A user service processing method in a charging system is as follows: A charging trigger device provides initial quota application mode indication information for a charging processing device, so as to indicate an initial quota request mode previously applied by the charging trigger device for a user service. The charging processing device performs charging processing on the user service based on the indication information, and delivers a charging processing result to the charging trigger device, to enable the charging trigger device to change a charging operation on the user service. In this way, by changing a cooperation relationship between the charging processing device and the charging trigger device, a balance between performance of the charging system and a credit control risk, or between an access delay and a credit control risk is implemented.

A system includes at least one mobile communication network for granting user equipment (UE) subscribed to the network a corresponding data quota comprising a corresponding amount of mobile data the UE can exchange with the network it is subscribed to. The system further includes a broker platform for making available for at least one mobile communication network a corresponding set of further data quotas, the broker platform further receiving a data amount request of a corresponding additional data quota for a UE subscribed to a corresponding network. In response to the received data amount request, the broker platform selects a further data quota from the set of further data quotas corresponding to the network the UE is subscribed to, and provides the additional data quota to the UE through the network the UE is subscribed to by exploiting at least a part of the selected further additional data quota.

A node of a charging system associated with a communication network grants a charging request, with the response including a granted quota of units for authorizing consumption of the involved communication service by a user device, along with an indication of whether the granted quota applies on an immediate basis or on a deferred basis. For example, the response indicates whether quota management is active for the involved communication service, with the granted quota applying immediately to consumption of the service if quota management is active and applying on a deferred basis if quota management is inactive. Providing a granted quota while quota management is inactive offers several advantages, such as proactively providing individual charging sessions with granted units of service consumption that may be used subsequently, upon quota management becoming active, thereby avoiding the “flood” of charging session requests that would otherwise be generated upon quota management becoming active.

In some embodiments, a method includes: generating, by a session controlling Internet platform, a personalized Universal Resource Locator link (PURL), including: where the PURL is: communicatively coupled to the permission controlling schema and configured to be utilized to establish a peer-to-peer communication session between a sender computing device and a recipient computing device; where the PURL includes: a domain name associated with the session controlling Internet platform hosting a permission controlling schema, and at least one first identity linked to the recipient computing device; transmitting, by the session controlling Internet platform, the PURL to the recipient computing device; receiving, by the session controlling Internet platform, after the transmitting the PURL to the recipient computing device, a mobile originating communication, having data including: a multi-part multi-functional address signaling sequence, including: a MICRO band part, corresponding to a MICRO band parameter and a MACRO band part.

Charging interval authorizations according to the techniques disclosed herein provide for credit reservation and charging of whole charging intervals across two or more credit containers(36) in or linked to a subscriber account (34), without the need for redefining the charging interval size, even where the types of credit units differ between or among the credit containers (36) used to authorize the charging interval. Among the various advantages, the disclosed techniques preserve the original charging interval size, which may be defined for reasons of signaling efficiency, while simultaneously allowing the reservation or consumption of credit units from credit containers (36) having insufficient remaining credit for authorization of the full charging interval.

Systems and methods define an enhanced charging function (CHF) in a communication network by creating a type of slice analysis functionality. For example, the system can access slice information from multiple Policy Control Functions (PCFs) and determine analytics for multiple slices associated with a subscriber user/device or group of subscriber users/devices. Using the enhanced CHF, the system can trigger slice level decisions at a higher level of the hierarchy based on information being aggregated for family devices/plans, category, quota, usage, or other groupings at the CHF instead of just at the individual slice level (e.g., similar to standard PCF functionality).

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.

A control plane entity selects a subset of a plurality of user plane entities to support a charging session associated with a user based on charging policies for the plurality of user plane entities. The control plane entity allocates portions of a quota for the charging session to the control plane entity and the subset of the plurality of user plane entities based on the charging policies. In some cases, the control plane entity modifies the quotas that are allocated to the control plane entity or the subset of the plurality of user plane entities. Modifying the quotas can include redistributing unused portions of the quotas among the control plane entity and the subset of the plurality of user plane entities, e.g., in response to handover of the user equipment between user plane entities.

There is provided an apparatus, method and computer program for an apparatus for a first policy control function, that causes to apparatus to: receive, from a session management function, a request for a policy to be established for a session for a subscriber, wherein the subscriber is subscribed in a second domain and the first policy control function is configured to operate in a first domain; determine a policy for the requested session, the determined policy comprising an indication of an allowed usage for the subscriber and at least one trigger condition for the policy to be updated; signal the at least one trigger condition to the session management function; and monitor the allowed usage for the subscriber by updating the policy in response to receipt of an indication that the at least one trigger condition has been met.

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.