Charging and policy for services at the edge of a mobile data network

A method for processing data packets in a mobile data network that includes a radio access network coupled to a core network, the method comprising the steps of:

• a plurality of antennas sending and receiving network messages between user equipment and a plurality of basestations in the radio access network, each basestation communicating with a corresponding one of the plurality of antennas;
• a first service mechanism in the radio access network that performs the steps of:
• defining an existing first data path in the radio access network for non-broken out data;
• defining a second data path for broken out data;
• identifying first data received from a corresponding basestation as data to be broken out;
• sending the first data on the second data path;
• and
• forwarding other data that is not broken out on the first data path;
• performing a first service for network messages in the radio access network based on the first data;
• at least one charging and policy component performing charging and policy control in the mobile data network;
• a first mechanism in the core network communicating with the at least one charging and policy component to perform charging and policy control for data that is not broken out by the first service mechanism;
• a second service mechanism separate from the first mechanism communicating with the at least one charging and policy component to perform charging and policy control for data that is broken out by the first service mechanism;
• a third service mechanism that monitors network traffic during attach and packet data protocol (PDP) context activation, determines from the monitored network traffic data used by the first mechanism to communicate with the at least one charging and policy component, and sends the data used by the first mechanism to communicate with the at least one charging and policy component to the second service mechanism to enable the second service mechanism to communicate with the at least one charging and policy component for data that is broken out by the first service mechanism;
• the second service mechanism establishing a connection with the at least one charging and policy component using the data received from the third service mechanism;
• the first service mechanism communicating charging and policy data to the second service mechanism for the data that is broken out by the first service mechanism, thereby allowing the second service mechanism to communicate with the at least one charging and policy component to perform the charging and policy control for the data that is broken out by the first service mechanism;
• the first service mechanism providing edge charging functions including threshold monitoring and metering data;
• and
• the second service mechanism providing network charging functions including sending charging and policy information to the first service mechanism, data collection from the first service mechanism, data formatting from the first service mechanism, and submission of formatted data to the at least one charging and policy component.