IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS); Multimedia Telephony; Media handling and interaction
The present document specifies a client for the Multimedia Telephony Service for IMS (MTSI) supporting conversational speech (including DTMF), video and text transported over RTP, and flexible data channel handling, with the scope to deliver a user experience equivalent to or better than that of Circuit Switched (CS) conversational services using the same amount of network resources. It defines media handling (e.g. signalling, transport, jitter buffer management, packet-loss handling, adaptation), as well as interactivity (e.g. adding or dropping media during a call). The focus is to ensure a reliable and interoperable service with a predictable media quality, while allowing for flexibility in the service offerings.
The present document describes two client types:
- An MTSI client in terminal which uses a 3GPP access (NR, LTE, HSPA, or EGPRS) to connect to the IMS. These clients are described in Clauses 5 – 17 and Annexes A – M.
- An MTSI client in terminal which uses a fixed access (corded interface, fixed-wireless interface, e.g. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or DECT/NG DECT) to connect to the IMS. These clients are described in Clause 18.
MTSI clients using 3GPP access and MTSI clients using fixed access have many common procedures for the media handling. This specification aligns the media handling by using cross references whenever possible. This does not mean that 3GPP terminals must support fixed access, nor does it mean that fixed terminals must support 3GPP access.
The scope includes maintaining backward compatibility in order to ensure seamless inter-working with existing services available in the CS domain, such as CS speech and video telephony, as well as with terminals of earlier 3GPP releases. In addition, inter-working with other IMS and non-IMS IP networks as well as traditional PSTN is covered.
The client may also support the IMS Messaging service and Group 3 facsimile transmission. The scope therefore also includes media handling for non-conversational media using MSRP and UDPTL-based Facsimile over IP (FoIP).
The specification is written in a forward-compatible way in order to allow additions of media components and functionality in releases after Release 7.
NOTE 1: MTSI clients can support more than conversational speech, video and text, which is the scope of the present document. See TS 22.173 [2] for the definition of the Multimedia Telephony Service for IMS.
NOTE 2: TS 26.235 [3] and TS 26.236 [4] do not include the specification of an MTSI client, although they include conversational multimedia applications. Only those parts of TS 26.235 [3] and TS 26.236 [4] that are specifically referenced by the present document apply to Multimedia Telephony Service for IMS.
NOTE 3: The present document was started as a conclusion from the study in TR 26.914 [5] on optimization opportunities in Multimedia Telephony for IMS (TR 22.973 [6]).
NOTE 4: For ECN, the present specification assumes that an interface enables the MTSI client to read and write the ECN field. This interface is outside the scope of this specification.