Method, system, and device of cellular traffic monitoring

Abstract

A cellular traffic monitoring system includes: a traffic detection function (TDF) module to monitor cellular traffic associated with a cellular subscriber device, and to generate detection output which includes at least one of: a type of an application associated with the cellular traffic of the cellular subscriber device, and a type of the cellular traffic of the cellular subscriber device. The cellular traffic monitoring system further includes a policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) module to enforce one or more charging rules to the cellular subscriber device, based on the detection output.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A cellular traffic monitoring system comprising:
 a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) module server configured to create a set of application detection and control (ADC) rules; 
 a Service Data Flow (SDF) based policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) module server configured to enforce one or more charging rules to a cellular subscriber device, based on SDF data; 
 wherein the SDF-based PCEF module server is associated with an online charging system (OCS) that is able to perform SDF-based online charging based on data received from said SDF-based PCEF module server; 
 wherein the SDF-based PCEF module server is associated with an offline charging system (OFCS) that is able to perform SDF-based offline charging based on data received from said SDF-based PCEF module server; 
 a traffic detection function (TDF) module server, implemented as a separate module server from said SDF-based PCEF module server; 
 wherein the TDF module server is connected directly to said OCS; wherein the TDF module server is connected directly to said OFCS; 
 wherein the TDF module server is configured (a) to monitor cellular traffic associated with said cellular subscriber device, (b) to perform payload data inspection by using a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technique, (c) to apply said Application Detection and Control (ADC) rules in order to detect an application running on said cellular subscriber device, (d) to generate detection output which includes at least one of:
 a type of an application associated with said cellular traffic of said cellular subscriber device, and 
 a type of said cellular traffic of said cellular subscriber device; 
 
 and (e) to generate application-based detection output that enables at least one of the OCS and the OFCS to apply, on per-application basis, different charging rates to different applications being used over a cellular network in which said cellular subscriber device operates; 
 wherein a same cellular communication session is subject to both (i) SDF-based charging based on output from the PCEF module server, and (ii) application-based charging based on output from the TDF module server; 
 wherein at least one of said OCS and OFCS, is to perform application-based differential charging towards said cellular subscriber device based on application-based detection output that was generated by the TDF module server by using said DPI technique and by applying said ADC rules, 
 wherein at least one of:
 said PCRF module, said SDF-based PCEF module, and said TDF module, is implemented by utilizing at least a hardware component. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising an online charging server to receive the detection output from the TDF module server and to perform online charging. 
     
     
       3. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising an offline charging server to receive the detection output from the TDF module server and to perform offline charging. 
     
     
       4. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the PCRF module server is configured to provide the ADC rules to be enforced by the TDF module based on said detection output. 
     
     
       5. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic routing rules. 
     
     
       6. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic steering rules. 
     
     
       7. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic offloading rules. 
     
     
       8. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more rules indicating that one or more supplemental services are to be applied to said cellular traffic. 
     
     
       9. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more supplemental services comprise one or more services selected from the group consisting of: parental control service, content filtering service, anti-virus services, anti-malware service, quality of service (QoS) enforcement service, and bandwidth limiting service. 
     
     
       10. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more rules for generating usage monitoring reports. 
     
     
       11. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the TDF module server is in direct communication with at least one of:
 an online charging server of said system; 
 an offline charging server of said system; 
 a billing domain of said system. 
 
     
     
       12. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the TDF module server comprises a payload data inspector to generate the detection output by utilizing a payload data inspection technique. 
     
     
       13. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first policy and charging rules function (PCRF) module server, located in a first cellular network, to create a set of application detection and control (ADC) rules applicable to the first cellular network, and to transfer the ADC rules to a second PCRF module server located in a second cellular network. 
 
     
     
       14. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 13 , wherein the second PCRF module server is configured to enforce, in the second cellular network, the ADC rules received from the first PCRF module server and generated in the first cellular network. 
     
     
       15. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the PCEF module server is comprised in a cellular gateway. 
     
     
       16. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the TDF module server is to perform traffic offloading to an offloading network based on said detection output. 
     
     
       17. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the TDF module server is to steer traffic from a home packet data network (PDN) to a local breakout. 
     
     
       18. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said detection output of said TDF module server is transferred to said PCEF module server indirectly via a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) module server. 
     
     
       19. The cellular traffic monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said detection output of said TDF module server is transferred to said PCEF module server by via packet marking. 
     
     
       20. A method of cellular traffic monitoring, the method comprising:
 at a Service Data Flow (SDF) based policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) module, enforcing one or more charging rules to a cellular subscriber device, based on SDF data; 
 at an online charging system (OCS) connected to said SDF-based PCEF module, performing SDF-based online charging based on data received from said SDF-based PCEF module; 
 at an offline charging system (OFCS) connected to said SDF-based PCEF module, performing SDF-based offline charging based on data received from said SDF-based PCEF module; 
 at a traffic detection function (TDF) module, performing: (a) monitoring cellular traffic associated with a cellular subscriber device, (b) performing payload data inspection by using a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technique, (c) applying said Application Detection and Control (ADC) rules in order to detect an application running on said cellular subscriber device, (d) generating detection output which includes at least one of:
 a type of an application associated with said cellular traffic of said cellular subscriber device, and 
 a type of said cellular traffic of said cellular subscriber device; 
 
 and (e) generating application-based detection output that enables at least one of the OCS and the OFCS to apply, on per-application basis, different charging rate to different applications being used over a cellular network in which said cellular subscriber device operates; 
 wherein the TDF module is implemented as a separate module from said PCEF module; 
 wherein the TDF module is connected directly to said OCS; wherein the TDF module is connected directly to said OFCS; 
 wherein a same cellular communication session is subject to both (i) SDF-based charging based on output from the PCEF module, and (ii) application-based charging based on output from the TDF module; 
 performing, by at least one of said OCS and OFCS, application-based differential charging towards said cellular subscriber device based on application-based detection output that was generated by the TDF module by using said DPI technique and by applying said ADC rules. 
 
     
     
       21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
 at an online charging server, receiving, from the TDF server, the detection output and performing online charging.    
     
     
       22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
 at an offline charging server, receiving, from the TDF server, the detection output and performing offline charging.    
     
     
       23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
 at the Service Data Flow (SDF) based policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) module, providing the ADC rules to be enforced by the TDF module based on said detection output.    
     
     
       24. The method of claim 20, wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic routing rules.  
     
     
       25. The method of claim 20, wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic steering rules.  
     
     
       26. The method of claim 20, wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more traffic offloading rules.  
     
     
       27. The method of claim 20, wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more rules indicating that one or more supplemental services are to be applied to said cellular traffic.  
     
     
       28. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more supplemental services comprise one or more services selected from the group consisting of: parental control service, content filtering service, anti-virus services, anti-malware service, quality of service (QoS) enforcement service, and bandwidth limiting service.  
     
     
       29. The method of claim 20, wherein the ADC rules comprise one or more rules for generating usage monitoring reports.  
     
     
       30. A method comprising:
 enforcing, by a first server, one or more charging rules to a cellular subscriber device based on first data type data;   monitoring, by a second server separate from the first server, cellular traffic associated with a cellular device by accumulating used volume wherein a same cellular communication session is subject to both (i) first data type-based charging, and (ii) application-based charging, the second server configured to directly interact with an online charging system and an offline charging system, wherein the online charging system and the offline charging system are separate from the first server;   performing, by the second server, payload data inspection of the monitored cellular traffic;   applying, by the second server, application detection rules in order to detect a type of application running on the cellular subscriber device;   applying, by the second server, type detection rules in order to detect a type of cellular traffic associated with the cellular device;   generating, by the second server, application-based detection output to apply, on per-application basis, different charging rates to different applications being used over a cellular network in which the cellular device operates; and   performing, by at least one of the online charging system and the offline charging system, application-based differential charging towards the cellular subscriber device based on the generated application-based detection output by using a deep packet inspection (DPI) technique and by applying the application detection rules.