Flexible rating rules and calender rules implemented in a real-time charging system for a telecommunications network

A system, comprising:

• a computer, comprising:
• memory that contains a plurality of rating rules;
• and
• software that causes the computer to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a service request for a requested service;
• determining a charge for the requested service based on at least one rating rule of the plurality of rating rules and a tag, wherein the tag is based on at least one of information in the service request, network provided data, configuration data, and subscriber data;
• and
• causing a rating engine to generate one or more balance buckets for tracking a balance of the requested service and one or more usage buckets for tracking a usage of the requested service based on the one of the one or more rating rules.

A system, comprising:

• means for receiving a service request for a requested service;
• means for accessing a plurality of rating rules;
• means for determining a charge for the requested service based on at least one rating rule of the plurality of rating rules and a tag, wherein the tag is based on at least one of information in the service request, network provided data, configuration data, and subscriber data;
• and
• means for generating one or more balance buckets for tracking a balance of the requested service and one or more usage buckets for tracking a usage of the requested service based on the at least one rating rule of the plurality of rating rules.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

• instructions to receive a service request for a requested service at a computer, the computer configured to access a plurality of rating rules;
• instructions to determine a charge for the requested service based on at least one rating rule of the plurality of rating rules and a tag, wherein the tag is based on at least one of information in the service request, network provided data, configuration data, and subscriber data;
• and
• instructions to generate one or more balance buckets for tracking a balance of the requested service and one or more usage buckets for tracking a usage of the requested service based on the at least one rating rule of the plurality of rating rules.