Active subscriber count based charging and policy control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016267138-A1
Application number	US-201514656891-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method by a count database node monitors content of subscriber accounts processed by an online charging system in a communication network for user equipment nodes. The method includes receiving by the count database node a plurality of data records. Each data record contains a subscriber identifier and an attribute to be provisioned for the subscriber. For each of the data records, the data record is sorted for storage in database structures maintained by the count database node based on the attribute of the data record. The method further includes determining a count value based on a number of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node containing an attribute defined by a query received by the count database node, and providing the count value from the count database node to another node.

First claim

1 . A method by a count database node for monitoring content of subscriber accounts processed by an online charging system in a communication network for user equipment nodes, the method comprising steps of:
receiving by the count database node a plurality of data records, each data record containing a subscriber identifier and an attribute to be provisioned for the subscriber; for each of the data records, sorting the data record for storage in database structures maintained by the count database node based on the attribute of the data record; determining a count value based on a number of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node containing an attribute defined by a query received by the count database node; and providing the count value from the count database node to another node.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving by the count database node the plurality of data records, comprises:
receiving the data records from the online charging system through structured query language messaging or extensible markup language messaging.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving by the count database node the plurality of data records, comprises:
receiving the data records from a multi-mediation node through structured query language messaging or extensible markup language messaging, the data records received from the multi-mediation node are based on data records containing subscriber account data provided by the online charging system to the multi-mediation node.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
at least some of the data records received by the count database node further contain a start time when the attribute will become active for use and an expiry time when the attribute will become inactive; and the step of determining the count value further comprises:
determining the count value based on how many of the data records stored in the database structures contain the attribute defined by the query, the start time before a current time, and the expiry time after the current time.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising the step of purging expired ones of the data records from the database structures maintained by the count database node based on associated ones of the expiry times becoming after the current time which indicates the associated ones of the attributes have become inactive.

6 . The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein at least some of the data records received by the count database node further contain a start time when the attribute will become active for use and an expiry time when the attribute will become inactive; and further comprising sorting an order of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node based on the start time when the attribute of the data record will become active for use and then based on the expiry time when the attribute of the data record will become inactive.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
following the sorting of the order of the data records based on the start time and then based on the expiry time, further sorting the order of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node based on the subscriber identifier.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the subscriber identifier comprises a Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) and/or International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the query comprises a services query received from the online charging system; the step of providing the count value from the count database node to another node, comprises:
providing the count value from the count database node to the online charging system responsive to the services query.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the query is received from a policy and charging rules function node; the step of providing the count value from the count database node to another node, comprises:
providing the count value from the count database node to the policy and charging rules function node responsive to the query.

11 . A count database node for monitoring content of subscriber accounts processed by an online charging system in a communication network for user equipment nodes, the count database node comprising:
a network interface configured to communicate with the online charging system; and a processor coupled with the network interface, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive by the count database node a plurality of data records, each data record containing a subscriber identifier and an attribute to be provisioned for the subscriber;
for each of the data records, sort the data record for storage in database structures maintained by the count database node based on the attribute of the data record;
determine a count value based on a number of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node containing an attribute defined by a query received by the count database node; and
provide the count value from the count database node to another node.

12 . A method by a network node in a communication network for monitoring content of subscriber accounts for user equipment nodes, the method comprising steps of:
receiving data contained in a provisioning request to provision an attribute for use by the subscriber account having a subscriber identifier; generating based on the data contained in the provisioning request, a data record containing the subscriber identifier for the subscriber account and containing the attribute to be provisioned; and providing the data record to a count database node via a network interface for sorting of the data record for storage in a database structure maintained by the count database node based on the attribute of the data record.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein:
the network node comprises an online charging system; the provisioning request is received by the online charging system; and the step of providing the data record to the count database node, comprises:
providing the data record through structured query language messaging or extensible markup language messaging from the online charging system to the count database node.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a charging request containing information about the service to be charged, which is related to an attribute provisioned on the subscriber account; querying the count database node using a services query to obtain a count value based on a number of the data records stored in the database structures maintained by the count database node that have the attribute related to the service requested in the charging request; calculating a differential charging rate based on the count value, for a service that was requested in the charging request and is related to the attribute on the subscriber account; and applying the differential charging rate for use of a service that was requested in the charging request and is related to the attribute on the subscriber account.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein:
the step of generating based on the data contained in the provisioning request, a data record containing the subscriber identifier for the subscriber account and containing the attribute to be provisioned, comprises:
generating the data record to further contain a start time when the attribute will become active for use

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Jadhav Kiran

Classifications

• H04L47/762 Primary

  triggered by the network · CPC title

• H04L47/808

  User-type aware · CPC title

• H04L47/822

  Collecting or measuring resource availability data · CPC title

• G06F17/30477 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30522

  Physics · mapped topic