Time And Flow-Based Bearer Charging In Ecs - Cisco ASR 5000 series Product Overview

Enhanced Charging Service Overview

Time and Flow-based Bearer Charging in ECS

ECS supports Time-based Charging (TBC) to charge customers on either actual consumed time or total session time
usage during a subscriber session. TBC generates charging records based on the actual time difference between
receiving the two packets, or by adding idle time when no packet flow occurs.
ECS also supports Flow-based Charging (FBC) based on flow category and type.
PDP context charging allows the system to collect charging information related to data volumes sent to and received by
the MS. This collected information is categorized by the QoS applied to the PDP context. FBC integrates a Tariff Plane
Function (TPF) to the charging capabilities that categorize the PDP context data volume for specific service data flows.
Service data flows are defined by charging rules. The charging rules use protocol characteristics such as:
IP address
TCP port
Direction of flow
Number of flows across system
Number of flows of a particular type
FBC provides multiple service data flow counts, one each per defined service data flow. When FBC is configured in the
ECS, PDP context online charging is achieved by FBC online charging using only the wildcard service data flow.
When further service data flows are specified, traffic is categorized, and counted, according to the service data flow
specification. You can apply wildcard to service data flow that do not match any of the specific service data flows.
The following are the chargeable events for FBC:
Start of PDP context: Upon encountering this event, a Credit Control Request (CCR) starts, indicating the start
of the PDP context, is sent towards the Online Charging Service. The data volume is captured per service data
flow for the PDP context.
Start of service data flow: An interim CCR is generated for the PDP context, indicating the start of a new
service data flow, and a new volume count for this service data flow is started.
Termination of service data flow: The service data flow volume counter is closed, and an interim CCR is
generated towards the Online Charging Service, indicating the end of the service data flow and the final
volume count for this service data flow.
End of PDP context: Upon encountering this event, a CCR stop, indicating the end of the PDP context, is sent
towards the Online Charging Service together with the final volume counts for the PDP context and all service
data flows.
Expiration of an operator configured time limit per PDP context: This event triggers the emission of an
interim CCR, indicating the elapsed time and the accrued data volume for the PDP context since the last report.
Expiration of an operator configured time limit per service data flow: The service data flow volume counter
is closed and an interim CCR is sent to the Online Charging Service, indicating the elapsed time and the
accrued data volume since the last report for that service data flow. A new service data flow container is
opened if the service data flow is still active.
Expiration of an operator configured data volume limit per PDP context: This event triggers the emission of
an interim CCR, indicating the elapsed time and the accrued data volume for the PDP context since the last
report.
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