Provision of unified IN functionality in the context of IMS

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) represents an attempt for networks convergence, allowing users of rich-content applications to communicate through any access network type. In the near future, IMS is expected to give operators and content providers the flexibility to exploit a multitude of new communication applications in a harmonized communication environment of heterogeneous IP networks. However, despite its merits, the standardization process of IMS networks is lagging behind, leaving harmonization issues of services provisioning, open. In this effort, main hindering factor is the existence of similar implementations customized per network technology. Particularly in what concerns the Intelligent Network (IN) services, these are provided in mobile networks by CAMEL (Customised Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic) and in fixed networks by INAP (IN Application Part). With regard to this problem, the present work introduces a method for integrating into the context of IMS communications all types of IN logic that nowadays are available only in legacy networks. The key element of this method is a service interrogation logic, called IN-OAG (IN-Open Architecture Gateway), which can be integrated on the P-CSCF (Proxy-Call Service Control Function) component of IMS, as an enhancement for supporting IN interoperability. IN-OAG is dedicated to implementing interoperability between the core IMS and mobile, wireless or fixed networks. The functionality of the proposed architecture is shown through several example scenarios.