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TR 32.815 (SA5) ★
Online Charging System (OCS) Architecture Study

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V6.1.0 (Wzip) 2005/06 21 p.

Rapporteur: Mr. Goermer, Gerald

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).

full Table of Contents for TR 32.815 Word version: 6.1.0

1 Scope Word-p. 5

3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations

3.1 Definitions

3.2 Symbols Word-p. 6

3.3 Abbreviations

4 Required functionality of OCS

5 Architectural concept Word-p. 7

5.1 Architecture reference model for online charging

5.1.1 Functional split between Charging Function and Rating Function Word-p. 9

5.1.2 Functional split between Charging Function and Rating Function

5.1.2.1 Option 1: Repository style

5.1.2.2 Option 2: Rating Engine Word-p. 10

5.1.2.3 Option 3: Extended Rating Engine Word-p. 11

5.1.2.4 Recommendation

5.1.2a Bearer Charging Function (BCF) Word-p. 12

5.1.3 Event Charging Function (ECF)

5.1.4 Session Charging Function (SCF) Word-p. 13

5.1.5 Rating Function

5.1.6 Account Balance Management Function

5.2 Charging architecture reference points

5.2.1 Re Reference Point (BCF, SCF, ECF - Rating Function)

5.2.1.1 Functionality for the "Rating Engine" Option

5.2.1.2 Functionality for the "Extended Rating Engine" Option Word-p. 15

5.2.2 Rc Reference Point (BCF, SCF, ECF - Account Balance Management Function) Word-p. 16

5.2.3 Reference Point (Account Balance Management Function - ext. server)

5.2.4 Bo Reference Points (BCF, SCF, ECF - post-processing system)

5.3 Impact of Correlation of Charging Information on OCS

5.3.1 Basic Principles of Charging Correlation

5.3.2 Implications on OCS Word-p. 17

5.4 Discussion: Interface towards IMS CSCF

6 Examples for Message Flows via Rc and Re

6.1 Re message flow examples Word-p. 18

6.1.1 Scenario with rateRequest operation

6.1.2 Scenario with tariffRequest operation Word-p. 19

6.2 Rc message flow examples Word-p. 20

7 Conclusions and recommendations

A Change history Word-p. 21