Systems and methods for integrating a service access gateway with billing and revenue management systems

A method for integrating charging and payment functionality in a telecommunication (telecom) network environment operating on one or more microprocessors, said method comprising:

• intercepting within a gateway residing in said telecom network communication traffic transmitted between mobile devices connected to the telecom network and one or more client applications that reside externally with respect to said telecom network;
• generating, via the gateway, charging data records upon intercepting said communication traffic as the gateway processes the communication traffic, wherein each charging data record contains one or more methods invoked, and one or more responses received for each request in the communication traffic;
• registering a charging data record listener executing on said gateway to listen for the charging data records generated within the gateway, wherein the charging data record listener converts a charging data record into an offline charging request and issues the offline charging request over a diameter protocol to a billing server that supports the diameter protocol, upon detecting that the charging data record has been generated;
• a payment service executing on the gateway, said payment service providing an interface for said client applications to invoke a charging request, wherein the payment service translates said charging request and transmits the translated charging request to the billing server;
• and
• providing a credit control interceptor that is an object registered with said gateway that filters requests in said communication traffic, wherein if a request matches Parameters set in the credit control interceptor, the credit control interceptor is invoked and initiates an online charging request and a credit control request to the billing server.

A nontransitory computer readable storage medium storing a set of instructions, said instructions executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to perform the steps comprising:

• intercepting within a gateway residing in said telecom network communication traffic transmitted between mobile devices connected to the telecom network and one or more client applications that reside externally with respect to said telecom network;
• generating, via the gateway, charging data records upon intercepting said communication traffic as the gateway processes the communication traffic, wherein each charging data record contains one or more methods invoked, and one or more responses received for each request in the communication traffic;
• registering a charging data record listener executing on said gateway to listen for the charging data records generated within the gateway, wherein the charging data record listener converts a charging data record into an offline charging request and issues the offline charging request over a diameter protocol to a billing server that supports the diameter protocol, upon detecting that the charging data record has been generated;
• providing a payment service executing on the gateway, said payment service providing an interface for said client applications to invoke a charging request, wherein the payment service translates said charging request and transmits the translated charging request to the billing server;
• and
• providing a credit control interceptor that is an object registered with said gateway that filters requests in said communication traffic, wherein if a request matches parameters set in the credit control interceptor, the credit control interceptor is invoked and initiates an online charging request and a credit control request to the billing server.