A system is disclosed for providing configurable flow management, comprising: a first base station coupled to a user device and with an established control connection with the user device; and a coordinating node coupled to the first base station and coupled to a core network, thereby providing a gateway for the first base station and the user device to the core network, the core network further comprising a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node with a database of policy rules, wherein the coordinating node is configured to retrieve policy rules from the PCRF node, to enable enforcement of retrieved policy rules on flows from the user device passing through the coordinating node, and to transmit policy rules to the first base station for enforcement at the first base station.

Methods and systems for independent security scrubbing and billing of calls through an IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) are provided. The system includes a core IMS network and a security network cloud securely connected via session border controllers. The IMS network is configured to route calls to the security network cloud. The security network includes call-processing and billing servers that implement security checks on calls from OSI model layer three to seven and analyze the call to collect and generate billing data. After successful security and billing operations, the call is routed back to the IMS network for handling according to conventional workflows. Accordingly, the disclosed invention serves to enhance security for IMS traffic, improve the accuracy of customer billing and conserves IMS network resources which would otherwise be consumed by malicious attacks and billing responsibilities.

Techniques for distributed charging in digital telecommunications networks are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method that includes provisioning a data path that carries a plurality of network flows, receiving a shared usage quota associated with the plurality of network flows, and allocating the shared usage quota among the plurality of network flows. For each network flow among the plurality of network flows, the method includes providing the data path with data indicative of an amount of the shared usage quota allocated to the network flow, configuring the data path to collect metering data associated with the network flow, and configuring the data path to enforce the shared usage quota based on the metering data associated with the network flow and the amount of the shared usage quota allocated to the network flow.

Various methods for a 3GPP defined Charging and Collection Function are employed that may use a microservices approach. The microservice approach may decompose the function of the network elements into component level functions that may be deployed as separate functional elements.

Managing transaction data during times of low network connectivity by organizing billing information for prioritized processing during periods of higher network connectivity. During low connectivity events, billing information is organized based, at least in part, on a combination of age and revenue to communicate important billing information upon reconnection.

A system is disclosed for providing configurable flow management, comprising: a first base station coupled to a user device and with an established control connection with the user device; and a coordinating node coupled to the first base station and coupled to a core network, thereby providing a gateway for the first base station and the user device to the core network, the core network further comprising a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node with a database of policy rules, wherein the coordinating node is configured to retrieve policy rules from the PCRF node, to enable enforcement of retrieved policy rules on flows from the user device passing through the coordinating node, and to transmit policy rules to the first base station for enforcement at the first base station.

A method and apparatus for efficient and dynamic support of mobile low latency services including maintaining, by a control plane entity of an inter mobile device information exchange service hosting management functionality for said service, information on a plurality of participants of said service in a service area. A forwarding rule indicative of forwarding messages related to said service from a sender participant of said plurality of participants to a receiver participant of said plurality of participants is generated based on said information on said plurality of participants of said service in said service area. The forwarding rule is transmitted to a user plane entity of said service, and said user plane entity is located in a connection path between said control plane entity and said first participant of said service and in a connection path between said control plane entity and said second participant of said service.

Various methods for a 3GPP defined Charging and Collection Function are employed that may use a microservices approach. The microservice approach may decompose the function of the network elements into component level functions that may be deployed as separate functional elements.

A method and system for automatically metering a distributed file system node is provided. The method includes receiving data associated with jobs for execution via a distributed file system. Characteristics of the jobs are uploaded and policy metrics data associated with hardware usage metering is retrieved. Resource requests associated with hardware resource usage are retrieved and attributes associated with the resource requests are uploaded. The policy metrics data is analyzed and a recommendation circuit is queried with respect to the resource requests. A set of metrics of the policy metrics data associated with the resource requests is determined and a machine learning circuit is updated. Utilized hardware resources are determined with respect to the hardware usage metering and said resource requests.

A control plane entity can perform validation checks to confirm the validity of a device identifier, for example, an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), received from a user equipment (UE) during registration of the UE with a communication network. In one aspect, the control plane entity can verify that the IMEI conforms to a defined format; for example, the IMEI is fifteen digits long, does not comprise alphabets and/or symbols, and/or comprises a valid type allocation code (TAC) of eight decimal digits, etc. The validation of the IMEI can reduce errors in billing that can otherwise result in revenue loss for the service provider.