Charging for Mobile All-IP Telecommunications

This book provides a complete and comprehensive overview of 3G UMTS charging services Evolving from offline billing of traditional telecommunications, charging for IP services in mobile networks is challenging; charging convergence is one of the major trends in the telecom industry. Advanced mobile telecommunications incorporates data applications with real-time control and management, and requires a convergent and flexible online charging system. Such convergence is essential to mitigate fraud and credit risks in order to provide more personalized information to users about charges and credit limit controls. Charging for Mobile All-IP Telecommunications provides comprehensive and practical coverage of online and offline charging based on mobile operator experiences, and the latest efforts undertaken by the UMTS specifications. Key features: * Presents a complete overview of the telecommunications charging system, including the evolution from 2G to 3G and all-IP network charging frameworks * Discusses all management aspects related to charging and billing processes, with a focus on the major trends and developments within the telecoms industry * Provides an overview of the telecom networks such as PSTN, GSM, UMTS and IMS * Covers the concepts of the telecom charging on mobile services and the new technologies for implementing online charging system, such as GTP' and Diameter protocol * Contains coverage on network nodes and data flows in relation to charging of mobile applications, such as IMS call and content downloading * Explains the IP-based online charging system, protocol details and recent trends in charging for mobile telecom industry This book is an invaluable resource for graduate students, telecoms and IP engineers, network service providers and system architects. Information technologists and networking equipment manufacturers will also find this book insightful.

Professor Yi-Bing Lin, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan Yi-Bing Lin is chair professor of the Department of Computer Science, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan. He also served as vice president of the Office of Research and Development (2004-2007), and Dean of the College of Computer Science (2007 - present). Dr. Lin is a senior technical editor of IEEE Network, an editor of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, an editor of IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, and of ACM Wireless Networks. He is co-author of the Wireless and Mobile Network Architecture (Wiley) and Wireless and Mobile All-IP Network (Wiley). Sok-Ian Sou, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan Ms Sok-Ian Sou received the B.S.CSIE. and M.S.CSIE degrees from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan, in 1997 and 2004, respectively. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate of the Department of Computer Science, NCTU. Her current research interests include design and analysis of personal communications services networks, mobile computing and performance modeling.

Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction. 1.1 Charging for Mobile All-IP Networks. 1.2 Online Charging. 1.3 Concluding Remarks. 1.4 Review Questions. 1.5 References. Chapter 2: Telecommunications Networks. 2.1 Public Switched Telephone Network. 2.2 Global System for Mobile Communications. 2.3 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. 2.4 IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem. 2.5 WLAN and Cellular Interworking. 2.6 Concluding Remarks. 2.7 Review Questions. 2.8 References. Chapter 3: Telecommunications Services. 3.1 Automated Attendant. 3.2 Charging Services. 3.3 Routing Services. 3.4 Dialing Services. 3.5 Screening Services. 3.6 Interrupt Services. 3.7 Mass Call. 3.8 Universal Personal Telecommunications Number. 3.9 Interactive Voice Response Techniques. 3.10 Other Telephone Services. 3.11 Mobile Telecommunications Services. 3.12 Concluding Remarks. 3.13 Review Questions. 3.14 References. Chapter 4: GPRS Tunneling Protocol Extension. 4.1 The GTP' Protocol. 4.2 Connection Setup Procedure. 4.3 CDR Transfer Procedure. 4.4 Prepaid Quota Management. 4.5 Prepaid Quota Management Procedure. 4.6 Concluding Remarks. 4.7 Review Questions. 4.8 References. Chapter 5: Mobile Charging Protocols. 5.1 Customized Application for the Mobile Network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL). 5.2 Remote Access Dial In User Service (RADIUS). 5.3 Diameter. 5.4 Diameter-based Offline Charging. 5.5 Diameter-based Online Charging. 5.6 Session Initiation Protocol: IMS Charging Headers. 5.7 Concluding Remarks. 5.8 Review Questions. 5.9 References. Chapter 6: UMTS CS/PS Charging Management. 6.1 Circuit Switched Service Domain. 6.2 Packet Switched Service Domain. 6.3 Concluding Remarks. 6.4 Review Questions . 6.5 References. Chapter 7: IMS and MMS Offline Charging Management. 7.1 Offline Charging for IMS. 7.2 IMS Charging Correlation. 7.3 Multimedia Messaging Service Domain. 7.4 Mediation Device. 7.5 Concluding Remarks. 7.6 Review Questions. 7.7 References. Chapter 8: UMTS Online Charging. 8.1 UMTS Charging Architecture (Release 6). 8.2 Online Charging Scenarios. 8.3 Concluding Remarks. 8.4 Review Questions. 8.5 References. Chapter 9: Service Data Flow-based Charging. 9.1 Online Flow Based Charging Architecture. 9.2 Content-based Service for Online TPF/GPRS. 9.3 Online IMS Flow-based Charging. 9.4 Policy and Charging Control Integration. 9.5 Concluding Remarks. 9.6 Review Questions. 9.7 References. Chapter 10: Billing for VoIP Services. 10.1 A VoIP Network Architecture. 10.2 Call Detail Record Generation. 10.3 Deriving Call Holding Time Distributions. 10.4 Observations form the Call Holding Time Statistics. 10.5 Concluding Remarks. 10.6 Review Questions. 10.7 References. Appendix A. Connection Failure Detection for GTP'. A.1 GTP' Failure Detection. A.2 Numerical Examples. A.3 Concluding Remarks. A.4 Notation. A.5 References. Appendix B. Charging for Integrated Prepaid VoIP and Messaging Services. B.1 Prepaid Application Server of SIP-based Services. B.2 Charging Integration for Prepaid Calls and Instant Messaging. B.2.1 Prepaid IMS-to-PSTN Call Setup and Release. B.2.2 Prepaid Instant Messaging Delivery. B.2.3 Charging Policy of the Prepaid Application Server. B.3 Performance for the PAS Charging Policy. B.4 Concluding Remarks. B.5 Notation. B.6 References. Appendix C. Modeling Credit Reservation for OCS. C.1 Recharge Threshold-based Credit Reservation. C.2 Numerical Examples and Conclusions. C.3 Notation. C.4 References. Appendix D. Reducing Credit Re-authorization Cost. D.1 Credit Re-authorization Procedure. D.2 The Threshold-based Scheme. D.3 Numerical Examples. D.4 Concluding Remarks. D.5 Notation. D.6 References. Appendix E. Credit Redistribution for UMTS Prepaid Service through CAMEL. E.1 The IN Approach for the UMTS Prepaid Service. E.2 The Prepaid Charging Message Flow . E.3 The Prepaid Credit Reclaim (PCR) Mechanism. E.4 Concluding Remarks. E.5 Notation. E.6 References. Appendix F. An Example of IMS Charging Application Server. F.1 Rf/Ro Interface and Session Initialization. F.2 Creating Rf/Ro Requests. F.3 Receiving Answers. F.4 Error/Timeout Handling and Debugging. F.5 References. Appendix G. Non-IP-Based Prepaid Phone Service. G.1 Non-IP-based Mobile Prepaid Services. G.2 Wireless Intelligent Network Approach. G.2.1 WIN Call Origination. G.2.2 WIN Call Termination. G.2.3 WIN Prepaid Recharging. G.3 Service Node Approach. G.4 Hot Billing Approach. G.4.1 Hot Billing Initialization and Call Origination. G.4.2 Hot Billing Customer Query and Recharging. G.5 Handset-Based Approach. G.5.1 SIM Card Issues. G.5.2 Handset-Based Call Origination. G.5.3 Handset-Based Prepaid Recharging. G.6 Comparison of the Prepaid Solutions. G.6.1 Roaming to other networks. G.6.2 Scalability. G.6.3 Fraud Risk. G.6.4 Initial System Setup. G.6.5 Service Features. G.6.6 Real-Time Rating. G.7 Business Issues. G.8 Concluding Remarks. G.9. Review Questions. G.10. References. Appendix H. Performance of Service Node Based Mobile Prepaid Service. H.1 The Service Node Approach. H.2 Numeric Examples. H.2.1 Effects of the Variation of Call Charges. H.2.2 Effect of I on E[BL*]/I. H.2.3 The Cost Function. H.3 Concluding Remarks. H.4 Notation. H.5 References.