5 High level requirements

22.2463GPPMultimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) user servicesRelease 17Stage 1TS

Tools: ARFCN - Frequency Conversion for 5G NR/LTE/UMTS/GSM

5.0 General

MBMS user services are services an operator may provide to subscribers. MBMS user services use the capabilities of MBMS. The operator may provide such services on his own or in collaboration with third party service providers. In addition, an MBMS user service may be provided to the operator’s own subscribers and/or to inbound roaming subscribers from other operators.

MBMS User Services

MBMS user services are based on broadcast- or multicast services, which are defined in TS 22.146 [2].

MBMS user services shall be bearer agnostic to enable access via generic IP access systems.

An MBMS user service may use one or more broadcast- or multicast services at a time within the MBMS service area bound to this user service.

Note 1: A single broadcast- or multicast service can only have one broadcast- or multicast session at any time within the MBMS service area bound to this user service. A broadcast- or multicast service may consist of multiple successive broadcast- or multicast sessions. (see TS 22.146 [2])

Note 2: As part of the same multicast service, it should be possible for the operator to provide the UEs with multiple successive sessions with different quality-of-service for each session. (see TS 22.146 [2])

It shall be possible for an MBMS user service to make use of different application independent MBMS transport services at different times or in parallel. The MBMS transport services used may vary for instance in QoS parameters or target broadcast or multicast area.

It shall be possible for one application independent MBMS transport service to be used by more than one MBMS user service at a time.

If an MBMS user service makes use of several application independent MBMS transport services then these may only consist of either broadcast or multicast services, but not of a combination of both.

Note: The combination of broadcast- or multicast services in future releases is FFS

When necessary, within a single MBMS user service, it shall be possible to synchronize the media sessions.

NOTE: For different application independent MBMS transport services to support a single MBMS user service it may be necessary to logically link the transport services to each other, as illustrated in the figure for the audio- and video session of MBMS user service X.

The UTRAN, GERAN and E-UTRAN accesses shall provide protection against normal transmission errors (eg interference not related to cell changes and handovers).

Non 3GPP access system used to transport MBMS user services should provide protection against normal transmission errors (e.g. interference not related to cell changes and handovers).

The BM-SC is responsible for providing protection e.g. FEC, long interleaving and/or point to point repairing the transmission, against errors (eg those caused by cell changes and longer breaks in transmission).

Service examples

MBMS user services may be classified according to the table within Annex A of this specification into several service examples, which are characterized by

 Their predominant broadcast- or multicast service, that constitutes this MBMS user service together with its reliability (QoS) and data transfer rate requirements

 Media types that are transmitted via this broadcast- or multicast service

 Type of the service, which implies handling of the distributed media by the UE (e.g. download for subsequent presentation, streaming for instant presentation or carousel downloading)

 Charging characteristics

 A potential requirement for point-to-point delivery verification for delivered content.

To express the requirements for standardised service types are one objective of the present specification.

Service classes

MBMS user services may be provided for many purposes to the user and may convey information of various kinds. E.g. some services may be used for traffic information, others for entertainment or for news services. Service classes denote a classification of MBMS user services according to their usage. However, service class values are not in the scope of 3GPP standardisation but may be subject of inter-operator service arrangements.

5.1 Common requirements to broadcast and multicast

The following list describes requirements on an application level:

Service classes
In case of roaming a user shall be able to enjoy services as follows:

A user shall be able to activate services that are provided locally in the visited network, as allowed by the user’s home environment (e.g. local tourist information).
A user subscribed to a service class in the HPLMN shall be able to enjoy equivalent services in the same service class as provided by a visited PLMN without explicit subscription in the VPLMN (e.g. weather forecast).

A user subscribed to a service class in the HPLMN shall be able to have access to home contents provided via a visited PLMN without explicit subscription in the VPLMN (e.g. enjoy subscribed service while roaming)

Service Interworking
The user shall be able to manipulate content delivered over MBMS and forward it using other services (e.g. MMS, Speech Call- and IMS signalling, Hyperlinks, ….). Care should be taken in order to fulfil requirements concerning DRM and respective barring and charging capabilities.

When interacting with user profiles, MBMS User Services shall use the mechanisms described in [5] TS 22.240 (Generic User Profile).

Content storage in the UE
It shall be possible for the UE to store content delivered to it over MBMS and provide it to the user at a later time. Care should be taken in order to fulfil requirements concerning DRM and respective charging capabilities.

Data formats and types
Media types shall be supported independent of specific data types and formats behind..

As a minimum MBMS User Services shall support the following media types:

– Text

It shall be possible to embed hyperlinks and to decorate text within content provided by MBMS User Services.

– Still Images

– Video

– Speech

– Mono/Stereo Audio

Data format and data types as being used by other multimedia services shall be supported for interoperability reasons.

Note : It is not intended to constrain MBMS to existing codec technologies. The intention is to maintain consistency with other multimedia services whilst also allowing for adoption of new codec technologies as appropriate.

Digital Rights Management
The MBMS User Service shall be able to control content distribution as defined in 3GPP TS 22.242 [6]. MBMS content providers shall be able to invoke DRM to prevent unauthorized copying and forwarding of content.

Notification of required capabilities
The capabilities (e.g. memory size) required to receive a particular transmission shall be notified in advance by the network or service centre.

MBMS Television Service

It shall be possible for a user to select between different content within the MBMS Television Service.

The MBMS service shall add no more than 1 second when switching between different TV streams to any delay introduced with regards to the coding of the TV stream.

It shall be possible for an operator to configure the MBMS Television service so that the typical switching time, from the end user’s perspective, does not exceed 2 seconds.

Handover within the same radio access technology shall be transparent to the user.

Handover between different radio access technologies should be performed without any user perceived interruption.

Note: The quality of the MBMS Television service may change depending on the capabilities of the target network.

5.2 Interoperability

MBMS User Services shall ensure service interoperability with respect to media formats and codecs, at the same time being able to re-use existing multimedia capabilities in the UE as far as possible.

Therefore MBMS User Services shall support a minimum set of media formats and codecs. This minimum set should be aligned with the set of media formats and codecs required for MMS [3] and PSS [4].

5.2a Pre-Delivery verification

It is required that the operator can verify the number of active MBMS users when service commences.

The UE shall provide a secure means to inform the network of the start of services by pre-delivery verification transmitted over a point-to-point connection to the home/visited network. This pre-delivery verification may be relayed to the service provider. The pre-delivery verification shall also support the carriage of bearer specific non-real time information, i.e. previously stored in the UE, to the BM-SC. Such bearer specific information may, for example, include historic C/I measurements for the serving cell.

It should be noted that pre-delivery verification by point-to-point mechanisms partially reduces the resource-efficiency of the underlying broadcast services. Sacrificing resource-efficiency due to requirements of UE reporting may be necessary but should be kept as minimal as possible to minimize congestion.

5.3 Delivery verification

For some MBMS user services it is required that the operator can verify that the content conveyed by the service has been received by the UE.

The UE shall provide a secure means to provide such delivery verification transmitted over a point-to-point connection to the home/visited network. This delivery verification may be relayed to the service provider.

The delivery verification shall also support the carriage of bearer specific non-real time information, i.e. previously stored in the UE, to the BM-SC. Such bearer specific information may, for example, include historic C/I measurements for the serving cell.

It should be noted that delivery verification by point-to-point mechanisms partially reduces the resource-efficiency of the underlying broadcast services. Sacrificing resource-efficiency due to requirements of UE reporting may be necessary but should be kept as minimal as possible to minimize congestion.