ETSI TS 129 219 V11.4.

0 (2013-04)

Technical Specification

Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+);

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS);
LTE;
Policy and charging control: Spending limit reporting
over Sy reference point
(3GPP TS 29.219 version 11.4.0 Release 11)
 3GPP TS 29.219 version 11.4.0 Release 11 1 ETSI TS 129 219 V11.4.0 (2013-04)

Reference
RTS/TSGC-0329219vb40

Keywords
GSM,LTE,UMTS

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3GPP TS 29.219 version 11.4.0 Release 11 2 ETSI TS 129 219 V11.4.0 (2013-04)

Intellectual Property Rights

IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
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server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.

Foreword
This Technical Specification (TS) has been produced by ETSI 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

The present document may refer to technical specifications or reports using their 3GPP identities, UMTS identities or
GSM identities. These should be interpreted as being references to the corresponding ETSI deliverables.

The cross reference between GSM, UMTS, 3GPP and ETSI identities can be found under
http://webapp.etsi.org/key/queryform.asp.

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Contents
Intellectual Property Rights ................................................................................................................................2
Foreword.............................................................................................................................................................2
Foreword.............................................................................................................................................................5
1 Scope ........................................................................................................................................................6
2 References ................................................................................................................................................6
3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations ...................................................................................................7
3.1 Definitions .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Symbols .............................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.3 Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
4 Sy reference point.....................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
4.2 Sy Reference model............................................................................................................................................ 8
4.3 Subscriber Spending Limits ............................................................................................................................... 9
4.4 Functional elements .......................................................................................................................................... 10
4.4.1 PCRF .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
4.4.2 OCS ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
4.5 Spending Limits procedures over Sy reference point ....................................................................................... 10
4.5.1 Initial/Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request .................................................................................. 10
4.5.1.1 General .................................................................................................................................................. 10
4.5.1.2 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF ........................................................................................................... 11
4.5.1.3 The behaviour of the OCS..................................................................................................................... 11
4.5.2 Spending Limit Report................................................................................................................................ 12
4.5.2.1 General .................................................................................................................................................. 12
4.5.2.2 The behaviour of the OCS..................................................................................................................... 12
4.5.2.3 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF ........................................................................................................... 13
4.5.3 Final Spending Limit Report Request ......................................................................................................... 13
4.5.3.1 General .................................................................................................................................................. 13
4.5.3.2 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF ........................................................................................................... 13
4.5.3.3 The behaviour of the OCS..................................................................................................................... 13
5 Sy protocol .............................................................................................................................................14
5.1 Protocol support ............................................................................................................................................... 14
5.1.1 Use of Diameter base protocol.................................................................................................................... 14
5.1.2 Void ............................................................................................................................................................ 14
5.1.3 Accounting functionality ............................................................................................................................ 14
5.1.4 Transport protocol ...................................................................................................................................... 14
5.1.5 Advertising Application Support ................................................................................................................ 14
5.1.6 Use of the Supported-Features AVP ........................................................................................................... 14
5.2 Initialization and maintenance of connection and session ................................................................................ 15
5.3 Sy specific AVPs .............................................................................................................................................. 15
5.3.1 Policy-Counter-Identifier AVP ................................................................................................................... 16
5.3.2 Policy-Counter-Status AVP ........................................................................................................................ 16
5.3.3 Policy-Counter-Status-Report AVP ............................................................................................................ 16
5.3.4 SL-Request-Type AVP ............................................................................................................................... 16
5.4 Sy re-used AVPs .............................................................................................................................................. 16
5.5 Sy specific Experimental-Result-Code AVP values......................................................................................... 17
5.5.1 General........................................................................................................................................................ 17
5.5.2 Permanent Failures ..................................................................................................................................... 17
5.5.3 Transient Failures ....................................................................................................................................... 17
5.6 Sy Messages ..................................................................................................................................................... 17
5.6.1 Command-Code Values .............................................................................................................................. 17
5.6.2 Spending-Limit-Request (SLR) command ................................................................................................. 18
5.6.3 Spending-Limit-Answer (SLA) command.................................................................................................. 18
5.6.4 Spending-Status-Notification-Request (SNR) command............................................................................ 19

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5.6.5 Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SNA) command ............................................................................ 19

5.6.6 Session-Termination-Request (STR) command ......................................................................................... 19
5.6.7 Session-Termination-Answer (STA) command .......................................................................................... 19

Annex A (informative): Change history ...............................................................................................21

History ..............................................................................................................................................................22

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Foreword
This Technical Specification has been produced by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

The contents of the present document are subject to continuing work within the TSG and may change following formal
TSG approval. Should the TSG modify the contents of the present document, it will be re-released by the TSG with an
identifying change of release date and an increase in version number as follows:

Version x.y.z

where:

x the first digit:

1 presented to TSG for information;

2 presented to TSG for approval;

3 or greater indicates TSG approved document under change control.

y the second digit is incremented for all changes of substance, i.e. technical enhancements, corrections,
updates, etc.

z the third digit is incremented when editorial only changes have been incorporated in the document.

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3GPP TS 29.219 version 11.4.0 Release 11 6 ETSI TS 129 219 V11.4.0 (2013-04)

1 Scope
The present document provides the stage 3 specification of the Sy reference point for the present release. The functional
requirements and the stage 2 specifications of the Sy reference point are contained in 3GPP TS 23.203 [2]. The Sy
reference point lies between the Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) and the Online Charging System (OCS).
The internal OCS functionality for policy counter provision management pertaining to Sy is specified in 3GPP TS
32.296 [16].

2 References
The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present
document.

- References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or
non-specific.

- For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.

- For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including
a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same
Release as the present document.

[1] 3GPP TR 21.905: "Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications".

[2] 3GPP TS 23.203: "Policy Control and Charging architecture".

[3] IETF RFC 3588: "Diameter Base Protocol".

[4] IETF RFC 4005: "Diameter Network Access Server Application"

[5] IETF RFC 4006: "Diameter Credit Control Application".

[6] IETF RFC 5719: "Updated IANA Considerations for Diameter Command Code Allocations'

[7] IETF RFC 2234: "Augmented BNF for syntax specifications".

[8] 3GPP TS 29.213: "Policy and charging control signalling flows and Quality of Service (QoS)
parameter mapping".

[9] 3GPP TS 23.335: "User Data Convergence (UDC); Technical realization and information flows;
Stage 2".

[10] 3GPP TS 29.335: "User Data Convergence (UDC); User Data Repository Access Protocol over the
Ud interface; Stage 3".

[11] Void.

[12] Void.

[13] IETF RFC 791: "Transmission Control Protocol".

[14] IETF RFC 4960: "Stream Control Transmission Protocol".

[15] 3GPP TS 29.229: "Cx and Dx interfaces based on the Diameter protocol".

[16] 3GPP TS 32.296: "Telecommunication management; charging management; Online Charging

System (OCS) applications and interfaces".

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3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations

3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the terms and definitions given in TR 21.905 [1] and the following apply. A
term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in TR 21.905 [1].

policy counter: A mechanism within the OCS to track spending applicable for a subscriber.

policy counter identifier: A reference to a policy counter in the OCS for a subscriber.

policy counter status: A label whose values are not standardized and that is associated with a policy counter's value
relative to the spending limit(s) (the number of possible policy counter status values for a policy counter is one greater
than the number of thresholds associated with that policy counter, i.e policy counter status values describe the status
around the thresholds). This is used to convey information relating to subscriber spending from OCS to PCRF. Specific
labels are configured jointly in OCS and PCRF.

spending limit: A spending limit is the usage limit of a policy counter (e.g. monetary, volume, duration) that a
subscriber is allowed to consume.

spending limit report: a notification, containing the current policy counter status generated from the OCS to the PCRF
via the Sy reference point.

3.2 Symbols
For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:

3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in TR 21.905 [1] and the following apply. An
abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in
TR 21.905 [1].

OCS Online charging system

OFCS Offline charging system
PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function
PCRF Policy and Charging Rule Function
SLA Spending-Limit-Answer (SL-Answer)
SLR Spending-Limit-Request (SL- Request)
SNA Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SN-Answer)
SNR Spending-Status-Notification-Request (SN- Request)
STA Session-Termination-Answer (ST-Answer)
STR Session-Termination-Request (ST- Request)

4 Sy reference point

4.1 Overview
The Sy reference point is located between the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) and the Online Charging
System (OCS). The Sy reference point enables transfer of policy counter status information relating to subscriber
spending from OCS to PCRF and supports the following functions:

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- Request of policy counter status reporting from PCRF to OCS and subscribe to or unsubscribe from spending
limit reports (i.e. notifications of policy counter status changes).

- Notification of spending limit reports from OCS to PCRF.

- Cancellation of spending limit reporting from PCRF to OCS.

Since the Sy reference point resides between the PCRF and OCS in the HPLMN, roaming with home routed or visited
access as well as non-roaming scenarios are supported in the same manner.

The stage 2 level requirements for the Sy reference point are defined in 3GPP TS 23.203 [2].

Signalling flows related to the Sy interface are specified in 3GPP TS 29.213 [8].

4.2 Sy Reference model

The Sy reference point is defined between the PCRF and the OCS. The relationships between the different functional
entities involved are depicted in figure 4.2.1 and 4.2.2.

Application
Sp Function
Subscription Profile
Repository (AF)
(SPR) Online Charging
System
Rx (OCS)

Policy and Charging Rules Function

(PCRF)
Sy

Gx
Gxx Sd

Bearer Policy and

Binding and Charging Gy
Event Enforcement
Reporting Function
Function (PCEF) Offline
Traffic Detection Charging
(BBERF) Gz
Function System
(TDF) Gateway (OFCS)
AN-Gateway

Figure 4.2.1: Sy reference point at the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture with SPR

With the UDC-based architecture, as defined in 3GPP TS 23.335 [9] and applied in 3GPP TS 23.203 [2], the UDR
replaces SPR and the Ud reference point provides access to the subscription data in the UDR. The Ud interface as
defined in 3GPP TS 29.335 [10] is the interface between the PCRF and the UDR The relationships between the
different functional elements are depicted in figure 4.2.2. When UDC architecture is used, SPR and Sp, whenever
mentioned in this document, is replaced by UDR and Ud.

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Application
Ud Function
User Data
Repository (AF)
(UDR) Online Charging
System
Rx (OCS)

Policy and Charging Rules Function

(PCRF)

Sy

Gxx Sd Gx

Bearer Policy and

Binding and Charging Gy
Event Enforcement
Reporting Function
Function (PCEF) Offline
Traffic Detection Charging
(BBERF) Gz
Function System
(TDF) Gateway (OFCS)
AN-Gateway

Figure 4.2.2: Sy reference point at the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture with UDR

NOTE 1: The details associated with the Sp reference point are not specified in this Release. The SPR"s relation to
existing subscriber databases is not specified in this Release.

NOTE 2: The UDC Application Informational Model related to the PCRF is not specified in this Release.

NOTE 3: PCEF is located in the Gateway node implementing the IP access to the PDN. Refer to annexes of 3GPP
TS 23.203[2] for application to specific IP-CAN types.

NOTE 4: Refer to annexes A.5 and H.2 of 3GPP TS 23.203[2] for application of AN-Gateways.

4.3 Subscriber Spending Limits

Policy decisions based on spending limits is a function that allows the PCRF to make policy decisions based on the
status of policy counters that are maintained in the OCS. The PCRF uses the policy counter statuses received from the
OCS as input to its policy decisions, e.g. downgrade the QoS (e.g. APN-AMBR) or modify the PCC/QoS/ADC Rules.

When the status of policy counters is first required to make a policy decision for a subscriber, the PCRF uses the Initial
Spending Limit Report Request procedure. The PCRF may request specific or all policy counter statuses to be reported
by the OCS for the user. The OCS provides the status to the PCRF of the requested policy counters, and will notify the
PCRF of any changes in the status of those policy counters.

NOTE 1: The mechanism for provisioning the policy counters in the OCS is out of scope of this document.

NOTE 2: A policy counter in the OCS can represent the spending for one or more services, one or more devices,
one or more subscribers, etc. The representation is operator dependent. There is no explicit relationship
between Charging-Key and policy counter.

The PCRF may request reporting for specific policy counter(s) that it is not currently subscribed and/or cancel reporting
for specific policy counter status(es) using the Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request. The PCRF may cancel
spending limit reporting for all policy counter(s) using the Final Spending Limit Report Request.

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The updated subscriber profile may also trigger the PCRF sending the Initial/Intermediate/Final Spending Limit Report
Request to the OCS to subscribed and/or cancel reporting for policy counter status(es).

4.4 Functional elements

4.4.1 PCRF
The Policy Control and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is a functional element that encompasses policy control
decision and flow based charging control functionalities.

The PCRF may take information on the subscriber's spending status into account in its policy decisions. The PCRF may
request spending limit reporting for policy counters from the OCS using the Initial or Intermediate Spending Limit
Report Request procedure as specified in clause 4.5.1. The PCRF may cancel spending limit reporting for specific
policy counter(s) using the Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request procedure, or for all policy counter(s) using the
Final Spending Limit Report Request procedure as specified in clause 4.5.3.

The PCRF shall have at least one active IP-CAN session to be able to initiate an Sy session to be used when required for
spending limit reporting for that subscriber. The PCRF shall terminate the Sy session when the last IP-CAN session for
that subscriber is terminated or no IP-CAN session for the same user depends on the spending status information
provided over Sy reference point.

The PCRF may use the status of each relevant policy counter as input to its policy decision as required by the decision
logic.

4.4.2 OCS
The Online Charging System (OCS), for the purpose of policy decisions based on the subscriber's spending, shall

- maintain the policy counter statuses applicable for a subscriber

- report the policy counter status values for the subscriber when requested to the PCRF

- when a policy counter status changes, report the change to the PCRF

4.5 Spending Limits procedures over Sy reference point

4.5.1 Initial/Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request

4.5.1.1 General
This procedure shall be used by the PCRF to request the status of policy counters available at the OCS, and to subscribe
or unsubscribe to updates of policy counters by the OCS.

This procedure is mapped to the Spending-Limit-Request/Answer commands specified in section 5.6.

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Table 4.5.1.1/1: Initial/Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
User Identity Subscription-Id C This IE shall contain the identity of the user. It shall be present in
the initial request when the SL-Request-Type=INITIAL_REQUEST.
Request Type SL-Request-Type M This IE shall indicate whether this is the initial or a subsequent
request for the user.
Subscribed Policy Policy-Counter- O This IE shall indicate the list of policy counter identifiers to be
Counter Identifier List Identifier subscribed to. In the intermediate spending limit report request
procedure, this list overrides a previously provisioned list. If omitted
in either the Initial or Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request
procedures the PCRF requests subscription to all available policy
counters.

Table 4.5.1.1/2: Initial/Intermediate Spending Limit Report Response

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
Policy Counter Status Policy-Counter- O If present, this information element shall contain a policy counter
Report Status-Report identifier and the current status value.
Result Result-Code M This IE shall contain the result of the operation.

4.5.1.2 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF

The PCRF shall make use of this procedure when it determines for a subscriber that

- The status of policy counter(s) to which the PCRF does not have an existing subscription for status change
notifications is/are required.

- The status of one or more, but not all, policy counter(s) to which the PCRF has an existing subscription for status
change notifications are no longer required.

NOTE: The Final Spending Limit Request procedure in clause 4.5.3 is used to remove all subscriptions.

In the initial request, i.e. when the request is sent for the first time for the Subscriber, the PCRF shall set the SL-
Request-Type AVP to the value INITIAL_REQUEST (0). For subsequent requests for the same Subscriber, the PCRF
shall set the SL-Request-Type AVP to INTERMEDIATE_REQUEST (1).

For each policy counter that the PCRF requires the current status and notifications of future status changes, the PCRF
shall indicate the concerned policy counter identifiers in the request. Alternatively, the policy counter identifiers may be
omitted if the PCRF requires the current status and notifications of future status changes of all available policy counters.

4.5.1.3 The behaviour of the OCS

Upon reception of the request from the PCRF, the OCS shall check if there is an ongoing Sy session associated with the
received Session-Id AVP. If there is no Sy session and the SL-Request-Type AVP is set to INITIAL_REQUEST, an Sy
session is created on the OCS. If there is an Sy session and the SL-Request-Type AVP is not set to
INTERMEDIATE_REQUEST (1), the OCS shall return a response with the Result-Code set to
DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_VALUE and with the Failed-AVP AVP containing the SL-Request-Type AVP. If there
is no Sy session and the SL-Request-Type AVP is not set to INITIAL_REQUEST (0), the OCS shall return a response
with the Result-Code AVP set to DIAMETER_UNKNOWN_SESSION_ID.

Upon reception of the request from the PCRF provided with explicit Policy Counter Identifier(s):

If all the policy counter identifiers are known to the OCS, the OCS shall be able to subsequently notify the PCRF of any
policy counter state changes.

If a policy counter identifier is known by the OCS, but is not applicable to the subscriber (e.g. not provisioned), the
OCS may use an operator configured policy counter status to indicate this to the PCRF.

If the OCS is configured to accept the request provided with unknown policy counter identifier(s) , and if the OCS
determines that one or more policy counter identifiers are unknown, an operator configured policy counter status may

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be used to indicate the policy counter identifier(s) determined as unknown by OCS. The status of known policy counter
identifier(s) shall be returned to the PCRF in the same procedure in this case.

Alternatively, if the OCS is configured to reject the request provided with unknown policy counter identifier(s), and if
the OCS determines that one or more policy counter identifiers are unknown, the OCS shall return a response with the
Experimental-Result-Code AVP set to DIAMETER_ERROR_UNKNOWN POLICY_COUNTERS and with the
Failed-AVP AVP indicating the unknown policy counter identifiers. If the SL-Request-Type AVP is set to
INITIAL_REQUEST when this failure occurs, the Sy session is not created. If the SL-Request-Type AVP is set to
INTERMEDIATE_REQUEST (1) when this failure occurs, then none of the changes in the request take effect but the
Sy session is maintained.

When the PCRF provides a new subscribed policy counter identifier list, the OCS shall remove any policy counter
identifiers no longer in the list from association with the Sy session such that the OCS will no longer notify the PCRF of
those policy counter state changes.

If an initial or intermediate request contains no policy counter identifiers, the OCS shall subsequently notify the PCRF
of all available policy counter state changes. If the OCS has no available policy counters for that subscriber during the
Initial Spending Limit Report Request procedure, it sets the Experimental-Result-Code to
DIAMETER_ERROR_NO_AVAILABLE_POLICY_COUNTERS, and the Sy session is not created.

If the user identified in an initial request is not known to the OCS, the OCS shall reject the Spending Limit Report
Request by including the result code of DIAMETER_USER_UNKNOWN in the Spending Limit Report Answer. In
this case, the Sy session is not created.

Upon successful creation of an Sy session, the OCS shall include the current status of all subscribed policy counters (if
any) in the response and set the Result-Code to DIAMETER_SUCCESS.

4.5.2 Spending Limit Report

4.5.2.1 General
This procedure shall be used by the OCS to notify the PCRF of changes in the status of subscribed policy counter(s).

This procedure is mapped to the Spending-Status-Notification-Request /Answer commands specified commands

specified in section 5.6.

Table 4.5.2.1/1: Spending Limit Report Request

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
Policy Counter Status Policy-Counter- M If present, this information element shall contain a policy counter
Report Status-Report identifier and the current status value.

Table 4.5.2.1/2: Spending Limit Report Response

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
Result Result-Code M This IE shall contain the result of the operation.

4.5.2.2 The behaviour of the OCS

When the status of a specific policy counter changes, the OCS shall determine the Sy sessions impacted by the change
(i.e. those Sy sessions that have subscribed to status change notifications for the changed policy counter) and send a
Spending Limit Report request to the PCRF associated with each affected Sy session.

If several policy counters change status at the same time, the OCS may group the status change notifications into a
single Spending Limit Report request to the PCRF by sending multiple Policy-Counter-Status-Report AVPs in the
request.

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4.5.2.3 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF

The PCRF shall acknowledge the request by sending a response with a Result-Code AVP set to
DIAMETER_SUCCESS and use the status of the received policy counter(s) as input to its policy decision to apply
operator defined actions, e.g. downgrade the QoS.

The PCRF shall ignore an unknown policy counter status report for all unknown policy counter identifiers in an SLA or
in an SNR from the OCS.

4.5.3 Final Spending Limit Report Request

4.5.3.1 General
This procedure shall be used by the PCRF to unsubscribe to any future updates of policy counters for a given subscriber
by the OCS.

This procedure is mapped to the Session-Termination-Request/Answer commands specified in RFC3588 [3].

Table 4.5.3.1/1: Final Spending Limit Report Request

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
Termination Cause Termination- M This IE shall contain the reason why the session was terminated. It
Cause shall be set to "DIAMETER_LOGOUT".

Table 4.5.3.1/2: Final Spending Limit Report Response

Information element Mapping to Cat. Description

name Diameter AVP
Result Result-Code M This IE shall contain the result of the operation.

4.5.3.2 Detailed behaviour of the PCRF

When the PCRF decides that policy decisions for a given user no longer depend on policy counter(s) to which the PCRF
has existing subscriptions for status change notifications, the PCRF shall send the Final Spending Limit Report Request
to the OCS.

4.5.3.3 The behaviour of the OCS

Upon reception of the request from the PCRF, the OCS shall check that there is an ongoing Sy session associated with
the received Session-Id AVP. If there is no Sy session, the OCS shall return a response with the Result-Code AVP set to
DIAMETER_UNKNOWN_SESSION_ID.

The OCS shall remove all policy counter subscriptions associated with the Sy session such that the OCS will no longer
notify the PCRF of policy counter state changes and close the session by returning a response with the Result-Code
AVP set to DIAMETER_SUCCESS.

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5 Sy protocol

5.1 Protocol support

5.1.1 Use of Diameter base protocol
The Diameter Base Protocol as specified in IETF RFC 3588 [3] shall apply except as modified by the defined support
of the methods and the defined support of the commands and AVPs, result and error codes as specified in this
specification. Unless otherwise specified, the procedures (including error handling and unrecognised information
handling) shall be used unmodified.

With regard to the Diameter protocol defined over the Sy interface, the OCS acts as a Diameter server, in the sense that
it is the network element that handles policy counter status requests for a particular realm. The PCRF acts as the
Diameter client, in the sense that is the network element requesting policy counter status to the OCS.

A Diameter routing table entry can have a different destination based on the application identifier of the command. The
application identifier stored in the command header must match the value of any application identifier AVPs in the
command body. Diameter agents (relay, proxy, redirection, translation agents) should use the application identifier in
the command header to route to a suitable destination.

5.1.2 Void

5.1.3 Accounting functionality

Accounting functionality (Accounting Session State Machine, related command codes and AVPs) shall not be used on
the Sy interface.

5.1.4 Transport protocol

Diameter messages over the Sy interface shall make use of TCP IETF RFC 791 [13] or SCTP IETF RFC 4960 [14].

5.1.5 Advertising Application Support

The Diameter application identifier assigned to the Sy interface application is 16777302.

The PCRF and OCS shall advertise support of the Diameter Sy Application by including the value of the Sy application
identifier in the Auth-Application-Id AVP within the Vendor-Specific-Application-Id grouped AVP of the Capabilities-
Exchange-Request and Capabilities-Exchange-Answer commands.

The vendor identifier value of 3GPP (10415) shall be included in the Supported-Vendor-Id AVP of the Capabilities-
Exchange-Request and Capabilities-Exchange-Answer commands, and in the Vendor-Id AVP within the Vendor-
Specific-Application-Id grouped AVP of the Capabilities-Exchange-Request and Capabilities-Exchange-Answer
commands.

The Vendor-Id AVP included in Capabilities-Exchange-Request and Capabilities-Exchange-Answer commands that is

not included in the Vendor-Specific-Application-Id AVPs as described above shall indicate the manufacturer of the
Diameter node as per RFC 3588 [3].

5.1.6 Use of the Supported-Features AVP

The Supported-Features AVP is used during session establishment to inform the destination host about the required and
optional features that the origin host supports. The client shall, in the first request in a Diameter session indicate the set
of supported features. The server shall, in the first answer within the Diameter session indicate the set of features that it
has in common with the client and that the server shall support within the same Diameter session. Any further command
messages shall always be compliant with the list of supported features indicated in the Supported-Features AVPs during
session establishment. Features that are not advertised as supported shall not be used to construct the command
messages for that Diameter session. Unless otherwise stated, the use of the Supported-Features AVP on the Sy reference

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point shall be compliant with the requirements for dynamic discovery of supported features and associated error
handling on the Cx reference point as defined in clause 7.2.1 of 3GPP TS 29.229 [15].

The base functionality for the Sy reference point is the 3GPP Rel-11 standard and a feature is an extension to that
functionality. If the origin host does not support any features beyond the base functionality, the Supported-Features
AVP may be absent from the Sy commands. As defined in clause 7.1.1 of 3GPP TS 29.229 [15], when extending the
application by adding new AVPs for a feature, the new AVPs shall have the M bit cleared and the AVP shall not be
defined mandatory in the command ABNF.

As defined in 3GPP TS 29.229 [15], the Supported-Features AVP is of type grouped and contains the Vendor-Id,
Feature-List-ID and Feature-List AVPs. On the Sy reference point, the Supported-Features AVP is used to identify
features that have been defined by 3GPP and hence, for features defined in this document, the Vendor-Id AVP shall
contain the vendor ID of 3GPP (10415). If there are multiple feature lists defined for the Sy reference point, the
Feature-List-ID AVP shall differentiate those lists from one another.

On receiving an initial request application message, the destination host shall act as defined in clause 7.2.1 of 3GPP TS
29.229 [15]. The following exceptions apply to the initial SLR/SLA command pair:

- If the PCRF supports post-Rel-11 Sy, the SLR shall include the features supported by the PCRF within
Supported-Features AVP(s) with the 'M' bit cleared.

NOTE: One instance of Supported-Features AVP is needed per Feature-List-ID.

- If the SLR command does not contain any Supported-Features AVP(s) and the OCS supports Rel-11 Sy
functionality, the OCS shall not include the Supported-Features AVP in the SLA command. In this case, both
PCRF and OCS shall behave as specified in the Rel-11 version of this document.

Once the PCRF and OCS have negotiated the set of supported features during session establishment, the set of common
features shall be used during the lifetime of the Diameter session.

5.2 Initialization and maintenance of connection and session

The Diameter protocol between the PCRF and the OCS, shall always keep the session state, and use the same Session-
Id parameter for the lifetime of each Diameter session.

Each Diameter session shall identify a Sy session for a given user. In order to indicate that the session state is to be
maintained, the Diameter client and server shall not include the Auth-Session-State AVP, either in the request or in the
response messages (see IETF RFC 3588 [3]).

The PCRF shall link the Gx session(s) or S9 session with the Sy session at Sy session initialization and maintain that
until the IP-CAN session(s) for that subscriber are terminated or no IP-CAN session for the same user depends on the
spending status information provided over Sy reference point.

5.3 Sy specific AVPs

Table 5.3.1 describes the Diameter AVPs defined for the Sy reference point, their AVP Code values, types and possible
flag values. The Vendor-Id header of all AVPs defined in the present document shall be set to 3GPP (10415).

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Table 5.3.1: Sy specific Diameter AVPs

AVP Flag rules (note 1)

Attribute Name AVP Code Clause Value Type Must May Should Must
defined not not
Policy-Counter-Identifier 2901 5.3.1 UTF8String M,V P
Policy-Counter-Status 2902 5.3.2 UTF8String M,V P
Policy-Counter-Status-Report 2903 5.3.3 Grouped M,V P
SL-Request-Type 2904 5.3.4 Enumerated M,V P
NOTE 1: The AVP header bit denoted as 'M', indicates whether support of the AVP is required. The AVP header
bit denoted as 'V', indicates whether the optional Vendor-ID field is present in the AVP header. For further
details, see RFC 3588 [3].

5.3.1 Policy-Counter-Identifier AVP

The Policy-Counter-Identifier AVP (AVP code 2901) is of type UTF8String, and it uniquely identifies a policy counter
that is maintained per subscriber within the OCS.

5.3.2 Policy-Counter-Status AVP

The Policy-Counter-Status AVP (AVP code 2902) is of type UTF8String, and identifies the policy counter status
applicable for a specific policy counter and subscriber.

NOTE: The valid values for the Policy-Counter-Status AVP are specific for each Policy-Counter-Identifier value.

5.3.3 Policy-Counter-Status-Report AVP

The Policy-Counter-Status-Report AVP (AVP code 2903) is of type Grouped. It is used by the OCS to report the status
of a specific policy counter.

AVP Format:
Policy-Counter-Status-Report ::= < AVP Header: 2903 >
{ Policy-Counter-Identifier }
{ Policy-Counter-Status }
*[ AVP ]

5.3.4 SL-Request-Type AVP

The SL-Request-Type AVP (AVP code 2904) is of type Enumerated, and informs the OCS whether the SLR command
is being sent as part of the initial or intermediate spending limit report request procedure.

The following values are defined:

INITIAL_REQUEST (0)

This value indicates that this is the first request in the Diameter session.

INTERMEDIATE_REQUEST (1)

This value indicates that this is the second or subsequent request in the Diameter session.

5.4 Sy re-used AVPs

Table 5.4 lists the Diameter AVPs re-used by the Sy reference point from existing Diameter Applications, reference to
their respective specifications and a short description of their usage within the Sy reference point. Other AVPs from
existing Diameter Applications, except for the AVPs from Diameter base protocol, do not need to be supported. The
AVPs from Diameter base protocol are not included in table 5.4, but they are re-used for the Sy reference point. Unless
otherwise stated, re-used AVPs shall maintain their 'M', 'P' and 'V' flag settings. Where 3GPP Radius VSAs are re-used,
unless otherwise stated, they shall be translated to Diameter AVPs as described in RFC 4005 [4] with the exception that
the 'M' flag shall be set and the 'P' flag may be set.

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Table 5.4: Sy re-used Diameter AVPs

Attribute Name Reference Description

IETF RFC 4006 [5] The identification of the subscription (IMSI,
Subscription-Id
MSISDN, etc)

5.5 Sy specific Experimental-Result-Code AVP values

5.5.1 General
RFC 3588 [3] specifies the Experimental-Result AVP containing Vendor-ID AVP and Experimental-Result-Code AVP.
The Experimental-Result-Code AVP (AVP Code 298) is of type Unsigned32 and contains a vendor-assigned value
representing the result of processing a request. The Vendor-ID AVP shall be set to 3GPP (10415).

5.5.2 Permanent Failures

Errors that fall within the Permanent Failures category shall be used to inform the peer that the request failed, and the
request should not be attempted again.

The Result-Code AVP values defined in Diameter base protocol IETF RFC 3588 [3] are applicable. Also, the following
Result-Code AVP value defined in IETF RFC 4006 [5] is applicable:

DIAMETER_USER_UNKNOWN (5030)

This error shall be used by the OCS to indicate to the PCRF that the end user specified in the request is
unknown to the OCS and that the Sy session cannot be created.

The following specific Sy Experimental-Result-Code value is defined for permanent failures:

DIAMETER_ERROR_UNKNOWN_POLICY_COUNTERS (5570)

This error shall be used by the OCS to indicate to the PCRF that the OCS does not recognize one or more
Policy Counters specified in the request, when the OCS is configured to reject the request provided with
unknown policy counter identifier(s).

5.5.3 Transient Failures

Errors that fall within the transient failures category are used to inform a peer that the request could not be satisfied at
the time it was received, but may be able to satisfy the request in the future.

The Result-Code AVP values defined in Diameter base protocol IETF RFC 3588 [3] are applicable. Also the following
specific Sy Experimental-Result-Code value is defined for transient failures:

DIAMETER_ERROR_NO_AVAILABLE_POLICY_COUNTERS (4241)

This error shall be used by the OCS to indicate to the PCRF that the OCS has no available policy counters for
the subscriber.

The PCRF may retry the request based on local configuration or operator policy on receipt of a transient failure.

5.6 Sy Messages
5.6.1 Command-Code Values
This section defines the Command-Code values for the Sy interface application as allocated by IANA from the vendor-
specific namespace defined in IETF RFC 5719 [6]. Every command is defined by means of the ABNF syntax IETF
RFC 2234 [7], according to the rules in IETF RFC 3588 [3].

The following Command Codes are defined in this specification:

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Table 5.6.1: Command-Code values for Sy

Command-Name Abbreviation Code Section

Spending-Limit-Request SLR 8388635 5.6.2
Spending-Limit-Answer SLA 8388635 5.6.3
Spending-Status-Notification-Request SNR 8388636 5.6.4
Spending-Status-Notification-Answer SNA 8388636 5.6.5

In addition, the Session-Termination-Request and Session-Termination-Answer commands are reused from IETF RFC
3588 [3].

For the commands defined in this specification and reused commands, the Application-ID field shall be set to
16777302.

5.6.2 Spending-Limit-Request (SLR) command

The SLR command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 8388635 and the 'R' bit set in the Command Flags
field, is sent by the PCRF to the OCS as part of the Initial or Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request procedure.

Message Format:
<SL-Request> ::= <Diameter Header: 8388635, REQ, PXY >
< Session-Id >
{ Auth-Application-Id }
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
{ Destination-Realm }
[ Destination-Host ]
[ Origin-State-Id ]
{ SL-Request-Type }
*[ Subscription-Id ]
*[ Policy-Counter-Identifier ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ Route-Record ]
*[ AVP ]

NOTE: Multiple instances of the Subscription-Id AVP in the SLR command correspond to multiple types of
identifier for the same subscriber, for example IMSI and MSISDN.

5.6.3 Spending-Limit-Answer (SLA) command

The SLA command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 8388635 and the 'R' bit cleared in the Command Flags
field, is sent by the OCS to the PCRF as part of the Initial or Intermediate Spending Limit Report Request procedure.

Message Format:
<SL-Answer> ::= < Diameter Header: 8388635, PXY >
< Session-Id >
{ Auth-Application-Id }
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Result-Code ]
[ Experimental-Result ]
*[ Policy-Counter-Status-Report ]
[ Error-Message ]
[ Error-Reporting-Host ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Redirect-Host ]
[ Redirect-Host-Usage ]
[ Redirect-Max-Cache-Time ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ AVP ]

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5.6.4 Spending-Status-Notification-Request (SNR) command

The SNR command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 8388636 and the 'R' bit set in the Command Flags
field, is sent by the OCS to the PCRF as part of the Spending Limit Report procedure.

Message Format:
<SN-Request> ::= < Diameter Header: 8388636, REQ, PXY >
< Session-Id >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
{ Destination-Realm }
{ Destination-Host }
{ Auth-Application-Id }
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Policy-Counter-Status-Report ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ Route-Record ]
*[ AVP ]

5.6.5 Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SNA) command

The SNA command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 8388636 and the 'R' bit cleared in the Command Flags
field, is sent by the PCRF to the OCS as part of the Spending Limit Report procedure.

Message Format:
<SN-Answer> ::= < Diameter Header: 8388636, PXY >
< Session-Id >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Result-Code ]
[ Experimental-Result ]
[ Origin-State-Id ]
[ Error-Message ]
[ Error-Reporting-Host ]
*[ Redirect-Host ]
[ Redirect-Host-Usage ]
[ Redirect-Max-Cache-Time ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ AVP ]

5.6.6 Session-Termination-Request (STR) command

The STR command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 275 and the 'R' bit set in the Command Flags field, is
sent by the PCRF to the OCS as part of the Final Spending Limit Report Request procedure.

Message Format:
<ST-Request> ::= < Diameter Header: 275, REQ, PXY >
< Session-Id >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
{ Destination-Realm }
{ Auth-Application-Id }
{ Termination-Cause }
[ Destination-Host ]
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ Route-Record ]
*[ AVP ]

5.6.7 Session-Termination-Answer (STA) command

The STA command, indicated by the Command-Code field set to 275 and the 'R' bit cleared in the Command Flags
field, is sent by the OCS to the PCRF as part of the Final Spending Limit Report Request procedure.

Message Format:

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<ST-Answer> ::= < Diameter Header: 275, PXY >

< Session-Id >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Result-Code ]
[ Error-Message ]
[ Error-Reporting-Host ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Redirect-Host ]
[ Redirect-Host-Usage ]
[ Redirect-Max-Cache-Time ]
*[ Proxy-Info ]
*[ AVP ]

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Annex A (informative):
Change history
Change history
Date TSG # TSG Doc. CR Rev Subject/Comment Old New
2011-08 CT3#65 C3-111638 Initial version includes agreed documents C3-101608, C3-101540, 0.0.0 0.1.0
C3-111486, C3-111609, C3-111610, C3-111622 and C3-111612.
2011-11 CT3#67 C3-112143 Includes agreed documents C3-111680, C3-112033, C3-111682, 0.1.2 1.0.0
C3-111705, C3-112138, C3-112011, C3-112026, C3-112015, C3-
112016, C3-111843, C3-112035, C3-111846, C3-111886.
2011-11 CP#54 CP-110848 Editorial update by MCC for presentation to TSG CT for information 0.1.2 1.0.0
2012-02 CT3#68 C3-120495 Includes agreed documents C3-120411, C3-120385, C3-120025, 1.0.0 1.1.0
C3-120386.
2012-02 CP#55 CP-120083 Editorial update by MCC for presentation to TSG CT for approval 1.1.0 2.0.0
2012-03 CP#55 CP-120083 v 11.0.0 was produced by MCC 2.0.0 11.0.0
2012-06 CP#56 CP-120347 2 1 Sy Error Case 11.0.0 11.1.0
2012-06 CP#56 CP-120347 3 1 Sy Corrections 11.0.0 11.1.0
2012-06 CP#56 CP-120347 4 Parameters for Spending Limit Report Request 11.0.0 11.1.0
2012-06 CP#56 CP-120347 5 Command Code for SLR & SLA (R11 29.219) 11.0.0 11.1.0
2012-09 CP#57 CP-120536 7 Clean-up for spending limit description 11.1.0 11.2.0
2012-12 CP#58 CP-120832 8 1 Clarification of Supported-Features AVP 11.2.0 11.3.0
2012-12 CP#58 CP-120832 10 4 Addition of values to the Experimental-Result-Code AVP 11.2.0 11.3.0
2013-03 CP#59 CP-130073 13 3 Addition of values to the Experimental-Result-Code AVP 11.3.0 11.4.0

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History
Document history
V11.2.0 October 2012 Publication

V11.3.0 January 2013 Publication

V11.4.0 April 2013 Publication

ETSI