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Integrating Charging and Rating into the IMS Platform

Integrating Charging and Rating into the IMS Platform. Joe Hogan CTO and Founder Openet Telecom. Agenda. Introduction Developing and launching services and applications quickly and cost effectively How can existing OSS systems evolve to IMS architecture

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Integrating Charging and Rating into the IMS Platform

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  1. Integrating Charging and Rating into the IMS Platform Joe Hogan CTO and Founder Openet Telecom

  2. Agenda • Introduction • Developing and launching services and applications quickly and cost effectively • How can existing OSS systems evolve to IMS architecture • Examining the impact of IMS services on OSS/BSS systems • Real-Time Charging models as a natural towards IMS • Transferring charging information from the IMS nodes to the billing system • Utilizing real-time rating for IMS applications

  3. Rapid service creation and deployment • IMS architecture facilitates faster service creation and delivery. • Horizontal service architecture for service delivery: • Avoids stovepipe challenges previously associated with deploying services • Improved scalability of service offerings (independent of session control and transport) • Increased control over service lifecycle • Service transparency

  4. Billing Domain CS - NE Service - NE SIP AS MRFC MGCF BGCF CDF CGF P - CSCF I - CSCF IMS OCS S - CSCF GWF WLAN SGSN GGSN TPF ONLINE CHARGING OFFLINE CHARGING CRF AF Evolving to IMS Architecture 3G Charging Architecture From 3GPP (TS 32.240)

  5. IMS Charging Interface Architecture

  6. Existing OSS systems evolution • Critical that investment in OSS systems is leveraged. • Departure from legacy prepaid platforms and reliance on vendor defined architectures. • Progression of rating and intelligence capabilities to the network edge. • Online transaction processing treatment for all subscribers irrespective of payment method. • ‘Flexible Transactionality’ is at the heart of IMS service lifecycle control for service creation, aggregation, orchestration, discovery, retirement and delivery.

  7. Impact of IMS services on OSS/BSS systems • IMS will deliver innovative services that shall demand the OSS/BSS system handle complex pricing strategies • Batch based systems fall short of the real-time, low latency processing requirements. • Network edge rating required. • Support required for standards based input interfaces (e.g. Rf, Ro). • Diameter rich protocol, non trivial to implement • Interoperability testing critical to success • Session performance and reliability criteria must be met. • Irrespective of pre and post payment for services. • Much greater volumes of usage data from network nodes. • Increased correlation challenges.

  8. Online Charging Used for pre-paid account management. Subscribers account balance is checked and authorisation is received in real-time before a service is provided. Three types of credit control operation for online charging: Immediate Event Charging (IEC) - Event Charging with Unit Reservation (ECUR) Session Charging with Unit Reservation (SCUR). IMS Online and Offline Charging Offline Charging • Used for post-paid account management. • Subscriber is billed after the service is delivered. • Customer data records are aggregated and sent to the Billing System in real-time or batch. • The following types of accounting data can be sent: • START session accounting • INTERIM session accounting • STOP session accounting • EVENT accounting data.

  9. IMS Event Based Charging • Manages charging for single events: • Direct Debit • Service price enquiry • Balance enquiry • Refunds • Offline event-based charging is performed by the CCF • A single CDR is generated for the event which can be correlated and sent to the Billing System. • Online event-based charging is performed by the OCS • Authorisation, credit control and account balance management are performed for one or more events. • Communicates with the rating function to determine the value of the requested event. • Communicates with Credit Control to perform credit reservation and account balance management.

  10. Session Based Charging • Manages the charging of a subscriber session such as multimedia gaming, video-conferencing etc. • Offline session-based charging is performed by the CCF. • CDR(s) are generated for the session and are aggregated and correlated before being sent to the Billing System. • Online session-based charging is performed by the OCS • Authorisation, credit control and account balance management are performed for the session. • Communicates with the rating function to determine the value of a requested service. • Communicates with Credit Control to perform credit reservation and account balance management. • Graceful service termination supported as subscribers account goes to zero.

  11. Interfaces for Offline Charging

  12. Interfaces for Online Charging

  13. Internet Gn Gi EDR /RTCU GamingServer WAPGW MMSC CiscoSESM EDR /RTCU MusicServer GGSN MSC SGSN CiscoCSG CiscoSSG Portal IMSMFR, MGCFCSCF, etc. ProQuentMSSP VolubillD2CP Gn Probe Netspira BTS Self-HelpServer EDR /RTCU IntelligentGGSN UMSServer EDR /RTCU Charging RTCU EDR S-CDR RTCU G-CDR RTCU EDR /RTCU EDR /RTCU RTCU RTCU RTCU RTCU EDR EDR /RTCU Etc. BalanceMgmt System(s) Key RTCU - Real-Time Content Usage Events - Policy Controller - Billing System- IN Platform- CRM- Etc - Policy Enforcers CDR External Rating xDR - Post Service Delivery Usage Events CustomerandProduct Info - Rating Engine- IN Platform- Billing System- Etc Rating PostpaidBilling Fraud DWH Gn Gi Real-Time Charging Models as a natural migration towards IMS Valuable experience gained with existing charging models in wireless space e.g. packet switched domain.

  14. Transferring charging information from the IMS nodes to the billing system • Charging interfaces from the IMS core • Session aggregation • Correlation • Account balance management • Distribution

  15. Charging interfaces from the IMS core • 3GPP defined Rf interface for offline charging • Based on Diameter Base Protocol Accounting from IETF AAA WG (RFC3588) • ACR/ACA Messages • 3GPP AVPs • 3GPP defined Ro interface for online charging • Based on Diameter Credit Control Application from IETF AAA WG (RFC4006) • CCR/CCA Messages

  16. Session aggregation • Session based aggregation required for offline charging to produce P/I/S-CSCF, AS, MRFC, BGCF and MGCF CDRs • Generated from Diameter ACRs (Start, Interim, Stop) • Error handling conditions required

  17. Correlation Correlation of IMS usage events is typically required before sending to BS. Correlation is possible on multiple levels: • Intra level – using ICID key • Inter level – e.g. with the PS domain • Inter network – using the Inter Operator Identification (IOI) key

  18. Account balance management For online charging interaction with the subscribers balance is required e.g. • Query balance • Increment balance • Decrement balance • Set balance to value • Reserve units • Commit reservation • Release reservation

  19. Distribution • Bi interface loosely defined • Many different BS vendors most using proprietary formats for input • Typically file based (push/pull)

  20. Utilizing real-time rating for IMS applications • 3GPP have defined rating function within the OCS • 3GPP online charging demands low latency which mandates network edge rating • 3GPP services shall more sophisticated and consequently shall require a corresponding level of rating complexity and flexibility • Rating engines shall need to be able to adapt rapidly to the constant shifting of offered services without dependence on the vendor

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