Once the event has been rated, the OCF then sends the charging event to the ABMF
to determine the account balance. It should be noted here that there are no CDRs
Online and Offline Charging in the IMS 167
generated for these charging events, because the service delivery is dependent on the
current account balance. The service is paid for before the service is actually delivered.
However, there are provisions for the creation of CDRs using the same components
used in offline charging for CDR generation, namely the CDF.
This could be useful for auditing of services, as well as monitoring and marketing
intelligence. These applications rely on some form of CDR for creating reports and
trending of service delivery.
The OCS does not represent the prepaid system itself. The OCS interfaces with the
prepaid platform via the ABMF. This allows operators to maintain existing prepaid
platforms and adapt them for use with IMS networks as they transition their networks.
There may need to be a box supporting the Bx interface in order for the prepaid platform
to communicate with the OCS in the IMS domain.
The interface to the prepaid platform is actually a charging detail record (CDR),
enabling existing systems to easily evolve by supporting the new CDR format. These
formats are still being defined today.
Offline Charging Architecture Offline charging operates differently than online charging.
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