3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations
32.2783GPPCharging managementMonitoring event chargingRelease 17Telecommunication managementTS
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the terms and definitions given in TR 21.905 [100] and the following apply. A term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in TR 21.905 [100].
2G‑ / 3G‑: prefixes 2G‑ and 3G‑ refer to functionality that supports only GSM or UMTS, respectively, e.g. 2G‑SGSN refers only to the GSM functionality of an SGSN.
NOTE 1: When the term/prefix is omitted, reference is made independently from the GSM or UMTS functionality.
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.
NOTE 2: 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 telecommunication network, that receives and processes CDR files from the core network charging functions.
NOTE 3: 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).
CDR field categories: the CDR fields are defined in the present document. CDR fields may be operator provisionable and are divided into the following categories:
– Mandatory (M): field that shall always be present in the CDR.
– Conditional (C): field that shall be present in a CDR if certain conditions are met.
– Operator Provisionable: Mandatory (OM): field that, if provisioned by the operator, shall always be present in the CDR.
– Operator Provisionable: Conditional (OC): field that, if provisioned by the operator, shall be present in a CDR if certain conditions are met.
chargeable event: activity utilizing telecommunication 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.
NOTE 4: 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: 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 (offline charging) or the subscriber’s account balance may be debited (online charging).
Charging Data Record (CDR): formatted collection of information about one or more chargeable event(s) (e.g. time of call set-up, duration of the call, amount of data transferred, etc) for use in billing and accounting.
NOTE 5: For each party to be charged for parts of or all charges of the chargeable event(s) 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: set of charging information forwarded by the CTF towards the CDF (offline charging) or towards the OCS (online charging).
NOTE 6: Each charging event matches exactly one chargeable event.
charging function: entity inside the core network domain, subsystem or service that is involved in charging for that domain, subsystem or service.
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.
GSM only: qualifier indicating that this clause or paragraph applies only to a GSM system.
NOTE 7: For multi-system cases this is determined by the current serving radio access network.
in GSM,…: qualifier indicating that this paragraph applies only to GSM System.
in UMTS,…: qualifier indicating that this paragraph applies only to UMTS System.
inter-system change: change of radio access between different radio access technologies such as GSM, UMTS and LTE.
"middle tier" (charging) TS: term used for the 3GPP charging TSs that specify the domain / subsystem / service specific, online and offline, charging functionality.
NOTE 8: These are all the TSs in the numbering range from TS 32.250 to TS 32.279, e.g. TS 32.250 [10] for the CS domain, TS 32.260 [20] for the IMS 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.
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 account balances.
packet switched domain: domain within GSM/UMTS/LTE in which data is transferred in packet switched mode. Corresponds to the term "GPRS".
partial CDR: CDR that provides charging information on part of a subscriber session. A long session may be covered by several partial CDRs.
NOTE 9: Two formats are considered for Partial CDRs. One that contains all of the provisioned fields (FQPC); the second has a reduced format (RPC).
settlement: payment of amounts resulting from the accounting process.
subscriber: entity (associated with one or more users) that is engaged in a subscription with a service provider.
NOTE 10: The subscriber is allowed to subscribe and unsubscribe services, to register a user or a list of users authorised to enjoy these services, and also to set the limits relative to the use that associated users make of these services.
successful call: connection that reaches the communication or data transfer phase e.g. the "answered" state for speech connections.
NOTE 11: All other connection attempts are regarded as unsuccessful.
target UE: UE being positioned.
tariff period: part of one (calendar) day during which a particular tariff is applied. Defined by the time at which the period commences (the switch-over time) and the tariff to be applied after switch-over.
tariff: set of parameters defining the network utilisation charges for the use of a particular bearer / session / service.
UMTS only: qualifier indicating that this clause or paragraph applies only to a UMTS system.
NOTE 12: For multi-system cases this is determined by the current serving radio access network.
user: entity, not part of the 3GPP System, that uses network resources by means of a subscription.
NOTE 13: The user may or may not be identical to the subscriber holding that subscription.
User Equipment (UE): device allowing a user access to network services.
NOTE 14: 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 [213].
3.2 Symbols
For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:
Bmn Reference point for the CDR file transfer from the Monitoring Event CGF to the BD.
Ga Reference point for CDR transfer between a CDF and the CGF.
Ns Reference point between the SCEF and the RCAF.
Rf Offline charging reference point between a MME/SGSN/IWK-SCEF and the CDF.
S6t Reference point between the SCEF and the HSS.
T6a Reference point between the SCEF and the s erving MME.
T6ai Reference point between the IWK-SCEF and the serving MME.
T6b Reference point between the SCEF and the serving SGSN.
T6bi Reference point between the IWK-SCEF and the serving SGSN.
T7 Reference point between the IWK-SCEF and the serving SCEF.
3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in TR 21.905 [100] and the following apply.
An abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in TR 21.905 [100].
3G 3rd Generation
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
ACA Accounting Answer
ACR Accounting Request
AMF Account Balance Management Function
APN Access Point Name
AVP Attribute Value Pair
BD Billing Domain
BS Billing System
CCF Charging Collection Function
CDF Charging Data Function
CDR Charging Data Record
CG Charging Gateway
CGF Charging Gateway Function
CRF Charging Rules Function
CTF Charging Trigger Function
DCCA Diameter Credit Control Application
EBCF Event Based Charging Function
ECUR Event Charging with Unit Reservation
FCI Furnish Charging Information
FQPC Fully Qualified Partial CDR
FTAM File Transfer, Access and Management
G-CDR GGSN (PDP context) generated – CDR
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile communication
HLR Home Location Register
HPLMN Home PLMN
HSS Home Subscriber Server
IEC Immediate Event Charging
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
IP Internet Protocol
IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4
IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
IWK-SCEF Interworking SCEF
M-CDR Mobility management generated – Charging Data Record
MECN Monitoring Event Charging Node (MME, SGSN, IWK-SCEF)
MNC Mobile Network Code (part of IMSI)
MSISDN Mobile Station ISDN number
NE Network Element
NI Network Identifier (part of the APN)
OCF Online Charging Function
OCS Online Charging System
OMA Open Mobile Alliance
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PMD Pseudonym Mediation Device functionality
PS Packet-Switched
PSPDN Packet-Switched Public Data Network
PSTN Public Switched Telephony Network
QoS Quality of Service
RAB Radio Access Bearer
RAN Radio Access Network
RF Rating Function
SBCF Session Based Charging Function
SCCP Signalling Connection Control Part
S-CDR SGSN (PDP context) generated – CDR
SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function
SCUR Session Charging with Unit Reservation
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
TAP Transferred Account Procedure
TDP Trigger Detection Point
TPF Traffic Plane Function
TR Technical Report
TS Technical Specification
TV Type, Value
UA User Agent
UE User Equipment
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
VLR Visitor Location Register
VPLMN Visited PLMN