The present document is part of a series of Technical Specifications (TSs) that specify charging functionality and charging management in 3GPP networks (GSM/UMTS/EPS). The 3GPP core network charging architecture and principles are specified in TS 32.240, which provides an umbrella for other charging management TSs that specify:

• the content of the CDRs per domain / subsystem / service (offline charging);
• the content of real-time charging messages per domain / subsystem / service (online charging);
• the functionality of online and offline charging for those domains / subsystems / services;
• the interfaces that are used in the charging framework to transfer the charging information (i.e. CDRs or charging events)

The complete document structure for these TSs is defined in TS 32.240. The present document specifies the transaction based mechanism for the near real time transfer of CDRs within the network. The present document is related to other 3GPP charging TSs as follows:

• The common 3GPP charging architecture is specified in TS 32.240;
• The parameters, abstract syntax and encoding rules for the CDRs are specified in TS 32.298;
• The file based mechanism used to transfer the CDRs from the network to the operator's Billing Domain (e.g. the post-processing system or a mediation device) is specified in TS 32.297;

The 3GPP Diameter application that is used for offline and online charging is specified in TS 32.299. All terms, definitions and abbreviations used in the present document, that are common across 3GPP TSs, are defined in the 3GPP Vocabulary, TR 21.905. Those that are common across charging management in 3GPP domains services, or subsystems are provided in the umbrella document TS 32.240 and are copied into clause 3 of the present document for ease of reading. Finally, those items that are specific to the present document are defined exclusively in the present document. Furthermore, requirements that govern the charging work are specified in TS 22.115.

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.