TR 23.815 identified three reference points related to the Online Charging System (OCS), namely Rb, Rc, and
Re. The OCS is considered to be a framework that comprises, but may not be limited to, the functions employed for
prepaid rating and real-time account manipulation. According to
TR 23.815, the above reference points were scheduled for standardisation in Release 6, but an exact definition of their functionalities does not exist yet. Note that, in contrast to
TR 23.815, the present document is not limited to IMS but intends to cover all charging domains.
The Rc and Re reference points are necessary for operators in order to seamlessly integrate online charging for the bearer, service and IMS levels in the same OCS.
This TR analyses the architectures and functions of the OCS and thereby derives the functionality of the OCS reference points. It is expected that the content of this TR will serve as a basis for detailed 3GPP specifications of reference points between the logical OCS functionalities. The functionality of the OCS, as described in this TR, applies to all charging domains (bearer, session and service).
