The development of a structured approach to service provisioning in a parlay environment

Abstract

ABSTRACT The environment in which services are provisioned in existing networks has a number of shortcomings. Neither the service domain nor the services therein have a standardised structure. Signalling between terminals and services uses network protocols that are inappropriately oriented towards bearer management. The control of bearer connections, and the view of call states, is maintained in the network layer, making bearer management difficult and limited. A service-centric service provisioning environment is proposed, which advocates a structured service domain, and a structured approach to service development and provisioning. A direct communication path between terminals and services at the application layer, that utilises high-level, service-oriented protocols, is proposed. Control of the call / session layer and the bearer network, and view of connection states is relocated to the application layer, facilitating bearer manipulation by services located in the service domain. It is shown that the capabilities and features of services provisioned in the proposed service provisioning environment are of a greater range, more advanced and more complex. It is also shown that the proposed service provisioning environment brings about potential efficiency gains for the initiation of 2-party calls, and significant efficiency gains for the initiation of multiparty calls.