3G Powered 3G-324M Protocol

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3G-324M Protocol version 1.0, August, 2002

Publication 1
http://www.radvision.com
CONTENTS

Vision of 3G 1
Scope of 3G-324M 1
3G-324M Enabled Services 2
3G-324M Market Drivers 2
Potential Products 3
Technology Concepts 3
3G-324M Architecture 5
H.324—The Base Protocol 5
H.223—The Multiplex Protocol 6
H.245—The Control Protocol 8
RADVISION
3G-324M Toolkit 9
3G-324M Toolkit Architecture 9
Software Modules 10
Toolkit Modules 10
User Applications 11
3G-324M Toolkit API 11

Contents iii
iv 3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol
 3G POWERED 3G-H.324M PROTOCOL

VISION OF 3G 3G technologies offer an endless suite of services that will greatly expand the
horizon of communication capabilities. Video-conferencing in a taxi, watching
clips from your favorite soap opera in a train, multimedia dating, sharing your
vacation experience in multimedia fashion, or playing multimedia games with
friends virtually anywhere—all from the palm of your hand—are just few
examples.
Many commodity and non-commodity products, such as cellular voice phones,
radios, televisions, music players, voice recorders, GPS devices, digital
cameras, video cameras, personal computers, internet devices, data storage and
more will be included in one handheld, tiny box called a 3G Cell Phone.
3G cell phones will have high quality color displays and camera attachments,
built-in MP3 music, video, and JPEG still picture players, and mini hard drives
with gigabyte capacities. In short, the future will bring many more features,
better quality, faster DSL-like communication speeds, and lighter weights.
Convenient and affordable, these phones have the potential to initiate a huge
market for many years to come.

SCOPE OF 3G- There are two 3G standardization organizations:

324M
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)—supporting UMTS
technology with WCDMA 3G Air interface.

3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) supporting
CDMA2000 technology.
Both bodies have defined 3G-324M as a solution for conversational
communication over Circuit Switched (CS) networks. CS networks are heavily
deployed by carriers, mature, well managed, and smoothly operated. Enabling
3G conversational services over existing infrastructures of circuit switched
networks was a standardization challenge met by the 3GPP group. As the result
of this standardization effort, the 3GPP defined 3G-324M to enable multimedia
communication services. 3G-324M operations are divided into two major
phases—call setup using the 3G Air interface (3G TS.26.112) and operations
occurring when the call is established (3G TS 26.111). The 3GPP TS.26.112
working group defined the call setup procedure for WCDMA. The TS.26.111

3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol 1

3G-324M Enabled Services

working group reused ITU-T H.324M for multimedia conferencing over CS

networks and added voice and video codecs with mandatory requirements for
bit-error handling defined in optional ITU-T H.223 annexes. For 3G
CDMA2000 based networks, 3GPP2 added optional compatibility requirement
to 3G-324M systems (3GPP2 S.R0022, Version 1.0, July 10, 2000).

3G-324M VoIP defined new levels of communication services. 3G-324M enables these
ENABLED services using the current CS infrastructure to become a reality. The following
SERVICES are examples of such services:

Video Conferencing—Point-to-point or multipoint sessions
between mobiles or with office video conferencing systems.

Video streaming—Cell phone TV with multiple live TV
channels, video-on-demand for content such as news and
movies.

Multi-Media Multi party gaming—playing in real time with
other remote users.
3G-324M enables 3G conversational services by gluing a new, proven
technology with an existing, well-deployed legacy technology. All other
common IP services, such as web browsing and e-mail, are enabled by reusing
the cell phone as a modem to connect with an ISP, similar to the method used
with 2G cell phones today. From the users’ point of view, a new adventure world
of conversational services is becoming available with the 3G-324M.

3G-324M MARKET The cost and risk of replacing a whole infrastructure with new equipment is
DRIVERS almost impossible for most Service Providers and raises a risk of operation
maturity and return on investment. Hence, a minimal investment model for new,
attractive and differentiated services now appears much more appealing.
When reusing the CS network, the following is achieved with no risk to existing
infrastructures:

Addressing is well defined (reusing the phone E.164 numbering
scheme)

Subscriber authentication is well defined and operational

Fixed acceptable latency

Successful management (authentication, authorization,
accounting, monitoring, redundancy, recovery, billing)

Robustness and “five 9’s” service availability grade

Scalability—nationwide operational infrastructure operates
well

2 3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol

 Potential Products

POTENTIAL The following are three 3G-324M technology-based product types:

PRODUCTS
3G-324M HANDHELD AND PDA DEVICES
Wireless 3G handheld and PDA devices are expected to be a mass-market
product. They are developed over chipsets to enable a low price solution and can
be integrated with other software toolkits. 3G handheld devices are expected to
integrate several protocols and technologies to maximize the handheld value in
the eyes of the consumers.

3G-324M GATEWAYS AND MEDIA SERVERS

3G-324M gateways provide the interworking between 3G-324M mobile devices
and other VoIP or PSTN terminals. The type of gateways will be carrier class,
since they are required for handling the high loads of call sessions of the
wireless handheld devices. The carrier class gateway may use H.248 for media
processing decomposition and H.248.12 (H.323/SIP and 3G-324M
interworking). Such a gateway should provide connectivity between a 3G
handset and an IP LAN/WAN or ISDN terminal and content servers. When
operating also as a media server, the gateway might allow 3G services, such as
on-line web meeting. The gateway should enable conversational communication
including voice, video and data between VoIP and 3G-324M terminals
according to the 3GPP standard.

VIDEO STREAMING SERVERS

Video streaming for services, such as video-on-demand and cell phone TV, are
important differentiators for the 3G services suite. The streaming server should
be a running scalable streaming video solution. Today web-based services are
well known for providing news, movie promotions and other entertainment
services.

TECHNOLOGY 3G-324M makes an interesting technology mix. Call signaling and addressing is
CONCEPTS done in the TDM-based method that has proved itself for decades. The legacy
addressing methods (phone numbers) are reused, while the service management
(provisioning, monitoring, accounting, redundancy and recovery) remains as is.
However in addition to this, after establishing a call, a bit stream channel is
carried between the call participants. On this bit stream the new Call Control
(H.245) IP technology and multimedia streams can reliably operate.
A 3G-324M enabled phone consists of 4 parts:

3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol 3

Technology Concepts

Modem or other bit-stream generator—this part is an embedded

software/hardware that allows the connection between two
different phones.

Signaling Channel—this channel is used for the exchange of
capabilities and opening of video, audio and data channels
between two different phones. The signaling channel is defined
by the H.245 Protocol. See H.245 Module on page 10.

Data—this is the audio and video codecs and other data
channels. These channels are actually what the phone users see
or hear. They are also encapsulated in various standards (such
as the widely-known MPEG-4). Most of these solutions include
software and hardware.

Multiplexer—this software unit multiplexes and de-multiplexes
the signaling and data channels together to send and receive
them through the modem. The multiplexer is defined by the
H.223 Protocol. See H.223 Module on page 10.

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 Technology Concepts

3G-324M Figure 2-1 illustrates the architecture of the 3G-324M Protocol.

ARCHITECTURE

Out Band
Scope of
3G TS 26.112

NW
Call Control Interface

In Band
Scope of
3G TS 26.111

Video Coding
Video
H.263
I/O
MPEG-4 Video Coding

Multimedia
Multiplexing/ Third Generation
Voice Voice Coding NW Mobile
Demultiplexing
I/O AMR Interface Communications
H.223
Annex B Network

System Control Protocol CCSRL

Control H.245 NSRP

Standard Coverage

Figure 2-1 3G-324M Components

Each protocol component is described below.

H.324—THE BASE H.324 terminals can carry real-time voice, video and data (or any combination
PROTOCOL of the three), including videotelephony. H.324 terminals can be integrated into
personal computers or implemented in stand-alone devices such as videophones.
Other recommendations in the H.324-Series include H.223 Multiplex and H.245
Call Control. 3G-324M makes use of the logical channel signaling procedures of
Recommendation H.245, in which the content of each logical channel is
described when the channel is opened. Procedures are provided for the
expression of receiver and transmitter capabilities, so that transmissions are
limited to what receivers can decode, and so that receivers may request a

3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol 5

Technology Concepts

particular desired mode from transmitters. H.324 terminals can be used in

multipoint configurations through MCUs, and can interwork with H.320
terminals on the ISDN, as well as with terminals on wireless networks and
various VoIP protocols, such as H.323 and SIP.

ANNEX A H.324 uses H.245 as the control protocol, as mentioned above. This protocol
requires a reliable link layer for operation. Annex A defines two ways for
reliable transmission of the MultimediaSystemControl PDU—one is by Simple
Retransmission Protocol (SRP), which is mandatory. (Annex C later changes
this definition and requires the use of NSRP.) The second is LAPM/V.42, which
is optional. The key difference between these two methods is that in SRP, after
sending an SRP command, a response must arrive before the next command can
be sent. In LAPM/V.42, on the other hand, multiple commands can be sent
before receiving any responses.

ANNEX C Annex C defines an extension for applications to work in error-prone networks,

and is referred to as H.324M. Four different H.223 Multiplexer levels are
defined offering increasing robustness, but increasing complexity and overhead.
Annex C also defines the procedure for level setup and for dynamic change
between levels during a session. Annex C provides Control Channel
Segmentation and Reassembly Layer (CCSRL) for the transmission of the
control channel (H.245) and defines mandatory use of Numbered SRP Response
Frames (NSRP).

H.223—THE The H.223 Protocol consists of the Multiplex/Demultiplex layer and the
MULTIPLEX PROTOCOL Adaption layer. The Multiplex/Demultiplex layer multiplexes the logical
channels and the control channel into a single bit-stream that can be sent over
the physical layer. The multiplex layer does not perform any error control on the
logical and control channels.
The Adaption layer handles error detection according to the traffic content of
each logical channel. The three formats of the adaptation layer are:

AL1—used by the H.245 control channel and data channels

AL2—used by audio/video channels

AL3—used by video channels
The control channel requires a reliable link, which is provided by the Simple
Retransmit Protocol (SRP), Numbered SRP (NSRP), or Link Access Procedure
for Modems (LAPM). The H.223 Protocol specifies a packet-oriented
multiplexing protocol for low bit rate multimedia communication. This protocol
can be used between two low bit rate multimedia terminals, or between a low bit
rate multimedia terminal and a multipoint control unit or an interworking

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 Technology Concepts

adapter. H.223 allows the transfer of any combination of digital voice/audio,

digital video/image and data information over a single communication link. This
protocol provides low delay and low overhead by using segmentation and
reassembly, and by combining information from different logical channels in a
single packet.

ANNEX A Annex A specifies the protocol that handles the light bit error prone channel
(Level 1) of the mobile H.223 extensions, as described in Annex C of H.324.
The Annex modifies the MUX-PDU framing scheme, leaving the H.223
adaptation layer unchanged.
In the basic mode, which is mandatory in Level 1, a MUX-PDU should be
delimited by a 16 bit flag. In addition, this Annex also defines an optional
double flag mode in which the MUX-PDU should be delimited by two
consecutive 16-bit flags.

ANNEX B Annex B specifies the protocol that handles the medium bit error prone channel
(Level 2) of the mobile H.223 extensions, as described in Annex C of H.324.
Annex B modifies the MUX-PDU framing scheme, leaving the H.223
adaptation layer unchanged. Annex B defines the usage of the basic mode of
Annex A, but requires that the double flag of Annex A will not be used. Instead
it defines a different stuffing scheme in case the transmitter has nothing to send.
The MUX-PDU format includes a 3 Octet header and 0-n information fields.
Figure 2-2 illustrates an H.223 Annex B multiplexing frame.

Multiplexing information,
Frame length information

Synchronization Header Optional Payload

flag information field

Proposal:
Extracting multiplexing information from the
immediately preceding frame header

Figure 2-2 Annex B Multiplexing Frame

3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol 7

H.245—The Control Protocol

ANNEX C Annex C specifies the Level 3 Protocol of the mobile H.223 extensions as
described in Annex C of H.324. Annex C deals with multimedia telephone
terminals over highly error-prone channels. This Annex changes both the
multiplex layer and the adaptation layer of Recommendation H.223. These
adaptation layers defined in Annex C include options for the following:

Error detection and correction

Sequence numbering

Automatic repeat request

Retransmission capabilities (hybrid ARQ-type I & II)

Segmentation procedure for transmitting frames that are
transmitted unframed

ANNEX D H.223 Annex D defines an operation mode for 3G-324M on ISDN circuits, at bit
rates ranging from 56 kbit/s to1920 kbit/s. In Annex D, an optional Level 3
Protocol of the H.223 mobile extensions is specified. In order to maintain
compatibility, the basic features of the Level 3 Protocol described in H.223
Annex C are included.

H.245—THE The H.245 Recommendation specifies the Call Control Protocol. The H.245
CONTROL channel is used by endpoints for exchanging audio and video capabilities and for
PROTOCOL performing master/slave determination. H.245 is also used to signal the opening
and closing of logical channels, and for sending the Multiplex Table of each
party. The H.245 channel remains open during the call to carry various control
messages.
H.245 messages are encoded in ASN.1 using PER. The messages are grouped
into three categories—Capability, Channel Management and Channel
Operations. The Capability messages describe the multimedia capability of the
endpoints and determine their master/slave relationship. The Channel
Management messages manage the local channels between endpoints and the
Channel Operations messages use the logical channel number to specify the
channel on which the operation takes place.

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 RADVISION 3G-324M Toolkit

Each of the above categories has four types of messages—Request, Response,

Command and Indication. A Request message results in an action and a
response from the remote endpoint. A Command message results in an action
with no response from the remote endpoint. An Indication message does not
result in an action or a response from the remote endpoint.

RADVISION The RADVISION 3G-324M Protocol Toolkit is a set of software development

3G-324M TOOLKIT tools intended for the development of 3G-324M-capable software and hardware.
The 3G-324M Protocol Toolkit provides 3G-324M services for opening the
H.245 control channel and media channels including H.223 and H.324-related
Annexes. The Toolkit is compliant with 3GPP TS 26.111.

3G-324M TOOLKIT Figure 2-3 illustrates the RADVISION 3G-324M Toolkit Architecture.
ARCHITECTURE
Application

H.245v7
CCSRL
CM Codecs, AMR, MPEG4, ...
NSRP Call Manager

H.223 Control
Error Handling H.223/Annex A & B

Adaption Layers
MUX DEMUX

Transport (Driver Adaptor)

3G Air Interface Drive (such as WCDMA)

Figure 2-3 3G-324M Toolkit Architecture

3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol 9

Software Modules

SOFTWARE This section provides a high-level description of the functions that each module
MODULES performs, the interface of each module to the other modules, and the data and
control flow of the system.

TOOLKIT MODULES Following is a description of the Toolkit modules.

CALL MANAGER The Call Manager is responsible for the creation and destruction of calls. The
Call Manager is actually the “glue” between the H.245 Control object of the call
and the H.223 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer object of the call.
The Call Manager provides access to H.245 operations of the Toolkit, including
creation and deletions of channels. The channels in this module contain their
H.223 information for the H.223 multiplexer.

H.245 MODULE The H.245 Module is responsible for performing the H.245 procedure and for
opening and closing the logical channels. The Capabilities Exchange and
Master/Slave Determination procedures are the first to be performed during the
H.245 control process. The Toolkit sends the capabilities in one of two modes—
automatic or manual. The mode of operation is determined in the configuration
of the Toolkit.
The Master/Slave determination procedure is as follows:
1. The Toolkit sends two parameters to the remote entity—the
terminal type and a random number.
2. The Toolkit receives the two parameters of the remote entity.
3. The master/slave status is determined by comparing these
parameters (as defined in the H.245 Standard).
4. The application is notified of the results by using the callback
function, cmEvCallMasterSlaveStatus().
As with the capability exchange procedure, the master/slave determination
procedure can be either automatic or manual. Similarly, the choice is determined
in the configuration of the Toolkit.
After both Capability Exchange and Master/Slave Determination are completed,
the user may start sending and receiving open logical channel messages using
the APIs and callback functions of the Toolkit. Following the completion of this
procedure, the user will request the Toolkit to send it’s Multiplex Table and the
Toolkit will receive the Multiplex Table of the remote party.

H.223 MODULE The H.223 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer module is responsible for communication

with the modem. This module replaces the TCP/IP interface used in VoIP
protocols.

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 3G-324M Toolkit API

The H.223 module has two sets of interfaces:

APIs for the various channels (H.245 and codecs).

APIs for the modem interface.

USER APPLICATIONS Following are modules that are out of scope of the Toolkit and should be
provided by application developers.

USER APPLICATION The user application uses the Call Manager of the Toolkit to open calls and deal
with video and audio channels. The user application is also responsible for
dealing with the actual codecs that will be used in the call.

AUDIO/VIDEO CODECS Codecs are out of the scope of the Toolkit. Application developers can choose
their preferable codecs in accordance with 3GPP TS 26.111.

BIT STREAM DRIVER Since the handling of bit stream drivers is different between various operating
INTERFACE systems and hardware interfaces, and since using a bit stream driver requires the
development of operating system drivers in most cases, a bit stream driver
interface (such as an Air interface or a modem) is not supplied in the Toolkit.
Application developers should provide a bit stream driver that can interface with
the H.223 module. An example of a basic driver is supplied as part of the Test
Application that is provided with the Toolkit.

3G-324M TOOLKIT The 3G-324M Toolkit is made up of the following API groups:
API
Call API
The Call API is responsible for the construction and destruction
of calls. This API is responsible for opening an H.223 object
and linking it with an H.245 object. It also provides automatic
capabilities and master/slave exchange, and handles the
opening and closing logical channels.

H.245 API
The H.245 API is responsible for the management of H.245
messages and the opening of logical channels. It provides
manual operations on these types of objects.

Configuration API
The Configuration API is responsible for holding the
configuration information. This module includes two
configuration sub-trees:
 3G324mConfiguration
 H245Configuration

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3G-324M Toolkit API

PVT/PST API
The PVT/PST API is responsible for the manipulation of PVT
trees. The PVT database is used to hold ASN.1 messages, which
is the way the H.245 messages are defined. For more
information, see the RADVISION documentation.

12 3G Powered 3G-H.324M Protocol