Importance

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Abstract

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of implementing policy and/or charging control for user communication sessions over an IP Connectivity Access Network. The method comprises: at a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function, configuring a plurality of profiles, each profile defining one or more policy and/or charging control characteristics; at a Policy and Charging Rules Function, configuring a plurality of profile selection rules to be used to determine which of the plurality of profiles should be applied to communication sessions; at the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function, when establishing a communication session, sending a request for policy and/or charging control characteristics for the session to the Policy and Charging Rules Function; at the Policy and Charging Rules Function, receiving the request, using the profile selection rules to select one or more profiles, and sending a response to the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function including an identifier for each of the one or more selected profiles; and at the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function, receiving the response, retrieving the one or more policy and/or charging control characteristics from the one or more selected profiles identified in the response and enforcing the retrieved characteristics for the session.

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First Claim