Methods, entities, and computer readable media for error handling

A method at a second entity, comprising:

• sending a policy decision to a first entity, for management of a session by the first entity, the policy decision comprising policy decision data defining quality of service and charging policies for the session, one or more rules defining how to apply the quality of service and charging policies to the session, wherein each rule uses identifiers for referencing into the policy decision data;
• receiving a notification from the first entity, the notification indicating one or more reference errors in the policy decision, each reference error being an erroneous or inconsistent reference into the policy decision data;
• updating the policy decision to account for the one or more reference errors indicated in the notification;
• and
• sending the updated policy decision to the first entity;
• wherein the one or more reference errors indicated in the notification include at least one of:
• a reference inconsistency in which two or more rules that reference a same item of policy decision data are inconsistent;
• or
• a reference error arising from a conflict or inconsistency between a session rule and a policy and charging control (PCC) rule that are both referenced to a same data item in the policy decision data.

A first entity comprising:

• at least one processor, and
• at least one memory, storing instructions which, when executed on the at least one processor, cause the first entity to:
• receive a policy decision from a second entity, for management of a session by the first entity, the policy decision comprising policy decision data defining quality of service and charging policies for the session, and one or more rules defining how to apply the quality of service and charging policies to the session, wherein each rule uses identifiers for referencing into the policy decision data;
• detect one or more reference errors in the policy decision, each reference error being an erroneous or inconsistent reference into the policy decision data;
• and
• transmit, to the second entity, a notification of the one or more reference errors;
• wherein execution of the instructions by the at least one processor causes the first entity to detect the one or more errors by at least one of:
• determining that a session rule and a policy and charging control (PCC) rule referenced to a same item of policy decision data are inconsistent;
• or
• detecting a conflict or inconsistency between two or more rules referenced to a same item of policy decision data.

A second entity comprising:

• at least one processor, and
• at least one memory, storing instructions which, when executed on the at least one processor, cause the second entity to:
• send a policy decision to a first entity, for management of a session by the first entity, the policy decision comprising policy decision data defining quality of service and charging policies for the session, and one or more rules defining how to apply the quality of service and charging policies to the session, wherein each rule uses identifiers for referencing into the policy decision data;
• receive a notification from the first entity, the notification indicating one or more reference errors in the policy decision, each reference error being an erroneous or inconsistent reference into the policy decision data;
• update the policy decision to account for the one or more reference errors indicated in the notification;
• and
• send the updated policy decision to the first entity;
• wherein the one or more reference errors indicated in the notification include at least one of:
• a reference inconsistency in which two or more rules that reference a same item of policy decision data are inconsistent;
• or
• a reference error arising from a conflict or inconsistency between a session rule and a policy and charging control (PCC) rule that are both referenced to a same data item in the policy decision data.