A node (30) of a charging system (28) associated with a communication network (10) considers subscriber-designated priorities in a circumstance that involves two or more communication services “competing” for the same pool of credit that is used in online charging for consumption of the two or more communication services. As an example, subscriber information (34) associated with a user device (12) includes input from the involved subscriber that designates a certain communication service as a prioritized communication service. Ina case where granting quotas of service units for authorizing service consumption and making corresponding credit reservations involves competition between a subscriber-prioritized service and another service not prioritized by the subscriber, the node (30) adapts its granting operations to give preference to the subscriber-prioritized service.

A network node of a communications network performs operations to determine a data traffic inactivity timer value based on subscriber event data, which identifies a subscriber and service characteristics using a communication session, being processed through a predictive model which uses historical usage data indicating idle times previously measured by charging trigger functions (CTFs) for the subscriber and the service characteristics. The operation further communicate the data traffic inactivity timer value to a CTF to configure monitoring of inactivity of the service using the communication session and to trigger a release operation related to the communication session when a data traffic inactivity timer using the data traffic inactivity timer value is determined to expire based on the monitored inactivity of the service.

Embodiments of this application provide a charging method. The method includes that a session management function determines, a data flow within a protocol data unit, PDU, session and a charging key corresponding to the data flow within the PDU session, wherein a plurality of user plane functions are involved in the PDU session. For each of the plurality of user plane functions, the session management function sends to an online charging system, a quota request for a charging key without available quota for the UPF.

The embodiments herein relate to a method performed by a charging function (125) for handling a subscriber's communication services. The charging function (125) detects that a subscriber's credit account has reached or fallen below a credit threshold when the subscriber has multiple ongoing communication services consuming credit from the credit account. The charging function (125) sends a threshold notification to a UE (101) on which the subscriber has at least one of the multiple ongoing communication services. The charging function (125) determines if a response to the threshold notification has been received with prioritization of one of the multiple ongoing communication services. If a response with prioritization of one communication service has been received, the charging function (125) initiates termination of all ongoing communication services except the prioritized communication service, and provides all available credit to be available for the prioritized communication service.

Methods and systems for an online charging system to grant resources to a session with a terminal device when the session includes a large file or the session has a long duration. Embodiments the invention include methods performed by an electronic device for online charging in a wireless network. In one embodiment, the electronic device receives a request message for resources to set up a session with a terminal device, where the request message is sent from a core network interface to an online charging function (OCF), and where the request message indicates that the session includes a large file or that the session has a long duration. The electronic device determines that the terminal device has enough credit for the session based on the request message and grants the resources for the session with the terminal device based on the determination.

A real-time network consumption tracking service is provided. A charging function (CHF) device receives transaction records of network consumption by user equipment (UE) devices in a wireless network and generates individual event messages based on each of the transaction records. Each of the individual event messages includes a detailed record based on one of the transaction records. The CHF device associates each of the individual event messages with a message bus topic, formats each of the individual event messages for publication on the message bus, and publishes each of the formatted individual event messages to the message bus. The message bus is accessible to external systems that generate dynamic network consumption data sets based on the formatted individual event messages.

A method and an apparatus for information exchange in online charging in order to reduce frequency of information exchange between a Charging Trigger Function (CTF) device and an Online Charging System (OCS), and reduce a pressure of information transmission between the CTF device and the OCS, where the method includes receiving, by a CTF device, a credit control answer (CCA) message that carries a non-real-time Trigger and sent by an OCS, recording, by the CTF device, charging information before and after a corresponding event of the non-real-time Trigger happens each time before sending a credit control request (CCR) message to the OCS next time, and sending, by the CTF device, the CCR message to the OCS.

Example charging methods and apparatus are described. One example method includes sending first request information to a charging system by a charging trigger apparatus. The charging trigger apparatus receives a first response information sent by the charging system. The first request information is used to request the charging system to create a resource for a session between a user equipment and a data network. The first response information comprises a first resource identifier that is used to identify the resource. The resource is used to manage: requesting for a quota for an online charging service in the session, or reporting of usage information of an online charging service in the session, or reporting of usage information of an offline charging service in the session.

Embodiments of this application provide a charging method. The method includes that a session management function determines, a data flow within a protocol data unit, PDU, session and a charging key corresponding to the data flow within the PDU session, wherein a plurality of user plane functions are involved in the PDU session. For each of the plurality of user plane functions, the session management function sends to an online charging system, a quota request for a charging key without available quota for the UPF.

Systems and methods are provided for deducting resources from one or more resource buckets associated with a charge for a service used by a subscriber in a telecommunication system. The method including: receiving, at a node in the telecommunication system, a first message requesting a reservation of resources for the first service; reserving, at the node, resources for the first service from one or more available resource buckets according to a priority order; receiving, at the node in the telecommunication system after the reserving for the first service, a second message requesting a reservation of resources for a second service; reserving, at the node in the telecommunication system, resources for the second service from one or more available resource buckets according to the priority order; receiving, at the node in the telecommunication system, a message including a consumed amount of resources associated with the second service; and deducting, at the node in the telecommunication system, the consumed amount of resources associated with the second service by taking units from the resources which were previously reserved for the first service.