Call-Handling by an IMS-HNB Based Interactive eDoorbell

Available doorbell interphone systems are designed under the assumption that residents would be at home to enable the communication between them and their visitors. However, people spend a large fraction of their time away from home, thus undermining the basic assumptions of existing doorbell solutions. Recent developments in 3GPP Home Node B (HNB or Femtocell) and home gateway technologies, along with the growing proliferation of smart-phones, can offer interesting opportunities for the design and development of innovative doorbell solutions. Along this line, the paper describes a 3GPP-enhanced eDoorbell application prototype that relies on IMS to enable video-based communication between visitors and (possibly remote available) home residents. In our prototype, the visibility of context information, such as current location of residents, their diary, and their personal preferences, provides solid basis for definition and enactment of customizable management policies that determine the best suited home resident whom to route the notification of a visit to. While the paper presents no experimental results, it aims at assisting organizations such as the Femto Forum or the ETSI TISPAN to identify the requirements for standards and the different methods used to implement HNB-based or Home Gateway-based services, respectively.