Flexible Charging Using Edge Computing

Distribution of cloud computing capabilities at the edge of the mobile network addresses the requirements for reduced latency and more efficient usage of network resources. Opening the network edge for third parties enables rapid deployment of innovative applications. In this paper, capabilities for open access to charging function at the mobile edge are studied. New API for online charging is developed which enable MEC system to collaboratively interact with network functions responsible for session management and real time charging. The proposed interfaces follow the adopted Representational State Transfer (REST) used to expose and to access edge cloud services. The API is described by typical use cases, data model and information exchange, and resource structure. Implementation aspects related to modeling the charging application logic and charging status supported by the network are discussed. The latency injected by the proposed API is evaluated theoritically.