IP Multimedia Subsystem Filtering for Dynamic Service Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing IP multimedia subsystems are limited in selecting and invoking multimedia services, relying solely on signaling messages for decision-making, which lacks flexibility and efficiency, especially when dealing with a plethora of available services and user mobility across different networks.
Innovation Solution
A control function, such as a serving call/session control function, is introduced to enhance filtering by considering both internal and external information, allowing dynamic selection of multimedia services based on user, group, or network criteria, including date, time, presence, location, and other external factors, and providing protocol adaptation for disparate networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If filtering criteria are based solely on internal signaling message information, then the system maintains simplicity in information processing, but the service selection flexibility and efficiency deteriorate due to inability to consider external factors like user location, time, and network conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The filtering criteria are segmented into internal information (from signaling messages) and external information (from separate sources like user profiles, network conditions, and location data). This segmentation allows the system to independently process and integrate different information types, improving service selection flexibility while managing complexity through modular information handling.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary filtering mechanism is introduced that sits between the signaling message and service invocation. This intermediary processes both internal signaling data and external contextual information, combining them to make intelligent service selection decisions. The intermediary abstracts the complexity of multi-source information integration while providing flexible service selection capabilities.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple multimedia services are made available across different networks, then the system provides greater service variety and user mobility support, but the provisioning overhead increases due to the need to manage and coordinate services across disparate networks
Solution Approach 1:
The filtering criteria mechanism is designed to be universal and network-agnostic. It can evaluate services from any network type (packet-switched, circuit-switched, different access networks) using the same external information sources and decision logic. This universality enables service variety across disparate networks while avoiding the need for network-specific provisioning mechanisms, thereby reducing provisioning overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes filtering parameters based on external information such as network type, user location, time of day, and service conditions. By adjusting these parameters dynamically rather than maintaining fixed network-specific configurations, the system achieves high service variety across different networks while minimizing provisioning overhead through adaptive parameter tuning.
3Measurement precision
If filtering criteria are defined on a per-user basis, then the service selection precision is improved, but the provisioning overhead increases due to the large number of individual filtering configurations required
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple filtering dimensions (user-specific criteria, group criteria, and network-level criteria) into a unified filtering framework. External information sources such as user profiles, group memberships, and network policies are combined and evaluated together against the signaling message. This merging approach maintains high service selection precision by considering user-specific factors while reducing provisioning overhead through shared group and network-level filtering configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a call/session control function in an Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem capable of providing enhanced filtering to select multimedia services to invoke upon processing a signaling message. In addition to analyzing internal information contained within the signaling message, external information can be used to identify multimedia services to invoke and when those multimedia services should be invoked. Upon receiving a signaling message, filtering criteria to apply for the signaling message is accessed. The filtering criteria define rules for invoking multimedia services. These rules will take into consideration external information, which is not found within the signaling message. The external information may relate to the date, time, presence information, location information, user information, group information, or network information. The external information may change dynamically, wherein different multimedia services may be invoked with the same signaling message if the external information changes.