Systems and methods for selective provisioning of a charging function in a wireless network

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing a plurality of processor-executable instructions to:

• maintain information associating a plurality of instances of a particular network function, associated with a wireless network, with a plurality of traffic types, wherein the information indicates that a first instance of the particular network function is associated with at least a first traffic type of the plurality of traffic types;
• receive a first indication that a particular User Equipment (“UE”) is engaged in a first communication session, via the wireless network, that is associated with the first traffic type;
• select the first instance of the network function out of the plurality of instances of the network function based on receiving the first indication that the first communication session is associated with the first traffic type;
• output a second indication to the wireless network that the first instance of the network function has been selected,
• wherein, based on receiving the second indication, one or more network devices of the wireless network provide usage information associated with the wireless network by the particular UE to the first instance of the network function;
• determine that the particular UE is engaged in a second communication session via the wireless network, wherein the second communication session is associated with a second traffic type that is different from the first traffic type;
• determine that a second instance of the particular network function, of the plurality of instances of the particular network function, is associated with the second traffic type;
• select the second instance of the particular network function from the plurality of instances of the particular network function based on the determination that the particular UE is engaged in the second communication session associated with the second traffic type and the determination that the second instance of the particular network function is associated with the second traffic type;
• and
• provide, to the wireless network, an identification of the selected second instance of the particular network function, wherein the one or more network devices of the wireless network provide usage information via the second communication session by the particular UE to the second instance of the particular network function.

A method, comprising:

• maintaining information associating a plurality of instances of a particular network function, associated with a wireless network, with a plurality of traffic types, wherein the information indicates that a instance of the particular network function is associated with at least a particular traffic type of the plurality of traffic types;
• receiving a first indication that a particular User Equipment (“UE”) is engaged in a communication session, via the wireless network, that is associated with the particular traffic type of the plurality of traffic types;
• generating a plurality of scores that each indicate a measure of similarity between one or more attributes of the particular UE to respective selection criteria associated with each instance of the particular network function;
• and
• ranking the plurality of instances of the particular network function according to the respective generated scores;
• selecting the particular instance of the network function out of the plurality of instances of the network function based on receiving the first indication that the communication session is associated with the particular traffic type, wherein selecting the particular instance of the particular network function is further based on the ranking, wherein selecting the particular instance of the particular network function further includes:
• determining that the particular instance of the particular network function is associated with a highest ranked score of the generated plurality of scores, and
• selecting the particular instance of the particular network function based on the determination that the particular instance of the particular network function is associated with the highest ranked score;
• and
• outputting a second indication to the wireless network that the particular instance of the network function has been selected,
• wherein, based on receiving the second indication, one or more network devices of the wireless network provide usage information associated with the wireless network by the particular UE to the particular instance of the network function.