A structured framework for federation between 4G-service platforms

Service platforms are gradually becoming common functional entities in the next generation networks, i.e., in 4G-environments. By providing value-added capabilities to networks and end-users, and facilitating service provisioning for 3/sup rd/ party service providers, the service platforms will prove indispensable in the near future. However, with this increased importance, the need for cooperation between service platforms also increases. The use of the well-known concept of federation results in a structured framework to this cooperation. The proposed framework carefully defines the notion of service platform domain, applies the concepts of domain federation and service federation to these service platform domains, and prescribes the construction of federations between these domains. The benefits of the resulting service platform federation for all involved parties (end-user, network operator and service provider) are explained by the example of the home environment capability.