Method and apparatus for facilitating interim billing for ims session using time-based interim accounting message to determine interim processing trigger

An apparatus for facilitating interim billing for an IMS session, comprising:

• a first primary charging data subsystem operable to receive time-based interim accounting messages for an IMS session from a first network element of an IMS network serving the IMS session for opening or updating a first interim charging data record in response to receiving the time-based interim accounting messages, extracting accounting record numbers from the time-based interim accounting messages, and determining if a partial record closing trigger has been reached for the IMS session;
• and
• a second primary charging data subsystem operable to receive time-based interim accounting messages for the IMS session from a second network element of the IMS network serving the IMS session for opening or updating a second interim charging data record in response to receiving the time-based interim accounting messages, extracting accounting record numbers from the time-based interim accounting messages, and determining if a partial record closing trigger has been reached for the IMS session;
• wherein the accounting record numbers uniquely identify the corresponding time-based interim accounting message in relation to other interim accounting messages from the corresponding network element for the IMS session;
• wherein the partial record closing trigger is a function of the accounting record number extracted by the corresponding charging data subsystem for the corresponding network element, an accounting-interim-interval value accessible to the corresponding charging data subsystem, and a partial record closing threshold accessible to the corresponding charging data subsystem;
• wherein, if the partial record closing trigger has not been reached and the IMS session is still active, the first and second primary charging data subsystems continue processing time-based interim accounting messages to update the current first and second interim charging data records or, if the partial record closing trigger has been reached, the first primary charging data subsystem generates a first time-based partial charging data record for the first network element from the first interim charging data records opened and updated by the first primary charging data subsystem since any preceding first time-based partial charging data record was generated and continues processing time-based interim accounting messages and generating additional first time-based partial charging data records until the first network element is no longer serving the IMS session or the first primary charging data subsystem experiences a fault condition and the second primary charging data subsystem generates a second time-based partial charging data record for the second network element from the second interim charging data records opened and updated by the second primary charging data subsystem since any preceding second time-based partial charging data record was generated and continues processing time-based interim accounting messages and generating additional second time-based partial charging data records until the second network element is no longer serving the IMS session or the second primary charging data subsystem experiences a fault condition.

A method for facilitating interim billing for an IMS session, comprising:

• a trigger determining processing comprising:
• opening or updating an interim charging data record at a charging data function in response to receiving a time-based interim accounting message for an IMS session from a network element of an IMS network serving the IMS session;
• extracting a message sequence number from the time-based interim accounting message, the message sequence number uniquely identifying the time-based interim accounting message in relation to other interim accounting messages from the network element for the IMS session;
• and
• determining if an interim processing trigger has been reached at the charging data function for the IMS session, wherein the interim processing trigger is a function of the extracted message sequence number, a message interval value accessible to the charging data function, and an interim processing threshold accessible to the charging data function;
• and
• a repeating or generating step comprising:
• if the interim processing trigger has not been reached and the IMS session is still active, repeating the trigger determining process to continue processing time-based interim accounting messages to update the current interim charging data record or, if the interim processing trigger has been reached, generating a time-based partial charging data record at the charging data function from the interim charging data records opened and updated by the corresponding charging data function since any preceding time-based partial charging data record was generated and repeating the trigger determining process and the repeating or generating step to continue processing time-based interim accounting messages and generating additional time-based partial charging data records until the network element is no longer serving the IMS session or the charging data subsystem experiences an overload or out-of-service condition.

An apparatus for facilitating interim billing for an IMS session, comprising:

• a first primary charging data subsystem operable to receive time-based interim accounting messages for an IMS session from a first network element of an IMS network serving the IMS session, the first primary charging data subsystem comprising:
• a first interim record processing module for opening or updating a primary interim charging data record in response to receiving the time-based interim accounting messages for the IMS session from the first network element;
• a first message parsing module in operative communication with the first interim record processing module for extracting a message sequence number from the time-based interim accounting messages, the message sequence number uniquely identifying each time-based interim accounting message in relation to other interim accounting messages from the first network element for the IMS session;
• and
• a first time-based record processing module in operative communication with the first interim record processing module, and first message parsing module for determining if an interim processing trigger has been reached for the IMS session, wherein the interim processing trigger is a function of the message sequence number, a message interval value accessible to the first time-based record processing module, and an interim processing threshold accessible to the first time-based record processing module;
• wherein, if the interim processing trigger has not been reached and the IMS session is still active, the first primary charging data subsystem continues processing time-based interim accounting messages to update the current primary interim charging data record or, if the interim processing trigger has been reached, the first time-based record processing module generates a primary time-based partial charging data record from the primary interim charging data records opened and updated by the first interim record processing module since any preceding primary time-based partial charging data record was generated and the first primary charging data subsystem continues processing time-based interim accounting messages and generating additional primary time-based partial charging data records until the first network element is no longer serving the IMS session or the first primary charging data subsystem experiences an overload or out-of-service condition.