Systems and methods for regional segmentation and selection of charging function

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12219087-B2
Application number	US-202117406617-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2021
Priority date	Aug 19, 2021
Publication date	Feb 4, 2025
Grant date	Feb 4, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein enable distribution of a Charging Function group identifier (“CHF-Group-ID”) and other CHF selection data to CHF consumers during Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment in a 5G network. A Unified Data Repository (UDR) is provisioned with CHF-Group-ID details for each subscriber of the network. In one aspect, during PDU session establishment, CHF consumers obtain CHF-Group-ID information as part of a subscriber profile that is provided to all CHF consumers. No additional step or hop is needed for the CHF consumers to obtain the CHF-Group-ID. Thus, regionally segmented CHFs can be implemented without replication of data between CHFs in different regional segments and without additional signaling between network functions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
registering multiple Charging Function (CHF) instances, where the registering associates each CHF instance, of the multiple CHF instances, with one of multiple CHF group identifiers;
storing, by a first network device, CHF selection data that includes a CHF group identifier (CHF-Group-ID) associated with a subscriber;
obtaining, by a second network device that functions as a CHF consumer, the CHF-Group-ID from the first network device; and
sending, by the second network device and based on the obtaining, charging data to a CHF instance associated with the CHF-Group-ID,
wherein subscriber data stored in a CHF instance associated with the CHF-Group-ID is not replicated to another CHF instance with a different CHF group identifier of the multiple CHF group identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CHF-Group-ID is included within a subscriber profile.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network device is part of a 5G core network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network device includes:
a Policy Control Function (PCF),
a Session Management Function (SMF),
an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), or
a Short Message Service Function (SMSF).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining is performed as part of a protocol data unit session establishment procedure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network device includes one of a Unified Data Repository or a Unified Data Management function.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CHF selection data further identifies:
types of services supported by the CHF instance, or
types of subscribers hosted by the CHF instance.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the CHF-Group-ID includes:
sending, by the second network device and to the first network device, a subscription request for the CHF selection data; and
receiving, by the second network device and from the first network device, updated CHF selection data based on the subscription request.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the multiple CHF instances includes registering the multiple CHF instances with a Network Repository Function (NRF), the method further comprising:
initiating, by the second network device and using the CHF-Group-ID, CHF discovery with the NRF.

10. A system comprising:
a first network device configured to register multiple Charging Function (CHF) instances, where the registering associates each CHF instance, of the multiple CHF instances, with one of multiple CHF group identifiers;
a second network device configured to store CHF selection data that includes a CHF group identifier (CHF-Group-ID) associated with a subscriber; and
a third network device, acting as a CHF consumer, configured to:
obtain the CHF-Group-ID from the second network device, and
send, based on the obtaining, charging data to a CHF instance associated with the CHF-Group-ID; and

the multiple CHF instances, wherein subscriber data stored in a CHF instance, of the multiple CHF instances, associated with the CHF-Group-ID is not replicated to another CHF instance, of the multiple CHF instances, with a different CHF group identifier of the multiple CHF group identifiers.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the CHF-Group-ID is included within a subscriber profile.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first network device, the second network device, and the third network device are part of a 5G core network.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the third network device includes:
a Policy Control Function (PCF),
a Session Management Function (SMF),
an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), or
a Short Message Service Function (SMSF).

14. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein, when obtaining the CHF-Group-ID, the third network device is configured to obtain the CHF-Group-ID as part of a protocol data unit session establishment procedure.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second network device includes one of a Unified Data Repository or a Unified Data Management function.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein, when obtaining the CHF-Group-ID from the second network device, the third network device is further configured to:
send, to the second network device, a subscription request for CHF selection data; and
receive, from the second network device, updated CHF selection data based on the subscription request.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein, when obtaining the CHF-Group-ID from the second network device, the third network device is further configured to:
send a request to the second network device to retrieve subscriber policy data, wherein the request includes a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI).

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein obtaining the CHF-Group-ID from the second network device includes obtaining at least one of:
access management (AM) subscription data,
session management function (SMF) subscription data, or
short message service (SMS) subscription data.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processor of a charging function (CHF) consumer device, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions for:
sending, from a first network device, a request for subscriber policy data, wherein the request includes a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI);
obtaining, from the subscriber policy data, a CHF group identifier (CHF-Group-ID); and
sending, based on the obtaining, charging data to a CHF instance associated with the CHF-Group-ID,
wherein subscriber policy data stored in the CHF instance associated with the CHF-Group-ID is not replicated to another CHF instance with a different CHF group identifier.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the CHF consumer device includes one of:
a Policy Control Function (PCF),
a Session Management Function (SMF),
an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), or
a Short Message Service Function (SMSF), and
wherein the first network device includes one of a Unified Data Repository function or a Unified Data Management function.

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Kuravangi-Thammaiah Shanthala
• Muralimanohar Madhan
• Cakulev Violeta
• Steben Jerry
• Lakhian Harinder S
• Retnasamy Muthukumar
• Nahata Hans Raj

Classifications

• H04W60/00

  Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration · CPC title

• H04W8/18

  Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data · CPC title

• H04W84/042

  Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems · CPC title

• H04M15/8228

  Session based · CPC title

• H04W4/24

  Accounting or billing · CPC title