Deployment of IP multimedia streaming services in third-generation mobile networks

In this article, an end-to-end quality of service framework for streaming services in 3G mobile networks is considered. Under this scenario, the interaction between UMTS and IETF´s protocols and mechanisms for a streaming session is analyzed. By signaling flowcharts, it is shown that both groups of protocols and mechanisms can co-operate to provide seamless end-to-end real-time services. Specifically, the article proposes to make the IP multimedia subsystem aware of the real time streaming protocol, in order to extend its control from SIP to RTSP-based services, such as multimedia streaming services. Supported by this proposed framework, provisioning of audio streaming services over 3G mobile networks is also outlined.