Charging function fallback

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of programming instructions that, when executed by a processor of a Fail Open Function (FOF) cause the FOF to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, from a session management function (SMF) or a policy control function (PCF), a request for information about a subscriber associated with a session;
• determining that a charging function (CHF) is unreachable;
• based on determining that the CHF is unreachable:
• retrieving the information about the subscriber from an entry in a database associated with the FOF, the entry corresponding to the subscriber;
• returning, to the SMF or PCF, the information about the subscriber;
• and
• updating the entry of the database based on the session;
• determining that a charging function (CHF) has become reachable;
• and
• based on determining that the CHF has become reachable, transmitting, to the CHF, an indication of the entry that has been updated.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a memory comprising a database;
• and
• one or more components stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, from a session management function (SMF) or a policy control function (PCF), a request for information about a subscriber associated with a session;
• determining that a charging function (CHF) is unreachable;
• based on determining that the CHF is unreachable:
• retrieving the information about the subscriber from an entry in the database, the entry corresponding to the subscriber;
• returning, to the SMF or PCF, the information about the subscriber;
• and
• updating the entry of the database based on the session;
• determining that a charging function (CHF) has become reachable;
• and
• based on determining that the CHF has become reachable, transmitting, to the CHF, an indication of the entry that has been updated.