7.12 Procedures for management of PFDs

23.2033GPPPolicy and charging control architectureRelease 17TS

7.12.1 PFD Retrieval by the PCEF/TDF ("Pull mode")

This procedure enables the PCEF/TDF to retrieve PFDs for an Application Identifier from the PFDF when a PCC/ADC Rule with an Application Identifier is provisioned/activated and PFDs provisioned by the PFDF are not available at the PCEF/TDF.

In addition, this procedure enables the PCEF/TDF to retrieve PFDs from the PFDF when the caching timer for an Application Identifier elapses and a PCC/ADC Rule for this Application Identifier is still active.

The PCEF/TDF may retrieve PFDs for one or more Application Identifiers in the same Request. All PFDs related to an Application Identifier is provided in the response from the PFDF. The signalling flow of PFD Retrieval is depicted in Figure 7.12.1-1 as below.

Figure 7.12.1-1 PFD Retrieval by the PCEF/TDF

1. When one of the above mentioned conditions is met, PCEF/TDF shall fetch from the PFDF the PFDs for the Application Identifier(s) by sending Fetch PFD Request, in which the Application Identifier(s) is included.

2. The PFDF shall response with the list of Application Identifier and all associated PFDs in the Fetch PFD Response message. The PCEF/TDF shall bind the PFDs received from the PFDF to the respective Application Identifier.

7.12.2 Management of PFDs in the PCEF/TDF ("push mode")

This procedure enables the provisioning, modification or removal of PFDs associated with an application identifier in the PCEF/TDF via PFDF. Either the complete list of all PFDs of all application identifiers, the complete list of all PFDs of one or more application identifiers or a subset of PFDs for individual application identifiers may be managed.

Each PFD of an application identifier is associated with a PFD id in case a subset of the PFD(s) associated with an application identifier can be provisioned, updated or removed. In case always the full set of PFD(s) for an application identifier is managed in each transaction, PFD ids do not need to be provided.

NOTE 1: The prerequisite to provision or update PFDs is that the application identifier which the external entity provided is mapped into the application identifier that is included in the PCC/ADC Rule as described in TS 23.682 [42].

The interaction between the PFDF and the PCEF/TDF is not related to an IP-CAN session.

The PFDF may decide to delay the distribution of PFDs to PCEFs/TDFs for some time to optimize the signalling load over the Gw/Gwn interface. If the PFDF received an Allowed Delay for a PFD, the PFDF shall distribute this PFD within the indicated time interval.

Figure 7.12.2-1: Provisioning/update/removal of PFDs in the PCEF/TDF

1. The PFDF may provision, update or remove one, multiple, or all PFDs associated with an application identifier. The PFDF may manage PFDs for more than one application identifier at the same time. Alternatively, the PFDF may provision or remove the list of all PFDs associated with all application identifiers.

2. The PCEF/TDF binds (for provision or update) or unbinds (for removal) the PFDs to the application identifier received from the PFDF. The provisioning of PFDs associates new PFDs to an application identifier. The PFDF may also provide a PFD id for each PFD provided. The update of PFDs modifies existing PFDs associated to an application identifier. Either all PFDs of an application identifier are replaced, or a subset of the PFDs are replaced, where each PFD is identified by a PFD id. Partial modification of a PDF is not supported. The removal of PFDs removes some or all existing PFDs associated to an application identifier. In the case of removal of a subset of the PFD(s), each PFD is identified by a PFD id. The PCEF/TDF acknowledges the reception of the PFDs to the PFDF.

Annex A (normative):
Access specific aspects (3GPP)