Patent ID: 7145994
Filing Date: 2006-12-05
Classification: H04L,H04M

Abstract:
1. A method for charging Internet protocol multimedia communication sessions within a telecommunication system, when charging records, related to communication session charging, are generated by at least one control element in the system, with a correlation identifier that is identical for all the charging records produced for a communication session between at least one calling party and one called party, wherein said method comprises: passing, via a session control protocol, a multi-sided correlation identifier together with a charging information field containing information related to a determined charging plan, for a multimedia communication session involving several control elements, from one of the control elements to another of the control elements, wherein the charging information field is used whenever an update to the determined charging plan is required during the multimedia communication session; propagating charging plan information, with the multi-sided correlation identifier corresponding to at least a selected set of charging data, between control elements in a network and/or with control elements of other transport or application network layers involved in the multimedia communication session; including the multi-sided correlation identifier and selected charging data in each charging record generated for the multimedia communication session by each control element which cooperates with the charging of the multimedia communication session, and calculating the charging for the communication session on the basis of the selected charging data received via the charging records including the multi-sided correlation identifier.