes the monitoring key (monitoring key), and the usage monitoring notification sent by the PCRF to the PCEF at least includes the monitoring key and the monitoring threshold.

Step 304: and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

Step 305: and when receiving the trigger of the usage monitoring report, the PCEF reports the usage monitoring to the OCS, wherein the report comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage.

When the accumulated monitoring usage reaches the usage monitoring threshold, or when the PCRF requires the PCEF to report the usage monitoring situation, the PCEF reports the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS. The PCEF may report the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS through the PCRF, or may directly report the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS.

While reporting the accumulated monitoring usage, the PCEF also needs to carry a corresponding usage monitoring identifier (monitorngkey).

It should be noted that, in the usage monitoring process, the PCEF may report to the OCS many times.

Step 306: and the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision according to the reported accumulated monitoring usage and issues usage monitoring information to the PCRF.

Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of another usage monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the method includes:

step 401: the OCS receives the usage monitoring request from the PCRF.

The usage monitoring request at least comprises: the usage monitoring method comprises the steps of user identification needing usage monitoring, user group identification to which a user needing usage monitoring belongs, and usage monitoring indication. The usage monitoring indication is used to identify usage monitoring to be performed for the users in the group.

Before this step, the PCRF may determine whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts the usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

Step 402: and the OCS distributes a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information and issues the threshold value to the PCRF.

Specifically, the OCS distributes a threshold to the users in the group according to the group user usage subscription information, and issues the threshold to the PCRF.

Step 403: and the PCRF carries out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the threshold value and issues a control policy and a usage monitoring notification to the PCEF.

Here, PCRF needs to allocate a monitoring key for the users in the group, and allocate a monitoring threshold for the monitoring key according to the threshold; and the PCRF carries out policy decision to generate a control policy, wherein the control policy comprises the monitoring key.

Step 404: and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

Step 405: and when receiving the trigger of the usage monitoring report, the PCEF reports the usage monitoring to the PCRF, wherein the report comprises the monitoring key and the accumulated monitoring usage.

Specifically, when the cumulative monitoring usage reaches the usage monitoring threshold, or when the PCRF requires the PCEF to report the usage monitoring condition, the PCEF reports the cumulative monitoring usage to the PCRF.

Step 406: and the PCRF carries out usage monitoring decision and policy decision according to the reported accumulated monitoring usage.

Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

The invention also correspondingly provides a usage monitoring system, which comprises: OCS, PCRF and PCEF; wherein,

The technical solutions of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments so that those skilled in the art can better understand the present invention and can implement the present invention, but the embodiments are not limited to the present invention.

Example 1

This embodiment provides an implementation process in which the PCRF sends a usage monitoring request to the OCS for an intra-group user and the OCS issues usage monitoring information for the intra-group user. The OCS stores group user subscription information including user group identification, identification of users in a group, and subscription usage of the group users. Assuming that a user-1 and a user-2 in the same user group are respectively attached to a network, respectively selecting a PCEF-1 and a PCRF-1 as a user-1 access service and selecting the PCEF-2 and the PCRF-2 as a user-2 access service according to the existing network implementation mechanism. The subscriber subscription information in the SPR contains an indication of whether usage monitoring needs to be initiated for the subscriber. Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to embodiment 1 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the flow chart includes:

and 501, configuring all usage monitoring states and corresponding operator strategies on all PCRFs (including PCRF-1 and PCRF-2). The usage monitoring status is also configured to the OCS.

Step 502. the user UE-1 in the group initiates an attach request to the PCEF-1.

And step 503, the PCEF-1 discovers and selects the PCRF-1 to access the service for the UE-1 according to the user identification and/or the APN. The PCEF-1 initiates an authorization request for establishing the IP-CAN session to the PCRF-1.

Step 504, the PCRF-1 acquires the subscription information of the UE-1 from the SPR and contains the indication that the usage monitoring needs to be executed, the PCRF-1 initiates a Sy session establishment request to the OCS and requests the usage monitoring aiming at the UE-1, and the request message contains a user identifier, a user group identifier and a usage monitoring indication.

And 505, the OCS judges whether the user belongs to the user group according to the user group identifier and the user identifier in the request message and the content of the group user subscription information stored on the OCS, if so, allocates a monitoring key (monitoring key-1) for the user decision, and allocates a monitoring threshold (threshold-1) and a decision initial usage monitoring state (monitoring status) for the monitoring key-1 according to the group user subscription usage.

Step 506, the OCS returns a Sy session establishment response to the PCRF-1, and issues usage monitoring information for the UE-1 to the PCRF-1, including an initial usage monitoring state (monitoring status), a monitoring key (monitoring key-1), and a monitoring threshold (threshold-1).

Step 507, after receiving the usage monitoring information, the PCRF-1 makes a decision to generate a control policy according to an operator policy corresponding to the initial usage monitoring state and other information (e.g., user subscription information), where the control policy includes a Quality of Service (QoS) policy and a charging control policy. The control strategy includes a monitoring key (monitoring key-1) issued in step 506.

And step 508, the PCRF-1 returns a response that the IP-CAN session is successfully established to the PCEF-1, and the response message contains the control strategy and the usage monitoring notification. The usage monitoring notification includes at least a monitoring key (monitoring key-1) and a monitoring threshold (threshold-1).

Step 509. the policy is enforced by the PCEF-1 and usage monitoring for UE-1 is initiated.

And step 510, the PCEF-1 returns a response of successful attachment to the UE-1.

Steps 511 to 514 are procedures for attaching the user UE-2 in the group to the network.

Step 511.UE-2 initiates an attach request to PCEF-2.

Step 512, after receiving the attach request, the PCEF-2 finds and selects PCRF-2 to access the service for the UE-2 according to the user identifier and/or APN information, the PCEF-2 initiates an IP-CAN session establishment request to the PCRF-2, the PCRF-2 obtains subscription information of the UE-2 from the SPR after receiving the request, and if the subscription information indicates that usage monitoring needs to be performed on the UE-2, the PCRF-2 sends Sy session establishment request, which carries the user group identifier, the user identifier, and the usage monitoring indication, to the OCS. After receiving the information, the OCS judges that the UE-2 and the UE-1 belong to the same group according to the user group identification and the user identification, allocates a monitoring key (monitoring key-2) to the UE-2, and allocates a monitoring threshold (threshold-2) and decides an initial usage monitoring state to the monitoring key-2 according to the group user subscription usage. The OCS returns a response of Sy session establishment to the PCRF-2, and issues usage monitoring information, including monitoring key-2 allocated to the UE-2, a corresponding monitoring threshold value threshold-2, an initial usage monitoring state, and the like. And the PCRF-2 decides to generate a control policy based on the operator policy corresponding to the initial usage monitoring state information and other information (such as subscription information and the like), and issues the control policy and the usage monitoring notification (not including the initial usage monitoring state) to the PCEF-2.

And step 513, the PCEF-2 executes the strategy and starts the usage monitoring aiming at the UE-2.

And step 514, the PCEF-2 returns a response of successful attachment to the UE-2.

The process of sending the usage monitoring to the PCRF-1 by the OCS occurs at the stage of establishing the IP-CAN session, and the process of sending the usage monitoring to the PCRF-1 by the OCS CAN also occur at the stage of modifying the IP-CAN session. For example, when the UE-1 develops a service and requests the PCRF-1 for authorization of the service, the PCRF-1 sends a usage monitoring request to the OCS, and the OCS issues the usage monitoring to the PCRF-1 according to the indication.

Example 2

This embodiment provides a process of monitoring usage for the UE-1 in the group in embodiment 1, performing a usage monitoring report, and performing a policy decision according to a reported result. In this embodiment, the usage monitoring and reporting for the UE-1 is taken as an example, and the usage monitoring and reporting process for the UE-2 in the group is similar to that of the UE-1. Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a flow of monitoring and reporting usage amount according to embodiment 2 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the flow includes:

step 601.UE-1 develops service, PCEF-1 starts the usage monitoring for UE-1.

Step 602, if the PCRF-1 requires the PCEF-1 to report the accumulated monitoring usage for monitoring key-1 (even if the accumulated usage monitored on the PCEF-1 has not yet reached the monitoring threshold-1), the PCRF-1 issues an indication that the monitoring usage is required to be reported to the PCEF-1.

Step 603, if the PCEF-1 receives an indication from the PCRF-1 requesting to report the monitored usage, or when the cumulative usage monitored on the PCEF-1 reaches the monitoring threshold-1, or the PCEF-1 receives other trigger information requesting to report the monitored usage, the PCEF-1 performs the usage monitoring report, where the report information includes a monitoring key (monitering key-1) and a corresponding cumulative monitoring usage.

And step 604, the PCRF-1 reports the accumulated monitoring usage amount aiming at the monitoring key-1 reported by the PCEF-1 to the OCS.

And 605, the OCS makes a monitoring state decision according to the accumulated monitoring usage reported by the PCRF-1. For example, if the accumulated monitored usage does not reach threshold-1, the monitoring state-1 is decided to be issued, and if the accumulated monitored usage reaches threshold-1, the monitoring state-2 is decided to be issued. Meanwhile, if the accumulated monitoring usage reaches threshold-1, the OCS needs to decide whether to assign a new monitoring threshold to monitoring key-1.

And step 606, the OCS returns the usage monitoring result to the PCRF-1, specifically step 606a or step 606b.

Step 606a, if the usage monitoring is not continued for the UE-1, the returned usage monitoring result includes a usage monitoring status of the OCS decision.

Step 606b, if the usage monitoring is continued for the UE-1, the returned usage monitoring result includes the usage monitoring state of the OCS decision, monitoring key-1, and the newly allocated monitoring threshold-3.

And step 607, the PCRF-1 makes policy decision again for the service developed by the UE-1 according to the operator policy corresponding to the usage monitoring state issued by the OCS, subscription information and the like.

Step 608, the PCRF-1 issues the control policy generated by the decision to the PCEF-1, specifically step 608a or step 608b.

Step 608a, if the usage monitoring is not performed on the UE-1, the PCRF-1 issues the control policy to the PCEF-1.

Step 608b, if the usage monitoring is continued for the UE-1, the PCRF-1 includes a monitoring key-1 in the control policy, and issues the control policy and the usage monitoring notification to the PCEF-1. The usage monitoring notification includes at least a monitoring key-1 and a monitoring threshold-3.

And step 609, the PCEF-1 executes the policy issued by the PCRF. And if the issued strategy also comprises the usage monitoring information, the PCEF-1 continuously starts the usage monitoring aiming at the UE-1.

Example 3

This embodiment provides a process of monitoring usage amount and reporting the usage amount for the UE-1 in the group in embodiment 1. In this embodiment, the usage monitoring and reporting for the UE-1 is taken as an example, and the usage monitoring and reporting process for the UE-2 in the group is similar to that of the UE-1. Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a usage monitoring and reporting process according to embodiment 3 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the process includes:

step 701, UE-1 develops a service, PCEF-1 starts usage monitoring for UE-1.

Step 702, if the PCRF-1 requests the PCEF-1 to report the accumulated monitoring usage for monitoring key-1 (even if the accumulated usage monitored on the PCEF-1 has not yet reached the monitoring threshold-1), the PCRF-1 issues an indication to the PCEF-1 to request reporting of the monitoring usage.

Step 703, if the PCEF-1 receives an indication from the PCRF-1 requesting to report the monitored usage, or when the cumulative usage monitored by the PCEF-1 reaches the monitoring threshold-1, or the PCEF-1 receives other trigger information requesting to report the monitored usage, the PCEF-1 performs usage monitoring reporting to the OCS through the Gy interface, where the report information includes the monitoring key-1 and the corresponding cumulative monitored usage. And after receiving the accumulated monitoring usage, the OCS returns confirmation to the PCEF-1.

And 704, the OCS makes a monitoring state decision according to the accumulated monitoring usage reported by the PCEF-1. For example, if the accumulated monitoring usage does not reach threshold-1, the decision is made to issue a monitoring state-1 to the PCRF-1, and if the accumulated monitoring usage reaches threshold-1, the decision is made to issue a monitoring state-2 to the PCRF-1. Meanwhile, if the accumulated monitoring usage reaches threshold-1, the OCS further decides whether to assign a new monitoring threshold to monitoring key-1.

Note: when UE-1 is attached to establish an IP-CAN session, the OCS needs to execute the association of a Gy session and a Sy session, so that the OCS CAN know which PCRF is issued after making a usage monitoring state decision according to the accumulated monitoring usage received from the PCEF-1.

Step 705, the OCS returns the usage monitoring result to the PCRF-1, which may be step 705a or step 705b.

Step 705a, if the usage monitoring is not performed on the UE-1, the returned usage monitoring result includes a usage monitoring state of the OCS decision.

Step 705b, if the usage monitoring is continued for the UE-1, the returned usage monitoring result includes the usage monitoring state of the OCS decision, monitoring key-1, and the newly allocated monitoring threshold-3.

Step 706, according to the operator policy corresponding to the usage monitoring state of the OCS decision, the subscription information, and the like, the PCRF-1 makes a policy decision again for the service developed by the UE-1.

And step 707, the PCRF-1 issues the control policy generated by the decision to the PCEF-1, which may specifically be step 707a or step 707b.

Step 707a, if the UE-1 is not monitored, the PCRF-1 issues the control policy to the PCEF-1.

And step 707b, if the usage monitoring is continued to the UE-1, the PCRF-1 includes a monitoring key-1 in the control policy, and issues the control policy and the usage monitoring notification to the PCEF-1. The usage monitoring notification includes at least a monitoring key-1 and a monitoring threshold-3.

And step 708, the policy issued by the PCRF is executed by the PCEF-1. And if the issued strategy also comprises a usage monitoring indication, the PCEF-1 continuously starts the usage monitoring aiming at the UE-1.

Example 4

This embodiment provides a process in which the PCRF requests usage monitoring from the OCS for the users in the group, and the OCS allocates a threshold (threshold) to the users in the group according to the amount subscribed by the group users and issues the threshold to the PCRF. The OCS stores group user subscription information including user group identification, identification of users in a group, and subscription usage of the group users. Assuming that a user-1 and a user-2 in the same user group are respectively attached to a network, respectively selecting a PCEF-1 and a PCRF-1 as a user-1 access service and selecting the PCEF-2 and the PCRF-2 as a user-2 access service according to the existing network implementation mechanism. The subscriber subscription information in the SPR contains an indication of whether usage monitoring needs to be initiated for the subscriber. Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a usage monitoring method according to embodiment 4 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the flow chart includes:

step 801. the user UE-1 in the group initiates an attachment request to the PCEF-1.

And step 802, the PCEF-1 discovers and selects the PCRF-1 to access the service for the UE-1 according to the user identification and/or the APN. The PCEF-1 initiates an authorization request for establishing the IP-CAN session to the PCRF-1.

And step 803, the PCRF-1 acquires the subscription information of the UE-1 from the SPR and contains the indication that the usage monitoring needs to be executed, the PCRF-1 initiates a Sy session establishment request to the OCS and requests the usage monitoring aiming at the UE-1, and the request message contains a user identifier, a user group identifier and a usage monitoring indication.

And step 804, the OCS judges whether the user belongs to the user group according to the user group identifier and the user identifier in the request message and the content of the group user subscription information stored on the OCS, if so, the OCS allocates the group user subscription usage, and allocates a threshold (threshold-1) for the UE-1 according to the group user subscription usage.

And 805, the OCS returns a Sy session establishment response to the PCRF-1, wherein the response message contains the threshold-1.

And 806, the PCRF-1 saves the threshold-1 and carries out policy decision based on operator policy, subscription information and the like to generate a control policy.

And step 807, the PCRF-1 returns a response that the IP-CAN session is successfully established to the PCEF-1.

Step 808.PCEF-1 enforces the policy.

And step 809, the PCEF-1 returns a response of successful attachment to the UE-1.

Steps 810 to 813 are procedures for attaching the user UE-2 in the group to the network.

Step 810.UE-2 initiates an attach request to PCEF-2.

Step 811, after receiving the attach request, the PCEF-2 finds and selects PCRF-2 to access the service for the UE-2 according to the user identifier and/or APN information, the PCEF-2 initiates an IP-CAN session establishment request to the PCRF-2, the PCRF-2 obtains subscription information of the UE-2 from the SPR after receiving the request, and if the subscription information indicates that usage monitoring needs to be performed on the UE-2, the PCRF-2 sends Sy session establishment request, carrying the user group identifier, the user identifier, and the usage monitoring indication, to the OCS. And after receiving the information, the OCS judges that the UE-2 and the UE-1 belong to the same group according to the user group identification and the user identification, and allocates a threshold (threshold-2) for the UE-2 according to the group user subscription usage. The OCS returns a response of Sy session establishment to PCRF-2, containing the threshold (threshold-2) assigned to UE-2. And the PCRF-2 stores the threshold (threshold-2), carries out policy decision based on operator policy, subscription information and the like to generate a control policy, and issues the control policy to the PCEF-2.

Step 812.PCEF-2 enforces the policy.

And step 813, the PCEF-2 returns a response of successful attachment to the UE-2.

Example 5

The embodiment provides the implementation of the process that the PCRF makes a usage monitoring decision, issues the usage monitoring, and performs the usage monitoring report for the intra-group users. In this embodiment, the usage monitoring, issuing and reporting for the UE-1 in the group is taken as an example, and the process of the usage monitoring, issuing and reporting for the UE-2 in the group is similar to that of the UE-1. Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a flow of usage monitoring, issuing, and reporting according to embodiment 5 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the flow includes:

step 901, UE-1 develops a service, PCRF-1 makes a policy decision for the service, and monitors the usage of the service developed by UE-1, PCRF-1 generates a monitoring key (monitoring key-1) and includes it in the control policy, and generates a monitoring threshold value threshold-11 for the monitoring key-1 based on a threshold value (threshold-1) allocated to UE-1 by OCS in embodiment 4 (the value of threshold-11 is less than or equal to threshold-1). And the PCRF-1 issues the control strategy and the usage monitoring notification to the PCEF-1, wherein the usage monitoring notification comprises a monitoring key-1 and a monitoring threshold value threshold-11.

And step 902, the UE-1 develops the service, and the PCEF-1 starts the usage monitoring according to the usage monitoring information issued by the PCRF-1.

And 903, when the monitored accumulated usage on the PCEF-1 reaches the monitoring threshold-11, the PCEF-1 performs usage monitoring reporting, where the reporting information includes monitoring key-1 and corresponding accumulated monitoring usage.

And 904, according to the reported result of the usage monitoring of the PCEF-1, the PCRF-1 carries out policy decision again to generate a control policy.

Here, if the value of threshold-11 issued in step 901 is equal to threshold-1, it is described that in the fourth embodiment, the threshold-1 allocated to UE-1 by the OCS is already used up by UE-1, and therefore, the process from step 909 to step 911 needs to be directly executed to apply for a new threshold from the OCS.

If the value of threshold-11 sent in step 901 is less than threshold-1, which indicates that the threshold-1 allocated to UE-1 by the OCS has not been used up by UE-1 in embodiment 4, PCRF-1 generates a new monitoring threshold-12 for monitoring key-1 based on threshold-1 and threshold-11.

And step 905, the PCRF-1 sends the new control policy (including monitoring key-1) and the usage monitoring information (including monitoring key-1 and threshold-12) to the PCEF-1.

And step 906, the PCEF-1 carries out strategy adjustment and continues to start the usage monitoring.

And 907, when the accumulated monitoring consumption on the PCEF-1 reaches the monitoring threshold value threshold-12, the PCEF-1 executes the consumption monitoring reporting.

Step 908, according to the usage monitoring result reported by the PCEF-1, the PCRF-1 determines that the threshold-1 allocated to the UE-1 by the OCS in the fourth embodiment is used up, and needs to apply for a new threshold from the OCS.

And a step 909, the PCRF-1 initiates a new usage application request to the OCS, wherein the request comprises information such as a user group identifier, a UE-1 identifier and the like.

Step 910, after receiving the usage application request, the OCS determines that if the group user subscription usage has not been completely allocated to the users in the group, the OCS allocates a new threshold-3 to the UE-1. And if the group user subscription usage is completely distributed to the users in the group, the OCS returns the failure of applying the usage to the PCRF-1. And the subsequent PCRF-1 terminates the usage monitoring of the UE-1.

And 911, the OCS issues a new threshold value threshold-3 allocated to the UE-1 to the PCRF-1.

Step 912, if the PCRF-1 receives the threshold-3, the UE-1 is continuously monitored according to the process of step 901 and 903.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A usage monitoring method, the method comprising:

an online charging system OCS corresponding to all the group user members receives a usage monitoring request from a policy and charging rule function PCRF;

and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring on the users in the group according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

2. The usage monitoring method of claim 1, wherein the usage monitoring request comprises: the usage monitoring method comprises the steps of user identification needing usage monitoring, user group identification to which a user needing usage monitoring belongs, and usage monitoring indication.

3. The usage monitoring method of claim 1, wherein the OCS makes a usage monitoring decision as: deciding the usage monitoring state, distributing monitoring keys and monitoring threshold values for the users in the group according to the group user signed usage information,

4. The usage monitoring method of claim 3, wherein the PCRF making a policy decision and issuing a control policy and usage monitoring notification to the PCEF comprises:

5. The traffic monitoring method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the OCS, before receiving the traffic monitoring request from the PCRF, further comprises: and the PCRF judges whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

6. A usage monitoring method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the method further comprises:

7. The usage monitoring method of claim 6, wherein the reporting of the accumulated monitored usage by the PCEF to the OCS is performed by: and the PCEF reports the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS through the PCRF, or directly reports the accumulated monitoring usage to the OCS.

8. A usage monitoring method, the method comprising:

the OCS corresponding to all the group members receives the usage monitoring request from the PCRF;

and the PCEF executes the usage monitoring on the group users according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

9. The usage monitoring method of claim 8, wherein the usage monitoring request comprises: the usage monitoring method comprises the steps of user identification needing usage monitoring, user group identification to which a user needing usage monitoring belongs, and usage monitoring indication.

10. The usage monitoring method of claim 9, wherein the PCRF making the usage monitoring decision and the policy decision based on the threshold comprises:

11. The usage monitoring method of claim 10, further comprising:

12. The traffic monitoring method of claim 11, wherein before the OCS receives the traffic monitoring request from the PCRF, the method further comprises: and the PCRF judges whether to send the usage monitoring request according to the usage monitoring indication in the user subscription information, and if the subscription information indicates that the user starts usage monitoring, the PCRF sends the usage monitoring request to the OCS.

13. A usage monitoring system, the system comprising: OCS, PCRF and PCEF; wherein,

the OCS is used for carrying out usage monitoring decision after receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF and sending usage monitoring information to the PCRF; wherein the OCS corresponds to all group user members;

and the PCEF is used for performing the usage monitoring on the users in the group according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

14. The usage monitoring system of claim 13,

15. Usage monitoring system according to claim 13 or 14,

16. A usage monitoring system, the system comprising: OCS, PCRF and PCEF; wherein,

the OCS is used for receiving the usage monitoring request from the PCRF, distributing a threshold value for the users in the group according to the group user subscription usage information, and issuing the threshold value to the PCRF; wherein the OCS corresponds to all group user members;

and the PCEF is used for performing the usage monitoring on the group users according to the control strategy and the usage monitoring notice issued by the PCRF.

17. The usage monitoring system of claim 16,

18. Usage monitoring system according to claim 16 or 17,