The importance of policy based service delivery has been recognized within 3GPP and has resulted in following work in the last few releases:

• QoS and Charging related policies
  • PCRF
• Non 3GPP access inter-working
  • ANDSF
  • Mobility protocol selection

In addition there has been work done in IMS that defines policies related to selection of IMS for service delivery vs other mechanisms. 3GPP work in this area reflects efforts to improve service delivery based on operator policy, user preferences etc. However the approach so far has been fragmented and a more comprehensive approach would ensure better policy decisions. Some examples of what is missing are:

• Deep Packet Inspection coupled with user privacy policies to improve user experience. For example, by intelligently identifying service in use and providing service enhancement via e.g. appropriate QoS for the service, location related info for use with the service etc.
• Service based traffic steering e.g. to use different PDNs for different services. For example issues such as source address selection when the UE is connected to multiple PDNs.
• Standardized and extensible ways to implement service policies that go beyond existing PCC IP flow policies. For example transactional service policies such as a policy to enforce max limit on SMSIP/month based on user profile etc. Other example could be service policy such as redirect and firewall control.

The objective is to study an evolved policy solution through enhancement of 3GPP policy framework. One of the aims of the study is to ensure a policy architecture that provides an extensible framework for easy reuse with new IP based services by identifying areas where improvement of specifications are feasible. The study item will look into solutions for the examples in the section above. Existing components for consideration in the Policy Study are functions and interfaces to/from

• PCRF, PCEF and BBERF;
• SPR, HSS;
• ANDSF;
• IMS policy decision making entities.

The study aims to provide a more comprehensive way (e.g. going beyond existing 3GPP PCC framework) to handle operator policies for all IP / service flows (IMS and non-IMS) in a coordinated manner and under varying network conditions while keeping in view aspects such as:

• user preferences;
• user subscriptions;
• service requirements;
• terminal capabilities (including converged terminals);
• network capabilities (3GPP and those non 3GPP accesses inter- working with 3GPP);
• Session transfer and terminating policies;
• Security policy control, e.g. firewalling and gating.

Roaming scenarios are considered as part of this study. Compatibility with existing system architecture elements are protected and backward compatibility is expected. All types of policies i.e. static/pre-provisioned, dynamic, network based, UE based are considered in the study. When a key issue is resolved sufficiently to be incorporated into the specification in an independent manner, the study work may move forward for a decision for normative specification work on such issue(s) using a new work item or a TEI.

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

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• For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.