Data charging during charging function outages

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11083044-B2
Application number	US-202017074325-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2020
Priority date	Feb 15, 2019
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

In a 5 th -Generation (5G) cellular communication network, charging customers for data usage is performed by a network function referred to as a charging function (CHF). A session management function (SMF) of the network repeatedly sends update requests to reserve additional data for a data session. If the CHF is not available and the SMF does not receive a response to an update message, the SMF continues to assign data for the data session, even though it has not received authorization to do so from the CHF. When the CHF becomes available, the SMF sends a request to start a second data session to continue the data connection that was previously supported by the original data session. This request specifies the amount of data that was used in the original data session without being confirmed by the CHF, allowing the CHF to account for this data usage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
sending a first charging data request specifying a first amount of data used by a first data session associated with a data connection;
determining whether a charging data response is associated with the first charging data request;
determining, based at least on the charging data response being absent, a second amount of data for the data connection; and
sending a second charging data request to a charging function (CHF), wherein the second charging data request specifies at least one of:
a second data session to be associated with the data connection;
an identifier associated with the first data session; or
a third amount of data used by the data connection and associated with the first data session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first charging data request is a charging data update request and the second charging data request is a charging data initial request.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third amount of data represents an amount of data associated with the first data session not confirmed by the CHF.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third amount of data corresponds to a total amount of data used by the first data session.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second charging data request indicates that there was a failure to receive a response to the first charging data request.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second charging data request further specifies at least one of a time or a sequence number associated with a previous charging data request to which a response was not received.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions, wherein executing the instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform actions comprising:
sending a charging data update request to request a first amount of data for use by a data connection associated with a first data session, wherein the charging data update request specifies a first data session identifier;
determining whether a charging data update response is associated with the charging data update request;
determining, based at least on the charging data update response being absent; a second amount of data for the data connection; and
sending a charging data initial request, wherein the charging data initial request includes at least one of:
a second data session to be associated with the data connection;
an identifier associated with the first data session; or
a third amount of data used by the data connection.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the third amount of data represents an amount of data associated with the first data session not confirmed by a charging function.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein assigning the second amount of data further comprises:
determining, for the first data session, the third amount of data;
determining that the third amount of data does not exceed a data threshold; and
recording that the second amount of data was assigned to the data connection.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein assigning the second amount of data for the data connection further comprises:
determining, for the first data session, the third amount of data;
determining that the third amount of data exceeds a data threshold; and
in response to the third amount of data exceeding the data threshold, performing at least one of:
terminating the data connection associated with the first data session; or
suspending the data connection associated with the first data session until the third amount of data is reduced below the data threshold.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the charging data initial request further comprises a fourth amount of data for use by the data connection in association with the second data session.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the charging data initial request further comprises a property from which a charging function (CHF) can determine how much of the third amount of data has been confirmed with the CHF.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , wherein the property comprises at least one of:
a total amount of data used by the first data session;
a time associated with the charging data update request; or
a sequence number of the charging data update request.

14. A method comprising:
receiving, at a charging function (CHF), a charging data update request specifying a first data session and a first amount of data used in the first data session; and
receiving, at the CHF, a charging data initial request specifying a second amount of data used in the first data session and at least one of a second data session or a third amount of data requested for the second data session; and
determining, based at least on the charging data update request and the charging data initial request, a total amount of data used in the first data session.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the charging data initial request further specifies the total amount of data used in the first data session; and
the second amount of data corresponds to an amount of data that was used without being confirmed by the CHF.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the method further comprises determining that a portion of the total amount of data was not recorded; and
recording the second amount of data is performed in response to determining that the portion of the total amount of data was not recorded.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the charging data initial request further comprises an error flag indicating that a Session Management Function (SMF) failed to receive a response from the CHF;
the second amount of data is recorded in association with the first data session; and
the second amount of data is associated with to the first data session based at least in part on the error flag of the charging data initial request.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the charging data initial request further comprises an error flag indicating that a Session Management Function (SMF) failed to receive a response from the CHF;
the second amount of data specifies a total amount of data used by the first data session; and
determining the total amount of data used in the first data session further comprises determining, based at least on the first amount of data and the second amount of data, a third amount of data that is to be charged in association with the first data session.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the charging data initial request further specifies a time associated with an additional charging data update request;
the method further comprising determining, based at least on the time, that the additional charging data update request was not received; and
the second amount of data is recorded in response to determining that the additional charging data update request was not received.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the charging data initial request further specifies a sequence number associated with a second charging data update request;
the method further comprising determining, based at least on the sequence number, that the second charging data update request was not received; and
the second amount of data is recorded in response to determining that the second charging data update requ

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc

Inventors

• Engelhart Robert L

Classifications

• H04L12/14 Primary

  Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework · CPC title

• H04M15/00

  Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication {; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP} · CPC title

• H04M15/71

  Modifying recharging resources · CPC title

• H04M15/8214

  Data or packet based · CPC title

• H04M15/74

  Backing up · CPC title