Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

Muthukumar Retnasamy

Violeta Cakulev

Hans Raj Nahata

Madhan Muralimanohar

Sudhakar Reddy Patil

Kalyani Bogineni

Ratul Kumar Guha

Barry F Hoffner

Marc Chiaverini

Jerry Steben

Shanthala Kuravangi-Thammaiah

Jolly Lal

Harinder S Lakhian

Systems and methods described herein enable distribution of a Charging Function group identifier ('CHF-Group-ID') and other CHF selection data to CHF consumers during Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment in a 5G network. A Unified Data Repository (UDR) is provisioned with CHF-Group-ID details for each subscriber of the network. In one aspect, during PDU session establishment, CHF consumers obtain CHF-Group-ID information as part of a subscriber profile that is provided to all CHF consumers. No additional step or hop is needed for the CHF consumers to obtain the CHF-Group-ID. Thus, regionally segmented CHFs can be implemented without replication of data between CHFs in different regional segments and without additional signaling between network functions.

Systems and methods for regional segmentation and selection of charging function

A network device executes an account management function that pre-authorizes network service unit consumption by multiple subscribers that are members of a same, shared network service account. The account management function receives, from multiple charging systems distributed within the network, network unit consumption charges associated with each of the multiple subscribers, where the network device is centrally located within a network relative to multiple locations associated with the plurality of charging systems. The account management function updates a consumption counter for the same, shared network service account based on the network unit consumption charges associated with the multiple subscribers received from the multiple charging systems distributed within the network.

Centralized mobile network account management function for shared mobile network consumption tracking of converged charging systems

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium are described in which a resource counter tracking service is provided. The service may include the collection of resource information by a charging function from a virtualized device. The resource information may include information pertaining to hardware usage, quality of service, and transport resources associated with the virtualized device, a cluster, or a data center of relevance. The charging function may generate event information based on the resource information, and make available the event information to third party devices.

Method and system for resource counter tracking

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.

Enhanced real-time network consumption tracking for wireless networks

Disclosed are systems and methods for intelligent, real-time network consumption tracking and traffic steering in fifth-generation (5G) networks via a network configuration and implementation. The disclosed hybrid network traffic steering is effectuated by using Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) and Subscriber Location Function (SLF) to route/steer fourth-generation (4G) network traffic by 5G subscribers to a 5G Charging Function (CHF) for 4G fallback network consumptions. Network currency consumption tracking is performed by the 5G CHF. The CHF dictates policy rules for 5G networks via the Policy Control Function (PCF) of the 5G Core, and dictates policy rules for 4G networks via the Policy and Charging Rules Functions (PCRF) for fallback sessions.

System and method for hybrid network data consumption tracking in a wireless network

An example method can include receiving information identifying a quality of service (QoS) flow for a communication session involving a user equipment (UE). The information can include a QoS profile and a QoS flow identifier (QFI). The method can include identifying, from a QoS profile, a QoS configuration identifier associated with the QoS flow and selecting a data radio bearer (DRB) for the communications associated with the QoS flow. The DRB can be selected based on a mapping of a plurality of DRBs to a plurality of QoS flows, and the mapping can be based on corresponding QoS configuration identifiers of the plurality of QoS flows. The method can include assigning the QoS flow to the DRB by adding the QFI of the QoS flow to the mapping relative to the DRB and causing the communications associated with the QoS flow to be transmitted using the DRB.

Allocation of data radio bearers for quality of service flows

An example method can include receiving information identifying a quality of service (QoS) flow for a communication session involving a user equipment (UE). The information can include a QoS profile and a QoS flow identifier (QFI). The method can include identifying, from a QoS profile, a QoS configuration identifier associated with the QoS flow and selecting a data radio bearer (DRB) for the communications associated with the QoS flow. The DRB can be selected based on a mapping of a plurality of DRBs to a plurality of QoS flows, and the mapping can be based on corresponding QoS configuration identifiers of the plurality of QoS flows. The method can include assigning the QoS flow to the selected DRB by adding the QFI of the QoS flow to the mapping relative to the selected DRB and causing the communications associated with the QoS flow to be transmitted using the selected DRB.

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Tampa, FL, United States of America

Muthukumar Retnasamy