WO2016029698A1 - Policy control method and system and gateway - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a policy control method and system and a gateway. In the policy control method provided by embodiments of the present invention, a PCEF determines according to the priorities of control policies the control action of the highest priority in the same type of control actions contained in part of or all of the control policies, and executes the policy control on a user equipment according to the control action of the highest priority. Compared with the prior art, in the embodiments of the present invention, the policy control is performed according to the control action of the highest priority in the same type of the control actions, and the control actions in different control policies can be used at the same time, so that the technical defect in the prior art due to the fact that the policy control is performed only according to the control policy of the highest priority is solved, the efficiency of the policy control in complex service scenarios is improved, and the adaptability is better.

Description

Policy control method, system and gateway

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201410438791.6, entitled "Policy Control Method, System and Gateway", filed on August 30, 2014, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a policy control method, system, and gateway.

Background technique

In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) system, the policy and charging function is implemented by a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) system.

The PCC system includes a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), and a charging device. After detecting that the user equipment is online, the PCEF reports the information about the user equipment to the PCRF. The PCRF generates a control policy for the user according to the information about the user equipment, and sends a control policy to the PCEF. The PCEF executes the user equipment according to the control policy. Policy control. The control strategy includes a combination of different types of control actions, such as a charging action, a bandwidth control action, and the like.

However, in the case of the policy control method provided by the prior art, in the case that the PCRF issues multiple control policies for the user equipment, the PCEF selects only the control strategy with the highest priority to perform, and the adaptability is poor.

Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system, and gateway for implementing policy control according to priorities of control actions in at least two control policies.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a policy control method, including:

Obtaining a control policy set matching the user equipment, where the control policy set includes multiple control policies The control strategy includes a priority of the control action and the control policy;

Determining, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set;

Performing policy control on the user equipment according to the highest priority control action.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, determining, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set includes: :

Grouping control actions in the control policy set according to types of control actions;

The control action with the highest priority in each packet is determined according to the priority of the control action, and the priority of the control action is the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation, the determining, according to the priority of the control policy, determining that the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set includes :

Obtaining, in the control policy set, a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions;

And grouping the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action in the first control policy;

The control action with the highest priority in each packet is determined according to the priority of the control action, and the priority of the control action is the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the acquiring a control policy set that matches the user equipment include:

Receiving multiple control policies issued by the policy and charging rule function;

Get the set of control policies that match the type of service of the user device.

In conjunction with the third possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation, the method further includes:

Receiving a control policy update message sent by the policy and charging rule function, updating the control policy set, and performing the priority according to the control policy, and determining the same type included in at least two control policies in the control policy set The step of controlling the highest priority control action in the action.

The control policy update message may specifically be a Credit Control Answer Update (CCA-Update) update message or a re-authentication request (Re-Auth-Request, RAR) commands, etc.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation of the first aspect, the second possible implementation of the first aspect, the third possible implementation of the first aspect, the fourth possible aspect of the first aspect In a fourth possible implementation manner, the type of the control action includes one or more of a bandwidth control, a charging policy, and a usage monitoring.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a gateway, including:

a policy obtaining unit, configured to acquire a control policy set that matches a user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy;

An action determining unit, configured to determine, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set;

And a policy execution unit, configured to perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation, the action determining unit includes:

a first grouping module, configured to group control actions in the control policy set according to a type of the control action;

The first determining module is configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the action determining unit includes:

An obtaining module, configured to acquire a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions in the control policy set;

a second grouping module, configured to group the control actions in the control policy set according to a type of the control action in the first control policy;

And a second determining module, configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy where the control action is located.

With reference to the second aspect, the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, and the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the gateway further includes:

a policy update unit, configured to receive a control policy update message delivered by the policy and charging rule function, Updating the control policy set, triggering the action determining unit to perform the step of determining, according to the priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set.

In a third aspect, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a policy and charging control system, including a policy and charging rule function, and a gateway as described above, where the policy and charging rule function is sent to the gateway through a Gx interface. Send a control policy.

In the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the PCEF determines, according to the priority of the control policy, the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies, and then performs the action according to the control action with the highest priority. Policy control of the user equipment. Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the present invention performs policy control according to the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions, and can combine the control actions in multiple different control strategies, and overcomes the prior art only according to the priority. The highest one control strategy is used to carry out technical defects caused by policy control, which improves the efficiency of policy control in complex business scenarios and is more adaptable.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. Other drawings may also be obtained from those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the inventive work. among them:

1 is a block diagram of a policy and charging control system in an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention; FIG.

6 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an action determining unit in a gateway according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention; FIG.

9 is another schematic structural diagram of an action determining unit in a gateway according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention;

10 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention;

11 is a schematic structural diagram of a policy and charging control system according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the inventive scope are the scope of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a policy and charging control system in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the policy and charging control system in the embodiment of the present invention includes a PCRF 110, a gateway 120, an online charging system (OCS) 130, and an offline charging system 140 (Offline Charging System, The OFCS), the Application Function (AF) unit 150, the User Data Repository (UDR) 160, the AN Gateway 170, and the Traffic Detection Function (TDF) 180.

The gateway 120 includes a PCEF. The AN-Gateway 170 includes a Bearing Binding and Event Report Function (BBERF). The policy is transmitted between the PCRF and the PCEF through the Gx interface. The Gx interface is based on the Diameter Credit Control (DCC) interface protocol.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes:

Step 201: Acquire a control policy set that matches the user equipment, where the control policy set includes multiple control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy.

Specifically, the PCEF obtains multiple control policies that match the services of the user equipment (such as data services, voice services, and the like) from the control policy delivered by the PCRF, and each control policy includes multiple different types of control actions or only A control action.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the multiple control policies are collectively referred to as a control policy set. Each control policy in the control policy set corresponds to a priority, which is used to identify the priority of the control policy.

Step 202: Determine, according to the priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set.

The control action is divided into types according to the type, including charging rules, bandwidth control, usage monitoring, etc., and the priority of the control action inherits the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located, that is, the control action and Its control strategy has the same priority. It should be noted that the same type of control action may exist only in one of the at least two control strategies, that is, the control action is a single type.

In another implementation manner, the PCEF may determine, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among each type of control actions included in the at least two control policies, where the at least two control policies are from the foregoing control policy set. .

Step 203: Perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

Specifically, after the control action with the highest priority is determined in step 202, the PCEF performs policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

In another embodiment, the PCEF may combine the determined highest priority control actions for each type into a new control policy and then execute the new control strategy.

In the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the PCEF determines, according to the priority of the control policy, the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies, and then performs the action according to the control action with the highest priority. Policy control of the user equipment. Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the present invention performs policy control according to the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions, and can combine the control actions in multiple different control strategies, and overcomes the prior art only according to the priority. The highest one control strategy is used to carry out technical defects caused by policy control, which improves the efficiency of policy control in complex business scenarios and is more adaptable.

Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

Step 301: Obtain a control policy set that matches a user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy.

The specific implementation process of the step 301 is the same as the process of the step 201 in the foregoing embodiment. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

Step 302: Determine a first type of control action in the control action included in the control policy set that is different from a type of a control action included in the highest priority control policy.

Specifically, the control policy set includes more types of control actions than the highest priority control policy, and thus the PCEF can determine the control included in the control policy set. The control actions in the system action are different from the types of control actions included in the highest priority control strategy. These different types of control actions are collectively referred to as the first type of control actions, and the first type of control actions may include multiple different types of control actions. .

Step 303: Perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action in the highest priority control policy and the first type control action.

Specifically, the PCEF can perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action in the highest priority control policy and the first type of control action. The PCEF can specifically combine the control actions in the highest priority control strategy and the first type of control actions into a new control policy, and then execute the new control strategy.

The PCEF may further group the first type of control actions according to the action type, and determine the highest priority control action in each group according to the priority of the control action, and the priority of the control action inherits the control strategy of the control action. The priority is further combined with the control action in the highest priority control policy and the control action with the highest priority in each packet.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the present invention combines multiple control strategies of different priorities (the highest priority control strategy and the control action in another control strategy) to implement policy control, overcoming the prior art only according to the highest priority. The level control strategy is used to control the technical defects caused by the policy control, and the efficiency of the policy control in the complex business scenario is improved, and the adaptability is better.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

Step 401: Obtain a control policy set that matches a user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy.

The specific execution process of the step 401 is the same as the process of the step 201 in the foregoing embodiment. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

Step 402: Group the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action.

Specifically, the PCEF groups control actions in the control policy set according to types of control actions, such as charging rules, bandwidth control, and usage monitoring, and the same type of control actions are located in one group.

In special cases, there can be only one control action in a group.

Step 403: Determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy where the control action is located.

Since each control policy corresponds to a unique priority, and the priority of the control action inherits the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located, that is, the priority of the control action is the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located. Therefore, each control action corresponds to a unique priority. The PCEF determines the highest priority control action within each packet based on the priority of the control action.

Step 404: Perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

The specific execution process of the step 404 is the same as the process of the step 203 in the foregoing embodiment. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

Step 405: Receive a control policy update message sent by the PCRF, update a control policy in the control policy set, and perform a step of grouping control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action.

In this embodiment, after performing the policy control according to the multiple different types of control actions with the highest priority, the PCEF may also receive the control policy update message sent by the PCRF to update the control policy set. The update process may include adding, modifying, and deleting control actions in the control policy set. The control policy update message may be a Credit Control Answer Update (CCA-Update) update message, a Re-Auth-Request (RAR) command, or the like.

After updating the foregoing control policy set, the embodiment of the present invention jumps to step 402 of grouping the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action.

In the policy execution method provided by the third embodiment of the present invention, the different types of control actions with the highest priority are determined according to the control actions in the control policy set, so that all the control policies in the control policy set can be used to control the user equipment and improve the policy. The efficiency of policy control. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention further updates the control policy set according to the control policy update message sent by the PCRF, and re-controls the user according to the updated control policy set, thereby further improving the efficiency of the policy control.

Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. As shown As shown, the policy control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

Step 501: Obtain a control policy set that matches a user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy.

The specific implementation process of the step 501 is the same as the process of the step 201 in the foregoing embodiment. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

Step 502: Acquire, in the control policy set, a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions.

In the embodiment of the present invention, since the number of control actions included in each control policy is different, the PCEF acquisition control policy set includes the first control policy with the largest number of control actions.

The control policy that includes the largest number of control actions may include multiple, and the embodiment of the present invention obtains one of them (for example, the one with the highest priority) as the first control policy. To simplify the logic, the PCEF can also acquire any one of the plurality of control strategies including the largest number of control actions as the first control strategy.

Step 503: Group control actions in the control policy set according to types of control actions in the first control policy.

Specifically, the PCEF groups all the control actions in the control policy set according to each type of the control action in the first control policy, and further has the same type of control action in the same group as the control action in the first control policy, and A control action in which the types of control actions in a control strategy are different may not be grouped.

Step 504: Determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy where the control action is located.

Since each control policy corresponds to a unique priority, and the priority of the control action inherits the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located, each control action corresponds to a unique priority. The PCEF determines the highest priority control action within each packet based on the priority of the control action.

Step 505: Perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

The specific execution process of the step 505 is the same as the process of the step 203 in the foregoing embodiment. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

Step 506: Receive a control policy update message sent by the PCRF, update a control policy in the control policy set, and perform a jump to execute the control control policy set that includes the largest number of control actions. A control strategy step.

In this embodiment, after performing the policy control according to the multiple different types of control actions with the highest priority, the PCEF may also receive the control policy update message sent by the PCRF to update the control policy set. The update process may include adding, modifying, and deleting control actions in the control policy set. The control policy update message may be a (Credit Control Answer Update, CCA-Update) update message, a Re-Auth-Request (RAR) command, or the like.

After updating the foregoing control policy set, the embodiment of the present invention jumps to perform step 502 of the first control policy in which the acquisition control policy set includes the largest number of control actions.

In the policy execution method provided by the fourth embodiment of the present invention, different types of control actions with the highest priority are determined according to the type of the control action in the first control policy, and thus the policy of the user equipment can be combined with multiple control policies. Control can improve the efficiency of policy control. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention further updates the control policy set according to the control policy update message sent by the PCRF, and re-controls the user according to the updated control policy set, thereby further improving the efficiency of the policy control.

Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a policy control method according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.

The device that interacts in this embodiment includes the user equipment UE, the PCEF, and the PCRF. The policy control method specifically includes the following steps:

Step 601: The UE sends a user online notification.

The user equipment is online (the wireless network is attached), and the related information of the user is reported to the PCEF through the online notification.

Step 602: The PCEF sends user equipment related information to the PCRF.

After detecting that the user equipment is online, the PCEF reports the information about the user equipment (location, access APN, access network, IP address, terminal information, etc.) to the PCRF through a Credit Control Request (CCR) message.

Step 603: The PCRF generates a control policy and delivers the policy to the PCEF.

The PCRF determines the control policy that is effective for the user according to the information about the user equipment and other information (user brand, subscription information, time, etc.), and informs the PCEF of the control strategy to be executed through a Credit Control Answer (CCA) message. .

Among them, the CCA message deletes the charging rule field (Charging-Rule-Remove), The Charging-Rule-Install field identifies the control policy that needs to be uninstalled or installed. The Charging-Rule-Definition field indicates a plurality of actions included in a policy. Multiple actions such as bandwidth control, charging policy, and usage monitoring can be included in one control policy.

In this embodiment, the PCRF returns three control strategies:

Rule1: billing RG1, no bandwidth control, binding facebook service, priority 1;

Rule2: charging RG2, bandwidth control QOS1:1Mb/s, binding HTTP service, priority 2;

Rule3: Accounting RG3, bandwidth control QOS2: 3Mb/s, binding all services, priority 3.

The order of priority from high to low is: priority 1 > priority 2 > priority 3.

Step 604: The user equipment sends a data packet to the PCEF.

The user uses the Internet service (visiting the Facebook website), and the user equipment forwards the data packet to the PCEF.

Step 605: The PCEF acquires a control policy that matches a service type of the user equipment.

The PCEF identifies the service accessed by the user and obtains a control policy that matches the type of the service.

In this embodiment, the Internet access service performed by the user equipment simultaneously satisfies Rule 1, Rule 2, and Rule 3, and the three control policies Rule 1, Rule 2, and Rule 3 form a control policy set.

Step 606: The PCEF groups all control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action.

Specifically, the embodiment traverses three control policies, and determines the types of control actions, including: charging rules and bandwidth control, respectively corresponding to two groups, as shown in the following table:

Step 607: Determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, and the priority of the control action inherits the priority of the control policy in which the action is controlled.

After grouping according to the type of control action, the highest priority control action in the charging rule group is charging RG1 (priority 1); the highest priority control action in the bandwidth control packet is bandwidth control QOS1 (priority 2) .

Step 608: The PCEF performs policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority of each type.

In this embodiment, the user accesses facebook, and the final charging rule is RG1, the bandwidth control rule QOS1, and the bandwidth limit is 1 Mb/s.

After the PCEF performs policy control, if the charging rule of the user equipment needs to be changed (for example, the traffic reaches the threshold), the PCRF sends a control policy update message.

Step 609: The PCRF sends a control policy update message.

Specifically, the PCRF sends a control policy update message (for example, a CCA message), modifies the charging rule in Rule 1, and modifies the charging RG1 to the charging RG4. In addition, the Control Policy Update message also updates the priority of the control policy, updating the priority of Rule1 to 4.

Step 610: The PCRF updates the charging rule in the control policy Rule1, and the process proceeds to step 606.

Specifically, the charging rule RG1 in the PCRF update control policy Rule1 is RG4, and the overall priority of the policy is updated (the priority is updated to 4), and the process proceeds to step 606 to re-execute the step of determining the control action with the highest priority. In order to facilitate the implementation of the latest billing rules.

In the prior art, policy control is performed according to the highest priority control policy, that is, Rule1 is selected for policy control, so that the policy control process cannot include the QOS actions in the other two policies, and the embodiment of the present invention combines Rule 1, Rule 2, and Rule 3 All control actions in the policy control, the policy control process includes charging rules, bandwidth control, multiple control actions, improve the efficiency of policy control, and can be applied to complex business control scenarios.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes:

The policy obtaining unit 710 is configured to acquire a control policy set that matches the user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy;

The action determining unit 720 is configured to determine, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set;

The policy execution unit 730 is configured to perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority.

The gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention may be used in the foregoing corresponding policy control method in the first embodiment to the fifth embodiment. For the specific implementation manner and the corresponding beneficial effects, refer to the description of the foregoing method embodiment.

Further, the gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention may further include:

The policy update unit 740 is configured to receive a control policy update message sent by the PCRF, update the control policy set, and trigger the action determining unit 720 to perform, according to the priority of the control policy, determine at least two controls in the control policy set. The step of the highest priority control action in the same type of control action included in the policy, so that the gateway can perform policy control according to the latest control policy.

Referring to FIG. 8-9, FIG. 8-9 is a schematic structural diagram of an action determining unit in a gateway according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.

As shown, the action determining unit 720 in the gateway includes:

The first grouping module 721 is configured to group the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action;

The first determining module 722 is configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located.

The embodiment of the present invention can increase the first grouping module 721 and the first determining module 722, so that the gateway can determine a plurality of different types of control actions with the highest priority according to the control actions in the control policy set, and thus can combine all the control policy pairs. User equipment performs policy control to improve the efficiency of policy control.

In another embodiment disclosed in FIG. 9, the action determining unit 720 in the gateway includes:

The obtaining module 723 is configured to obtain a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions in the control policy set;

The second grouping module 724 is configured to group the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action in the first control policy;

a second determining module 725, configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, an intra-group optimization The highest level of control action, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control strategy in which the control action is located.

In the gateway provided in this embodiment, the second grouping module 724 in this embodiment controls the control policy set according to the type of the control action in the first control policy, with respect to the grouping of the control actions in the control policy set. By grouping actions, the number of packets can be reduced, thereby speeding up the steps of determining the highest priority control action within each packet, further improving execution efficiency.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

An input/output interface 801, a processor 802, a memory 803 for storing computer execution instructions, and a bus 804, the processor 802 being connected to the memory 803 via the bus 804, when the gateway is running, The processor 802 executes the computer to execute instructions to cause the gateway to perform the following method:

Obtaining a control policy set that matches the user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy;

Determining, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set;

Performing policy control on the user equipment according to the highest priority control action.

For the process of the above-mentioned method control method, refer to the foregoing embodiment 1 to the fifth embodiment. For the specific implementation manner and the corresponding beneficial effects, refer to the description of the foregoing method embodiment.

The gateway provided by the embodiment of the present invention may be specifically configured in a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) in a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Packet Data Gateway (P-GW), Packet Data Gateway (PDG) in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), and the like.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a policy and charging control system according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the policy and charging control system (PCC system) provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a policy and charging rule function (PCRF) 910 and the above-mentioned gateway 920, the policy and charging rule. The function (PCRF) 910 sends a control policy to the gateway through the Gx interface.

For the specific structure of the gateway 920, refer to the related descriptions of the foregoing embodiment 6 and the seventh embodiment. For details, the PCC system may further include other devices, such as UDR, AF, and the like.

Compared with the prior art, the policy and charging control system provided by the embodiment of the present invention performs policy control according to the control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions, and can overcome the control actions in multiple different control strategies to overcome The prior art only implements technical defects caused by policy control according to a control strategy with the highest priority, and improves the efficiency of policy control in a complex service scenario, and the adaptability is better.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product. Thus, aspects of the invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may be in the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, etc.), or a combination of software and hardware aspects, They are collectively referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," or "systems." Furthermore, aspects of the invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may take the form of a computer program product, which is a computer readable program code stored in a computer readable medium.

The computer readable medium can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), Erase programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable read-only memory (CD-ROM).

The processor in the computer reads the computer readable program code stored in the computer readable medium such that the processor is capable of performing the various functional steps specified in each step of the flowchart, or a combination of steps; A device that functions as specified in each block, or combination of blocks.

The computer readable program code can execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a separate software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on the remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. . It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the various steps in the flowcharts or in the blocks in the block diagrams may not occur in the order noted. For example, two steps, or two blocks, shown in succession may be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may be executed in the reverse order.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the various examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods for implementing the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims (11)

A policy control method, comprising: Obtaining a control policy set that matches the user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy; Determining, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set; Performing policy control on the user equipment according to the highest priority control action. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, according to the priority of the control policy, the control action having the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set includes: Grouping control actions in the control policy set according to types of control actions; The control action with the highest priority in each packet is determined according to the priority of the control action, and the priority of the control action is the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, according to the priority of the control policy, the control action having the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set includes: Obtaining, in the control policy set, a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions; And grouping the control actions in the control policy set according to the type of the control action in the first control policy; The control action with the highest priority in each packet is determined according to the priority of the control action, and the priority of the control action is the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the obtaining a control policy set matching the user equipment comprises: Receiving multiple control policies issued by the policy and charging rule function; Get the set of control policies that match the type of service of the user device. The method of claim 4, further comprising: Receiving a control policy update message delivered by the policy and charging rule function, updating the control policy set, and performing the priority according to the control policy, and determining that the control policy set is at least two The step of the highest priority control action among the same type of control actions included in the control strategy. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the type of the control action comprises one or more of bandwidth control, charging policy, and usage monitoring. A gateway, comprising: a policy obtaining unit, configured to acquire a control policy set that matches a user equipment, where the control policy set includes a plurality of control policies, where the control policy includes a control action and a priority of the control policy; An action determining unit, configured to determine, according to a priority of the control policy, a control action with the highest priority among the same type of control actions included in the at least two control policies in the control policy set; And a policy execution unit, configured to perform policy control on the user equipment according to the control action with the highest priority. The gateway according to claim 7, wherein the action determining unit comprises: a first grouping module, configured to group control actions in the control policy set according to a type of the control action; The first determining module is configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy in which the control action is located. The gateway according to claim 7, wherein the action determining unit comprises: An obtaining module, configured to acquire a first control policy that includes the largest number of control actions in the control policy set; a second grouping module, configured to group the control actions in the control policy set according to a type of the control action in the first control policy; And a second determining module, configured to determine, according to the priority of the control action, a control action with the highest priority in each group, the priority of the control action being the same as the priority of the control policy where the control action is located. The gateway according to claim 7, further comprising: a policy update unit, configured to receive a control policy update message sent by the policy and charging rule function, and update the control policy set, triggering the action determining unit to perform the determining, according to a priority of the control policy, the control policy set The step of the highest priority control action among the same type of control actions included in the two control strategies. A policy and charging control system, including a policy and charging rule function, characterized in that Also included is a gateway according to any of claims 7-10, the policy and charging rules function transmitting a control policy to the gateway over a Gx interface.

Images