Telecommunication management; Charging management; Charging data description for the Packet Switched (PS) domain
The GSM and UMTS PLMN support a wide range of packet based services by means of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), as defined in 3GPP TS 22.060 [1] and 3GPP TS 23.060 [2]. In order to enable operators the ability to provide a commercially viable service, there is a need to provide charging functions. For GPRS these functions include the generation of Charging Data Records (CDRs) by the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) as well as the transport of these CDRs to a Billing System (BS) through a Charging Gateway Function (CGF).
The present document is part of a series of documents specifying charging functionality in UMTS networks. The UMTS charging architecture and principles are specified in document TS 32.200 [3] which provides an umbrella for other charging documents that specify the structure and content of the CDRs and the interface protocol that is used to transfer them to the collecting node. The CDRs content and transport within the PS domain are described in the present document. The CDRs used in the Circuit Switched (CS) domain are specified in document TS 32.205 [4] while CDRs used for application services are defined in document TS 32.235 [5]. The present document structure is depicted in figure 1.
Figure 1: Charging Documents Structure
All references, abbreviations, definitions, descriptions, principles and requirements that are common to charging in UMTS domains or subsystems are provided in the umbrella document [3]. To avoid unnecessary duplications, they are not repeated in the present document unless it is essential.