| TSG CT | TSG SA | TSG RAN | TSG GERAN
Previous Highlights: TSG#33
|
TSG#32 |
TSG#31
|
TSG#30
|
TSG#29 |
TSG#28 | TSG#27 |
TSG#26 |
TSG#25 |
TSG#24 |
TSG#23 | TSG#22
TSG#21 | TSG#20 | TSG#19
| TSG#16
| TSG#15
Welcome to the latest edition of TSG Highlights! The aim is to provide you with a concise summary of the decisions and actions of the most recent 3GPP Technical Specification Group meetings held in September2006 in Palm Springs, USA.
3GPP has four TSGs: CT (Core Networks and Terminals); RAN (Radio Access Network); SA (Services and Systems Aspects) and GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network).
Please note, these summaries do not constitute formal, approved reports of the meetings – they are opinions only and also may not be complete. They are offered for guidance only.
The meeting was held in Budapest, Hungary from 29 November to 1st of December 2006.
All WGs are at least as busy as before
CT1 breaks the record in number of documents in every meeting
meeting calendar is already full
parallel session are needed but all documents are handled
CT4 is treating more documents than before
additional meetings are being scheduled
parallel session are needed to cover all documents
CT3, CT5 and CT6 meet once in each plenary period
CT5 has joint meetings with Parlay group and ETSI OSA
CT5 will make an interim TS update for March 2007
CT6 is co-located with the other CT WGs when possible
No changes were made on R99
SIM test case corrections (TEI)
Several TC corrections
CSsplit and Mc interface
Clarification on encoding of bearer capability IE in the PLMN BC
ASN.1 encoding rules allow both definite and indefinite form and as the sender is allowed to use either, the receiver shall support both also for binary H.248
MGW shall provide a time based Frame Number IE
Clarification that RTP timestamp shall not be relied upon for timing of source sampling instant
CS data
FNUR (Fixed Network User Rate) and WAIUR (Wanted Air Interface User Rate) both allow operator tuning of traffic class parameter. The configurability is restricted to choice between “streaming” and "conversational
Rel-5 CR count is 48 % down since the previous CT plenary
Corrections were made on the following work items:
IMS
Corrections to SDP reference and clarification that the HSS shall provide the name of the S-CSCF in UAA and the definition of service indication
CSsplit and Mc interface
Changes in handover call flow procedure
In Change flow direction procedure a command is only required if termination functionality changes
Rel-6 CR count is 7 % down since the previous CT
Corrections were made on the following work items:
Still 15 corrections on IMS phase 2, with some more to follow
Several changes on IMS Presence to align 3GPP specification with the IETF progress in their presence work
Just one Security related change to remove an outdated editor’s note incorrectly claiming that a used content type has not been registered with IANA
17 corrections to OSA, several TSs for information and for approval
Several MBMS corrections including allowing MBMS counting and PTP allocation procedures to be used also in MBMS broadcast mode
3 message encoding corrections for Mn-interface
10 corrections on WLAN
The encoding of Framed-IPv6-Prefix aligned with RFC 3162 for flow-based charging
ACBOP CRs to complete the currently known open items
Several TEI corrections on USIM, CAMEL, Location Services, CSSPLIT, Gi interface
Rel-7 CR count is 6 % up since the previous CT plenary
Active IMS related work items:
Multimedia telephony service in IMS (MTSI)
IMS emergency calls
Combinational services (CSI)
CSI terminating session handling
System enhancements for fixed broadband (FBI)
Stage 3 IETF protocol alignment
Enhancements of VGCS for public authority officials
Mp-interface (MRFC – MRFP)
Multimedia interworking between IMS and CS
GRUU
Identification of communication services in IMS
SMS over IP
Active non-IMS work items:
Diameter on the Gi interface
Diameter on the Wi interface
WLAN-UMTS interworking
Private network access from WLAN
3GPP – WLAN interworking in QoS
OSA 7
MT SMS
Voice call continuity (VCC)
Interoperability between VGCS/VBS and A/Gb flexibility
Network selection enhancements
Interworking between 3GPP CS BICC/ISUP networks and external SIP-I networks
High speed interface between UICC and ME
Various TEI-7 items
Single home for common IMS specifications
3GPP – TISPAN WG level IMS SS ad hoc meeting could not agree whether TISPAN or 3GPP copy of the IMS SS should be kept, so updates were made on both to align the protocol requirements
OP IMS ad hoc meeting is expected to make a decision
High speed UICC interface
ETSI SCP liaised to CT in CP-060692 their choice of USB as the UICC high speed interface architecture
CT noted the decision and asked for confirmation for the assumption that the old and the new interface do not need to be run concurrently
Several ME manufacturers raised their concern on technical problems mainly in interference and UE vs. ME testing
CT6 and RAN4 are expected to address the identified possible problems
The first Rel-8 CRs were approved in work item enhancements for VGCS applications
TSG RAN meeting #34 took place in Hungary,
Budapest. The meeting started at 9:00 on Tuesday 28th November and finished on
Friday 01st December at 13.00. 145 participants attended the meeting and 219
documents were submitted.
The approved Change Requests (CRs) to TSG RAN
specifications are summarized in the following table and figure:
|
Release |
WG1 |
WG2 |
WG3 |
WG4 |
WG5 |
TSG RAN |
Total |
|
Release 99 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Rel-4 CRs (Rel-4 excluding Cat A) |
0 (0) |
2 (0) |
0 (0) |
2 (1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
4 (1) |
|
Rel-5 CRs (Rel-5 excluding Cat A) |
0 (0) |
5 (3) |
0 (0) |
5 (3) |
24 (24) |
0 (0) |
34 (30) |
|
Rel-6 CRs (Rel-6 excluding Cat A) |
2 (2) |
23 (18) |
17 (17) |
9 (4) |
200 (200) |
1 (1) |
252 (242) |
|
Rel-7 CRs (Rel-7 excluding Cat A) |
2 (0) |
36 (13) |
45(28) |
24 (15) |
42 (42) |
1 (0) |
150 (98) |
|
Total CRs (Total excluding Cat A) |
4 (2) |
68 (36) |
62 (45) |
41 (24) |
266 (266) |
2 (1) |
443 (374) |
In RAN WG1/WG2/WG3/WG4, Change Requests are mainly dedicated to corrections, mainly on FDD Enhanced Uplink. Most of the Release 6 Change requests are dedicated to testing (200 out of 242).
On the Gaming WI, a reply LS to the previous LS
from OMA was sent, indicating that requirements from the current releases can
meet the OMA indicated requirements.
The LS from TSG SA on the Workshop on LTE GSM Handovers was received. A proposed
agenda was drafted in order to be presented to the SA the following week.
There were various LSs received from CT, RAN and SA Working Groups in reply to
the LS from TSG SA on the 3G Long Term Evolution. This was reviewed as part on
the work on the subject. For MBMS LTE, an LS from SA1 indicating service
requirements was received. SA4 was asked in an LS on the duration time remaining
for the radio.
An LS was received from RAN WG2 with regards to the UE Performance related to
cell/PLMN reselection. TSG RAN WG4 was requested to investigate the subject,
together with the support of TSG RAN WG2.
A reply
LS to ITU-R WP8A & WP8F on PDN Report ITU-R M.[IP CHAR] (co-written with TSG CT)
was sent to the SA for endorsement. The group has reviewed the document and has
no concern on the decisions of WP8A & WP8F. The parts of the document relevant
to 3GPP technologies are stable and complete for approval.
The Update Submission for UTRA FDD and TDD toward Revision 7 of Recommendation
ITU-R M.1457 (ITU-R Ad Hoc) was approved. The proposed Initial Submission for 'complete'
update of UTRA FDD & TDD in Rev. 8 of Rec. ITU-R M.1457 was approved.
The updated information on the Roadmap was presented and approved.
The two Work Items on Additional minimum UE
performance requirement for downlink physical channels in support of [MTCH and
MCCH] and [E-DCH] operations based on type 1 enhanced receiver (Rx-Diversity)
were completed.
The Work Item on Extended UMTS 1.7/2.1 GHz was completed.
The Work Item on Optimisation of channelisation code utilisation for 1.28 Mcps
TDD was completed.
The Work Item on Improved support of gaming over HSDPA/EDCH was stopped, as no
further work is needed since no further requirements were identified.
The Work Item on 7.68 Mcps TDD Enhanced Uplink was completed.
The Work Item on Extended WCDMA Cell Range was completed.
The Study Item on Improvement of the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service
(MBMS) in UTRAN was completed.
Conformance tests:
- The WIs on IMS Call Control (Release 5), UE conformance testing for FDD
Inter-Band Operation and TDD HSDPA testing (for 3.84 Mcps) were completed.
Work is progressing well on all aspects not linked
with the TSG SA WG2 decision. Decision on the MME/UPE split will allow to
progress the related work.
There will be a workshop on LTE GSM Handovers on the 10-11 January 2007,
Sophia-Antipolis, France.
LTE testing: work is expected to ramp up on the second half of 2007. Target for
completion is March 2008.
The testing budget for RAN/GERAN is 58 men month in total, 53 of them being
for the for the RAN testing. 37 are lacking, so contributions for support for
TTCN testing are invited.
The Release 7 deadline has been decided as March 2007. As a consequence,
exceptions to keep/include items in the Rel-7 would have to be requested for the
next meeting in March, up to June 2007
The RAN elections will be in happen in March 2007. The RAN WGs elections will
happen in August 2007.
The RAN5/GERAN potential impact due to the 3GPP/TISPAN merge was discussed. This
would impact the work load of RAN5/GERAN. Board members of respective companies
may be contacted for this issue.
That was the last RAN meeting of Yoshikazu Ishii-san, who has served two years
and a half as Technical Officer within ETSI MCC. All wished him a very warm
farewell and a nice future back in his company. Companies are asked to
investigate again for a possible replacement for him.
Three new Work Tasks were created, associated with
the Study Item on Future FDD HSPA Evolution:
- 64QAM for HSDPA.
- Improved L2 support for high data rates
- Higher Order Modulation in HSUPA.
MBMS FDD Physical layer Enhancements (Work Item Description approved in
principle, completion dates and scope to be reviewed by the Working Groups).
MBMS TDD Physical layer Enhancements (Work Item Description approved in
principle, completion dates and scope to be reviewed by the Working Groups).
A new WI on Extended UMTS 1.7/2.1 GHz testing was created.
TSG SA#34 (4 - 7 December 2006, Budapest, Hungary)
The joint meeting (27-28 November 2006) between TISPAN WGs and 3GPP WGs resulted in a short term decision to maintain parallel Stage 3 specifications for IMS multimedia telephony services. Such a working arrangement is not optimal and it was noted that there are ongoing efforts at the PCG/OP level to investigate possibilities for transferring IMS related work in TISPAN into 3GPP to avoid situations such as this.
As a result of the latest IMS Workshop, options for opening up the IMS requirements process are also being looked at. This work is being done by the IMS OP Ad-Hoc of which the CT and SA chair are members. The TSG SA chair will endeavour to keep TSG SA informed of the progress of this activity.
It was decided not to delay any SA WG elections as it was unclear when the OP level recommendations (if any) would become effective.
SA WG2 requested that TSG SA resolve a deadlock between two competing SAE architectures. After extensive discussion, guidance was given to SA WG2 in the form of documents SP-060925 and SP-060926. This provides a compromise architecture as well as guidance on how to structure work between the 3GPP and non-3GPP accesses. Although these documents capture the consensus of SA, some companies felt that the consensus obtained regarding functionality of the 5a interface was too weak. However, SA WG2 still has many key architectural issues to address as documented in the endorsed SAE work plan (SP-060937).
A (TSG SA organised) Workshop on LTE GSM Handovers is planned for January 10-11 (SP-060894). SA WG1 input is provided to the workshop (SP-060853).
Some other specific decisions by the TSG SA plenary were:
A proposal to introduce Operator Determined Barring (ODB) for IMS in Rel‑7 was rejected as being new functionality. There were concerns that requirement was not sufficiently clear to drive the Stage 2 and Stage 3 work. This new functionality may be considered for Rel‑8. ODB for I-WLAN was however re-introduced into Rel‑7 since it now seems possible to provide this functionality in the Rel‑7 timeframe.
The study on GSM Direct Mode Operation (DMO) was not agreed (SP-060784). SA WG1 is requested to provide additional clarification on the scope and frequency bands targeted for this work as well as identifying key regulatory issues and liaise with GERAN WGs on the implications of this work.
It was agreed that Stage 3 work on Personal Network Management (PNPAN) can proceed in TSG CT since it has been difficult to identify any architectural impacts. The CT WGs are requested to inform SA WG2 of any architectural issues they identify (SP-060920).
TSG CT wishes to retain support of conferencing floor control in Rel‑7. Protocol support of conferencing policy does not seem possible. SA WG1 should ensure that there is requirement alignment with the Rel‑7 Stage 3 requirements.
A working assumption was taken that LTE access using 2G SIMs shall be prohibited. Companies are asked to bring in arguments to the contrary by TSG SA#35. Otherwise prohibition of LTE for users with 2G SIMs shall be taken as a requirement.
It was agreed that support of HTTP Digest should be documented in “Coexistence between TISPAN and 3GPP Authentication Schemes” since there are coexistence issues and it is clearly documented that HTTP Digest is not applicable to 3GPP access networks.
It was noted that SA WG4 has reached a compromise on Dynamic and Interactive Multimedia Scenes (DIMS) that combines the best from the LASeR and MORE candidates.
SA WG1, SA WG2, and CT WG4 are requested to provide feedback on the SA WG5 Common Profile Storage (CPS) Framework (SP-060929).
It was agreed that a WID for subscriber identification to support MVNOs (SP-060927) should be more properly led by SA WG5 instead of SA WG1 since SA WG1 work on this issue appears complete. Further discussion of this WID should occur in SA WG5
SIP based IMS trace is not progressing and again needs to be moved out of the current release (Rel‑7). The critical dependency is work in the IETF where some resistance to the concept is expected. SA WG5 is asked to ensure that there continues to be support for this work item in Rel‑8 with the understanding that supporting companies will need to actively push this item in IETF.
The LS endorsing the ITU-R M.[IP.CHAR] recommendation was endorsed by TSG SA (SP-060886). In consultation with ITU-T SG19 leadership, it was agreed that the production of Q.1741.5 (Rel‑7 specs) should be based upon the September 2007 specifications. This aligns with the proposed production of RAN input into M.1457.8.
March 2007 (May 2007 for TSG GERAN) continues to be the goal for freezing of Rel‑7. Stage 2 exceptions were granted for
PS domain and IMS impacts for supporting Emergency calls.
GPRS One Tunnel.
CSI Terminating Session Handling.
Study on IMS Enhancements and Optimisations.
LCS for I-WLAN.
SMS over IP.
LI for MBMS.
Mixed Mode of Bearer Control (does not imply SA endorsement of mixed mode).
Requests for Stage 3 exceptions should be documented using the template in SP-060939 and presented at SA#35. The overall work plan for 3GPP is documented in SP-060940.
TSG GERAN has several WIDs with expected completion dates that extend well beyond the proposed March Rel‑7 cut-off. It was agreed that GERAN will analyze these items and bring in recommendations for which release they should be part of into SA#35.
At SA#35, there we will attempt to set a freeze date for the Rel‑8 Stage 1 specifications.
Several issues related to working procedures were discussed:
MCC should not “improve” WG agreed CRs to make them more readable.
MCC shall clearly identify when the document in CR is different from the WG agreed version. The preferred way is to use a different WG document number.
It was agreed that CRs which are corrections to implementation errors shall have their source to Plenary marked as “MCC”.
Companies are asked to bring to TSG SA#35, any concerns they have with expanding the CR database to provide the “Source to WG” and “Source to Plenary” fields matching the CR cover sheets.
It was agreed that all SA WGs will transition to early allocation of CR numbers.
SP-060699 raises concerns about handling of alignment CRs. Discussion of modifications to the working procedures relating to this will be taken via e-mail (TSG SA list).
SP-060700 raises concerns about the release independence of WIDs and associated SIDs. Discussion of modifications to the working procedures relating to this will be taken via e-mail (TSG SA list).
TSG SA will introduce a few trial Rapporteur reports at TSG SA#35 to see if it helps to coordinate complex areas.
The following new TSs were approved: TS 22.278 Service Requirements for Evolution of the 3GPP System (SP-060783), a large number of O&M TSs in the 32.xxx series (SP-060736, SP-060740 – SP-060752), TS 33.110 Key Establishment between a UICC and a Terminal (SP-060807).
The following new TRs were approved: TR 22.982 Study of Customised Alerting Tones (CAT) Requirements (SP-060778) and TR 32.809 Study of XML-based (SOAP/HTTP) IRP Solution Sets (SP-060755).
Several new work items (WIDs) were approved: Notification XML Schema (SP-060754), Support of Customized Alerting Tone Service (SP-060779), LCS for 3GPP Interworking WLAN (SP-060818), Key Establishment between a UICC hosting device and a remote device (SP-060839), Support of Service-Level Interworking for Messaging Services (SP-060915), WLAN NSP (SP-060932), IMS Enhancements for Security Requirements in Support of Cable Deployments (SP-060933).
Several WIDs were updated: Subscription Management (SuM) IRP Solution Sets (SP-060739) – to add production of 32.665, Multimedia Priority Service Requirements (SP-060780) – editorial corrections, One Tunnel Solution for Optimisation of Packet Data Traffic (SP-060819) – to add a deployment guidelines TR, 3GPP System Architecture Evolution Specification (SP-060926) – to capture SA meeting agreements.
Several new study items (SIDs) were approved: Study of Management for LTE and SAE (SP-060753), Study on Value Added Services for Short Message Service (SP-060786), Non 3GPP Access NSP (SP-060930), Requirements for Seamless Roaming and Service Continuity between Mobile and WLAN Networks (SP-060936).
Several SIDs were updated: Study on Support of a Public Warning System (PWS) (SP-060781) – to indicate that requirements from other regions may differ, Paging Permission with Access Control (SP-060785) – to add TR number, Transferring of Emergency Call Data – In-band Modem Solution (SP-060935) – to add various clarifications to the scope.
Elections for TSG officials will occur in March 2007. The official announcement will be forthcoming from the MCC.
A seminar celebrating the 20 year anniversary of GSM will be held immediately following TSG SA#35.