Patent ID: 8670744

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least: receive a service authorization request in response to a mobile station generating a request for a particular service, where the mobile station is roaming in a first network that comprises the apparatus; determine a charging attribute storage node of a plurality of charging attribute storage nodes associated with a home network of the mobile station which can satisfy a service charging attribute request for the service authorization; and transmit the service charging attribute request towards the determined charging attribute storage node of the plurality of charging attribute storage nodes associated with the home network of the mobile station; and receive service charging attribute information from said determined charging attribute storage node of the plurality of charging attribute storage nodes associated with the home network of the mobile station, the service charging attribute information comprising charging attributes of the mobile station for use by the first network in providing charging data to the home network in order to charge an end-user of the mobile station for the particular requested service, where the charging attribute information includes an indication of an online or an offline charging method used by the mobile station, where for a case that the charging attributes include an indication of an online charging method, the charging attribute information further includes an address of a charging server to which charging information should be directed, and for a case that the charging attributes include an indication of an offline charging method, the apparatus is caused to send offline charging data to the request receiver after a requested service is delivered to the mobile station, where the offline charging data is for use in billing the end-user of the mobile station via an offline charging mechanism.