An IMS based inter-working solution for multimedia service in a converged network

In the evolution of traditional telecom network towards a converged next generation network, Inter-working is always challenging due to different name spaces and routing mechanism across different communities. Most existing Inter-working solutions are terminal based solutions. They require mobile phone or PC users to install multiple client-side applications on the devices, such as, Google talk client, Skype client, and MSN client, etc. In order to avoid too many client applications running on mobile terminals that normally have a limited resource, a network based Inter-working solution is desired. An IMS based Inter-working solution for multi-media services is proposed. It enables an IMS subscriber make use of a single SIP user agent to communicate with the other users who might have communication means other than IMS based devices. The solution consists of two parts in the network: one is the conference like service that resides at the originating side and provides forking service; the other is the Inter-working gateway service that provides the protocol conversion service. The detailed technical description of the proposed solution is described hereafter. The corresponding use cases are studied. The application of the solution to the Group Communication service, e.g. an ad-hoc group or pre-defined group multimedia service, is also discussed. The benefits of the proposed solution for end users and operators are highlighted respectively.