A Consumer Premises End User Interface for OSA/Parlay Applications
Date
2007-02-16T13:09:12Z
Authors
Machethe, Thabo
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Abstract
The NGN is a multi-service network which inter-works with the Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN), the voice network and the data network provided by
Internet. Through network independent APIs such as OSA-Parlay, the NGN slowly
migrates and converges Telecoms and IT networks, voice and Internet, into a common
packet infrastructure. The OSA/Parlay group defines a softswitch architecture which
provides network independent APIs or SCFs that enable cross network application
development The Parlay softswitch provides connectivity to underlying transport
networks for application providers. The standard specifies the interaction between
application providers and the softswitch. However, the standard does not specify an
interface to regulate the interaction between service providers and the consumer/end user
domain. This means that applications housed in the service provider domain have no
defined interfaces to manage service delivery to the consumer domain. For most service
providers, the lack of a non-standardized API set impedes efforts to decrease application
creation and deployment time. This research investigates the design and implementation
of a standard consumer interface which can be used by application providers within an
OSA/Parlay system to deliver service content to end users. The main objectives with
regard to the functionality provided by the interface include the integration of facilities
which will assist application providers to manage end user access and authentication (to
enable users to establish a secure context for service usage), subscription (to handle the
subscription life cycle), and service usage management (to enable the initiation and
termination of services). The TINA-Consortium (TINA-C) has developed a service
architecture to support the creation and provisioning of services in the NGN. The TINA
architecture offers a comprehensive set of concepts and principles that can be used in the
design of NGN services. The architecture consists of a set of reusable and interoperable
service components encapsulating a rich and well defined set of APIs aimed at supporting
the interaction between application providers and consumers. TINA’s session concepts,
information structures, interfaces and service components can be used to support the
design of a consumer premises end user interface for OSA/Parlay. This research also
aims to explore the feasibility of using the TINA API within an OSA/Parlay system to
support consumer domain service delivery. In order to implement the consumer interface
for Parlay applications, the ability of the TINA service architecture to provide Access and
Authentication management; Subscription and Profile management; and Service Usage
management was investigated. The report documents the design and implementation of
an OSA/Parlay consumer interface utilizing TINA service components and interfaces.
Description
Student Number : 9812990V -
MSc project report -
School of Electrical Engineering -
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Keywords
NGN, multi-service network, Public Switched Telephone Network, PSTN, IT networks, TINA-Consortium, Parlay applications