An IMS-based service platform for the next-generation wireless networks

We propose a service architecture for the next-generation wireless networks. In the interest of creating a "ubiquitous" service platform (USP) for heterogeneous networking environments, we address important issues related to "service convergence" and "service mobility." The objectives of our work are threefold: firstly, making services available across different administrative and technology domains; secondly, facilitating dynamic provision of services that can be discovered and used without preconfigured subscription; and lastly, making services movable in geographical and topological locations. We build our USP architecture over the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) infrastructure, making extensions where the current IMS falls short as a generalized service platform while exploiting its strengths, such as support for user roaming and session mobility. We define generic USP functional elements and their operations and interfaces, and then map them onto IMS elements and SIP messages.