CN106998543A

CN106998543A - Third-party application access method and device

Info

Publication number: CN106998543A
Application number: CN201610049822.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周晓云; 郭文洁
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2016-01-25
Filing date: 2016-01-25
Publication date: 2017-08-01
Also published as: WO2017128817A1

Abstract

The invention provides a kind of third-party application access method and device, this method includes：Flow when accessing third-party application for UE is formulated to be oriented to strategy and be oriented to tactful corresponding charging policy with the flow, wherein, above-mentioned flow guiding strategy includes downlink traffic and is oriented to strategy and/or uplink traffic guiding strategy；Above-mentioned flow is oriented to strategy and charging policy notifies to be oriented to policy execution functional entity to flow.Pass through the present invention, the problem of can not carrying out statistics charging to the application data for the application function for being routed to third-party application deployment in network present in correlation technique is solved, has reached that the application data for realizing the application function to being routed to third-party application deployment count the effect of charging.

Description

Third-party application access method and device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a third-party application access method and device.

Background

Fig. 1 is a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture diagram defined by the third Generation Partnership Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP) in the related art, and as shown in fig. 1, a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) makes Quality of Service (QoS) and Charging Policy for services using network resources. The PCRF is configured to combine the service information received from the Application Function (AF), the user Subscription information received from the Subscription database (SPR), the operator configured policy, and the like. The PCRF issues a control Policy formulated for the service to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF for short) or a Bearer Binding and Event reporting Function (BBERF for short) for execution. Meanwhile, the PCRF can subscribe the bearer layer related events to the PCEF and/or the BBERF so as to timely sense and change the control strategy when the bearer layer has the events. In addition, the PCEF and the Traffic Detection Function (TDF) can perform Application Detection and Control functions according to a PCC rule (PCEF) issued by the PCRF or an Application Detection and Control (ADC) rule (TDF). A Traffic routing support Function (TSSF) acquires a Traffic routing control policy from the PCRF and then performs a provisioning action.

In the related art, the PCEF may count information such as traffic, duration, and the like generated by service access of a user according to a charging policy in a PCC rule issued by the PCRF, and report the information to a charging system for charging.

Currently, operators deploy a mobile service value-added network to improve user Quality experience (Quality of experience, QoE for short), reduce network bandwidth pressure, and provide value-added services. The industry proposes a scheme of dynamic service chaining of local area network SGi-LAN as shown in fig. 2 to adapt to flexible and rapid service deployment change while reducing CAPital eXpenditure (referred to as "CAPX"), and fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of architecture supporting dynamic service chaining in the related art.

The PCRF can be used as a service chain selection decision entity, and has the following two functions:

receiving the service chain description issued by the configuration management system and the information such as the user attribute/access type/service chain weight and the like corresponding to the service chain, thereby obtaining the static strategy corresponding to the service chain;

the subscription information of the user is obtained from SPR, the dynamic access information of the user is obtained from BBERF/PCEF, and the obtained static strategy corresponding to the service chain is combined to make a Traffic Steering Control (TSC) strategy and inform the access flow of the TSC strategy to a Traffic Classification Function (TCF). The TSC policy typically includes a traffic data flow description and a corresponding traffic chain identification. The service data flow description can be an application identifier or a service data flow filter;

the Traffic Steering Control Enforcement Function (TSCEF) (TSCEF may be integrated on PCEF, TDF, or may be separate, i.e., the Traffic Steering Support Function (TSSF) has a Function of detecting Traffic data according to a TSC policy issued by PCRF, and then implementing the TSC policy according to a preconfigured action.

To enable faster introduction of new business functions and efficient deployment of special business functions that are unfamiliar to some mobile operators, mobile operators allow third party application providers to apply their own business functions on (S) Gi-LAN. The network needs to be able to formulate a corresponding business chain policy according to the request of the third party application in order to route the data to the application function deployed by the third party application. The operator also needs to statistically charge application data routed to the application functions deployed by the third party applications. However, there is no mechanism to support this requirement.

For the problem that the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application cannot be statistically charged in the network in the related art, an effective solution is not proposed at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a third-party application access method and a third-party application access device, which at least solve the problem that statistical charging cannot be carried out on application data routed to an application function deployed by a third-party application in a network in the related technology.

According to one aspect of the invention, a third-party application access method is provided, which comprises the following steps: formulating a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, wherein the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy; and informing the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy to a flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

Optionally, notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy performing function entity includes: carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy in a preset rule; and sending the preset rule to the flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

Optionally, the formulating the charging policy includes: and if the traffic steering strategy indicates that the data when the UE accesses the third-party application is steered to a service function deployed by the third-party application, making a corresponding charging strategy for the traffic steering strategy.

Optionally, the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity includes one of: policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, traffic check function TDF, traffic steering support function TSSF.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a third-party application access method, including: receiving a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, which are determined by a Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) and used when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, wherein the traffic steering policy comprises a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy; and executing the flow guiding strategy and the charging strategy.

Optionally, the receiving, by the PCRF, the traffic steering policy for the UE accessing the third party application and the charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy includes: and receiving a predetermined rule from the PCRF, wherein the predetermined rule carries an identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy.

Optionally, the executing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy includes: and charging the data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging strategy, and reporting the generated charging information to a charging system, wherein the charging information carries the identifier of the flow guide strategy.

Optionally, the downlink data of the UE accessing the third party application is charged according to a charging policy corresponding to the downlink traffic steering policy, and the generated first charging information is reported to the charging system, where the first charging information carries an identifier of the downlink traffic steering policy, and/or the uplink data of the UE accessing the third party application is charged according to a charging policy corresponding to the uplink traffic steering policy, and the generated second charging information is reported to the charging system, where the second charging information carries an identifier of the uplink traffic steering policy.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a third party application access apparatus, including: the system comprises a making module and a charging module, wherein the making module is used for making a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, and the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy; and the notification module is used for notifying the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy to a flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

Optionally, the specifying module includes: and the formulating unit is used for formulating the corresponding charging strategy for the traffic steering strategy when the traffic steering strategy indicates that the data when the UE accesses the third party application is steered to the service function deployed by the third party application.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a policy and charging rules function PCRF comprising the above-mentioned third party application access device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided another third party application access apparatus, including: a receiving module, configured to obtain a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, where the traffic steering policy is determined by a policy and charging rule function PCRF and is used when a user equipment UE accesses a third-party application, where the traffic steering policy includes a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy; and the execution module is used for executing the flow guiding strategy and the charging strategy.

Optionally, the execution module includes: and the charging unit is used for charging the data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging strategy and reporting the generated charging information to a charging system, wherein the charging information carries the identifier of the flow guide strategy.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a traffic steering policy enforcement function entity, comprising the above-mentioned another third party application access device.

According to the invention, a flow guiding strategy used when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy are formulated, wherein the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy; and informing the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy to a flow guide strategy execution functional entity. The problem that the application data of the application function routed to the third-party application deployment cannot be counted and charged in the network in the related technology is solved, and the effect of counting and charging the application data of the application function routed to the third-party application deployment is achieved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a PCC architecture diagram defined by 3GPP in the related art;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture for supporting a dynamic service chain in the related art;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a first method for third party application access according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a second method for third party application access according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flow chart of a PCEF enforcing TSC policies and charging according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of performing TSC policy and charging by a TDF or TSSF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of a first third-party application access device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 8 is a block diagram of a policy and charging rules function PCRF in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a block diagram of a second third-party application access device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of a traffic steering policy enforcement function entity according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present invention and in the drawings described above are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

In this embodiment, a third-party application access method is provided, and fig. 3 is a flowchart of a first third-party application access method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S302, a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy are formulated when User Equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) accesses a third party application, wherein the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy;

step S304, notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy executing function entity.

The PCRF may perform the above operation.

Through the steps, the PCRF can formulate a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy of the UE, and a charging strategy corresponding to the downlink flow guiding strategy and/or a charging strategy corresponding to the uplink flow guiding strategy, so that the corresponding business link strategy is formulated for the UE accessing the third party application, the data is routed to the application function deployed by the third party application, the purpose of carrying out statistical charging on the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application is realized, the problem that the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application cannot be subjected to statistical charging in the network in the related technology is solved, and the effect of carrying out statistical charging on the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application is further achieved.

In an optional embodiment, notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy performing function entity includes: carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy in a preset rule; and sending the preset rule to the flow guide strategy execution functional entity. For example, when the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity is a PCEF, the corresponding predetermined rule is a PCC rule; when the traffic steering policy executing functional entity is a TDF or a traffic steering support function TSSF, the corresponding predetermined rule is an ADC rule. In an optional embodiment, the step of carrying the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy in a predetermined rule includes: adding new flow guide strategy attribute value pair and charging strategy attribute value pair in the preset rule; carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and a charging strategy used for charging a provider of a third party application in the charging strategy in the flow guide strategy attribute value pair, and carrying the charging strategy used for charging the UE in the charging strategy attribute value pair; or, the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy for charging the UE in the charging policy are carried in the traffic steering policy attribute value pair, and the charging policy for charging the provider of the third party application in the charging policy is carried in the charging policy attribute value pair. It can be seen that in this embodiment, the charging policy includes two charging policies, one is a charging policy for the UE and one is a charging policy for the operator of the third party application. Therefore, the charging can be respectively carried out on the UE and the operator applied by the third party, and the two charging strategies can be the same or different, thereby realizing the purpose of more reasonably carrying out the charging.

In an optional embodiment, when the charging policy is formulated, the charging policy may be formulated under a condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied, for example, if the traffic steering policy indicates that data when the UE accesses the third-party application is steered to a service function deployed by the third-party application, a corresponding charging policy is formulated for the traffic steering policy.

In an optional embodiment, the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity may include one of the following: policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, traffic check function TDF, traffic steering support function TSSF.

In this embodiment, a third-party application access method is further provided, and fig. 4 is a flowchart of a second third-party application access method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S402, receiving a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, which are determined by a policy and charging rule function PCRF and used when user equipment UE accesses a third party application, wherein the traffic steering policy comprises a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy;

step S404, executing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy.

The above operation may be performed by one of the following traffic steering policy enforcement function entities: PCEF, TDF, TSSF.

Through the steps, the PCRF can formulate a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy of the UE and a corresponding charging strategy, so that a corresponding service chain strategy is formulated for the UE accessing a third party application, so that data is routed to an application function deployed by the third party application, the purpose of carrying out statistical charging on application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application is realized, the problem that the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application cannot be subjected to statistical charging in a network in the related technology is solved, and the effect of carrying out statistical charging on the application data routed to the application function deployed by the third party application is further achieved.

In an optional embodiment, the receiving, by the PCRF, a traffic steering policy for the UE accessing the third party application and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy includes: and receiving a predetermined rule from the PCRF, wherein the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy. For example, when the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity is a PCEF, the corresponding predetermined rule is a PCC rule; when the traffic steering policy executing functional entity is a TDF or a traffic steering support function TSSF, the corresponding predetermined rule is an ADC rule. In an optional embodiment, the manner in which the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy includes: carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy in the newly added flow guide strategy attribute value pair in the preset rule and a charging strategy for charging a provider applied by a third party in the charging strategy; and, carry the charging tactics used for charging to UE in the above-mentioned charging tactics in the attribute value pair of charging tactics newly increased in the above-mentioned predetermined rule; or, the newly added flow guide policy attribute value pair in the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the flow guide policy and a charging policy for charging the UE in the charging policy; and carrying the charging strategy used for charging the third party application provider in the charging strategy attribute value pair newly added in the preset rule. It can be seen that in this embodiment, the charging policy includes two charging policies, one is a charging policy for the UE and one is a charging policy for the operator of the third party application. Therefore, the charging can be respectively carried out on the UE and the operator applied by the third party, and the two charging strategies can be the same or different, thereby realizing the purpose of more reasonably carrying out the charging. In an optional embodiment, the UE may be controlled to access the third party application according to the traffic steering policy and the charging policy: routing the service data of the UE to an application function deployed by a third-party application according to the flow guiding strategy; charging the provider according to a charging policy for charging the provider of the third party application in the charging control policy, and charging the UE according to a charging policy for charging the UE in the charging control policy; when the charging control strategy does not have a charging strategy for charging a provider applied by a third party, charging the provider according to the charging strategy for charging the UE; and/or when the charging control strategy does not have a charging strategy for charging the UE, charging the UE according to the charging strategy for charging the third party application provider. In the embodiment, the aim of reasonable charging can be achieved even if a charging strategy for charging the UE does not exist or a charging strategy for charging an operator applied by a third party does not exist.

In an optional embodiment, the performing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy includes: and charging the data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging strategy, and reporting the generated charging information to a charging system, wherein the charging information carries the identifier of the flow guide strategy.

In an alternative embodiment, the method includes: and/or charging the uplink data accessed by the UE to the third party according to the charging strategy corresponding to the uplink flow guiding strategy and reporting the generated second charging information to the charging system, wherein the second charging information carries the identifier of the uplink flow guiding strategy.

The invention is illustrated below in connection with PCEF and TDF/TSSF, respectively.

Example 1

This embodiment describes the relevant processing procedure when the TSCEF is located on the PCEF, and fig. 5 is a flow chart of the PCEF implementing TSC policy and charging according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the process includes the following steps:

step S501: the user equipment UE attaches to the Network and initiates an attach procedure, or the UE initiates another Packet Data Network (PDN) connection establishment procedure. And the gateway where the PCEF is located receives the request message.

Step S502: after receiving the attach request or the PDN connection establishment request, the PCEF initiates an Internet Protocol-connectivity access Network (IP-CAN) session establishment request to the PCRF and provides information such as a user identifier, a PDN identifier, and an IP address to the PCRF.

Step S503: if there is no defined user subscription information, the PCRF obtains the user subscription information, such as the user class, the bandwidth allocated to the user, the service to which the user is allowed to access (i.e., the UE is allowed to access), the service chain, and the like, from the SPR. And the PCRF makes a policy decision and makes a PCC rule. The established PCC rule carries TSC strategy, namely Traffic Steering strategy identification Traffic Steering strategy Id and corresponding charging strategy. The PCRF may issue one or more PCC rules at the same time in this step.

If the Uplink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the service function ServiceFunction deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries the downlink Traffic steering policy identifier Uplink Traffic steering policy Id and the corresponding charging policy in the PCC rule; and if the downlink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the Service Function deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries the uplink traffic Steering Policy identification (Downlink traffic Steering Policy Id) and the corresponding charging Policy in the PCC rule. The charging policy includes indication information of online charging or offline charging, and a measurement method, such as flow and/or time. In specific implementation, a newly defined group type (group) AVP (attribute Value pair) is carried in a Charging Rule Definition attribute Value pair Charging-Rule-Definition AVP (corresponding to the above predetermined Rule), that is, a Traffic-Steering-Policy attribute Value pair Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP. A Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carries either a downstream Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP or an upstream Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP. If the downlink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the Service Function deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP in Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP, sets a corresponding value, carries AVP related to other charging policies and sets a corresponding value; if the uplink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the Service Function deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP in Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP and sets a corresponding value, and also carries other charging Policy AVP and sets a corresponding value. If the Traffic-Steering-Policy ACP does not carry any one or more of a Rating value set attribute value pair, a Rating-Group AVP, an Online attribute value pair, an Offline attribute value pair, a measuring-Method attribute value pair and the like, the PCFE executes a Charging Policy according to a corresponding value carried at the level of the Rating-Rule-Definition AVP. A Steering-Rule-Definition AVP instance may contain 1 or 2 Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instances (i.e., a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP-containing Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP instance or both a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP instance and a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP instance).

Wherein,

step S504: and the PCEF installs the issued PCC rules.

Step S505: and the gateway where the PCEF is located returns an attachment request or a response message of a PDN connection establishment request to the UE.

Step S506: the UE initiates access to the third party application.

Step S507: and the PCEF performs application detection or service data flow identification according to the PCC rule and detects the data of the application. The PCEF executes TSC Policy on the application data, namely, executes specific operation corresponding to the Traffic Steering Policy Id configured on the PCEF. Meanwhile, the PCEF needs to charge the application data according to the charging Policy corresponding to the Traffic Steering Policy Id.

Step S508: the PCEF performs statistics on data of the third party application accessed by the UE according to a Charging Policy at a Charging-Rule-Definition AVP level (i.e., a Charging Policy carried outside the Traffic-specification-Policy AVP, such as Rating-Group AVP, Online AVP, Offline AVP and/or measurement-Method AVP), and performs statistics on data of the third party application accessed by the UE according to the Charging Policy carried by the Traffic-specification-Policy AVP (the data are directed to the service function of the third party application deployed in the operator network).

Step S509: when the condition for reporting the Charging information is satisfied (the condition for reporting the CDR is PCEF local configuration or subscription of an Online Charging System (OCS) or an Offline Charging System (OFCS)), the PCEF generates Charging information (such as a detailed Call Record (CDR)) and reports the Charging information to the OCS or the OFCS. The charging information includes Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information. Specifically, if the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP, the charging information includes Downlink Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information, and if the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP carries Traffic-Steering-Identifier-UL AVP, the CDR carries Uplink Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information. Where the statistics are traffic and/or duration (i.e., data traffic and/or duration directed to the business function of the third party application). The charging information may further include a user identifier, a PDN identifier, a Sponsor Id, and/or an Application Service Provider (ASP) Id.

In step S510, the OCS or OFCS returns a confirmation message to the PCEF.

Example 2

This embodiment describes the relevant processing procedure when the TSCEF is located on the TDF or TSSF, and fig. 6 is a flow chart of performing TSC policy and charging according to the TDF or TSSF of the present embodiment. In this embodiment, a charging-related interface between the TDF or TSSF and the OCS or OFCS is required. As shown in fig. 6, the process includes the following steps:

step S601: the user equipment UE attaches to the network and initiates an attach procedure, or the UE initiates another PDN connection establishment procedure. And the gateway where the PCEF is located receives the request message.

Step S602: after receiving the attach request or the PDN connection establishment request, the PCEF initiates an IP-CAN session establishment request to the PCRF and provides information such as a user identifier, a PDN identifier, and an IP address to the PCRF.

Step S603: if the user subscription information is not defined, the PCRF acquires the user subscription information, such as information of a user class, a bandwidth allocated to the user, a service allowed to be accessed by the user, a service chain, and the like, from the SPR. And the PCRF carries out policy decision, the PCRF sends a TDF session establishment request message to the TDF or sends a TSSF session establishment request message to the TSSF, the message carries ADC rules, and the formulated ADC rules carry TSC policies, namely Traffic steering policy identification Traffic steering policy Id and corresponding charging policies. The PCRF may also provide the TDF or TSSF with a user identity, PDN identity, SponsorId and/or ASP Id. The PCRF may issue one or more ADC rules at the same time in this step. In specific implementation, a newly defined group type (Grouped) AVP, namely, Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP, is carried in the ADC-Rule-Definition AVP. A Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carries either Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP or Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP. If the downlink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the Service Function deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP in Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP, sets a corresponding value, carries AVP related to other charging policies and sets a corresponding value; if the uplink data of the third-party application accessed by the UE is routed to the Service Function deployed by the third-party application, the PCRF carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP in Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP and sets a corresponding value, and also carries other charging Policy AVP and sets a corresponding value. If the Traffic-Steering-policy AVP does not carry any one or more of the Rating-Group AVP, Online AVP, Offline AVP and Metering-Method AVP, the TDF or TSSF will execute the charging policy according to the corresponding value carried in the ADC-Rule-Definition AVP level. An ADC-Rule-Definition AVP instance may contain 1 or 2 Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instances (i.e., a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP containing Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP or a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP containing Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP and a Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP instance carrying both a Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP containing Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP).

Wherein,

step S604: and the TDF or the TSSF installs and executes the issued ADC rule.

Step S605: the TDF or TSSF returns an acknowledgement message to the PCRF.

Step S606: and the PCRF returns a response that the IP-CAN session is successfully established to the PCEF, wherein the response carries the PCC rules.

Step S607: and the gateway where the PCEF is located returns an attachment request or a response message of a PDN connection establishment request to the UE.

Step S608: and the UE initiates an access application to perform signaling interaction with an application server, and the UE adopts a common user identity access service.

Step S609: and the TDF or the TSSF carries out application detection or traffic data flow identification according to the ADC rule, and detects the data of the application. The TDF or TSSF executes a TSC Policy on the application data, i.e. performs a specific operation corresponding to the trafficking Policy Id configured in the TDF or TSSF. Meanwhile, the TDF or TSSF needs to charge the application data according to the charging policy corresponding to the Traffic Steering policy Id.

Step S610: the TDF or TSSF counts the data of the third party application accessed by the UE according to the charging Policy (namely, the charging Policy carried outside the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP, such as Rating-Group AVP, Online AVP, Offline AVP and/or Metering-Method AVP) of the ADC-Rule-Definition AVP level, and the TDF or TSSF counts the data of the third party application accessed by the UE according to the charging Policy carried by the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP.

Step S611: when the condition for reporting the charging information is satisfied, the TDF or TSSF generates charging information (e.g., CDR) and reports the charging information to the OCS or OFCS. The charging information includes Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information. Specifically, if the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-DL AVP, the charging information includes Downlink Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information, and if the Traffic-Steering-Policy AVP carries Traffic-Steering-Policy-Identifier-UL AVP, the charging information carries Uplink Traffic Steering Policy Id and corresponding statistical information. Where the statistics are traffic and/or duration (i.e., data traffic and/or duration directed to the business function of the third party application). In addition, the charging information may also include a user identifier, a PDN identifier, a Sponsor Id, and/or an ASP Id.

Step S612: the OCS or OFCS returns an acknowledgement message to the TDF or TSSF.

In the above embodiment, the PCC or ADC rule is provided to the PCEF or TDF/TSSF during the IP-CAN session establishment procedure, and in other embodiments, the PCC or ADC rule may also be provided to the PCEF or TDF/TSSF through the IP-CAN session modification procedure.

In the above embodiments, the Traffic-Steer-Policy AVP is carried in the dynamic PCC or ADC rules provided to the PCEF or TDF/TSSF, and in other embodiments, the Traffic-Steer-Policy AVP is also configured with only predefined PCC rules or ADC rules. The PCRF can activate the charging policy as long as it activates the predefined PCC rules or ADC rules.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the method according to the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but the former is a better implementation mode in many cases. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (e.g., ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone, a computer, a server, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a third-party application access device is further provided, and the third-party application access device is used for implementing the foregoing embodiments and preferred embodiments, and details of which have been already described are omitted. As used below, the term "module" may be a combination of software and/or hardware that implements a predetermined function. Although the means described in the embodiments below are preferably implemented in software, an implementation in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware is also possible and contemplated.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a first third-party application access device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the device includes a preparation module 72 and a notification module 74, which will be described below.

A formulating module 72, configured to formulate a traffic steering policy for the UE accessing the third party application and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, where the traffic steering policy includes a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy; and a notification module 74, connected to the formulating module 72, for notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy performing function entity.

In an alternative embodiment, the notifying module 74 may notify the traffic steering policy and charging policy to the traffic steering policy performing function entity by: carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy in a preset rule; and sending the preset rule to the flow guide strategy execution functional entity. For example, when the predetermined functional entity is a PCEF, the corresponding predetermined rule is a PCC rule; when the predetermined functional entity is a TDF or a traffic steering support function TSSF, the corresponding predetermined rule is an ADC rule. In an optional embodiment, the notification module 74 may carry the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy in a predetermined rule by: adding new flow guide strategy attribute value pair and charging strategy attribute value pair in the preset rule; carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and a charging strategy used for charging a provider of a third party application in the charging strategy in the flow guide strategy attribute value pair, and carrying the charging strategy used for charging the UE in the charging strategy attribute value pair; or, the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy for charging the UE in the charging policy are carried in the traffic steering policy attribute value pair, and the charging policy for charging the provider of the third party application in the charging policy is carried in the charging policy attribute value pair. It can be seen that in this embodiment, the charging policy includes two charging policies, one is a charging policy for the UE and one is a charging policy for the operator of the third party application. Therefore, the charging can be respectively carried out on the UE and the operator applied by the third party, and the two charging strategies can be the same or different, thereby realizing the purpose of more reasonably carrying out the charging.

In an optional embodiment, the formulating module 72 includes a formulating unit, configured to, when formulating the charging policy, formulate the charging policy if a predetermined condition is met, for example, if the traffic steering policy indicates that data of the UE accessing the third party application is directed to a service function deployed by the third party application, formulate a corresponding charging policy for the traffic steering policy.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the PCRF82 includes the first third party application access device 84.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of a second third-party application access device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the device includes a receiving module 92 and an executing module 94, which are described below.

A receiving module 92, configured to obtain a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, where the traffic steering policy is determined by a policy and charging rule function PCRF and is used when a user equipment UE accesses a third-party application, where the traffic steering policy includes a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy; and an executing module 94, connected to the receiving module 92, for executing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy.

In an alternative embodiment, the receiving module 92 may receive the traffic steering policy and the charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy by: and receiving a predetermined rule from the PCRF, wherein the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy. For example, when the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity is a PCEF, the corresponding predetermined rule is a PCC rule; when the traffic steering policy executing functional entity is a TDF or a traffic steering support function TSSF, the corresponding predetermined rule is an ADC rule. In an optional embodiment, the manner in which the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy includes: carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy in the newly added flow guide strategy attribute value pair in the preset rule and a charging strategy for charging a provider applied by a third party in the charging strategy; and, carry the charging tactics used for charging to UE in the above-mentioned charging tactics in the attribute value pair of charging tactics newly increased in the above-mentioned predetermined rule; or, the newly added flow guide policy attribute value pair in the predetermined rule carries the identifier of the flow guide policy and a charging policy for charging the UE in the charging policy; and carrying the charging strategy used for charging the third party application provider in the charging strategy attribute value pair newly added in the preset rule. It can be seen that in this embodiment, the charging policy includes two charging policies, one is a charging policy for the UE and one is a charging policy for the operator of the third party application. Therefore, the charging can be respectively carried out on the UE and the operator applied by the third party, and the two charging strategies can be the same or different, thereby realizing the purpose of more reasonably carrying out the charging. In an optional embodiment, the execution module 94 may further control the UE to access the third-party application by: routing the service data of the UE to an application function deployed by a third-party application according to the flow guiding strategy; charging the provider according to a charging policy for charging the provider of the third party application in the charging control policy, and charging the UE according to a charging policy for charging the UE in the charging control policy; when the charging control strategy does not have a charging strategy for charging a provider applied by a third party, charging the provider according to the charging strategy for charging the UE; and/or when the charging control strategy does not have a charging strategy for charging the UE, charging the UE according to the charging strategy for charging the third party application provider. In the embodiment, the aim of reasonable charging can be achieved even if a charging strategy for charging the UE does not exist or a charging strategy for charging an operator applied by a third party does not exist.

In an optional embodiment, the executing module 94 may include a charging unit, and the charging unit may charge data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging policy, and report generated charging information to a charging system, where the charging information carries an identifier of the traffic steering policy.

In an optional embodiment, the executing module 94 may perform charging on downlink data of the UE accessing the third party application according to a charging policy corresponding to the downlink traffic steering policy, and report the generated first charging information to the charging system, where the first charging information carries an identifier of the downlink traffic steering policy, and/or perform charging on uplink data of the UE accessing the third party application according to a charging policy corresponding to the uplink traffic steering policy, and report the generated second charging information to the charging system, where the second charging information carries the identifier of the uplink traffic steering policy.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of a traffic steering policy enforcement function entity according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 10, the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity 102 includes the second third-party application access device 104.

In an alternative embodiment, the traffic steering policy enforcement function 102 may include one of the following: policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, traffic check function TDF, traffic steering support function TSSF.

It should be noted that, the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware, and for the latter, the following may be implemented, but not limited to: the modules are all positioned in the same processor; alternatively, the modules are respectively located in a plurality of processors.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a storage medium. Alternatively, in the present embodiment, the storage medium may be configured to store program codes for performing the following steps:

s11, making a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy when the UE accesses the third party application, wherein the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy;

and S12, notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy executing function entity.

Optionally, the storage medium is further arranged to store program code for performing the steps of:

s21, receiving a traffic steering policy for the UE accessing the third party application and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, where the traffic steering policy includes a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy, and is determined by the policy and charging rule function PCRF;

s22, executing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the storage medium may include, but is not limited to: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a removable hard disk, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the processor executes the steps in the above method embodiments according to the program code stored in the storage medium.

Optionally, the specific examples in this embodiment may refer to the examples described in the above embodiments and optional implementation manners, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, and in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than that described herein, or they may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple ones of them may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a third party application, comprising:

formulating a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, wherein the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy;

and informing the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy to a flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying the traffic steering policy and the charging policy to the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity comprises:

carrying the identifier of the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy in a preset rule;

and sending the preset rule to the flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein formulating the charging policy comprises:

and if the traffic steering strategy indicates that the data when the UE accesses the third-party application is steered to a service function deployed by the third-party application, making a corresponding charging strategy for the traffic steering strategy.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity comprises one of:

policy and charging enforcement function PCEF, traffic check function TDF, traffic steering support function TSSF.

5. A method for accessing a third party application, comprising:

receiving a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, which are determined by a Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) and used when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, wherein the traffic steering policy comprises a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy;

and executing the flow guiding strategy and the charging strategy.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the traffic-oriented policy determined by the PCRF for the UE accessing the third-party application and the charging policy corresponding to the traffic-oriented policy comprises:

and receiving a predetermined rule from the PCRF, wherein the predetermined rule carries an identifier of the traffic steering policy and the charging policy.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the traffic steering policy and the charging policy comprises:

and charging the data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging strategy, and reporting the generated charging information to a charging system, wherein the charging information carries the identifier of the flow guide strategy.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

charging the downlink data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging policy corresponding to the downlink traffic steering policy and reporting the generated first charging information to the charging system, wherein the first charging information carries the identifier of the downlink traffic steering policy and/or,

and charging the uplink data accessed by the UE to the third party application according to a charging strategy corresponding to the uplink flow guiding strategy, and reporting generated second charging information to the charging system, wherein the second charging information carries an identifier of the uplink flow guiding strategy.

9. A third party application access device, comprising:

the system comprises a making module and a charging module, wherein the making module is used for making a flow guiding strategy and a charging strategy corresponding to the flow guiding strategy when User Equipment (UE) accesses a third party application, and the flow guiding strategy comprises a downlink flow guiding strategy and/or an uplink flow guiding strategy;

and the notification module is used for notifying the flow guide strategy and the charging strategy to a flow guide strategy execution functional entity.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the formulating module comprises:

and the formulating unit is used for formulating the corresponding charging strategy for the traffic steering strategy when the traffic steering strategy indicates that the data when the UE accesses the third party application is steered to the service function deployed by the third party application.

11. A policy and charging rules function PCRF comprising an apparatus of claim 9 or 10.

12. A third party application access device, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to obtain a traffic steering policy and a charging policy corresponding to the traffic steering policy, where the traffic steering policy is determined by a policy and charging rule function PCRF and is used when a user equipment UE accesses a third-party application, where the traffic steering policy includes a downlink traffic steering policy and/or an uplink traffic steering policy;

and the execution module is used for executing the flow guiding strategy and the charging strategy.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the means for performing comprises:

and the charging unit is used for charging the data of the UE accessing the third party application according to the charging strategy and reporting the generated charging information to a charging system, wherein the charging information carries the identifier of the flow guide strategy.

14. A traffic steering policy enforcement function comprising the apparatus of claim 12 or 13.

15. The traffic steering policy enforcement function entity of claim 14, wherein the traffic steering policy enforcement function entity comprises one of: