Policy and charging enforcement function apparatus, online charging apparatus, and online charging method

A charging method applied to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) apparatus, comprising:

• receiving a policy and charging control (PCC) rule from a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF);
• determining, based on the PCC rule, that a service data flow of a user equipment comprises a sponsor service data flow sponsored by a sponsor,
• determining, based on a rating group of the sponsor service data flow comprised in the PCC rule, whether the PCEF apparatus has a credit quota available to the sponsor service data flow when the sponsor service data flow uses online charging;
• sending a credit control request comprising the rating group to an online charging apparatus when the PCEF apparatus does not have the credit quota available to the sponsor service data flow;
• receiving the credit quota available to the sponsor service data flow from the online charging apparatus;
• and
• recording use information of use of the credit quota by the sponsor service data flow.

A charging method applied to an online charging apparatus, comprising:

• receiving a credit control request from a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) apparatus, the credit control request comprising a rating group;
• determining, based on the rating group comprised in the credit control request, that a service data flow of a user equipment comprises a sponsor service data flow sponsored by a sponsor when the rating group specifies the sponsor;
• allocating a credit quota to the sponsor service data flow according to the rating group;
• and
• sending the credit quota to the PCEF apparatus.