Patent ID: 7548743

Claim:
An IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) call control node for providing online charging in an IMS network, the IMS call control node comprising: a first interface operable to communicate with a call session control function (CSCF) according to a first protocol; a second interface operable to communicate with an online charging server (OCS) according to a second protocol; a processing system coupled to the first interface and the second interface; application server (AS) logic executable by the processing system to provide a plurality of services; and gateway logic executable by the processing system; the processing system: receives a call message from the CSCF through the first interface according to the first protocol, determines whether to execute the AS logic or the gateway logic responsive to the call message, executes the AS logic to perform a service responsive to a determination to execute the AS logic, executes the AS logic to contact the OCS for online charging for the service through the second interface according to the second protocol, executes the gateway logic to perform call session control responsive to a determination to execute the gateway logic, and executes the gateway logic to contact the OCS for online charging for a call session through the second interface according to the second protocol.