In this section:
Modified: for 6.2.2
The SBC Core supports P-Charging-Vector (PCV) headers as part of P-CSCF functionality. P-Charging-Vector is a collection of charging information, including a globally unique charging identifier (icid-value), that allows carriers to charge for access and services in a network by correlating charging records generated for an IMS by the various network entities involved in the session.
P-Charging-Vector flags:
createPChargingVector
at IP Signaling ProfilestorePChargingVector
at IP Signaling ProfilepChargingVectorHeader
transparency flag at IP Signaling ProfileinterOperatorId
flag at Trunk GroupThe Transparency Profile is the recommended method of configuring transparency on the SBC Core for new deployments as well as when applying additional transparency configurations to existing deployments. Do not use IP Signaling Profile flags in these scenarios because the flags will be retired in upcoming releases.
Refer to the SBC SIP Transparency Implementation Guide for additional information.
A P-CSCF does not transparently pass a P-Charging-Vector header received from UE in any request to IMS core. P-CSCF creates a new P-Charging-Vector header for each request (REGISTER, INVITE, and OOD non-INVITE) containing a unique "icid-value" and "icid-generated-at" parameters and insert the same in the outgoing request towards the core.
The SBC retains the same "icid-value" (which is generated during the first egressed INVITE) during the Crankback/Redirected (3xx) call in the P-Charging-Vector header in an egressed INVITE. When the flag storeICID
is enabled, all the CDRs (ATTEMPT/START/STOP) contains the same ICID value for Crankback/Redirected call in protocol specific string as well as in the original call records.
This is achieved by:
pChargingVectorHeader
transparency flag at the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, towards the IMS Core side.createPChargingVector
flag at the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, towards the IMS Core side.storePChargingVector
flag at the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, towards the UE.In addition, P-CSCF includes orig-IOI
parameter in the newly-created PCV for REGISTER and INVITE messages. The value for orig-IOI
parameter is configurable through InterOperatorID
parameter from sipTrunkGroup
object.
The SBC acting as IBCF transparently passes the PCV received in any request from the P-CSCF to the IMS Core. Also, IBCF adds the stored PCV in the response to UE. This is achieved using the following configuration:
pChargingVectorHeader
transparency flag in the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, towards the IMS Core side.createPChargingVector
flag in the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, towards the IMS Core side.storePChargingVector
flag in the IP Signaling Profile attached with the TG, both towards the UE side and IMS Core side.The SBC adds a P-Charging-Vector header with the The termIOI
parameter to the 18x response sent to the ingress network. The termIOI
parameter sends the terminating networking identifier to the ingress network. The SBC creates and sends the termIOI
parameter when there is no egress network, which occurs when the call is terminated in the script. When there is an egress network, the termIOI
parameter is received from the egress network.termIOI
parameter is configured in the Signaling SIP Trunk Group.
When the P-Charging-Vector Header transparency option is selected in the IP Signaling Profile screen, the SBC copies the P-Charging-Vector header as-is from the ingress message to the egress message. P-Charging-Vector header transparency is supported in INVITE and REGISTER requests.
When the Create P-Charging-Vector option is selected in the IP Signaling Profile screen, the SBC creates a new P-Charging-Vector header in the outgoing message. Creating P-Charging-Vector headers is supported in INVITE, REGISTER, SUBSCRIBE, OPTIONS, NOTIFY, REFER, MESSAGE and PUBLISH messages.
The SBC saves the P-Charging-Vector header with the "icid-value", "icid-generated-at values", and "access-network-charging-info" to the CDR in ingress and egress protocol specific variants fields. P-Charging-Vector headers received or created in INVITE messages are saved to the CDR; P-Charging-Vector header register requests are not saved to the CDR. This is controlled with the “storePChargingVector
” flag provisioned from the IP Signaling Profile at ingress or egress side.
If the SBC receives the PCV when the storePChargingVector
flag is disabled, the SBC ignores the PCV and does not log the CDR.
The CLI syntax to enable/disable the createPChargingVector
flag for P-CSCF and IBCF is shown below:
% set profiles signaling ipSignalingProfile <profile name towards core> commonIpAttributes flags createPChargingVector <enable | disable>
For populating interOperatorID
parameter, use:
% set addressContext default zone defaultSigZone sipTrunkGroup <EGRESS_TG_NAME> signaling interOperatorID <interoperator ID for MGCF>
The CLI syntax to enable/disable pChargingVectorHeader
transparency flag for IBCF is shown below:
% set profiles signaling ipSignalingProfile <egress name> commonIpAttributes transparencyFlags pChargingVectorHeader <enable | disable>
The CLI syntax to enable/disable the storePChargingVector
flag for P-CSCF and IBCF is shown below:
% set profiles signaling ipSignalingProfile <profile name towards core> commonIpAttributes flags storePChargingVector <enable | disable>
A P-Charging-Vector header is used to correlate the charging records generated by different entities on the path of the call. To include the information of the transit carriers for charging purposes, The P-Charging-Vector header can also carry a new parameter transit-IOI
, if the transit carriers are involved in a call. The Transit Inter Operator Identifier (Transit-IOI) is shared between sending, transit and receiving networks, service providers, or content providers. The transit-IOI
header field parameter is an indexed value that is incremented each time a value is added. If P-Charging-Vector transparency is enabled or create/store P-Charging-Vector is enabled, the SBC transparently passes through Transit-IOI values received in P-Charging-Vector header.
Based on local policy, the SBC acting as entry or exit IBCF can also be configured to add Transit-IOI in the P-Charging-Vector header in the outgoing requests or responses. To achieve this behavior, Transit-IOI must be configured on the Trunk Group facing the transit network. However, the SBC does not support an explicit configuration for the removal of Transit-IOI values in outgoing messages. This can be achieved by using an appropriate SMM rule.
transitIOI
parameter located under SIP Trunk Group's signaling
object to populate the specified value in the P-Charging-Vector header. This parameter must be configured on the Trunk Group facing the transit network and the configured value is inserted on the other leg in case of an egress message.For configuration details, refer to:
Transit-IOI Insertion in P-Charging-Vector Call Flow