Patent ID: 8073425

Claim:
A charging method, comprising: sending, by a user equipment, a service request message to a network element; determining, by the network element, whether a charging grouping identification (ID) of the user equipment is stored according to the service request message, and if the charging grouping ID of the user equipment is stored; sending, by the network element, a charging request message carrying the charging grouping ID to a charging route distribution equipment; if the charging grouping ID of the user equipment is not stored, sending, by the network element, a charging request message without carrying the charging grouping ID to the charging route distribution equipment; sending, by the charging route distribution equipment, the charging request message without carrying the charging grouping ID to a home charging node; and allocating, by the home charging node, a charging grouping ID to the user equipment according to the charging request message and queried user data information, and sending a response message carrying the charging grouping ID to the charging route distribution equipment; receiving, by the charging route distribution equipment, the charging request message carrying the charging grouping ID or the response message carrying the charging grouping ID; and sending, by the charging route distribution equipment, the charging request message carrying the charging grouping ID to a charging node corresponding to the charging grouping ID to perform a charging processing according to a corresponding relationship of the charging grouping ID and the charging node.