Delayed TBF (GERAN improvements 4)

 

Acronym: GEIMP4

UID: 2324 and 2325

Main responsibility: GP

 

References for WI " GERAN improvements 4 (Delayed TBF) "

Document	Title/Contents
GP-010363	WI Description
Impacted Specifications
TS 44.060	Mobile Station (MS) - Base Station System (BSS) interface; Radio Link Control/ Medium Access Control (RLC/MAC) protocol.
New Dedicated Specifications
	None

 

GPRS RLC/MAC procedures were designed for non real-time data transfer where the data arrives as one large block. However, the true nature of packet traffic is usually different from this assumption. Typically there is a considerable amount of interactive message exchange between client and the server before the actual data transfer may begin and even during the data transfer. For example in the IMAP email protocol (commonly used to access mail server) the client generates a lot of requests to the server and typically the next request is sent only after receiving response for the previous request. This kind of a behaviour, which is common for many applications, leads to a high number of Temporary Block Flow (TBF) establishments and releases. The current procedures for establishment and releases were felt not sufficient; consequently, the resource utilization would be far from optimal, transmission delays unnecessary long and the load on the common control channels increased. This feature solves the problem of frequent TBF establishments and improve (E)GPRS Release 4 performance by:

1. Enhancing the RLC/MAC behavior in case of typical IP applications (e.g. e-mail, HTTP, FTP);

2. Reducing the number of TBF establishments caused by interactive client-server message exchange; this would in turn reduce the delay in signalling and data transfer;

3. Reducing the load on common control channels.

 

The following Stage 3 changes were included in 44.060:

· Definition of enhanced countdown procedure

· Definition of enhanced TBF release procedure

· Definition of USF=FREE type polling mechanism on PDCH

 

Note that the mobile station shall support in Release 4 the "extended uplink Temporary Block Flow (TBF)" mode (as part of the GERAN Feature Package 1).

In extended uplink TBF mode, the uplink TBF may be maintained during temporary inactive periods, where the mobile station has no Radio Link Control (RLC) information to send. The network determines the release of the uplink TBF.

Other aspects

8.1 Rel-4 Charging and OAM&P

 

Acronym: OAM

UID: 401142

Main responsibility: SA5

 

References for WI "Rel-4 Charging and OAM&P"

Document	Title/Contents
SP-000524	SA5 proposed Work-Plan & Work Items for Release 4. It contains the following WIDs:
S5-000569	WID for Feature: UTRAN Operations and Maintenance procedures (UOAM)
S5-000570	WID for Feature: Charging and OAM&P (OAM)
S5-000571	WID for BB: Principles, high level Requirements and Architecture (OAM-AR)
S5-000572	WID for BB: Configuration Management (OAM-CM)
S5-000573	WID for BB: Fault Management (OAM-FM)
S5-000574	WID for BB: Performance Management (OAM-PM)
S5-000575	WID for BB: Charging Management (OAM-CH)
Impacted Specifications
32.101	Telecommunication management; Principles and high level requirements
32.102	Telecommunication management; Architecture
	On Telecommunication management; Fault Management:
32.111-1	Part 1: 3G fault management requirements
32.111-2	Part 2: Alarm Integration Reference Point (IRP): Information Service
32.111-3	Part 3: Alarm IRP: CORBA Solution Set
32.111-4	Part 4: Alarm IRP: CMIP Solution Set
New Dedicated Specifications
On Telecommunication management; Charging management
32.200	Charging principles
32.205	Charging data description for the Circuit Switched (CS) domain
32.215	Charging data description for the Packet Switched (PS) domain
32.235	Charging data description for application services
	On Telecommunication management; Configuration Management (CM);
32.300	Name convention for Managed Objects
	Notification IRP series:
32.301	Requirements
32.302	Information Service
32.303	CORBA Solution Set
32.304	CMIP Solution Set
	Generic IRP management series:
32.311	Requirements
32.312	Information Service
	On Telecommunication management; Performance Management (PM);
32.401	Concept and requirements
52.402	Performance measurements - GSM
32.403	Performance measurements - UMTS and combined UMTS/GSM
	On Telecommunication management; Configuration Management (CM):
32.600	Concept and high-level requirements
	Basic CM IRP series:
32.601	Requirements
32.602	Information Service
32.603	CORBA Solution Set
32.604	CMIP Solution Set
	Bulk CM IRP series:
32.611	Requirements
32.612	Information Service
32.613	CORBA Solution Set
32.614	CMIP Solution Set
32.615	XML file format definition
	Generic network resources IRP series:
32.621	Requirements
32.622	Information Service
32.623	CORBA Solution Set
32.624	CMIP Solution Set
	Core network resources IRP series:
32.631	Requirements
32.632	Network Resource Model (NRM)
32.633	CORBA Solution Set
32.634	CMIP Solution Set
	UTRAN network resources IRP series:
32.641	Requirements
32.642	Network Resource Model (NRM)
32.643	CORBA Solution Set
32.644	CMIP Solution Set
	GERAN network resources IRP series:
32.651	Requirements
32.652	Network Resource Model (NRM)
32.653	CORBA Solution Set
32.654	CMIP Solution Set
	Others
32.800	Management level procedures and interaction with UTRAN

 

 

The objective of Release 4 Charging and OAM&P (Operation, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning, also called OAM) is to continue progressing the framework to be followed by all 3GPP TSGs and WGs dealing with 3G Systems' Telecom Management (e.g. SA5, RAN O&M, GERAN O&M, etc.).

 

OAM and Charging both provide interfaces, with appropriate functions, to operators’ Operational Support Systems (OSS) and back-office systems for the purpose of planning, provisioning and monitoring of services, subscribers and network entities as well as charging and billing.

 

The figure below shows the relationship between the OSS and the monitored components, which are the elements of the “3GPP Network”: the terminals (T), the Radio Access Network (RAN), the GSM EDGE RAN (GERAN) and the Core Network (CN). The aim of this feature is to have OAM&P and Charging interfaces as common as possible.

 

Overview of OAM and Charging: Domain and Flows