Model Aspects of Open Access to Multimedia Broadcast Services in the Evolved Packet System

摘要

The Evolved Packet System (EPS) is standardized to provide ubiquitous access to multimedia services from any end user device. It encompasses both access network and core network. The multimedia packet core network plays an important role in providing superior user experience from services and applications. It is in charge of provisioning quality of service (QoS) for multimedia bearer services and charging mechanisms. Multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) allows data to be transmitted to multiple endpoints. It allows optimizing network resources using a distribution mechanism. The broadcast mode is a unidirectional point-to-multipoint transmission of multimedia data (e.g., text, audio, picture, and video) from a single source entity to all users in a broadcast service area. A broadcast service received by the end user device involves one or more successive broadcast sessions. A broadcast service might, for example, consist of a single ongoing session (e.g., a media stream) or may involve several intermittent sessions over an extended period of time [1, 2]. Examples of content appropriate to a distribution scheme are broadcasting TV channels and distribution of area-based multimedia messaging service including commonly interested traffic, weather, or emergency information. The content provider (broadcast/multicast source) may provide discrete and continuous media, as well as service descriptions and control data. The multimedia content may be provided by a 3rd-party content provider.