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Online charging system (OCS) is a system allowing a communications service provider to charge their customers, in real time, based on service usage.
An event-based charging function (EBCF) is used to charge events based on their occurrence rather than their duration or volume used in the event. Typical events are SMS, MMS, purchase of content (application, game, music, video on demand, etc.).
Event-based charging function is used when the CC-Request-Type AVP = 4 i.e. for event request ex: diameter-sms or diameter-.....
Let us consider one example of Event-based charging. 1. Cost of one apple is Rupees 25/- You pay the amount, take the apple and go. Similarly, if you send a text message it may cost you Rupee 1/- and that's it. You subscribe to Caller Ring Back Tone (CRBT) which costs you Rs.30/- a month irrespective of the number of calls you receive in a month. So we can term event-based charging as a one-time cost or one-time occurrence cost.
The session based charging function (SBCF) is responsible for online charging of network / user sessions, e.g. voice calls, IP CAN bearers, IP CAN session or IMS sessions. [1]
Let us consider an example for session-based charging. Utility services like electricity or water is charged based on overall usage, for a certain time duration. You consume 'x' units of power in a month and pay for units consumed in that month. The usage may vary month to month and hence the charges. Similarly for consuming water, etc. Hence, charging based on how much one consumes is termed as metered charging or session-based charging.
The account balance management function (ABMF) is the location of the subscriber’s account balance within the OCS.
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet-switched cellular technologies. It is now maintained by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The Open Systems Interconnection model is a conceptual model that characterises and standardises the communication functions of a telecommunication or computing system without regard to its underlying internal structure and technology. Its goal is the interoperability of diverse communication systems with standard communication protocols.
SMS is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines.
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating real-time sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used for signaling and controlling multimedia communication sessions in applications of Internet telephony for voice and video calls, in private IP telephone systems, in instant messaging over Internet Protocol (IP) networks as well as mobile phone calling over LTE (VoLTE).
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an umbrella term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols for mobile telecommunications. Its best known work is the development and maintenance of:
In computer and telecommunications networks, presence information is a status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner—for example a user—to communicate. A user's client provides presence information via a network connection to a presence service, which is stored in what constitutes his personal availability record and can be made available for distribution to other users to convey his availability for communication. Presence information has wide application in many communication services and is one of the innovations driving the popularity of instant messaging or recent implementations of voice over IP clients.
The GPRS core network is the central part of the general packet radio service (GPRS) which allows 2G, 3G and WCDMA mobile networks to transmit IP packets to external networks such as the Internet. The GPRS system is an integrated part of the GSM network switching subsystem.
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is a standards body which develops open standards for the mobile phone industry. It is not a formal government-sponsored standards organization like the ITU, but a forum for industry stakeholders to agree on common specifications for products and services.
Customized Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) is a set of standards designed to work on either a GSM core network or the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network. The framework provides tools for operators to define additional features for standard GSM services/UMTS services. The CAMEL architecture is based on the Intelligent Network (IN) standards, and uses the CAP protocol. The protocols are codified in a series of ETSI Technical Specifications.
The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is an architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-style network, rather than strictly over an IP packet-switched network. Alternative methods of delivering voice (VoIP) or other multimedia services have become available on smartphones, but they have not become standardized across the industry. IMS is an architectural framework to provide such standardization.
Diameter Credit-Control Application, is a networking protocol for Diameter application used to implement real-time credit-control for a variety of end user services.
A service delivery platform (SDP) is a set of components that provides a service(s) delivery architecture for a type of service delivered to consumer, whether it be a customer or other system. Although it is commonly used in the context of telecommunications, it can apply to any system that provides a service. Although the TM Forum (TMF) is working on defining specifications in this area, there is no standard definition of SDP in industry and different players define its components, breadth, and depth in slightly different ways.
Vertical handover or vertical handoff refers to a network node changing the type of connectivity it uses to access a supporting infrastructure, usually to support node mobility. For example, a suitably equipped laptop might be able to use both a high speed wireless LAN and a cellular technology for Internet access. Wireless LAN connections generally provide higher speeds, while cellular technologies generally provide more ubiquitous coverage. Thus the laptop user might want to use a wireless LAN connection whenever one is available, and to 'fall over' to a cellular connection when the wireless LAN is unavailable. Vertical handovers refer to the automatic fallover from one technology to another in order to maintain communication. This is different from a 'horizontal handover' between different wireless access points that use the same technology in that a vertical handover involves changing the data link layer technology used to access the network.
HPE OpenCall is a range of network and telephony products offered by the "Communications & Media Solutions" branch of technology company HPE. It is most commonly described as a suite of software and hardware applications which allow implementation of common telecom operator services such as voicemail, sms, prepaid, billing, hlr, etc. It implements industry standard telecom protocols and standards such as SS7, ISUP, TCAP, SIP, MRCP, RTSP, and VoiceXML.
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) is the core network architecture of mobile communications protocol group 3GPP's LTE wireless communication standard.
In intelligent networks (IN) and cellular networks, service layer is a conceptual layer within a network service provider architecture. It aims at providing middleware that serves third-party value-added services and applications at a higher application layer. The service layer provides capability servers owned by a telecommunication network service provider, accessed through open and secure Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) by application layer servers owned by third-party content providers. The service layer also provides an interface to core networks at a lower resource layer. The lower layers may also be named control layer and transport layer.
The MMS Architecture is the set of standards used by the Multimedia Messaging Service in mobile networks. The standards are prepared by 3GPP.
Access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) is an entity within an evolved packet core (EPC) of the system architecture evolution (SAE) for 3GPP compliant mobile networks. The purpose of the ANDSF is to assist user equipment (UE) to discover non-3GPP access networks – such as Wi-Fi or WIMAX – that can be used for data communications in addition to 3GPP access networks and to provide the UE with rules policing the connection to these networks.
IMS is a set of specifications to offer multimedia services through IP protocol. This makes it possible to incorporate all kinds of services, such as voice, multimedia and data, on an accessible platform through any Internet connection.