Policy and charging control methods

1. A method of participating in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration and session initiation for a user equipment (UE), the UE having a subscription identifier comprising at least one of a IMSI and a MSISDN, the method comprising:

establishing, by a packet data network gateway (PDN-GW), an IP connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session with a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) for the UE, by transmitting, to the PCRF, at least

the subscription identifier of the UE, and

an IP address assigned to the UE;

binding, by the PCRF, the subscription identifier to the IP address assigned to the UE for the IP-CAN session;

upon the UE initiating the IMS registration, transferring, from a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) to a serving call session control function (S-CSCF) an IP multimedia public identity (IMPU);

obtaining, by the S-CSCF, based on the IMPU, the subscription identifier of the UE from a user database;

transferring, by the S-CSCF to the P-CSCF, the obtained subscription identifier of the UE;

binding, by the P-CSCF, the transferred subscription identifier of the UE to the IMPU;

upon the UE initiating an IMS session associated with the IMPU, establishing, by the P-CSCF, an application function session towards the PCRF with the subscription identifier bound to the IMPU; and

identifying, by the PCRF, the correct IP-CAN session by matching the received subscription identifier with the subscription identifier of the IP-CAN session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user database is a Home Subscriber Server.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after obtaining, by the S-CSCF, the subscription identifier of the UE from the user database,

storing, by the S-CSCF, the subscription identifier of the UE.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon the UE initiating the IMS registration, receiving, by the P-CSCF, the IP address assigned to the UE, and the IMPU.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein binding, by the P-CSCF, the subscription identifier of the UE to the IMPU comprises:

binding

the IP address assigned to the UE and

the IMPU

to the subscription identifier of the UE.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing, by the P-CSCF, the application function session towards the PCRF comprises:

transmitting, to the PCRF, the subscription identifier of the UE and the IP address assigned to the UE.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying, by the PCRF, the correct IP-CAN session comprises:

matching the subscription identifier and the IP address assigned to the UE with the subscription identifier and the IP address associated with the IP-CAN session.

8. A network node comprising a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) for participating in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration and session initiation for a user equipment (UE), the UE having a subscription identifier comprising at least one of a IMSI and a MSISDN, the network node being configured for:

upon the UE initiating the IMS registration, transmitting, to a serving call session control function, hereinafter abbreviated as “S-CSCF”, an IP multimedia public identity, hereinafter abbreviated as “IMPU”, used by the UE during the IMS registration;

receiving, from the S-CSCF, the subscription identifier of the UE;

binding the received subscription identifier of the UE to the IMPU; and,

upon the UE initiating an IMS session associated with the IMPU, participating in establishing an application function session with a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) with the received subscription identifier bound to the IMPU.

9. The network node of claim 8 , further configured for:

upon the UE initiating the IMS registration, receiving the IMPU and an IP address assigned to the UE during establishment of an IP connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session for the UE.

10. The network node of claim 8 , configured so that binding the subscription identifier of the UE to the IMPU comprises:

binding the IP address assigned to the UE to the IMPU and the subscription identifier of the UE.

11. The network node according to claim 8 , configured so that participating in establishing an application function session with the PCRF with the subscription identifier bound to the IMPU comprises:

transmitting, to the PCRF, the subscription identifier of the UE and the IP address assigned to the UE.

12. A network node comprising a serving call session control function (S-CSCF) for participating in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration for a user equipment (UE), the UE having a subscription identifier comprising at least one of a IMSI and a MSISDN, the network node being configured for:

receiving, from a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) an IP multimedia public identity (IMPU);

obtaining, based on the IMPU, the subscription identifier of the UE from a user database; and

transmitting, to the P-CSCF, the obtained subscription identifier of the UE.

13. The network node of claim 12 , wherein the user database is a Home Subscriber Server.

14. The network node of claim 12 , further configured for:

after obtaining the subscription identifier of the UE from the user database,

storing the subscription identifier of the UE.

15. A program on a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor of a network node, cause the processor to carry out the functions of the network node according to claim 8 .

16. A program on a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor of a network node, cause the processor to carry out the functions of the network node according to claim 12 .