13.2 Charging Management

Resources: S5

13.2.1 Online charging correlation uid_350038 References

Document	Title/Contents
WID(s)
SP-070077	WID on Online charging correlation
Impacted Specifications
TS 32.296	Telecommunication management; Charging management; Online Charging System (OCS): Applications and interfaces (Update the OCS architecture, Add online charging correlation functions, Add message flows to describe online correlation)
New Dedicated Specifications/Reports
-	-

UID	Name	Acronym	Resource	Hyperlink	rapporteur	TS_TR
350038	Online charging correlation	CH8	S5	SP-070077	Orange	32.296

TS 32.240 (Charging architecture and principles) provides the possibility to aggregate and correlate charging information produced by different domains (e.g. IMS, PS) and different sources (e.g. x-CSCF, GGSN, etc.). This intra-domain and inter-domain correlation is specified only for offline charging but not for online charging.

The Online Charging System (OCS) which performs event/session based charging, credit control and rating features collects charging events at the bearer, IMS and service levels. By controlling the network and application usage separately, the OCS is not able to apply special charging handling to one charging level against the other (e.g. zero rate bearer usage when an IMS session is active). On the other hand, when multiple services are rendered simultaneously to the subscriber, the OCS is not able to perform service bundling of these services.

As a consequence, the correlation functionality needs to be defined for online charging. This work:

• Updates the OCS internal architecture to combine the EBCF (Event Based Charging Function) and SBCF (Session Based Charging Function) into a single OCF (Online Charging Function) that performs both event and session based charging. This allows optimizing the handling of correlation;

• Introduces a correlation function within the OCS as part of the OCF which would be implement the service logic for correlation;

• Introduces a context monitoring function that defines a context related to the multiple sessions/services activated by a user simultaneously;

13.2.2 Sms online charging uid_360003 References

Document	Title/Contents
WID(s)
SP-070293	WID on SMS online charging
Impacted Specifications
TS 32.240	Telecommunication management; Charging management; Charging architecture and principles (Introduce SMS as a standalone service into charging architecture)
TS 32.299	Telecommunication management; Charging management; Diameter charging applications (Introduce new SMS specific information necessary to enable the relevant SMS charging models)
New Dedicated Specifications/Reports
TS 32.274	Telecommunication management; Charging management; Short Message Service (SMS) charging

UID	Name	Acronym	Resource	Hyperlink	rapporteur	TS_TR
360003	SMS online charging	CH8	S5	SP-070293	Vodafone	32.240, 32.299, new 32.274

This work is linked to

• SA2 – Support of SMS over IP networks (UID_32081)

• CT4 – Routeing of MT-SMS via the HPLMN (UID_340016)

The above linked work items introduced new nodes into the SMS architecture (IP-SM-GW and SMS Router) which currently are not covered y SA5 charging specifications. Both nodes are located within the home PLMN and therefore direct online charging (not reusing CAMEL) is possible. This work does not replace existing SMS related charging performed at the MSC and SGSN according to SA5 TS 32.250 (CS domain charging) and TS 32.251 (PS domain charging).

TS 32.274 specifies offline and online charging for SMS, based on functional description in TS 23.040 and SMS over IP in TS 23.204. It does not replace existing offline SMS charging functionality and therefore is in addition to that defined in TS 32.250 (CS domain charging) and TS 32.251 (PS domain charging). TS 32.274 includes offline and online charging architecture and scenarios specific to SMS, as well as mapping of the common 3GPP charging architecture specified in TS 32.240 onto SMS. It further specifies the structure and content of the CDRs for offline charging, and the charging events for online charging. TS 32.274 relates to other 3GPP charging TSs as follows:

• TS 22.115 Requirements that govern the charging work;

• TS 32.240 Common 3GPP charging architecture;

• TS 32.298 Parameters, abstract syntax and encoding rules for the CDRs;

• TS 32.295 Transaction based mechanism for the transfer of CDRs within the network;

• TS 32.297 File based mechanism transferring CDRs from network to operator's billing domain (e.g. the billing system or a mediation device);

• TS 32.299 3GPP Diameter application used for SMS offline and online charging.