Patent ID: 8484326

Claim:
An Application Server for use in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, comprising: a first interface arranged to enable communication between said application server and a telecommunications server of the IMS network; a second interface arranged to enable communication between said application server and an application; a processor comprising: processing resources for implementing a service provided by said application and providing said service to users of the IMS network via said first interface; and control logic arranged to: inspect signaling information received from the application via said second interface in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML); compare said received signaling information with stored rule data which specifies a relationship between an element in said signaling information and an action that should be taken including when charging information should be generated; and generate charging information on the basis of the comparison; and an output arranged to package the charging information into an output format compatible with either a Charging Data Function (CDF) or Online Charging System (OCS) in the IMS network.