CN116137699A

CN116137699A - Flow charging method, network element and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116137699A
Application number: CN202111358102.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曾玲玲
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2021-11-16
Filing date: 2021-11-16
Publication date: 2023-05-19
Also published as: WO2023088031A1

Abstract

The application discloses a flow charging method, a wireless TOF, a wireless base station, a core network element and a storage medium, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the wireless TOF acquires the consumption information and charging identification of the local network flow; generating a first traffic usage report for the local network; reporting a first traffic usage report of a local network to the radio base station; the wireless base station receives a first flow use report of a local network reported by the wireless TOF; generating a second traffic usage report of the local network according to the first traffic usage report; reporting a second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element; the core network element receives a second flow use report of the local network reported by the wireless base station; and generating a ticket of the local network according to the second flow use report of the local network, so that the charging domain finishes charging processing according to the ticket of the local network. In this way, the present application is able to bill local network traffic.

Description

Flow charging method, network element and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to a traffic charging method, a wireless traffic offload function entity, a wireless base station, a core network element, and a storage medium.

Background

The development of mobile communication is rapid, and the fifth generation mobile communication (5G,5th Generation Mobile Communication) era has come. Multi-access edge computing (MEC, multi-access Edge Computing) technology has received increasing attention. According to the edge computing technology, a server is configured at the edge of the wireless network, so that cloud computing resources are sunk to the wireless access network, time delay can be greatly reduced, and the bandwidth of a backhaul network can be saved.

In many scenarios, such as industrial parks, campuses, shopping malls, etc., local offloading needs to be accomplished near the wireless base station of the third generation partnership project (3GPP,3rd Generation Partnership Project) network to enable edge computation. For such application scenarios, one solution is to sink the UPF in 5GC to the edge, implementing a Data Plane (DP); another solution is to deploy wireless traffic offload function entities (TOF, traffic Offload Function) near the wireless base station, serially connected between the wireless base station and the data plane of the core network, to implement DP, and accomplish local offloading.

However, the first method still has more difficulties in deployment in the ground practice, and the second method cannot finish charging for local network traffic, so as to influence the development of edge calculation.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides a flow charging method, a wireless flow unloading functional entity, a wireless base station, a core network element and a storage medium, which can charge local network flow.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for charging a traffic, the method including:

a wireless flow unloading functional entity deployed on a wireless base station side acquires the consumption information and the charging identification of the local network flow;

generating a first traffic usage report of the local network, the first traffic usage report of the local network including the usage information and the charging identification;

reporting the first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station, so that the wireless base station reports the second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element according to the first traffic usage report, and the core network element generates a ticket of the local network according to the second traffic usage report of the local network.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for charging a traffic, the method including:

the wireless base station receives a first flow use report of a local network, which is reported by a wireless flow unloading functional entity, wherein the first flow use report comprises the consumption information and the charging identification of the local network flow;

Generating a second traffic usage report of the local network according to the first traffic usage report, wherein the traffic usage report of the second local network comprises a local network identifier, the usage information and the charging identifier;

reporting the second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element, so that the core network element generates a ticket of the local network according to the second traffic usage report of the local network.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for charging a flow, the method including:

the method comprises the steps that a core network element receives a second flow use report of a local network reported by a wireless base station, wherein the second flow use report of the local network comprises a local network identifier, consumption information of the local network flow and a charging identifier;

generating a ticket of the local network according to the second flow usage report of the local network, so that the charging domain can complete charging processing according to the ticket of the local network, wherein the ticket comprises a local network identifier, the consumption information of the local network flow and a charging identifier.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a wireless traffic offload function entity, including a communication circuit, a memory, and a processor, the communication circuit configured to communicate; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and implement the local traffic charging method as described in the first aspect above when the computer program is executed.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a wireless base station, including a communication circuit, a memory, and a processor, the communication circuit configured to communicate; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and implement the local traffic charging method according to the second aspect as described above when the computer program is executed.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a core network element, including a communication circuit, a memory, and a processor, where the communication circuit is configured to communicate; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local traffic charging method as described in the third aspect above when the computer program is executed.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local traffic charging method according to the first aspect above.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to implement the local traffic charging method according to the second aspect above.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local traffic charging method according to the third aspect above.

The embodiment of the application provides a flow charging method, a wireless flow unloading functional entity, a wireless base station, a core network element and a storage medium, wherein the wireless flow unloading functional entity deployed at the wireless base station side acquires the consumption information and charging identification of local network flow; generating a first traffic usage report for the local network; reporting a first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station; the wireless base station receives a first flow use report of a local network, which is reported by a wireless flow unloading functional entity; generating a second traffic usage report of the local network according to the first traffic usage report; reporting a second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element; the core network element receives a second flow use report of the local network reported by the wireless base station; and generating a ticket of the local network according to the second flow use report of the local network, so that the charging domain finishes charging processing according to the ticket of the local network. Compared with the related art, in the embodiment of the present application, the wireless TOF cannot directly interface with the core network element, so that charging cannot be performed on the local network traffic, and the wireless TOF generates a first traffic usage report of the local network and reports the first traffic usage report to the wireless base station, and then the wireless base station indicates the first traffic usage report as a second traffic usage report of the local network and reports the second traffic usage report to the core network; and finally, the core network element generates a local network ticket, and the charging domain completes the charging processing of the local network flow according to the local network ticket. The method has the advantages of no need of changing the 3GPP wireless network architecture, compatibility with the 4G/5G wireless network architecture, no need of deploying other equipment and complex networking, and creatively and rapidly solving the problem of local network flow charging under the wireless TOF mode.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall architecture of a 3GPP defined 4G and 5G radio access network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a distributed cloud computing architecture formed by deploying edge computing in a mobile network;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an edge computation framework defined by the ETSI-MEC standard;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application environment of the flow billing method of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a flow billing method according to the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a flow billing method of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of the flow charging method of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of the flow charging method of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of the flow charging method of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the flow charging method of the present application when 5G SA networking;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a flow billing method in a 4G network according to the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of one embodiment of a wireless traffic offload function entity of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of a wireless base station of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a core network element of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and completely with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

The flow diagrams depicted in the figures are merely illustrative and not necessarily all of the elements and operations/steps are included or performed in the order described. For example, some operations/steps may be further divided, combined, or partially combined, so that the order of actual execution may be changed according to actual situations.

In the following description, suffixes such as "module", "component", or "unit" for representing elements are used only for facilitating the description of the present application, and have no specific meaning in themselves. Thus, "module," "component," or "unit" may be used in combination.

Prior to describing the embodiments of the present application in detail, related art will be described.

Mobile communication has evolved rapidly. The 5G age has come, three major 5G application scenarios including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB, enhanced Mobile Broadband), high reliability low latency communications (uillc, ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications) and large scale machine communications (emtc, massive Machine Type of Communication), contributing to further rapid growth in mobile data traffic and diversity. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall architecture of a 3GPP defined 4G and 5G radio access network.

In long term evolution (LTE, long Term Evolution) networks (i.e. commonly known as 4G networks), the access network part is referred to as the evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN, evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) because of the evolution relationship, i.e. the mobile communication radio network in LTE. The E-UTRAN consists of a plurality of Evolved NodeBs (eNBs), and the structure of the E-UTRAN is shown in the left side of FIG. 1. The enbs are interconnected with each other through an X2 interface, and the enbs are interconnected with a core network (EPC, evolved Packet Core) through an S1 interface. The EPC is mainly composed of network elements such as a mobility management entity (MME, mobility Management Entity), a Serving Gateway (S-GW), a packet data network Gateway (P-GW), and the like.

The 5G network architecture mainly includes a 5G radio access network (NG-RAN, next Generation-Radio Access Network) and a 5G core network (5GC,5G Core Network), as shown on the right of fig. 1. The 5G radio access network mainly comprises two nodes: gNB and ng-eNB. The gNB provides nodes of NR User plane and control plane protocol terminals to User Equipment (UE) of 5G network users and is connected to the 5GC via an NG interface. The NG-eNB provides the UE of the 4G network user with the nodes of the E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals and is connected to the 5GC via the NG interface. The interfaces between gNB and gNB, between gNB and ng-eNB and between ng-eNB are Xn interfaces. The 5GC mainly includes network elements such as access and mobility management function (AMF, access and Mobility Management Function), session management function (SMF, session Management Function), user plane function (UPF, user Plane Function), and the like.

In light of the ever-increasing demand background for low latency and high bandwidth traffic, multi-access edge computing (MEC, multi-access Edge Computing) technology has received increasing attention. The edge computing technology, by configuring a server at the edge of the wireless network, sinks cloud computing resources to the wireless access network, and draws the physical distance between the UE terminal and the service Application (APP), so that the time delay can be greatly reduced, and the bandwidth of the backhaul network can be saved. The edge calculation effectively merges the mobile communication network and the internet technology, and has the characteristics of service localization, short distance, low time delay and the like. By deploying edge computing in a mobile network, a distributed cloud computing architecture can be formed as shown in fig. 2.

The european telecommunications standards institute (ETSI, european Telecommunications Standards Institute) -MEC standard defines an edge computing framework as shown in fig. 3. The framework is the most prevalent reference architecture for edge computing systems. The main functional layering includes: the MEC system level management layer (MEC system level management), the MEC host level management layer (MEC host level management), the network layer (Networks). The Networks layer includes 3GPP Networks, home Networks, foreign Networks, and the like. The MEC hosts (MEC host) include MEC platforms (MEPs), MEC applications (MEC APPs), virtualization infrastructure. MEPs are primarily responsible for providing multiple access edge services, and collecting the necessary operational information for edge applications. The virtualization infrastructure includes a Data Plane (DP). DP executes traffic rules issued by MEP, handling traffic between applications (apps), services, DNS servers/proxies, 3GPP networks, local networks, external networks. Traffic offloading to the local network, i.e., local offloading, is accomplished through the DP.

Wherein, the 3GPP network can refer to a wireless network conforming to a 3GPP protocol; the local network may refer to a local area network, a campus network; the external network may refer to other networks than the 3GPP network and the home network, such as: a wired wide area network that does not follow the 3GPP protocol, but follows other protocols.

In many scenarios, such as industrial parks, campuses, shopping malls, etc., local offloading needs to be done near the wireless base station of the 3GPP network to implement edge computation. For such application scenarios, one solution is to sink the UPF in 5GC to the edge, implementing DP; under the framework, the local network flow charging has no technical obstacle, but the deployment of the local network flow charging still has more difficulties in the ground practice: for example, 5GC and wireless base station may be different manufacturers, and joint deployment may have a barrier; UPF sinking does not support 4G wireless networks and 5G Non-independent (NSA) networking. The other solution is to deploy wireless TOF nearby the wireless base station, wherein the wireless TOF is connected in series between the wireless base station and the data plane of the core network to realize DP and complete local shunting; however, the wireless TOF cannot directly interface with the core network element, and implementation is difficult in charging of local network traffic, which becomes a big obstacle for the wireless TOF to push the edge computing development.

As shown in fig. 4, in an application environment of the embodiment of the present application, a wireless terminal UE accesses a local network (local area network) through a wireless base station, and a wireless TOF is deployed near the wireless base station. Traffic between the UE and the local network is offloaded locally through wireless TOF. The UE accesses the Internet (Internet) through the radio base station and the core network. The core network completes the functions of call signaling control, bearer management, call routing, etc. The core network is connected with the charging domain of the operator to finish the report of the UE ticket. The UE has local network data traffic. The wireless TOF is deployed near the wireless base station to finish the traffic unloading from the UE to the local network.

The traffic charging method in the embodiment of the present application includes a method applied to wireless TOF (wireless TOF end method), a method applied to a wireless base station (wireless base station end method for short), and a method applied to a core network element (core network element end method for short). For convenience of description and better understanding of the flow charging method according to the embodiments of the present application, a radio TOF end method, a radio base station end method, and a core network element end method are described in detail below.

It should be noted that, although the wireless TOF end method, the wireless base station end method, and the core network element end method are described together, the wireless TOF end method, the wireless base station end method, and the core network element end method are independent from each other, and the wireless TOF end method enables the wireless TOF to report the first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station, so as to provide technical support for charging the local network traffic, thereby providing technical support for charging the local network traffic; the wireless base station end method enables the wireless base station to report a second flow use report of the local network to the core network element according to the first flow use report, and provides technical support for the charge of the local network flow calculated by the charging domain, thereby realizing the technical support for the local network flow charging; the method of the core network element end can enable the core network element to generate a local network ticket according to the second flow use report of the local network, and provide technical support for the charge of the charging domain to the local network flow, thereby realizing the technical support for the charging of the local network flow. When the wireless TOF end method, the wireless base station end method and the core network element end method are combined together, the charging domain can be enabled to count the cost of the local network flow, thereby realizing the charging of the local network flow.

Referring to fig. 5 to 8, fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the flow rate charging method of the present application, fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the flow rate charging method of the present application, fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of yet another embodiment of the flow rate charging method of the present application, and fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of yet another embodiment of the flow rate charging method of the present application. It should be noted that, the method in fig. 5 is a radio TOF end method, the method in fig. 6 is a radio base station end method, the method in fig. 7 is a core network element end method, and the method in fig. 8 is a method in which the radio TOF end method, the radio base station end method, and the core network element end method are combined together.

The wireless TOF end method comprises the following steps: step S101, step S102, and step S103; the wireless base station side method includes: step S201, step S202, and step S203; the core network element end method comprises the following steps: step S301 and step S302.

Wireless TOF end method:

step S101: and the wireless flow unloading functional entity deployed on the wireless base station side acquires the consumption information and the charging identification of the local network flow.

Step S102: a first traffic usage report of the local network is generated, the first traffic usage report of the local network comprising the usage information and the charging identification.

Step S103: reporting the first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station, so that the wireless base station reports the second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element according to the first traffic usage report, and the core network element generates a ticket of the local network according to the second traffic usage report of the local network.

In this embodiment, the time for the wireless TOF to report the first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station includes, but is not limited to: periodically reporting, reporting events and reporting when releasing. Periodic reporting may refer to reporting at a preset time period. Event reporting may refer to reporting when a preset event occurs, for example: reporting when a local traffic unloading event exists, or reporting when the traffic reaches a certain preset threshold, and the like. The reporting during release may refer to reporting during release of a bearer wirelessly accessed between the UE and the local network.

In this embodiment, the local network may refer to a local area network or a campus network. Such as an industrial park, campus, shopping mall, etc.

The wireless base station end method comprises the following steps:

step S201: the wireless base station receives a first flow use report of a local network, which is reported by a wireless flow unloading functional entity, wherein the first flow use report comprises the consumption information and the charging identification of the local network flow.

Step S202: generating a second traffic usage report of the local network according to the first traffic usage report, wherein the traffic usage report of the second local network comprises a local network identifier, the usage information and the charging identifier.

Step S203: reporting the second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element, so that the core network element generates a ticket of the local network according to the second traffic usage report of the local network.

In this embodiment, the time for the wireless base station to report the second traffic usage report of the local network to the core network element includes, but is not limited to, periodic reporting, event reporting, reporting when released, reporting after being triggered by the wireless TOF. Periodic reporting may refer to reporting at a preset time period. Event reporting may refer to reporting when there is a local traffic offload event. The reporting during release may refer to reporting during release of a bearer wirelessly accessed between the UE and the local network. Reporting after being triggered by the wireless TOF may mean that the wireless TOF reports to the wireless base station, and the wireless base station reports the wireless TOF.

Before the radio access bearer is released, the radio TOF can continuously trigger reporting of a first traffic usage report of the local network, and the radio base station can continuously trigger reporting of a second traffic usage report of the local network.

The core network element end method comprises the following steps:

step S301: and the core network element receives a second traffic usage report of the local network reported by the wireless base station, wherein the second traffic usage report of the local network comprises a local network identifier, the consumption information of the local network traffic and a charging identifier.

Step S302: generating a ticket of the local network according to the second flow usage report of the local network, so that the charging domain can complete charging processing according to the ticket of the local network, wherein the ticket comprises a local network identifier, the consumption information of the local network flow and a charging identifier.

The charging identifier may be an identifier for charging the radio access bearer established at this time, and the corresponding user may be queried according to the charging identifier. The home network identity may be an identity of a home network Type from which it can be known that the network Type (Type) of the radio access technology (RAT, radio Access Technology) requiring charging is a home network Type. For example: a RAT Type of 2 indicates a local network Type, or a RAT Type of 14 indicates a local network Type, etc.

The core network element may be a charging related and interworking network element in the core network. For example, in a 5G independent networking, the core network elements may include AMFs, SMFs, charging function entities (CHF, charging Function); in a 4G system, the core network elements may include MME, SGW, PGW, charging gateway (CG, charging Gate Way).

The wireless flow unloading functional entity deployed on the wireless base station acquires the consumption information and the charging identifier of the local network flow; generating a first traffic usage report for the local network; reporting a first traffic usage report of the local network to the wireless base station; the wireless base station receives a first flow use report of a local network, which is reported by a wireless flow unloading functional entity; generating a second traffic usage report of the local network according to the first traffic usage report; reporting a second traffic usage report of the local network to a core network element; the core network element receives a second flow use report of the local network reported by the wireless base station; and generating a ticket of the local network according to the second flow use report of the local network, so that the charging domain finishes charging processing according to the ticket of the local network. Compared with the related art, in the embodiment of the present application, the wireless TOF cannot directly interface with the core network element, so that charging cannot be performed on the local network traffic, and the wireless TOF generates a first traffic usage report of the local network and reports the first traffic usage report to the wireless base station, and then the wireless base station indicates the first traffic usage report as a second traffic usage report of the local network and reports the second traffic usage report to the core network; and finally, the core network element generates a local network ticket, and the charging domain completes the charging processing of the local network flow according to the local network ticket. The method has the advantages of no need of changing the 3GPP wireless network architecture, compatibility with the 4G/5G wireless network architecture, no need of deploying other equipment and complex networking, and creatively and rapidly solving the problem of local network flow charging under the wireless TOF mode.

In an embodiment, the first traffic usage report may further include, but is not limited to: data flow direction (uplink or downlink), and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

If the directions of the data flows are different, the charging modes are different, and the first flow use report can comprise the directions of the data flows; if the charging modes of the flows in the unused time periods are different, the first flow use report can comprise the start-stop time of the collected flows; the delay and/or the packet loss rate may reflect the quality of service, and if the quality of service is different in charging manner, the first traffic usage report may include the delay and/or the packet loss rate; if the traffic is different and the charging manner is different, the first traffic usage report may include traffic characteristics.

In an embodiment, the second traffic usage report may further include: data flow direction (uplink or downlink), and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

In an embodiment, the ticket may further include: data flow direction (uplink or downlink), and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

In an embodiment, the charging identifier includes an association identifier of a Session (PDU Session, protocol Data Unit Session) of the 5G system protocol data unit, or an association identifier of a PDU Session of the 5G system and an association identifier of a Flow (QoS Flow, quality of Service Flow) of the 5G system quality of service.

In an embodiment, the charging identity comprises an association identity of a 4G system enhanced radio access bearer (E-RAB, enhanced Radio Access Bearer).

In an embodiment, the charging identifier includes one or more of an association identifier of an Application (APP), an association identifier of an internet protocol (IP, internet Protocol) flow, and an association identifier of a media access control (MAC, media Access Control) address.

The charging identifier may further include an association identifier of the session of the 5G system protocol data unit, and one or more of an association identifier of the application, an association identifier of the internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of the medium access control address.

The charging identifier may further include an association identifier of a session of the 5G system protocol data unit and an association identifier of a flow of the 5G system service quality, and one or more of an association identifier of an application, an association identifier of an internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of a media access control address.

The charging identifier may include an association identifier of the 4G system enhanced radio access bearer, and one or more of an association identifier of an application, an association identifier of an internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of a medium access control address.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a flow chart of another embodiment of the flow charging method of the present application, and fig. 9 is a flow chart of an application environment of the present application combined with a wireless TOF end method, a wireless base station end method, and a core network element end method. The method comprises the following steps (wherein the 1 st step and the 2 nd step are existing network processing steps):

1. the UE accesses a 3GPP wireless network, and the wireless network distributes wireless access bearing for the UE.

2. Wireless TOF in the vicinity of the wireless base station performs local traffic offloading for the UE.

3. The wireless TOF counts the local network traffic (i.e. obtains the usage information of the local network traffic), generates a first traffic usage report of the local network, and transmits the first traffic usage report back to the wireless base station.

4. After receiving the report, the wireless base station generates a second flow use report of the local network and sends the second flow use report to the core network.

5. The wireless TOF and wireless base station may continuously trigger reporting of the first and second traffic usage reports of the local network before the radio access bearer is released.

6. After the core network receives the report, a local network ticket is generated.

7. The charging domain obtains local flow statistics from a local ticket of a local network of the core network.

Details of the application of the method according to the embodiment of the present application in 5G and 4G are specifically described below.

Example 1: charging scheme for wireless TOF in 5G independent (SA) networking. As shown in fig. 10, the main processing steps are as follows:

step 1-1: the UE accesses the wireless network and establishes PDU Session.

Step 1-2: the wireless TOF at the NG-RAN base station side performs local offloading.

Step 1-3: the wireless TOF performs traffic statistics (i.e. obtains usage information of local network traffic), generates a first traffic usage report of the local network, and sends the first traffic usage report to the NG-RAN base station (wireless base station). The wireless TOF adopts periodic reporting, and the first traffic usage report comprises a tunnel identifier (ID identifier) of PDU Session, an ID identifier (charging identifier) of QoS Flow, usage information, data Flow direction and start-stop time of acquisition traffic.

Step 1-4: the NG-RAN base station sends a second traffic usage report of the local network to an AMF/SMF (core network element). The second traffic usage report contains the ID identification of PDU Session and the ID identification of QoS Flow, usage information, and local network identification RAT Type of 2 (RAT Type of 2, indicating a local network Type).

Step 1-5: the AMF is transferred to the SMF for processing, the SMF generates a ticket of the local network, and the ID identification of the PDU Session, the ID identification of the QoS Flow, the consumption information and the local network identification are recorded in the ticket.

Step 1-6: PDU Session release. Before release, reporting when the wireless TOF executes release, and finishing the final report of flow statistics, referring to steps 1-3.

Step 1-7: the billing domain obtains SMF generated ticket from the billing function entity (CHF, charging Function) of the core network and performs billing processing for the local network traffic.

Example 2: charging scheme for wireless TOF in 4G networks. As shown in fig. 11, the main processing steps are as follows:

step 2-1: the UE accesses the wireless network and establishes the E-RAB.

Step 2-2: the wireless TOF at the eNB (EUTRAN Node B) base station side performs local offloading.

Step 2-3: the wireless TOF performs traffic statistics (i.e. obtains usage information of local network traffic), generates a first traffic usage report of the local network, and sends the first traffic usage report to an eNB base station (wireless base station). The wireless TOF reports by adopting an event, and the first traffic usage report comprises a tunnel identifier (namely an ID identifier) of the E-RAB, usage information, a data flow direction and a start-stop time of the acquired traffic.

Step 2-4: the eNB base station sends a second traffic usage report of the local network to an MME/SGW/PGW (core network element). The second traffic usage report contains an ID identification of the E-RAB, usage information, and a local network identification.

Step 2-5: and the MME transfers the information to SGW/PGW for processing, the SGW/PGW generates a local network ticket, and the ID identification, the consumption information and the local network identification RAT Type of the E-RAB are recorded in the ticket (the RAT Type is 14 and indicates the local network Type).

Step 2-6: E-RAB release. Before releasing, reporting when the wireless TOF executes releasing, and finishing the final report of the flow statistics, referring to step 2-3.

Step 2-7: the charging domain obtains a ticket generated by SGW/PGW from a charging gateway (CG, charging Gate Way) of the core network, and finishes charging processing aiming at the local network flow.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a wireless traffic offload function entity, and it should be noted that, the wireless TOF of the embodiment can implement the above traffic charging method applied to the wireless TOF, and detailed descriptions of related contents are omitted herein.

The wireless TOF100 comprises a communication circuit 3, a memory 1 and a processor 2, said communication circuit 3 being for communication; the memory 1 is used for storing a computer program; the processor 2 is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local flow charging method as described above for any of the wireless TOF applications when executing the computer program.

The processor 2 may be a micro control unit, a central processing unit or a digital signal processor, among others. The memory 1 may be a Flash chip, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, or the like.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a wireless base station of the present application, and it should be noted that, the wireless base station of the present embodiment can implement the above-mentioned flow rate charging method applied to the wireless base station, and detailed descriptions of related contents are omitted herein.

The radio base station 200 comprises a communication circuit 33, a memory 11 and a processor 22, the communication circuit 33 being for communication; the memory 11 is used for storing a computer program; the processor 22 is configured to execute the computer program and when executing the computer program implement a local traffic charging method as described above for any of the radio base stations.

The processor 22 may be a micro control unit, a central processing unit or a digital signal processor, among others. The memory 11 may be a Flash chip, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, or the like.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a core network element of the present application, and it should be noted that, the core network element of the present embodiment can implement the above-mentioned flow charging method applied to the core network element, and detailed descriptions of related contents are omitted herein, referring to the above-mentioned method parts.

The core network element 300 comprises a communication circuit 30, a memory 10 and a processor 20, wherein the communication circuit 30 is used for communication; the memory 10 is used for storing a computer program; the processor 20 is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local traffic charging method as described above for the core network element when the computer program is executed.

The processor 20 may be a micro control unit, a central processing unit or a digital signal processor, among others. The memory 10 may be a Flash chip, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a U disk, a removable hard disk, or the like.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement a local traffic charging method as described above for wireless TOF.

The computer readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the wireless TOF, such as a hard disk or a memory. The computer readable storage medium may also be an external storage device such as the above-described wireless TOF, e.g., a plug-in hard disk, smart memory card, secure digital card, flash memory card, etc.

The present application also provides another computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local traffic charging method as described above for the wireless base station.

The computer readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the wireless base station, such as a hard disk or a memory. The computer readable storage medium may also be an external storage device of the above-mentioned wireless base station, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card, a secure digital card, a flash memory card, or the like.

The present application also provides a further computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement a local traffic charging method as described above for a core network element.

The computer readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the core network element, such as a hard disk or a memory. The computer readable storage medium may also be an external storage device of the core network element, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card, a secure digital card, a flash memory card, etc.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps of the methods, systems, functional modules/units in the devices disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and suitable combinations thereof.

In a hardware implementation, the division between the functional modules/units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be performed cooperatively by several physical components. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on computer readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). The term computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, as known to those skilled in the art. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media.

The preferred embodiments of the present application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, and are not thereby limiting the scope of the claims of the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application shall fall within the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for charging traffic, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first traffic usage report further comprises: data flow direction, and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit, or an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit and an association identifier of a flow of a 5G system quality of service; or, the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of the 4G system enhanced wireless access bearer; and/or the charging identifier comprises one or more of an association identifier of an application, an association identifier of an internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of a media access control address.

4. A method for charging traffic, the method comprising:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first traffic usage report further comprises: data flow direction, and/or start-stop time, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate of collected traffic, and/or service characteristics; the second traffic usage report further includes: data flow direction, and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit, or an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit and an association identifier of a flow of a 5G system quality of service; or, the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of the 4G system enhanced wireless access bearer; and/or the charging identifier comprises one or more of an association identifier of an application, an association identifier of an internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of a media access control address.

7. A method for charging traffic, the method comprising:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second traffic usage report further comprises: data flow direction, and/or start-stop time, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate of collected traffic, and/or service characteristics; the ticket also includes: data flow direction, and/or start-stop time of collected traffic, and/or time delay, and/or packet loss rate, and/or service characteristics.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit, or an association identifier of a session of a 5G system protocol data unit and an association identifier of a flow of a 5G system quality of service; or, the charging identifier comprises an association identifier of the 4G system enhanced wireless access bearer; and/or the charging identifier comprises one or more of an association identifier of an application, an association identifier of an internet protocol flow, and an association identifier of a media access control address.

10. A wireless traffic offload function entity, comprising a communication circuit, a memory, and a processor, the communication circuit configured to communicate; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local traffic charging method according to any of claims 1-3 when the computer program is executed.

11. A wireless base station comprising a communication circuit, a memory, and a processor, the communication circuit configured to communicate; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local traffic charging method according to any of claims 4-6 when the computer program is executed.

12. A core network element, comprising a communication circuit, a memory and a processor, wherein the communication circuit is used for communication; the memory is used for storing a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program and to implement the local traffic charging method according to any of claims 7-9 when the computer program is executed.

13. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local flow charging method according to any of claims 1-3.

14. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local flow charging method according to any of claims 4-6.

15. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the local flow charging method according to any of claims 7-9.