CN101005385A - Charging method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a charging method, which determines the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone of the corresponding user and/or relay by identifying the time zone difference between the user or the relay and the charging device , according to the call time period, the corresponding billing rate is used for billing. The invention also discloses a charging device. Through the present invention, it is realized that users or relays are charged with correct billing rates in the case of multiple time zones, and at the same time, the call start and end times on the user or relay bills are consistent with the actual call time.

Description

A billing method and device thereof

technical field

The invention relates to the field of softswitch technology, in particular to a charging method and device thereof.

Background technique

Billing is one of the important functions of the softswitch system, and the softswitch system provides charging data support to the billing center. The bill is the only proof of business details between the operator and the user. The operator charges the user according to the bill, and the user verifies it according to the bill list. The most important feature of the billing system is accuracy. At present, this accuracy is mainly reflected in the accuracy of cost calculation, but it does not consider the complexity of billing in multiple time zones.

As we all know, the world is divided into 24 time zones, and the standard time difference between two adjacent time zones is one hour. In the existing network, there is a situation that the softswitch device crosses time zones, but the current billing process does not consider this situation. Regardless of the actual geographical location of the two parties in the call, it is based on the geographical time zone where the softswitch device is located. Get the start time point and end time point of the call, and determine the billing rate based on the start time point and end time point for billing, and record it in the bill; instead of based on the time zone where the user or trunk is located for billing.

To sum up, according to the current billing method, when the actual geographic location time zone of the user or the relay is different from the geographic location time zone of the softswitch device, the time zone obtained according to the geographic location time zone of the softswitch device is The start and end time points of the user or trunk call are inconsistent with the reality. If the operator sets some preferential time periods for calls, it will lead to deviations in billing. For example, if the user or the trunk originally made a call during the preferential period, the call time period recorded by the softswitch device may fall outside the preferential period due to time zone differences, which will lead to inaccurate billing; at the same time, it will cause the start and end of calls in the bill The time point is inconsistent with the time point when the user or the trunk actually made a call.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a billing device for billing with a correct rate.

In order to solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a billing device, including:

A time zone identification unit, configured to identify the time zone where the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged is located, and calculate the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay is located;

The charging unit is configured to determine the charging rate corresponding to the call time period and perform charging according to the charging rate.

Wherein, the time zone identification unit further includes:

The time zone attribute storage unit is used to store the time zone attribute information of the user or the relay, or the time zone attribute information of the call source to which the user or the relay belongs, and the time zone attribute information of the charging device itself;

A time information processing unit, configured to query the time zone attribute information of the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the charging device; and according to the queried time zone attribute information and the call to be charged recorded by itself The time information of the call determines the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay is located.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present invention also provides a charging method, including the following steps:

A. Identify the time zone of the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the time zone where the charging device itself is located, and determine the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or relay is located ;

B. Determine the corresponding billing rate according to the call time period, and perform billing.

Wherein, step A specifically includes the following steps:

A1. Query and obtain the time zone attribute value of the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the time zone attribute value of the charging device itself;

A2. Calculate the difference between the time zone attribute value of the charging device itself and the time zone attribute value of the user and/or relay;

A3. According to the difference, calculate the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay are located.

Implementing the embodiments of the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

The billing device and its method provided by the embodiments of the present invention determine the call to be billed in the time zone of the corresponding user or relay by automatically identifying the time zone difference between the user or relay and the billing device Time period, so that the corresponding billing rate is used for billing according to the correct call time period, so as to ensure that the call start and end time on the user or trunk bill is consistent with the actual call time.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration flow before the steps of the billing method in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of a billing method in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the specific implementation of step S2001 in FIG. 2;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application embodiment of a billing method in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the composition of functional modules of an embodiment of the billing device of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The present invention provides a billing device and its method, by automatically identifying the time zone difference between the user or relay and the billing device, to determine the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone of the corresponding user or relay , so that according to the correct call time period, the corresponding billing rate is used for billing, so as to ensure that the call start and end time on the user or trunk bills are consistent with the actual call time.

The present invention will be described in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The invention provides a billing method, which ensures that the correct billing rate is adopted for the call to be billed by identifying the time zone difference. Before the steps of the billing method, a configuration step is included, and its flow diagram is shown in Figure 1, including the following steps:

Step S1001: Allocate a time zone attribute value identifying the time zone of the user or relay for each user and relay, and record the value in the time zone attribute information of the user or relay stored in the charging device.

Step S1002: Assign a time zone attribute value identifying the time zone of the charging device to the charging device, and record the value in the time zone attribute information of the charging device stored on the charging device.

The time zone attribute information recorded in this configuration step is used to query the time zone attribute value in the following steps.

The schematic flow chart of the billing method provided by the present invention is shown in Figure 2, comprising the following steps:

Step S2001: Identify the time zone of the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the time zone where the billing device itself is located, and determine the call time of the call to be charged in the time zone of the user and/or relay part.

Step S2002: Determine the corresponding charging rate according to the call time period, and perform charging.

Afterwards, the operator's billing center extracts the user and/or relay call charge information corresponding to the call to be charged in the billing device to calculate the user's or relay call charges according to the difference between the calling charge and the called charge, and conduct a billing charge for the user. TOLL.

As shown in Figure 3, step S2001 in Figure 2 specifically includes the following steps:

Step S3001: Query and obtain the time zone attribute value of the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the time zone attribute value of the charging device itself.

Step S3002: Calculate the difference between the time zone attribute value of the charging device itself and the time zone attribute value of the user and/or relay.

Step S3003: According to the difference, calculate the call duration of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay are located.

Here, the method for calculating the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or relay is located is: add the call start and end time of the call to be charged recorded by the charging device itself to the stated difference.

As an implementation, if the user and trunk are managed in the form of a call source, the configuration steps in Figure 1 can be replaced by the following steps:

Step S4001: Divide users and relays located in the same time zone into one or more call sources.

Step S4002: Assign a time zone attribute value identifying the time zone to each call source, and record the value in the time zone attribute information of the call source stored in the charging device.

Step S4003: Assign a time zone attribute value identifying the time zone of the charging device to the charging device, and record the value in the time zone attribute information of the charging device stored on the charging device.

Similarly, the time zone attribute information recorded in step S4002 and step S4003 is used to provide the time zone attribute value to be obtained by querying in step S3001.

Correspondingly, step S3001 is: the softswitch device inquires and obtains the time zone attribute value of the call source to which the user or relay belongs and the time zone attribute value of the softswitch device itself, and calculates the relationship between the softswitch device and the user or relay The difference between the relay's timezone property value. As described in step S4001, users and relays under the same call source are located in the same time zone, and they have the same time zone attribute value, that is, the time zone attribute value assigned to the call source, so the time zone attribute of the call source is obtained The value gets the time zone attribute value of the user or relay.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application embodiment of the billing method in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4 , user A and user B are users under soft switch device 1 , and user C is a user under soft switch device 2 . User A calls user C through trunk 1, and user B calls user C through trunk 2. The time-based billing rate table defined by the operator is shown in the following table:

Table 1 Time-based billing rate table defined by operators

time zone rate Remark

00:00～12:00 Rate1 The billing rate for users during the period from 00:00 to 12:00 every day is Rate1 12:00～24:00 Rate2 The billing rate for users during the period from 12:00 to 24:00 every day is Rate2

As we all know, the world is divided into 24 time zones, and the standard time difference between two adjacent time zones is one hour. At present, most countries in the world adopt the standard time with zone time as the unit. As shown in FIG. 4 , softswitch device 1 is located in time zone 07, user A is located in time zone 06, user B is located in time zone 08; softswitch device 2 is located in time zone 10, and user C is located in time zone 11. As an implementation, users in each time zone can be assigned a time zone attribute value to identify their time zone. For example, a user in the 01 time zone has a time zone attribute value (User Time Zone, UTZ) of 01, located in 16 Time zone users, their UTZ is 16, and so on. By analogy, what time zone is the UTZ assigned to the user. Then, in the present embodiment, the time zone attribute value (SoftSwitch Equipment Time Zone, SETZ) of softswitch equipment 1 is SETZ (1)=07, and the time zone attribute value of user A is UTZ (A)=06, and the time zone of user B The attribute value is UTZ(B)=08, the time zone attribute value of softswitch device 2 is SETZ(2)=10, and the time zone attribute value of user C is UTZ(C)=11. The time zone attribute information of each user is stored on the softswitch device to which it belongs. In this embodiment, the time zone attribute information of user A and user B is stored on the softswitch device 1 , and the time zone attribute information of user C is stored on the softswitch device 2 .

In the prior art, call sources are commonly used to manage users and relays. This method can also be used in the present invention to divide users and relays in the same time zone into one or more call sources, and each call source is assigned a call source. Identify the user in the call source, the time zone attribute value of the time zone where the relay is located, and store the time zone attribute information of the call source in the softswitch to which it belongs. In this embodiment, user A belongs to call source 1, user B belongs to call source 2, and user C belongs to call source 3. When the softswitch performs billing for the users under it, it searches for the time zone attribute information of the call source according to the call source to which the user belongs, and obtains the time zone attribute information of the user, because the time zone attribute information of the user under each call source Both are the same as the time zone attribute information of the call source.

If user A calls user C at 11 o'clock in the time zone where softswitch device 1 is located, the call time is 30 minutes. Assuming that the caller is charged, the start and end times of the call recorded by the softswitch device 1 are 11:00 and 11:30 respectively. In the prior art solution, the softswitch device 1 will charge the current call of user A according to the charging rate Rate1. However, due to the time zone difference between user A and softswitch device 1, the actual call start and end time of user A are not 11 o'clock or 11:30 o'clock, and the billing according to the charging rate Rate1 is obviously incorrect.

In the present invention, soft exchange equipment 1 will extract the UTZ value of user A and its own SETZ value, obtain the time zone difference between soft exchange equipment 1 and user A and be SETZ (1)-UTZ (A)=07- 06=1. Then Softswitch 1 will determine that the call start and end time in the time zone of User A is respectively: 11 o'clock+1 hour=12 o'clock, 11:30+1 hour=12:30, that is, Softswitch 1 determines the actual time of User A. The call time period is from 12:00 to 12:30, and according to Table 1, the charging rate Rate2 is used for the call of user A. At the same time, it is also ensured that the call time period on the user's bill is consistent with the user's actual call time period.

If be the situation of being called charges, when user A calls user C, the moment of soft switch equipment 2 is: 12 o'clock+[SETZ (1)-SETZ (2)]=9 o'clock, then soft switch equipment 2 records user C's own time The start and end times of the call are: 9:00 and 9:30. Softswitch 2 extracts its own SETZ value and user C's UTZ value to obtain the time zone difference between softswitch 2 and user C SETZ(2)-UTZ(C)=10-11=-1. Then the softswitch device 2 will determine that the call start and end time of the time zone where user C is located are respectively: 9 o'clock+(-1) hour=8 o'clock, 9:30+(-1) hour=8:30, i.e. soft Switching device 2 determines that the actual call time period of user A is from 8:00 to 8:30, and uses the charging rate Rate1 to charge this call of user C according to Table 1. At the same time, it is also ensured that the call time period on the user's bill is consistent with the user's actual call time period.

Correspondingly, the present invention also provides a billing device. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of functional modules of an embodiment of the billing device. The billing device includes a time zone identification unit 1 and a billing unit 2 . The time zone identification unit 1 is used to identify the time zone where the user and/or the relay corresponding to the call to be charged is located, and calculates the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay is located; the billing unit 2 It is used to determine the charging rate corresponding to the call time period and perform charging according to the charging rate.

The time zone identification unit 1 further includes a time zone attribute storage unit 11 and a time information processing unit 12 . The time zone attribute storage unit 11 is used for storing the time zone attribute information of the user or the relay and the time zone attribute information of the softswitch itself. If users and relays are managed in the form of call sources, the users and relays under the same call source belong to the same time zone in the present invention, that is, each call source has a user and relay that identifies the call source. The value of the timezone attribute for the current timezone. In this case, the time zone attribute storage unit 11 is used to store the time zone attribute information of the call source and the time zone attribute information of the softswitch itself.

The time information processing unit 12 is used to query the user and/or relay corresponding to the call to be charged and the time zone attribute information of the charging device; The time information of the call determines the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay is located. When the user or relay is managed in the form of a call source, the time information processing unit 12 queries the time zone attribute information of the call source to which the user or relay belongs, that is, obtains the time zone attribute information of the user or relay.

As an implementation manner, the time information processing unit 12 further includes a time zone extracting unit 121 , a difference calculating unit 122 , a time extracting unit 123 and a call duration calculating unit 124 . The time zone extracting unit 121 is used to query the time zone attribute information and respectively extract the time zone attribute values assigned to the user and/or the relay and the charging device, and send them to the difference calculation unit 122 . The difference calculation unit 122 is configured to calculate the difference between the time zone attribute value of the billing device and the time zone attribute value of the user and/or relay, and send the difference to the call duration calculation unit 123 . The time extracting unit 123 is used to extract the start and end time information of the call to be charged by the billing device record, and send it to the call time section calculation unit 124; this time information is stored in a certain storage unit (Fig. 1 is not shown). The call duration calculation unit 124 is used to add the difference value sent by the difference value calculation unit 122 to the start and end time of the call to be charged recorded by the charging device sent by the time extraction unit 123 to obtain the call to be charged at the time of the call to be charged. The start and end time of the time zone where the user and/or relay is located. Then, the billing unit 2 selects the corresponding billing rate for charging according to the call time period of the call to be charged in the time zone where the user and/or the relay are located, which ensures that the call time period in the bill is consistent with the user, The actual call time zone of the trunk, that is, the call time zone in the time zone where the user and the trunk are located, matches.

Afterwards, the operator's billing center extracts the user and/or relay call charge information corresponding to the call to be charged in the billing device to calculate the user's or relay call charges according to the difference between the calling charge and the called charge, and conduct a billing charge for the user. TOLL.

The above disclosures are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and certainly cannot limit the scope of rights of the present invention. Therefore, equivalent changes made according to the claims of the present invention still fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1, a kind of charging method is characterized in that, comprising:

A, identification wait to charge conversation pairing user and/or the time zone of relaying and the time zone at message accounting self place, and determine the described air time section of conversation of waiting to charge in described user and/or time zone, relaying place;

B, determine corresponding charging rate, and charge according to described air time section.

2, charging method as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described steps A specifically may further comprise the steps:

A1, inquire about and obtain described wait to charge conversation pairing user and/or the time zone property value of relaying and the time zone property value of described message accounting self;

Difference between the time zone property value of A2, the time zone property value that calculates described message accounting self and described user and/or relaying;

A3, according to described difference, calculate the described air time section of conversation of waiting to charge in described user and/or time zone, relaying place.

3, charging method as claimed in claim 2, it is characterized in that the described conversation of waiting to charge of described calculating in the method for the air time section in described user and/or time zone, relaying place is: the described conversation of conversing of waiting the to charge time of rising, end of message accounting self record is added the above difference.

4, as each described charging method of claim 1 to 3, it is characterized in that, also comprise the following steps: before the described steps A

A21, for each user and relay distribution identify the time zone property value in this user or time zone, relaying place, and with among this value record this user or the time zone attribute information of relaying on being stored in message accounting;

A22, be the time zone property value in this time zone, message accounting place of message accounting allocation identification, and in the time zone attribute information with this message accounting of this value record on being stored in message accounting.

5, as each described charging method of claim 1 to 3, it is characterized in that, also comprise the following steps: before the described steps A

A11, the user that will be positioned at same time zone, relaying are divided into one or more call source;

A12, be the time zone property value in described each this time zone of call source allocation identification, and in the time zone attribute information with this call source of this value record on being stored in message accounting;

A13, be the time zone property value in this time zone, message accounting place of message accounting allocation identification, and in the time zone attribute information with this message accounting of this value record on being stored in message accounting.

6, a kind of message accounting is characterized in that, includes:

The time zone recognition unit is used to discern and waits the charge user of conversation correspondence and/or the time zone at relaying place, and calculates the described air time section of conversation in described user and/or time zone, relaying place of waiting to charge;

Charging Detail Record unit is used for determining the corresponding charging rate of described air time section and charges according to this charging rate.

7, message accounting as claimed in claim 6 is characterized in that, described time zone recognition unit further includes:

Property store unit, time zone is used to store the time zone attribute information of user or relaying, the perhaps time zone attribute information of call source under user or the relaying, and the time zone attribute information of described message accounting self;

The temporal information processing unit is used to inquire about described the charge user of conversation correspondence and/or the time zone attribute information of relaying and described message accounting waited; And determine the described air time section of conversation of waiting to charge in described user and/or time zone, relaying place according to the charge temporal information of conversation waited of time zone attribute information that is inquired and self record.

8, message accounting as claimed in claim 7 is characterized in that, described temporal information processing unit further includes time zone extraction unit, difference computational unit, time extraction unit and air time section computing unit, wherein:

Described time zone extraction unit is used to inquire about the time zone attribute information and extracts the time zone property value of distributing to described user and/or relaying and described message accounting respectively, sends to described difference computational unit;

Described difference computational unit is used to calculate the difference of the time zone property value of the time zone property value of described message accounting and described user and/or relaying, and described difference is sent to described air time section computing unit;

What described time extraction unit was used to extract described message accounting record waits to charge the rising, end temporal information and send it to described air time section computing unit of conversation;

Described air time section computing unit is used for the charge time of rising, end of conversation of waiting of described message accounting record is added the above difference respectively, obtains described conversation the rising, ending the time in described user and/or time zone, relaying place of waiting to charge.

9, message accounting as claimed in claim 7 is characterized in that, described call source is the user who is in same time zone, the call source that relaying is formed.

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