3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations
32.2703GPPCharging managementMultimedia Messaging Service (MMS) chargingRelease 18Telecommunication managementTS
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions given in TR 21.905 [50], TS 32.240 [1] and TS 22.140 [200] and the following apply:
accounting: process of apportioning charges between the Home Environment, Serving Network and subscriber.
application data: Information / data specific to an application other than the MMS User Agent / VASP which is intended to be transported without alteration by using MMS. Application Data may be of any content type and format.
billing: function whereby CDRs generated by the charging function(s) are transformed into bills requiring payment.
Billing Domain: part of the operator network, which is outside the telecommunications network, that receives and processes CDR files from the network charging functions. It includes functions that can provide billing mediation and billing or other (e.g. statistical) end applications. It is only applicable to offline charging (see "Online Charging System" for equivalent functionality in online charging).
chargeable event: activity utilizing telecommunications network resources and related services for:
– user to user communication (e.g. a single call, a data communication session or a short message); or
– user to network communication (e.g. service profile administration); or
– inter-network communication (e.g. transferring calls, signalling, or short messages); or
– mobility (e.g. roaming or inter-system handover); and
– that the network operator may want to charge for.
As a minimum, a chargeable event characterises the resource / service usage and indicates the identity of the involved end user(s).
charged party: user involved in a chargeable event who has to pay parts or the whole charges of the chargeable event, or a third party paying the charges caused by one or all users involved in the chargeable event, or a network operator.
charging: a function within the telecommunications network and the associated OCS/BD components whereby information related to a chargeable event is collected, formatted, transferred and evaluated in order to make it possible to determine usage for which the charged party may be billed.
Charging Data Record (CDR): a formatted collection of information about a chargeable event (e.g. time of call set-up, duration of the call, amount of data transferred, etc) for use in billing and accounting. For each party to be charged for parts of or all charges of a chargeable event a separate CDR shall be generated, i.e. more than one CDR may be generated for a single chargeable event, e.g. because of its long duration, or because more than one charged party is to be charged.
charging event: a set of charging information forwarded by the CTF towards the CDF (offline charging) or towards the OCS (online charging). Each charging event matches exactly one chargeable event.
charging function: entity inside the network domain, subsystem or service that is involved in charging for that domain, subsystem or service.
circuit switched domain: domain within GSM / UMTS in which information is transferred in circuit switched mode.
Credit-Control: mechanism which directly interacts in real-time with an account and controls or monitors the charges, related to the service usage. Credit-Control is a process of: checking if credit is available, credit reservation, deduction of credit from the end user account when service is completed and refunding of reserved credit not used.
delivery report: feedback information provided to an originator MMS User Agent by an MMS Relay/Server about the status of the delivery of an MM.
domain: part of a communication network that provides network resources using a certain bearer technology.
forwarded MM: MM originally sent from a sender to an intended recipient which is then forwarded to other recipient(s) and to which a delivery report and/or read-reply report may refer and which may be subject to further forwarding.
forwarding MMS User Agent: MMS User Agent that is the intended recipient of an MM and that requests forwarding of the MM for delivery to other recipient(s) without having to first download the MM.
Fully Qualified Partial CDR (FQPC): partial CDR that contains a complete set of the fields specified in the present document. This includes all the mandatory and conditional fields as well as those fields that the PLMN operator has provisioned to be included in the CDR. The first Partial CDR shall be a Fully qualified Partial CDR.
message ID: unique identifier for an MM.
middle tier TS: used for the 3GPP charging TSs that specify the domain / subsystem / service specific, online and offline, charging functionality. These are all the TSs in the numbering range from TS 32.250 [10] to TS 32.27x [3x], e.g. TS 32.250 [10] for the CS domain, or TS 32.270 [30] for the MMS service. Currently, there is only one "tier 1" TS in 3GPP, which is TS 32.240 [1] that specifies the charging architecture and principles. Finally, there are a number of top tier TSs in the 32.29x numbering range ([50] ff) that specify common charging aspects such as parameter definitions, encoding rules, the common Billing Domain interface or common charging applications.
MMSE: collection of MMS-specific elements under the control of a single administration.
MMS Relay/Server (MMS R/S): MMS-specific network entity/application that is under the control of an MMS service provider.
An MMS relay/server transfers messages, provides operations of the MMS that are specific to or required by the mobile environment and provides (temporary and/or persistent) storage services to the MMS.
MMS User Agent: application residing on a user equipment, a mobile station or an external device that performs MMS-specific operations on a user’s behalf and/or on another application’s behalf. An MMS User Agent is not considered part of an MMSE.
near real-time: near real-time charging and billing information is to be generated, processed, and transported to a desired conclusion in less than one (1) minute.
offline charging: charging mechanism where charging information does not affect, in real-time, the service rendered.
online charging: charging mechanism where charging information can affect, in real-time, the service rendered and therefore a direct interaction of the charging mechanism with bearer/session/service control is required.
Online Charging System: the entity that performs real-time Credit-Control. Its functionality includes transaction handling, rating, online correlation and management of subscriber accounts/balances.
original MM: (initial) MM sent from a sender to a recipient and to which a delivery report and/or a read-reply report and/or a reply-MM may refer and/or which may be subject to being forwarded.
originator MMS User Agent: an MMS User Agent associated with the sender of an MM.
packet switched domain: domain within GSM / UMTS in which data is transferred in packet switched mode. Corresponds to the term "GPRS".
partial CDR: CDR that provides information on part of a subscriber session. A long session may be covered by several partial CDRs. Two formats are considered for Partial CDRs. One that contains all of the specified fields (FQPC); the second has a reduced format (RPC).
read-reply report: feedback information to an originator MMS User Agent by a Recipient MMS User Agent about the status of handling/rendering of an original MM in a Recipient MMS User Agent.
real-time: real-time charging and billing information is to be generated, processed, and transported to a desired conclusion in less than one (1) second.
Recipient MMS User Agent: MMS User Agent associated with the recipient of an MM.
reply-MM: in case of reply-charging the first reply accepted by the Recipient MMS Relay/Server (after checking the reply charging limitations, such as the latest time of submission) is called a reply-MM.
settlement: payment of amounts resulting from the accounting process.
subscriber: a subscriber is an entity (associated with one or more users) that is engaged in a subscription with a service provider. The subscriber is allowed to subscribe and unsubscribe services, to register a user or a list of users authorized to enjoy these services, and also to set the limits relative to the use that associated users make of these services.
user: an entity, not part of the 3GPP System, that uses network resources by means of a subscription. The user may or may not be identical to the subscriber holding that subscription.
User Equipment (UE): a device allowing a user access to network services. For the purpose of 3GPP specifications the interface between the UE and the network is the radio interface. A User Equipment can be subdivided into a number of domains, the domains being separated by reference points. Currently defined domains are the USIM and ME Domains. The ME Domain can further be subdivided into several components showing the connectivity between multiple functional groups. These groups can be implemented in one or more hardware devices. An example of such a connectivity is the TE – MT interface. Further, an occurrence of a User Equipment is an MS for GSM as defined in TS 24.002 [202].
3.2 Symbols
For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:
Ci Charging Trigger in combined MMS Relay/Server.
Bm Reference point for the CDR file transfer from the MMS CGF to the BD.
Mi Charging Trigger in MMS Relay/Server for MMBox Management.
MM1 The reference point between the MMS User Agent and the MMS Relay/Server.
MM2 The reference point between the MMS Relay and the MMS Server.
MM3 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and external (legacy) messaging systems.
MM4 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and another MMS Relay/Server that is within another MMSE.
MM5 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and the Home Location Register (HLR).
MM6 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and the MMS User Databases.
MM7 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and MMS VAS Applications.
MM8 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and the post-processing system.
MM9 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and the online charging system.
MM10 The reference point between the MMS Relay/Server and a Messaging Service Control Function (MSCF).
Oi Charging Trigger in Originator MMS Relay/Server.
Ri Charging Trigger in Recipient MMS Relay/Server.
3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations defined in TR 21.905 [50], TS 23.140 [201], TS 32.240 [1] and the following apply:
3G 3rd Generation
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
AVP Attribute Value Pair
BD Billing Domain
CCA Credit Control Answer
CCR Credit Control Request
CDF Charging Data Function
CDR Charging Data Record
CGF Charging Gateway Function
CS Circuit Switched
CTF Charging Trigger Function
DCCA Diameter Credit Control Application
EBCF Event Based Charging Function
ECUR Event Charging with Unit Reservation
FTAM File Transfer, Access and Management
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile communication
HLR Home Location Register
IE Information Element
IEC Immediate Event Charging
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
IP Internet Protocol
ITU-T International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunications standardization sector
LCS LoCation Service
MCC Mobile Country Code (part of IMSI)
ME Mobile Equipment
MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
MM Multimedia Message
MMS Multimedia Messaging Service
MMSE Multimedia Messaging Service Element
MMSNA Multimedia Messaging Service Network Architecture
MMSO Multimedia Messaging Service Originator
MMSR Multimedia Messaging Service Recipient
MMS R/S Multimedia Messaging Relay/Server
MNC Mobile Network Code (part of IMSI)
MO Mobile Originated
MS Mobile Station
MSCF Messaging Service Control Function
MT Mobile Terminated
NE Network Element
OCS Online Charging System
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PS Packet-Switched
RPC Reduced Partial CDR
SCCP Signalling Connection Control Part
TR Technical Report
TS Technical Specification
UA User Agent
UE User Equipment
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
USIM User Service Identity Module
VAS Value Added Service
VASP Value Added Service Provider