Architecture for a service-oriented and convergent charging in 3G mobile networks and beyond

Abstract

Services will be the economic driver for 3G mobile networks and beyond. For the provision of new services a charging architecture supporting fast and easy integration of new services on the one hand and enabling versatile tariff models on the other hand is of vital importance. In this paper we present a service-oriented charging architecture. The key idea of the architecture is the separation of service-conscious and service-agnostic areas whereas the different areas are configurable by policy rules. A service example is used to demonstrate the operation and flexibility of our architecture.

The Application of Web Services for Real Time Charging in Mobile Networks

“…There has been research done on this topic as early back as 2003 and 2005, as is evident in Kühne. R, et al research paper [5], yet no viable solution has presented itself, and been adopted.…”

“…This is so as to increase revenue. Operators often need to increase and diversify their service offerings to their customer base in order to achieve these goals [5].…”

“…Subscribers want to know how much they are using and spending in real time. There is however, no simple solution to this, especially considering the complex bundling, products and services that exist in the cellular domain [5].…”

Quality‐based charging solutions for wireless multimedia services

“…For the provision of new services, a charging architecture is required, which is able to support fast and easy integration of new services, and enables versatile tariff models. Kuhne et al , present a service‐oriented charging architecture. The key idea of the architecture is the separation of service‐conscious and service‐agnostic areas, whereas the different areas are configurable by policy rules.…”

A simple distributed mechanism for accounting system self-configuration in next-generation charging and billing

“…Examples with respect to the 3GPP are the CAB (charging, Accounting, Billing) service [6,7] of the MOBIVAS project (Downloadable Mobile Value-Added-Services through Software Radio and Switching Integrated Platforms), which implements configurability of both accounting and billing components regarding given tariffs as well as the service-oriented and convergent charging architecture [8,9] of the 3GET (3G Evolving Technologies) project which was developed from scratch to reduce the complexity of charging in current mobile telecommunication systems by applying policy-based networking methods to configure all aspects of the system based on tariffs. Regarding IETF/IRTF's AAA (Authentication, Authorisation, Accounting) architecture, we can name as examples the generic AAAC architecture [10][11][12] of the MobyDick (Mobility and Differentiated Services in a Future IP Network) project, which resulted in a configurable architecture focussing on offline charging and laying emphasis on the transport level and the configurability of the corresponding accounting infrastructure, as well as Daidalos (Designing Advanced network Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location independent, Optimised personal Services) whose A4C (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting, Auditing, and Charging) system [13] builds on the results of Moby Dick by now also addressing service-level charging and by integrating the online charging mechanism.…”