Services and Applications
Short Description
Services and Applications...
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SYSTEM TRAINING
UMTS Services and Applications Training Document
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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and describes only the product defined in the introduction of this documentation. This document is intended for the use of Nokia Networks' customers only for the purposes of the agreement under which the document is submitted, and no part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means without the prior written permission of Nokia Networks. The document has been prepared to be used by professional and properly trained personnel, and the customer assumes full responsibility when using it. Nokia Networks welcomes customer comments as part of the process of continuous development and improvement of the documentation. The information or statements given in this document concerning the suitability, capacity, or performance of the mentioned hardware or software products cannot be considered binding but shall be defined in the agreement made between Nokia Networks and the customer. However, Nokia Networks has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that the instructions contained in the document are adequate and free of material errors and omissions. Nokia Networks will, if necessary, explain issues which may not be covered by the document. Nokia Networks' liability for any errors in the document is limited to the documentary correction of errors. Nokia Networks WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IN ANY EVENT FOR ERRORS IN THIS DOCUMENT OR FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING MONETARY LOSSES), that might arise from the use of this document or the information in it. This document and the product it describes are considered protected by copyright according to the applicable laws. NOKIA logo is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation. Other product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks of their respective companies, and they are mentioned for identification purposes only. Copyright © Nokia Oyj 2003. All rights reserved.
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Contents
Contents 1
Module objectives................................................................................ 4
2
Introduction to mobile applications ................................................... 5
3 3.1 3.2 3.2.1 3.3 3.4 3.4.1
3.6
Virtual Home Environment (VHE) ..................................................... 10 What is a Virtual Home Environment? ................................................. 10 Excursion: Network element functions ................................................. 12 Mobile applications from the USIM and terminal point of view.............. 14 (UMTS) SIM Application Toolkit - (U)SAT ............................................ 15 Mobile (Station Application) Execution Environment (MExE) ............... 17 Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)/ Wireless Telephony Application (WTA)................................................................................ 17 Customised Application for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL).............................................................................................. 19 Open Service Access (OSA) conception.............................................. 21
4 4.1 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.2
User Location..................................................................................... 25 Location Service (LCS) ........................................................................ 25 Cell ID based method .......................................................................... 26 OTDOA-IPDL....................................................................................... 26 GPS..................................................................................................... 27 Location Based Services (LBS) ........................................................... 27
5 5.1 5.1.1 5.1.1.1 5.1.1.2 5.1.1.3 5.1.1.4 5.1.1.5 5.1.2 5.1.2.1 5.1.3 5.1.4 5.2 5.3
Potential applications........................................................................ 29 Applications categorisation from the business area point of view......... 29 Person-to-person communications....................................................... 30 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)................................................. 31 MMS Architecture ................................................................................ 33 MMS and WAP .................................................................................... 34 MMS Flow examples ........................................................................... 36 Nokia MMS solution............................................................................. 41 Mobile Internet ..................................................................................... 42 Nokia Mobile Internet solution.............................................................. 44 Mobile Business (mBusiness) .............................................................. 45 Mobile commerce (mCommerce)......................................................... 45 Potential applications utilising the UMTS packet switched service ................................................................................................. 46 Potential application utilising the UMTS circuit switched service .......... 49
6
Review questions .............................................................................. 50
3.5
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1
Module objectives The aim of this module is to give the student the conceptual knowledge needed for explaining what are the GSM/UMTS mobile applications. Topics to be covered in this module include the differentiation between UMTS services and applications, a general discussion of the Virtual Home Environment, and the introduction of the most important service platforms. After completing this module, the participant should be able to: •
Outline the Virtual Home Environment concept (VHE)
•
Briefly explain the difference between a tele-, bearer- and supplementary service within the VHE concept
•
Name the UMTS services
•
Sketch the ideas of (U)SAT, MExE, CAMEL, and OSA
without using any references.
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2
Introduction to mobile applications In our everyday life we are familiar with the concept of a mobile service. For example, a mobile phone call is a mobile service. A short message (SMS) is another type of application. As operators and subscribers evolve into the future, the need for different types of applications is increasing. Today the subscribers expect an increased number of applications and greater value. For an operator with a large subscriber base, more usage time is one way of ensuring continuing growth. This usage time, for example phone calls, has a limit on the amount everybody is willing to use. Therefore, when defining the 3G Specifications, the emphasis is on the unlimited prospect of seamless services and applications that can be provided.
Student Exercise: What are the applications that you are using today? Would you like to have any new applications?
One common misconception that people have is that applications are introduced in UMTS. This is not true, as GSM already offers both integrated network and IN (Intelligent Networks) applications. GPRS in today's network adds the facility of supporting packet data (e.g. Internet) with relatively quick set-up and transfer times. UMTS Services
The term applications refers to “services as seen by the subscriber”. Applications have not been standardised in UMTS. The (GSM/UMTS) network offers service elements, which are used by applications. The applications form the value added for the subscriber (see also Next Generation Network Group). A set of services have been made available by UMTS, which are: •
circuit switched services, which are the teleservices, such as speech call, facsimile call, cs data,
•
packet switched services, which are the PDP contexts, and
•
message services, including SMS and CBS.
The services speech call, facsimile, and SMS are both services and applications. “circuit switched data” is only a service – the subscriber gets a circuit switched bearer for data transport. The bearer itself adds no value to the subscriber. The subscriber requires the cs data bearer to run a data application, where content is for instance exchanged between the handheld device and a application related content server. The same is true for packet switched services, which are used to establish a packet switched bearer. Again, the ps bearer alone adds no value to the subscriber. But when the subscriber can use the bearer in combination with an application, then a value added is generated. For instance, a subscriber can
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use a ps bearer between the handheld device and the Internet to gain content via the application HTTP/TCP/IP. Consequently, the GSM/UMTS services must be selected in such a way, that the application running atop of it can be served best possible. Service model
Therefore, the spirit of the UMTS specifications is to separate the applications and the network from each other as completely as possible. This can be expressed in the model drawn in the following picture.
Content
Content
Applications
Applications Open Interface
Service Platform
Service Platform Open / Proprietary Interface
Terminal & USIM
3G Network
Access Methods:
UE
Node B - WCDMA Uu
Figure 1.
RNC
- GSM900/1800 - etc.
Iub/Iur
Core Network Iu
Service model
In principle, the radio access network (RAN) could be implemented with any technology but the core network (CN) and the user equipment (UE) must support the access method used. The terminals and the network together form the physical platform. The service platform layer maintains the applications offered and it is located on top of the physical platform. It should be noted that this model is logical and in real life the physical platform and service platform are somewhat mixed up together in the same equipment. On the core network side, the service platform is often distributed on many different pieces of equipment, for instance in the Home Location Register (HLR). The interfaces between the physical platform and the service platform are either open or proprietary. Where possible, the Nokia solution supports standardised interfaces.
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Service platforms offer a completely open interfaces towards applications. Actually, one of the requirements of UMTS is that the system must offer open interfaces for application development and this is it. For instance, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is one occurrence of open application development interfaces. Application provider model
Due to the layered structure presented previously, the commercial points related to the application creation and provision will remarkably change compared to GSM. In the early phase of GSM, every application for the end user basically came from the equipment vendor. Either it required fine-tuning of the equipment or the operator was not able to establish a service itself. In UMTS, the open interfaces enable a situation where basically anyone may create a applications and create application related content to be supplied to the endusers.
Content Provider
Content Provider
Content Provider
Application Provider Application Provider Application Provider Bearer/Carrier Provider (3G Network) End-Users
Figure 2.
Application Provider Model
From the point of view of the telecommunications business, the emphasis is moving rapidly from equipment to application and content. This model, indirectly specified in UMTS, fastens that development. Indications of this development can already be seen in the existing GSM networks. For instance, stock exchange rates can be queried through the GSM network. In this case, the carrier provider (operator) and application provider are the same, but the content for the service is queried somewhere else, such as from the stock exchange database.
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Student Exercise: Are there any content providers that you use on a regular basis?
Service platforms
Service platforms are entities, which offer the implementation means for applications. A service platform is a logical entity often containing several pieces of equipment. As the majority of existing applications (December 2002) were adopted from GSM: •
VMS (Voice Mail System) for Voice Call Completion
•
Service Delivery Platform: A set of service enabling servers that support different types of applications. A typical example is the SMSC (Short Message Service Centre) for Short Message Delivery.
•
Service Creation & Execution Platform is built upon the principles of IN (Intelligent Network) and is almost obligatory to provide the envisioned services.
Core Network
RAN
Service Creation & Execution Platform
Control Plane HLR
Internet
SCP
BTS
3G MSC
BSC Node B
Voice Servers
AXC Fiber MWR
Node B
ATM Access RNC
Fiber 2G 3G SGSNSGSN
GGSN
Service Delivery Platform
PSTN
Gateway Plane
NMS
Figure 3.
Core network service platform elements
The new WCDMA radio interface will improve the quality and convenience of these applications. It will also enable higher packet data rates, which is highly important for the new e-mail and Internet services. The circuit connections can
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initially be made to the GSM switches to provide speech and other circuit switched services of up to 64 Kbps. Potential applications
The following is a list of the applications that have been planned for GSM/UMTS to realise: •
News and traffic flashes
•
Public video phoning
•
Ticketing services and interactive shopping
•
Desktop video conferencing
•
Voice recognition and response
•
Interactive and virtual school
•
Universal SIM with credit card function
•
Virtual banking
•
Currency downloading
•
Video on demand
•
On-line library and books
In addition to these, the supplementary services used in GSM are available from the very beginning of the 3G.
Student Exercise: Can you give examples of supplementary services in today's networks?
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3
Virtual Home Environment (VHE)
3.1
What is a Virtual Home Environment? Objective
With GSM systems, one obvious drawback as far as roaming is concerned was the portability of the subscriber services. In order to increase the value added to the subscriber – and thus the potential to earn revenue for the operator – a wide range of personalised services are expected. If a large set of diversified applications exist, which are not specified, a framework has to be designed to enable seamless application provisioning between networks. From the subscriber’s point of view, the applications should be always available, regardless of location, and the application is presented to him in the same way as if he is in his home PLMN. The below figure summarises the demand.
Seamless access to my services from different networks
Familiar "look and feel" of my services from different terminals
Enjoy a large number of diversified services
My services are available wherever I am
Figure 4.
My service profile can be managed and configured by myself
Subscriber's expectations: Seamless services
Example
In GSM, the applications offered are divided into teleservices, bearer services, and supplementary services. All of these are in principle portable between the networks, providing that the visited PLMN is able to support all of them. Within mature networks, this is not a problem if they follow the GSM Phase2+ specifications.
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In addition to these, the operator-specific applications (like smart messaging, call completion, prepaid and other intelligent network related applications) are widely used. These, however, are very strongly operator specific, that is, they often do not work when the subscriber roaming outside HPLMN. For instance, an operator offers voice mail services. If the subscriber dials a specific number in the HLPLMN, say, ‘777’, he can listen to the to listen to the left messages. But – this only works inside the Home PLMN. When roaming in some other network, the subscriber must dial the complete international-format number for the voice mailbox. In other works, the subscriber’s applications is not available in a VPLMN as he is used to in the HPLMN. Virtual Home Environment (Definition)
The Virtual Home Environment (VHE) is defined as a concept for personal service environment portability across network boundaries and between terminals (3GPP TS 22.121). This concept is something the subscribers may expect as default, but from the operator's point of view, it is a very demanding concept to be set up, requiring plenty of definitions done in, between and within the networks involved. The result will be “seamless roaming with services” and the terminal will work exactly the same way in every network using VHE definitions. In addition to that, the subscriber gain the ability to customise how information is represented on the terminal depending on the mobile equipment and the environment. The key aspects of VHE can be summarised: •
personalised services
•
personalised user interface within the capabilities of terminals
•
consistent set of services from the user's perspective irrespective of access (e.g. fixed, mobile,...)
•
global service availability
Application Toolkits within the VHE
In the lapse of time, different approaches were standardised to enable seamless application portability. They can be classified as •
supplementary services (SS),
•
operator specific services (OSS), and
•
open service architecture (OSA).
All of them can be used for service provisioning. Standardised 3GPP application (service) tool kids are
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(UMTS) SIM Application Toolkit ((U)SAT),
•
Mobile (Station Application) Execution Environment (MExE),
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Customised Application for Mobile network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL), and
•
Open Service Access (OSA)
Each application toolkit has a specified application execution environment. The application execution environment is used to run specific, non-standardised applications. The option to personalise applications exist. The application toolkits for operator specific services are (U)SAT, MExE, and CAMEL.
3.2
Excursion: Network element functions Each application requires a bearer to enable the transport of user data. UMTS is responsible to establish a bearer for the application in accordance to the QoS parameters, set for the transport of the application’s user data. To run an application, the bearer must be established end-to-end. If there is a mobilemobile call, than a bearer must be established from one mobile phone via transmission networks (PLMNs, PSTNs, and/or PDN) to the second mobile phone. If a subscriber retrieves data from a content server, a bearer has to be established between his mobile phone and the content server. The UMTS operator is hereby only responsible for establishing a UMTS bearer between the mobile terminal (MT) and an external network. Please note, that the external network can be a PSTN, PDN, etc. Please note, that an external PDN not necessarily only includes corporate networks and the Internet, but also application infrastructures, such as for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or OSA. (But are not mobile operators responsible for an application infrastructure, such as WAP? Often they are, but this is not a requirement for a UMTS operator.) A UMTS bearer passes through the radio access part (UTRAN/GERAN) and the core network. The application in the user equipment is virtually communicating with the application server is not aware of the radio access network and core network infrastructure.
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content
content application related signalling and content transfer
UMTS releated bearer and call control e.g. for a PDP context
UMTS Bearer Service RAN bearer
service platform
Gateway (GGSN, GMSC)
external Bearer Service
CN bearer
external networks RAN
Figure 5.
CN
e.g. PSTN, PDN, WAP and MMS infrastructure
The mobile service architecture from the bearer point of view
The RAN (UTRAN/GERAN) is responsible for the air interface connection and ensuring that bearer characteristics (that is, speed, quality and delay) are maintained, even though the subscriber is moving about. The core network maintains information on the subscriber and routes the information to correct gateway.
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3.2.1
Mobile applications from the USIM and terminal point of view In principle, a UMTS application is anything that can be delivered via a UMTS bearer. This opens a wide range opportunities, but, on the other hand, it sets high requirements for the terminals. As in GSM, the UMTS mobile phone is made of two components, the USIM and the terminal:
Figure 6.
•
The UMTS SIM (USIM) has open application programming interfaces (APIs). The option for download application programs exist.
•
The mobile equipment (ME), which is also called mobile terminal (MT), is able to handle RT/NRT bearers. Depending on the application platforms it supports, open application programming interfaces support the execution of applications on the ME.
SIM card
Because nobody requires every potential application (and is willing to pay all the development costs which come with the application), terminal differentiation will occur. The standards have specified how additional network-independent services, such as SAT and MExE, should operate within terminals (see the next subsections). Mobile terminal operating systems
A mobile terminal consists of hardware, an operating system, and applications. The three main contenders to set the standard for handheld operating systems are: •
Symbian with its EPOC operating system
•
Microsoft with Windows CE (Consumer Electronics)
•
3Com with its Palm operating system
The Nokia wireless operating system for the next generation of smart phones, including the 9210(i) Communicator, is the EPOC operating system. By using a standard operating system, it means that applications that are not dependent on a particular phone can be built. This should open the way for more applications for subscribers.
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Figure 7.
3.3
Sample Symbian operating system
(UMTS) SIM Application Toolkit - (U)SAT General idea of APIs
It is possible to specify open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for the mobile equipment (ME) and the SIM-card. Application programs can then use these APIs. (U)SAT specifies APIs for the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). In other words, this APIs represent an enhanced set of SIM-ME interfaces. The SIM-ME interfaces are used by the SIM-card to trigger ME functions and vice versa. The SIM-card cannot be accessed from outside application servers. There is only one exception: If the supplier of the SIM-card allows it, application programs can be downloaded on the SIM. The APIs for the ME are called terminal adaptation functions. They can be used to interact directly with higher layer protocols such as USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data), SM (Session Management), CC (Call Control), and SMS protocols. The ME can be accessed from external application servers. (U)SAT working principle
The central idea of USAT is to execute an application program on the SIMcard. Information required for the application can be retrieved from an application related content server. The location of the content server, and how to establish a connection to the content server is specified in the application program on the SIM-card
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Example
Content provider can remotely provision content to user’s mobile equipment by exchanging codes embedded in short messages between the application client on the SIM and the content/application server. In the (U) SAT specification, SMS is a key mechanism for personalising the SIM in each user’s GSM phone. In the figure below, a simple service request and response by means of SAT is illustrated. As you can see, most of the interaction takes place locally between the user and the MS/UE. Only the specific service request and the response are transmitted as short messages in the air interface.
2.Show menu
1.Set up Menu 4.Menu Selection 5.Select Item 8.Select Reply
3.User Selects 6.Show list 7.User selects
9.Send SMS 12. SMS PP Download 13. Display Text 10. SMS sending
14.Show text
11. SMS Download
Figure 8.
SAT service example – weather forecast service
(U)SAT and security
A significant aspect of SAT/USAT is the highly secure environment provided by the USIM/SIM card. This is further enhanced by the fact that the subscriber and the issuer of the USIM/SIM and also the SAT/USAT applications have a "trusted relationship" (e.g. the subscriber trusts the issuer of the card to charge correctly for the resources used). This allows certain features, such as call control, to be implemented with a degree of freedom, which would not be acceptable in a "non-trusted relationship". Because of this, (U)SAT is often seen as prerequisite for applications with high security requirements, such as mobile banking and mobile commerce.
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3.4
Mobile (Station Application) Execution Environment (MExE) MExE working principle
The aim of MExE is to provide a comprehensive and standardised environment on the mobile equipment (ME) for executing operator or service provider specific applications. MExE is designed as a full application execution environment on the mobile terminal. A set of mobile terminal operating system such as Symbian or Windows CE can be used, which were optimised for small, handheld devices such as mobile phones or PDAs. Similar to (U)SAT, a set of open interfaces (so-called terminal adaptation functions) are specified for the ME. These standardised interfaces allow the execution of applications on the handheld device, an interaction with external application related content servers, independent of the used operating system. Strongly simplified, we can say that MExE converts a mobile phone to a small mobile computer. Manufactures of mobile phones have agreed in using WAP/WTA and/or Java virtual machines in order to design and program applications locally on the mobile equipment. For that reason, WAP/WTA and Java were explicitly mentioned in the MExE specifications. Because of that, WAP/WTA and Java are listed below in separate subsections. Please note, the both WAP and Java are not specified within MExE.
3.4.1
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)/ Wireless Telephony Application (WTA) The Internet and mobile communication were the fasted growing markets in the 90s. Consequently, solutions were searched after to allow mobile Internet access. A standard for mobile Internet access must be globally unified, future proof and suitable for the radio interface limitations of several mobile communication standards. The independence from a mobile communication standard was archived by specifying WAP bearer independent. Also security aspects have to be considered for a wireless Internet access in order to avoid eavesdropping. WAP was released 1999 as new mobile Internet protocol standard. WAP was explicitly designed to meet the challenge of an efficient radio interface usage. In addition to that, a content format was defined which enables the display of content on small screen handheld devices. WAP working principle
Basically the WAP architecture is similar to the “normal” Internet architecture: There is the client sending a request, and on the other side there is a server,
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which returns response to the client. The special issue about WAP is given by the fact that the client is a mobile station. The content for the mobile phones is stored on standard WWW servers. Thus, they use TCP/IP. A WAP Gateway between the mobile phone client and the WWW server is required to translate WAP into the standard Internet format. (http/TCP/IP). Besides translating the protocols the WAP Gateway also compresses the text based Internet content to a binary format that is used on the air interface.
URL request
WWW Server
coded request (URL)
WAP user agent
WAP Gateway response (WML)
Figure 9.
decoding
coding
coded response (bin. WML)
WAP infrastructure
Within WAP, the Wireless Markup Language (WML) is standardised based on the XML framework. WML copes with the problem that normal HTML pages are too big to be shown on most handheld devices like PDAs and mobile phones. One problem is rooted in the fact that HTML has no fixed page size. WML consequently reduces the page size dramatically to a size that can be presented on a mobile device screen. These small pages are called cards. The content of one card will never be sufficient for an application and so the application content is spread upon a whole stack of cards that is called a deck. As the content is distributed between several cards in one deck, a navigation trough different cards is required, which is one of the most demanding and time consuming tasks when writing WML applications. Links within a WML deck refer to the same deck they are carried out without delay because the whole deck is stored in the memory of the mobile device. But links to other decks are also required. They trigger a new download from the server.
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Internet-Content: Hypertext Markup Language HTML
Internet-Content for mobiles: Wireless Markup Language WML WML-Cards instead of HTML-pages
HTML
- large pages - each page unique address (URL) - texts &pictures - links - programs
pages pages too too big big
(Browser) 1 Last Name 2 First Name 3 Department Edit Find
Several Cards = one Deck = URL (Browser)
Last Name: (Browser) Which language do (Browser) you want to use ? Moonen| 1 Last(Browser) Name 2 1First LastName Name [English]OK alpha 3 2Department First Name
OK Edit Find Edit Find
3 Department
Figure 10.
3.5
WML, cards, and decks
Customised Application for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) The inauguration of CAMEL
In fixed networks and early GSM networks, the signalling between core network and IN application platforms was made through INAP (Intelligent Network Application Part). This allowed the core network to send and receive signalling messages about the applications that the users have. However, this protocol was vendor-dependant and as a result, if a subscriber was roaming, the services provisioning normally did not work. A well-known example of this is the prepaid subscription. Therefore, a new protocol was introduced in GSM offering complete service portability on an advanced IN platform: CAMEL (Customised Applications for Mobile network Enhanced Logic). Provided that CAMEL is used both in the Home and Visited PLMN, the subscriber is able to “carry” all applications with her from one network to another. CAMEL is carried on the protocols CAP (CAMEL Application Part) and MAP (Mobile Application Part) between operators. CAMEL architecture
CAMEL specifies three network entities: •
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Service Switching Point (SSP) For IN and CAMEL services, the SSP is implemented in the (G)MSC.
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The functional entity is an enhanced IN call control unit. It interfaces the (G)MSC and the SCP. •
Service Control Point (SCP) The SCP is a function entity, which contains the CAMEL service logic. It is sometimes called service execution platform, because here the subscriber specific IN applications are made available. It interfaces the SSP, HLR, GMLC (Gateway Mobile Location Centre, for location services), and gsmSRF (GSM Specialised Resource Function, among others for variable announcements, such as account announcements for prepaid subscribers).
The interaction between CAMEL network elements and CAMEL supporting networks requires the protocols MAP (Mobile Application Part) and CAP (CAMEL Application Part). home PLMN
HLR
MAP
SCP
MAP
CAP
P CA
MA P
MAP
VLR SSP
SSP incoming line
roaming leg ing tgo ou
MSC/VLR
Figure 11.
) all Oc (M leg
visited PLMN
GMSC
interrogating PLMN
CAMEL architecture (simplified)
Why is it possible, that for a roaming subscriber, applications are made available as if he is in the home PLMN? When the mobile phone registers in the supply area of a MSC/VLR, the subscriber profile is downloaded to the VLR. The subscriber profile holds the address of the SCP in the home PLMN, which is responsible to run the subscriber related service logic. For instance, the subscriber uses the number “777” to listen to messages delivered to the subscriber’s voice mail system. The number “777” is unknown to the visited PLMN. But the SSP/MSC in the visited PLMN forward the service request to the SCP in the home network. The SCP resolves the request, and return e.g. an ISDN number to the MSC/SSP, which can be used to establish a dial-in connection to the VMS in the home network. Thus the voice mail service is
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available in all visited networks, which support CAMEL, the same way as it is in the home PLMN.
3.6
Open Service Access (OSA) conception OSS solutions: advantages and drawbacks
There are three operator specific service (OSS) solutions: MExE, (U)SAT, and CAMEL. Let us look on the advantages first: With the help of OSS solutions, applications are not standardised. Thus the operator can offer a wide range of customised services. This enables the operator to conduct both price and “end user service” competition. What about the portability of the applications? The portability of the applications is – at least in principle – given. Depending on the OSS solution, there exist standardised interfaces and/or bearers for the transport of application related data. One example for a standardised interface is the signalling protocol CAP (CAMEL Application Part). But CAP is a very good example to demonstrate already the limitations of the OSS solutions. When a new application has to be introduced, it must be programmed. And when it comes to programming a new applications, a lot of drawbacks can be observed: •
CAP is a mobile specific SS7 protocol. The programmer of a new application must thus have a profound knowledge of SS7 itself, and the mobile specific CAP. In addition to that, he must be familiar with the conceptions of the mobile communication system, be it GSM and/or UMTS. To gain the required know how is both time consuming and costly.
•
The CAMEL interfaces are standardised, but not the vendor specific CAMEL platforms. Each supplier of CAMEL solutions has his own CAMEL service creation environment. The programmer of the application must be familiar with it, too. If for instance an application is very successful with one operator, it cannot be easily installed by one and the same programmer in an other operator’s network. The programmer first must familiarise himself with the new vendor specific service platform, before he can do so.
•
The OSS infrastructure is located within the (mobile) operator’s infrastructure. The designer of the application must take this infrastructure into account, such as the topology of the network (to optimise the application provision in the HPLMN).
As can be seen, making applications available is complicated and costly even with OSS.
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OSA conception
But what does an application designer actually need from a mobile operator? The application designer needs capabilities from the PLMN. For an OSA application designer, the PLMN is a black box. The OSA application designer has no idea about the operator’s network topology; he has no idea which vendor’s products are in use within the PLMN and vendor specific restrictions; etc. But how can the OSA application designer then use PLMN capabilities? OSA specifies open application programming interfaces (APIs) between the PLMN (service capability servers (SCS)) and the application (application server). The APIs represent a very accurately specified signalling between the application (outside the PLMN) and the PLMN itself. The APIs can be used to trigger events. For instance, an application may require information, whether the subscriber is in the home cell. If the subscriber is in the home cell, the mobile services are offered to him with a special price. An API for mobility management is used to inform the network to deliver the required location information. The same API is then used to return the information about a cell (location) change of the subscriber. There is another API with which the application gets informed about the (mobile) terminal capabilities. Given the subscriber’s terminal capabilities, the application can then decide how to present the user data. In both examples, the OSA application designer does not need to know, how the mobile operator retrieved the required information internally. All the application designer and the operator have to agree in is a set of standardised APIs, which can be used between the application and the PLMN.
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Application Server Application
Application
Application Server Application
Application Server Application
Application
access via open APIs Voice Servers
Service Creation & Execution Platform
Service Delivery Platform
Service Capabilities
SCP
Core Network
HLR
• bearers in accordance to QoS parameters • mechanisms for making services available
3G MSC
Fiber 2G 3G SGSN SGSN
GGSN
Figure 12.
Core Network
OSA conception
Summary
The 3GPP specifications define the OSA as a standard for communication between the applications and the network is through an API (Application Programming Interfaces). API is a set of standard procedural and functional calls within a framework, which support applications that can be developed by third parties. The application logic is separated from the network and the application can be run by the operator or at a 3rd party service provider. The Advantage of OSA is that new service development is independent of the networking technologies. Also, new service development can utilise off-theshelf products. This concept is very similar to (U)SAT and MExE. (U)SAT means the specification of open APIs for SIM capabilities; MExE means the
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specification of open APIs for ME capabilities; OSA results in the specification of open APIs between applications and PLMN capabilities.
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4
User Location For a mobile subscriber, the current location of his terminal may add value to him. His terminal equipment can be combined with a navigation aid, which helps the subscriber to find his route in a foreign city. Knowing the user’s location is also helpful for emergency services in order to help the calling person faster. Two concepts have to be separated, when we talk about the subscriber’s location:
4.1
•
Location Service (LCS) LCS offers the possibility to identify the current location of the subscriber’s terminal. The current location is reported in a standard format, such as geographical co-ordinates. The location information can be made available to the subscriber himself, the ME, the network operator, the service operator, and for PLMN internal operations. LCS is specified.
•
Location Based Service (LBS) LCS can be used to enable the provision of location based services (LBS). These applications are service provider specific and are not specified.
Location Service (LCS) LCS, which can be offered without subscription to basic telecommunication services, reports the location of the subscriber’s terminal. The location information can be used for charging, lawful interception, emergency calls, positioning services, as well as location based services (LBS). A set of location services exists. They are characterised by following attributes, which vary with from location service to location service:
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Accuracy describes the difference of the ME actual location and its estimated (and reported) location
•
Privacy describes the confidentiality of the location information
•
Coverage area describes the geographical area, within which the location service is adequately supplied
•
Transaction rate describes how frequently the location measurement has to be conducted to support the location service.
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Standard UE positioning methods
The standard positioning methods supported within GSM/UMTS Rel. 99: •
Cell ID based method
•
OTDOA-IPDL (Observed Time Difference of Arrival -Idle Period Downlink)
•
GPS (Global Positioning System).
These will be briefly explained in the following.
4.1.1
Cell ID based method In the cell ID based (that is, cell coverage) method, the position of an UE is estimated with the knowledge of its serving base station. The information about the serving base station and cell may be obtained by paging, location area update, cell update, URA update, or routing area update.
4.1.2
OTDOA-IPDL OTDOA-IPDL (Observed Time Difference of Arrival - Idle Period Downlink) is a method with network configurable idle periods (In the Nokia Solution, it has been named mCatch) The OTDOA-IPDL method involves measurements made by the UE and LMU (Location Measurement Unit) of the UTRAN frame timing. For instance, the observed time difference between different System Frame Numbers (SFN) can be used. These measures are then sent to the SRNC (Serving Radio Network Controller) where the position of the UE is calculated through triangulation estimate. The location can here be defined down to between 70 - 50 metres. The Base Station may provide idle periods in the downlink in order to potentially improve the hear ability of neighbouring BSs. The support of these idle periods in the UE is optional. Support of idle periods in the UE means that its OTDOA performance will improve when idle periods are available. Alternatively, the UE may perform the calculation of the position using measurements and assistance data.
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BTS
BTS
BTS
Figure 13.
4.1.3
Locating the subscriber
GPS GPS (Global Positioning System) is one approach. These methods make use of UEs, which are equipped with radio receivers capable of receiving GPS signals. The UE receives signals from many satellites and the position of the UE can be calculated very accurately. But one has to remember that there has to be a line of sight to the satellites, which means that the GPS does not work properly indoors or in bad weather conditions.
4.2
Location Based Services (LBS) Location based services do not form a separate application category of their own, rather combine LCS information with an application. Applications like games, mobile chat and mCommerce among others can be location-dependent. Please note, that location based services are not standardised. Location based services – Integrity, security and service related issues
Different applications can access information on the subscriber's location. The standards dictate that the subscriber can control whether the location information is kept or not (except if there is local government legislation). An example of how useful this location information is could be a car device that can download maps or information based upon your location. In many countries this is a legal requirement in the case of emergency calls. For example in the U.S., the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has stated that, by October 2001, emergency calls from mobile stations should be located with accuracy of 125 meters or better. This E911 requirement has been the most important single driving factor for current MS location activity.
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Operators can also benefit from location information for network planning purposes. They can track user movements and detect hot spots with dense traffic. Operators can delineate areas with poor radio coverage or use location information to enhance basic services. Special tariff zones provide a particularly good example of such a service enhancement. A cellular operator can offer reduced tariffs for subscribers when they call from their home zone. However, operators can earn revenue from offering related position servers, such as location specific advertising. This is because they know the user's location, personal profile information or segmented channel. Push advertisements can be subscription based so that the mobile user can indicate to the operator the information he is interested in, according to his personal profile.
Figure 14.
Sample application
Location information can be utilised by the applications in many different ways. For instance, by knowing the location, the menu of available services can be narrowed down to the ones that are interesting in relation to the location. Furthermore, the content could change according to the location; for example, information of the closest restaurants or the closest hotels could pop up on the mobile terminal's screen based on the current location. As you imagine, there is an endless amount of services that could utilise the information. For an operator, the existing network can be utilised although new network elements are needed to help in taking measurements from the network and location servers. Also, supporting servers are also needed. Today's networks and mobiles also have location-based services, based upon the cell ID and location area. This information is used already for charging and routing of calls.
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5
Potential applications Applications are the “end user services”. They are no longer standardised. It is up to operators and value added service providers to determine the need for an application and implement them. GSM/UMTS offer the bearer and call control to exchange content and content related signalling information between the mobile device and the application driven content server.
5.1
Applications categorisation from the business area point of view In Nokia, the different potential applications are categorised into five distinct groups: •
Person-to-Person Multimedia Communications
•
Mobile Internet
•
Business Solutions
•
Mobile Commerce
•
Location Based Services (which were described in the previous chapter)
Although it is difficult to see, which services will be the most popular; it is foreseen that the more lucrative services will be those that are working together.
Entertainment
Travel Get Bus
Choose Restaurant Transact Choose Theatre
Make Booking
Check Availability
Make Payment
Check - location - preferences - diary
Check - Credit Card Details
MicroPayment Transact
Get Map
Get Train
Make Booking
Find Parking
Make Payment
Check - Home Location - Preferences - Theatre Location
PIM Enter in Diary
Create Reminder
Check - Fund Availability
Common Enabling Layer
Figure 15.
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Sample of using a multitude of services
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In the previous figure, we use searching based upon our location to find a theatre. Through mCommerce, we can make an instant reservation. Then, as we travel to the theatre, we can use a map application, assisted with location based services. Then, we can update our PIM (Personal Information Management) with information of the travel and theatre. For the sake of completeness, we can think of the supplementary services as being a category in its own right. In other words, we can consider them as being standardised applications inherited from GSM.
5.1.1
Person-to-person communications Person-to-person communications is the interaction and sharing of end user created information between the individuals. Today, person-to-person communication is mainly related to voice calls and Short Message Service (SMS). In 3G, person-to-person communications will evolve to new types of messaging and telephony, including: •
Chat (one to many)
•
Calendar and email (including synchronisation)
•
Rich call and video telephony
•
Picture messaging and multimedia messaging
Evolution of messaging will bring richer content into the messages. With multimedia messaging, it is possible to combine the conventional short messages with much richer content type – photographs, images, and eventually also video clips. In addition to sending messages from one hand set to another, it is also possible to send messages from handset to email.
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Versatility of Content and User Benefits Mobile Multimedia Multimedia Message Service Picture Messaging
SMS
Text
Text & Graphics
Digital image input
New content types Time
Figure 16.
Development of person-to-person messaging
Student Facts: During the month of June 2001, around 20 billion SMSs were sent globally. In September 2002, 27 billion of them were sent. During 1999 and 2000, Norway saw an increase of 1000% SMSs. Italy saw an increase of 700% during 7 months.
5.1.1.1
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
MMS was standardised with UMTS Release 4 (March 2001). The MMS evolution
SMS is currently the most successful data service in GSM. In September 2002, more than 27 billion SMS messages were transmitted. It is expected, that SMS will grow in numbers of transmitted messages. In the year 2002 about 11% of an operator’s income was earned with the short message service. Nokia was the first handheld supplier to use the SMS infrastructure for another kind of application. Instead of just sending text messages, download of simple pictures or ringing tone became possible with Nokia Smart Messaging phones. Smart messaging enabled the subscribers to personalise their messages to a higher degree. The great success of Smart Messaging resulted in a standard for enhanced SMS capabilities: Enhanced Message Service (EMS), which was developed by the 3GPP. EMS allows the transmission and reception of ring tones, sounds, animations, simple pictures, etc. Hereby, the user can even create his one pictures and tones. EMS supports both phone personalisation and person-toperson messaging. The main advantage of EMS from the operator’s point of view is, that no investment in an EMS infrastructure is required. EMS is based on and uses the existing SMS infrastructure.
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MMS was specified with UMTS Release 4. During the specification process, the 3GPP worked with several assumptions: Firstly, the potential transmission rates will be higher than in the second generation, thus allowing a higher data rate and more flexible bearer allocation. Secondly, many mobile phones will have coloured screens and higher resolution than earlier models. Given the new options both in terms of bearers and terminal capabilities, the aim was to specify a more advanced option for transmitting pictures, music, text, and video. MMS was thus specified to allow the transmission of larger messages, containing a wide range of content. It supports person-to-person communication, and both service providers and subscribers can generate content. Multimedia Messaging Service music
Smart Messaging & EMS
SMS
Text, simple graphics, ringing tones
text only
video
stills etc. timeline
Figure 17.
Short message evolution
The MMS message
An MMS message can be compared with a standardised envelope – neither content, nor size, was specified. The MMS message is represented by a standardised presentation language: SMIL (Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language). A SMIL page holds information on how, where, and when to display the different multimedia elements. The media elements – such as pictures, text, and sound – are combined to a single message, using MIME. MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension. MIME is a standard, which specifies how several media are placed within a message. (In the Internet, the message is the email; in the mobile network, it is the MMS message.) A wide range of media types are supported, such as audio (e.g. MP3), video (e.g. MP4), text (e.g. ISO-8859-1), and pictures (e.g. baseline JPEG). Several mobile phone manufactures have agreed in supporting a minimum set of media types to guarantee interoperability.
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Standardised „envelope“: encapsulated messages
Content: Minimum set of supported media types recommended: • text • audio • images • video
Figure 18.
variable size
ge messa SMS addresses MSISDN or URL
MMS “envelope”
MMS today
More than 40 operators have already started the commercial launch of MMS (December 2002). The GPRS infrastructure is currently in use for the MMS transport. MMS over WAP is the common way nowadays to transfer MMS message. But MMS was specified independent from WAP, so other means of MMS transport may be possible in the future. 5.1.1.2
MMS Architecture
The MMS Architecture consists of several network entities. Please note, that some of them can be combined within a single network element. •
MMS User Agent (UE) MMS is based on the client server principle. A MMS UA can reside on the mobile equipment. But it can be also made available on external devices, such as laptops, PDAs, and other devices. These external devices can be connected to a UE to use MMS via the radio interface. But MMS was specified in such a way, that it can be deployed e.g. on a fixed network personal computer.
The MMS UE interacts with the Multimedia Message Service Environment (MMSE). The MMSE incorporates MMS service elements, which are responsible for the delivery and storage of MMS messages. The MMSE entities are the •
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MMS Server This network entity is responsible for managing incoming and outgoing messages. It is also in use as a MMS storage.
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•
MMS Relay This network element is responsible for the interworking between different messaging systems. It can be connected to voice mail servers, E-mail servers, Fax servers, etc. In addition to that, it is also responsible for CDR generation.
Although MMS Server and MMS Relay were specified as two individual network entities in UMTS Release 4, most vendors are offering their functionalities in one network element. Nokia calls its MMS Server/Relay MMS Center. The figure below shows the MMSC including its reference points (MM1 to MM8). Please note, that most reference points are not open! Only the format of the user data is specified. (Reference point MM2 is between the MMS Relay and the MMS Server.) Legacy systems
MM1 MM3 Billing system
MMS C enter
MM8
MM4
MM5 MM7
MM6
I-MMSC
HLR
External application S ubscriber database
Figure 19.
5.1.1.3
MMS Center and its reference points
MMS and WAP
MMS over WAP is the common way nowadays to transfer MMS message. But MMS was specified independently from WAP, so other means of MMS transport may be possible in the future. This can be directly seen from the protocol stack in the next figure.
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MMS User Interface MMS User Agent MM1 Transfer Protocol
MMS Appl Svcs MM
WSP
WTP
WTLS
WTLS
WDP/UDP
WDP/UDP
Bearer
Bearer
MMS User Agent
Figure 20.
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WTP
Lower Layer
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MMS Appl Svcs MM
Messaging Application Framework
HTTP
Comm HTTP
HTTP
TCP
TCP
IP
IP
WAP Gateway
Wireless Application Protocol
MMS Relay and Server
MMS over WAP
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5.1.1.4
MMS Flow examples UE to UE MMS transfer
In this example, we outline an MMS transfer between two UEs. Hereby, we assume, that the multimedia messages are transmitted via WAP. Before multimedia messages can be exchanged, MMS related signalling between the MMS UA and the MMS Center must take place. To transmit the signalling information, we need a bearer between the UE and the MMS Center. In this example, a bearer is made available via the packet switched domain. A PDP context between the UE and the “external PDN” WAP was established. This bearer is used to transmit MMS messages over WAP. 1.
The UE invokes a WSP/HTTP POST operation with the M-Send.req message embedded as the content body. This message is submitted using a URI that addresses the MMS Center that supports the specific terminal. The UE composes a transaction ID for the submitted message. This ID is used by the UE and the MMS Center to provide linkage between the originated M-Send.req and the response M-Send.conf messages. The value used for the transaction ID is determined by the UE, and no interpretation is expected from the MMS Center.
2.
The MMS Center assigns a message ID to the message when successfully received for delivery. The ID is used in activities that need to refer to the specific sent message, e.g. sending the possible delivery report later. Upon receipt of the M-Send.req message, the MMS Center responds to the WSP/HTTP POST with an answer that includes the M-Send.conf message in its body (body=HTTP level payload). The response message provides a status code for the requested operation. If the MMS Center is willing to accept the request to send the message, the status is ‘accepted’ and the message includes the message-ID composed by the MMS Center. BTS
BSC
MSC /VLR/HLR
BSC
BTS
SGSN
GPRS BB GGSN
Message sending M-Send.req M-Send.conf
Figure 21.
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SMS C enter
WAP GW PPG
MMS C enter
UE to UE MMS over WAP (step 1 and 2)
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3. The headers of the PDU (the ones that the sender's MMS Center has added to the original PDU) are used to generate a notification to the recipient, and are delivered with the message body parts to the recipient at retrieval. The MMS Center creates a transaction identifier before sending the notification. The identifier is unique up to the following M-NotifyResp only. If the MMS Client requests deferred (delayed) delivery with M-NotifyResp, the MMS Center may create a new transaction identifier. The notification uses SMS as bearer; the MMS Center sends the MNotification.ind to the SMS Center. The SMS Center further forwards the message to SMS-GMSC. The SMS-GMSC asks routing info from HLR, i.e. the location of the MSC that the recipient UE was last connected with (SendRoutingInfoForShortMs). SMS-GMSC forwards the message to MSC (ForwardShortMessage). MSC checks VLR to make sure that the UE has not been barred or otherwise restricted from using the network (SendInfoForMT-SMS). MSC forwards the message through the BSS to the receiving UE. 4. The information in M-Notification.ind includes the URI that will be used to actually retrieve the message in a subsequent operation by the receiving terminal. The terminal may use additional information about the message (e.g. message size, expiry) to determine its behaviour. For example, the UE may delay the retrieval of the message if it exceeds a defined size. The receiver of the M-Notification.ind tells the action to be taken to the MMS Center with the M-NotifyResp.req, which is routed to the MMS Center the same way as the M-Notification.ind. BTS
BSC
MSC /VLR/HLR
BSC
BTS
SGSN
GPRS BB GGSN
Sending notification Deferring message M-Notification.ind M-NotifyR esp.req
Figure 22.
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SMS C enter
WAP GW PPG
MMS C enter
UE to UE MMS over WAP (step 3 and 4)
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5. The URI (MMS Center address) required for the retrieval, sent in the preceding M-Notification.ind message, is used in the GET request. 6. The data returned (M-Retrieve.conf) includes the multimedia message. The header component can provide additional information, such as the tariff class, which is useful in AT messages. 7. The MMS Center may decide to request an acknowledgement from the UE to confirm the delivery status of the retrieval. It may make this decision based on whether it needs to provide a delivery notice back to the originating UE or not. Alternatively, it may make that decision based upon an expectation that it would then be able to delete the message from its own store. BTS
BSC
MSC /VLR/HLR
BSC
BTS
SGSN
GPRS BB GGSN
Fetching message WSP GET.req M-Retrieve.conf M-Acknowledge.req
Figure 23.
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SMS C enter
WAP GW PPG
MMS C enter
UE to UE MMS over WAP (step 5, 6, and 7)
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8. The MMS Center sends the M-Delivery.ind message to the originating MS using WAP PUSH to inform when message delivery has occurred. The Message ID identifies the message. It is generated when the original message is posted. It also provides addressing information of the originally targeted entity. 9. M-read-rec.ind message is sent by the receiver’s UE to the MMS Center to inform when the receiver has opened the message. 10. The MMS Center sends the M-read-orig.ind message to the originating MS using WAP PUSH to inform when the the receiver has opened the message. BTS
BSC
MSC /VLR /HLR
BSC
BTS
SGSN
GPRS BB GGSN
Delivery report Read-Reply M-Delivery.ind M-read-rec.ind M-read-orig.ind
Figure 24.
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SMS C enter
WAP GW PPG
MMS C enter
UE to UE MMS over WAP (step 8, 9, and 10)
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E-Mail and MMS
E-Mails are nowadays a very popular means of communication both in business and private. Here we can see a flow example of mobile E-mail transfer via MMS. The MMS Center (MMS Relay functionality) converts the MM to an E-mail message and sends it to the Mail Server. The communication between Mail GW and Mail Server is based on SMTP (/MIME) protocol. SMTP understands only pure text based data and is used for the actual data transfer. MIME is used for attachment support. The Mail Server acknowledges the MMS Center that it has received the message. This is an acknowledgement belonging to the SMTP protocol. BTS
WAP GW
BSC
GGSN
SGSN GPRS BB
External application M-Send.req
MMS C enter
M-Send.conf
IP network
Figure 25.
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E-mail server
SMTP Mail message SMTP-level acknowledgement
E-mail connectivity
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5.1.1.5
Nokia MMS solution
Nokia’s goals in designing the network architecture have been: • Independence from actual transport, which is currently archived by the use WAP transport protocols • Independence from the network mechanisms (e.g. notifications) - use WAP push • Multiple network support for high speed networks: GSM, GPRS, WCDMA, TDMA, CDMA, ... Nokia’s MMS solution consists of a MSC Centre, and a set of optional network elements such as profile servers, legacy support, multimedia storage. (see also the figure below). Profile server
MAP interface for MNP
Cellular Network
Legacy support Multimedia storage Email smart push WAP GW
Multimedia voice messaging
PPG MMSC •WAPGWIF •Store & Forward •EAIF
Figure 26.
Nokia MMS network infrastructure
Nokia’s MMS Center supports the following basic functionalities: • • • • • • • • • •
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Basic messaging (MO, MT, AO, AT; e.g. AO=Application Originated) Addressing based on MSISDN or e-mail address Database storing Multiple recipient support Inter-MMS Center support Message barring support Desired delivery time Address hiding Number portability support Notifications and acknowledgements including message confirmation, message notification, and delivery report
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• • • • • • • • • • •
5.1.2
External Application Interface Alarm interface to NMS Centralised management Content adaptation In advance credit check (IACC) Internet mail gateway Mobile number portability with MAP interface Performance management Secured IP interfaces Subscriber database interface Application gateway (AGW) services, including Email smart push, legacy phone support, multimedia storage, and multimedia voice messaging.
Mobile Internet The introduction of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has shaped the mobile industry into the direction where mobile technology is combined with the Internet. The added value provided by Mobile Internet (as opposed to fixed Internet) could be summed up with four key words: •
Personalised
thus always relevant to me
•
Available
wherever I need it
•
Immediacy
information when I need
•
Real time
latest version, as it happens
The question to ask is: "What can I do with it?" The below figure gives an example of how the Mobile Internet can be used for a subscriber's life style. The categories of services can be divided into information and entertainment.
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BANKING & FINAN- LOCAL SERVICES CIAL SERVICES (CITY GUIDE)
NEWS
INFORMATION
§ General Headlines § Financial & Business § Politics § Tabloids § Culture & Entertainment § Sports § Lottery
MUSIC ENTERTAINTMENT
§ Ringtones § Short clips (e.g. MP3)
§ Stock indexes § Stock prices § Metal prices § Stock alert § Currency rates § Interest rates § Account balance § Credit/debit balance § Cheque balance § Money transfers § Bill payments § Automatic call § Account status flash § Stock purchase § Financial products purchase
TV
LIFESTYLE
§ Taxi § Restaurants § Cinema § Theatres § Concerts § Exhibitions § Night Clubs § Emergency services § Pharmacies § Household assistance § Weather § Time § Directory services § ATM Locator
FUN
§ Program§ Gastronomy § Jokes me schedules § Hobbies § Sayings § Highlights § Fashion § Dream analysis § Parties
Figure 27.
BUY & SELL § Classifieds - Cars - Properties - Jobs Auctions § § Shopping - Small daily items - Specific promotions § Tickets
CHATS
PICTURES
§ Topic specific § Private
§ Icons § Logos § Photos § Postcards
Special Interest
TRAVEL § Traffic (traffic jams, radar, control,…) § Public transportation § Navigation services § Train schedules § Flight schedules § Hotels § Holiday packages
GAMES § Puzzles § Quizzes § “Tamagotchi” § Games § Gambling/Betting
§ Mobile telephones § Internet sites and services § Computers and hardware § Automobile
ASTROLOGY § § § §
Mobile Internet services
As mentioned previously in this module, there is a misconception that these services are only introduced in UMTS. However, there is nothing limiting the operator/content provider in introducing these services today. Although in circuit switched networks there are limitations in terms of speed and connection set-up. The advantage of GPRS should overcome, or reduce, these limitations. Student Self-Task: I-mode is a mobile Internet protocol introduced in Japan by NTT DoCoMo. What is I-mode?
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DATING
Horoscopes § Chats Astrolove § Dating Biorhythm services Specific Horoscopes
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5.1.2.1
Nokia Mobile Internet solution
The Nokia Mobile Internet concept is developed to support multimedia services that are location-aware and personalised. The concept is built on the mobility aspect of the mobile network and the enhanced performance of 3G network. Nokia Mobile Internet and Messaging Services concept includes the following products: •
Nokia Short Message Service Centre (SMSC)
•
Nokia Multimedia Message Service Centre (MMSC)
•
Nokia Messaging Platform
•
Nokia Profile Directory
•
Nokia MAX Platform (Portal platform)
Profile Directory
MAX Platform
Personalization
NMP Information Retrieval
Content
Location Server
MMSC
Location based service
SMSC
Person to person messaging Mobile network
Figure 28.
Internet/Intranet SMSC =Short Message Service Center MMSC =Multimedia Message Service Center NMP = Nokia Messaging Platform
Nokia Mobile Internet and Messaging Services concept
In the above figure person-to-person messaging is achieved through the use of the messaging centres. WAP access is made through the NMP server to the Internet. If the subscriber is using a location-based service, the information on the subscriber's location can be retrieved. With the choice of so many services, it is important that the operator and the subscriber are able to personalise the environment. This is made through the profile directory and MAX platform.
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Potential applications
5.1.3
Mobile Business (mBusiness) Businesses were early to identify the efficiency and productivity gains provided by mobile communications. It is expected that similar benefits and high usage will be realised when IP and mobility are combined with quality of service and bandwidth in UMTS. Improved connectivity to the enterprises' systems and information will enable use of enterprise management solutions to the business user on the move. These solutions include customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), business to business commerce and market place management applications. Additionally, telemetric applications will be exploded with ready access to the resources of the business wherever they may be physically located. A key requirement in providing these enhanced connectivity services and management solutions will be transaction security, access and authorisation management, mobility localisation, voice-data convergence and synchronisation. Nokia is developing all the enabling elements to address these requirements. To support enterprise solutions and new customer groups, the networks need to evolve to support enterprise connectivity and communication. This means closer integration between the core network and the corporate network. An example of this could be fleet management, where a delivery company is able to manage its vehicles' communication and location through the network. Examples of mBusiness solutions
If we take another example from before of telematics, where a vending machine (e.g. sweets) supplier is able to track supply information about the goods in each of their machines. The Nokia core network is already evolving to support such concepts.
5.1.4
Mobile commerce (mCommerce) Nokia believes that mobile phones will become the personal trusted device that enables mobile commerce. With UMTS, the type and variety of mobile commerce transactions increases significantly, becoming a way of life for every day needs. Some examples of every day needs are local payments, online banking, music purchases and downloads, as well as ticketing. Also advertising will become an important part of overall mCommerce. Trust of brand for providing the mobile commerce service together with transaction security are two essential factors ensuring the acceptance and growth of mobile commerce. Nokia's mobile commerce solution addresses the three key elements of secure transactions:
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Confidentiality, meaning those contents of the transaction can not be seen by any outsider.
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Integrity, meaning that the parties performing the transaction can be sure of that the other party is the one he/she claims.
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Irrevocability, meaning that either party after performing the transaction can not claim the transaction has not been performed.
Music downloading
Loyalty cards
Application downloading Vending Machine
Auction
Transportation
Ticketing
Multi Media Kiosk
Online banking
Local payments
Online payments Local
Figure 29.
5.2
Online
Examples of where mCommerce could be used
Potential applications utilising the UMTS packet switched service One of the main reasons for the implementation of UMTS networks is the anticipated demand for data services. This chapter presents different types of packet switched services and some of the main requirements for these. Voice over IP
The most well known use of voice telecommunication is telephony speech (e.g. GSM), but with Internet and multimedia, a number of new applications will require this scheme, for example voice over IP and video conferencing tools. Real-time conversation is always performed between peers (or groups) of live (human) end-users. This is the only scheme where the required characteristics are strictly given by human perception (the senses).
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Voice and video over IP
Videophone implies a full-duplex system, carrying both video and audio, and is intended for use in a conversational environment. As such, the same delay requirements as for conversational voice will apply in principle, with the added requirement that the audio and video must be synchronised within certain limits to provide 'lip-synch' (that is, synchronisation of the speaker’s lips with the words being heard by the end-user). In fact, due to the long delays in even the latest video codecs, it will be difficult to meet these requirements. Once again, the human eye is tolerant to some loss of information, so that some degree of packet loss is acceptable depending on the specific video coder and amount of error protection used. It is expected that the latest video codecs will provide acceptable video quality with frame erasure rates up to about 1%.
Figure 30.
Video telephony
Data
Although there may be some exceptions, as a general rule it is assumed that from a user point of view, a prime requirement for any data transfer application is to essentially guarantee zero loss of information. At the same time, delay variation is not applicable. The applications, therefore, tend to distinguish themselves on the basis of the delay that can be tolerated by the end user from the time the source content is requested until it is presented to the user. Web browsing
In this category, we will refer to retrieving and viewing the HTML component of a web page. Other components (e.g. images, audio/video clips) are dealt with under their separate categories. From the user point of view, the main performance factor is how fast a page appears after it has been requested.
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A value of 2 - 4 seconds per page is proposed. However, improvements on these figures to a target figure of 0.5 seconds would be desirable. Interactive games
Requirements for interactive games are obviously very dependent on the specific game, but it is clear that demanding applications will require very short delays, and a value of 250 ms is recommended consistent with demanding interactive applications. High-priority transaction services (E-commerce)
The main performance requirement here is to provide a sense of immediacy to the user that the transaction is proceeding smoothly. A value of 2 - 4 seconds is suggested to be acceptable to most users. Two-way control telemetry
Two-way control telemetry is included here as an example of a data service that requires a real-time streaming performance. Two-way control implies a low allowed delay. A value of 250 ms is proposed, but a key difference between the voice and video services in this category is the zero information loss tolerance, needed when for instance controlling important industrial processes. E-mail (server access)
E-mail is generally thought to be a store and forward service, which in principle can tolerate very long delays. It is important, however, to differentiate between communications between the user and the local e-mail server and server-toserver transfer. When the user communicates with the local mail server, there is an expectation that the mail will be transferred quite rapidly, although not necessarily instantaneously. Consistent with the research findings on delay tolerance for web browsing, a requirement of 2 - 4 seconds is proposed.
Figure 31.
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Voice messaging and dictation
Requirements for information loss are essentially the same as for conversational voice, but the key difference here is that there is more tolerance for delay since there is no direct conversation involved. The main issue therefore is how much delay can be tolerated between the user issuing a command to replay a voice message and the actual start of the audio. There is no precise data on this, but a delay on the order of a few seconds appears reasonable. SMS via packet
An example in this category is Short Message Service (SMS). 30 seconds is proposed as an acceptable delivery delay value. Point-to-multipoint, multicast via SGSN
When the user is looking at (listening to) video (audio), the scheme streams apply. The real-time data flow is always aiming at a live (human) destination. It is a one-way transport called unidirectional continuous stream. This scheme is one of the newcomers in data communication, raising a number of new requirements in both telecommunication and datacommunication systems.
5.3
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Audio streaming is expected to provide better quality than conventional telephony, and requirements for information loss in terms of packet loss will be correspondingly tighter. As with voice messaging, however, there is no conversational element involved and delay requirements can be relaxed, even more so than for voice messaging. An example of audio streaming is the web radio station.
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The main distinguishing feature of one-way video is that there is no conversational element involved, meaning that the delay requirement will not be so stringent, and can follow that of streaming audio. An example of one-way video is monitoring your home via the Internet.
Potential application utilising the UMTS circuit switched service (H.324) video call
This recommendation describes terminals for low-bit-rate multimedia communication, utilising V.34 modems operating over the General Switched Telephone Network (GSTN). H.324 terminals may carry real-time voice, data, and video, or any combination, including video telephony.
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Review questions Please take time and answer the following review questions: 1. Which of the following are UMTS services? a. cs data services b. Web browsing c. SMS d. speech call e. VoIP call f.
voice mail service
2. Identify “operator specific services” (OSS): a. cell broadcast service b. packet switched service c. SIM application toolkit (SAT) d. CAMEL 3. (U)SAT specifies open application programming interfaces between a. SIM and ME b. SIM and a remote application server c. SIM and SCP d. ME and RNC 4. WAP/WTA was developed to a. support exclusively MexE b. to design and program application locally on the ME c. to allow interaction between the SCP and the ME d. to support radio interface protocols. 5. The abbreviation OSA stands for Open Systems Architecture. True
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6. Which of the following sentences best describes a bearer? a. A traffic channel only for speech b. A signalling connection between the core network and the radio access c. A variable channel that can carry different types of data d. A fixed-bit-rate data channel 7. VHE is the abbreviation for Virtual Home Environment. Which of the following is, or will be, a characteristic of the VHE (more than one)? a. Allows the subscribers to use their services whilst roaming. b. The subscribers can customise their own environment. c. It is the same as a SMSC (Short Message Service Centre). d. VHE is possible because of CAMEL. e. VHE is located within the HLR. f.
It is only possible in UMTS.
8. Location Services a. can be offered only in combination with a subscription to basic telecommunication services b. are a prerequisite for roaming c. used for determining the position of the mobile terminal d. and Location Based Services have the same meaning
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Further information The specifications give detailed information on how services should be implemented into the network. The service classification of Release 2000 can be found from Specification 22.976. The below figure is taken directly from the specification and identifies where to find information on the types of services that have been covered in this module.
Supplementary services (22.004)
IP multimedia services
Value added non-call related services
Toolkits: Circuit teleservices
(e.g. eMail,MMS, WWW, News, etc…)
(22.003) Telephony FAX SMS
GPRS (22.060)
Figure 32.
Other Bearer services SMS,UUS, USSD
CAMEL MExE SIM ATK OSA LCS "Internet tools" SoLSA etc...
Circuit Bearer services (22.002)
Service classification, taken from Specification 22.976
In addition to the bearer description in the above figure, for more information on the VHE, refer to 22.970. This gives the overview of the specification and is useful in locating detailed information. For information on the wireless protocols of SAT and MExE, refer to the stage 1 (overview) specifications of 22.038 and 22.057 respectively. If you are interested in finding out more information on the supplementary services, the stage 1 specifications can be found in the range starting from 22.072 until 22.097 inclusive. Stage 2 and stage 3 (implementation and technical realisation) can be found from the specifications, but the stage 1 should give you a start on how to find the desired information. Finally, if you wish to read more about the UMTS service principles and service capabilities, then we recommend references to 22.101 and 22.105. At the time, there is little literature in the general media about services. Remember to check the Nokia web site (www.Nokia.com) for the latest information.
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