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Content for  TS 36.444  Word version:  18.0.0

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1…   8…   9… 
1 Scope  2 References  3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations  3.1 Definitions  3.2 Symbols  3.3 Abbreviations  4 General  4.1 Procedure specification principles  4.2 Forwards and backwards compatibility  4.3 Specification notations  5 M3AP Services  6 Services Expected from Signalling Transport  7 Functions of M3AP 
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1  Scope  p. 7

The present document specifies the E-UTRAN radio network layer signalling protocol for the M3 interface. The M3 Application Protocol (M3AP) supports the functions of M3 interface by signalling procedures defined in this document. M3AP is developed in accordance to the general principles stated in TS 36.401 and TS 36.300.

2  References  p. 7

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.
  • References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
  • For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
  • 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.
[1]
TR 21.905: "Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications".
[2]
TS 36.401: "E-UTRAN Architecture Description".
[3]
TS 36.300: "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2".
[4]
ITU-T Recommendation X.691 (2002-07): "Information technology - ASN.1 encoding rules: Specification of Packed Encoding Rules (PER)".
[5]
ITU-T Recommendation X.680 (2002-07): "Information technology - Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1): Specification of basic notation".
[6]
TS 23.246: "Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS); Architecture and functional description".
[7]
TS 23.203: "Policy and charging control architecture"
[8]
TS 29.061: "Interworking between the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) supporting packet based services and Packet Data Networks (PDN)".
[9]
TS 36.445: "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); M1 Data Transport".
[10]
TS 48.018: "General Packet Radio Service (GPRS); BSS GPRS Protocol (BSSGP)".
[11]
TS 36.413: "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)".
[12]
TS 29.281: "General Packet Radio Service (GPRS); Tunnelling Protocol User Plane (GTPv1-U)".
[13]
TS 23.003: "Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Numbering, addressing and identification".
[14]
TS 23.007: "Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Restoration procedures".
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3  Definitions, symbols and abbreviations  p. 8

3.1  Definitions  p. 8

For the purposes of the present document, the terms and definitions given in TR 21.905 and the following apply. A term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in TR 21.905.
Elementary Procedure:
M3AP consists of Elementary Procedures (EPs). An Elementary Procedure is a unit of interaction between MCEs and the EPC. These Elementary Procedures are defined separately and are intended to be used to build up complete sequences in a flexible manner. If the independence between some EPs is restricted, it is described under the relevant EP description. Unless otherwise stated by the restrictions, the EPs may be invoked independently of each other as stand alone procedures, which can be active in parallel. The usage of several M3AP EPs together or together with EPs from other interfaces is specified in stage 2 specifications (e.g. TS 23.246 and TS 36.300).
An EP consists of an initiating message and possibly a response message. Two kinds of EPs are used:
  • Class 1: Elementary Procedures with response (success and/or failure).
  • Class 2: Elementary Procedures without response.
For Class 1 EPs, the types of responses can be as follows:
Successful:
  • A signalling message explicitly indicates that the elementary procedure successfully completed with the receipt of the response.
Unsuccessful:
  • A signalling message explicitly indicates that the EP failed.
  • On time supervision expiry (i.e. absence of expected response).
Successful and Unsuccessful:
  • One signalling message reports both successful and unsuccessful outcome for the different included requests. The response message used is the one defined for successful outcome.
Class 2 EPs are considered always successful.
MCE MBMS M3AP ID:
Unique identity, referencing the MBMS-service-associated logical M3-connection within an MCE.
MME MBMS M3AP ID:
Unique identity, referencing the MBMS-service-associated logical M3-connection within an MME.
MBMS E-RAB:
An MBMS E-RAB refers to the concatenation of an M1 bearer and the corresponding radio bearer, as defined in TS 36.300.
MBMS-service-associated signalling:
When M3AP messages associated to one MBMS service uses the MBMS-service-associated logical M3-connection for association of the message to the MBMS service in MCE and EPC.
MBMS-service-associated logical M3-connection:
The MBMS-service-associated logical M3-connection uses the identities MME MBMS M3AP ID and MCE MBMS M3AP ID. For a received MBMS service associated M3AP message the MME identifies the associated MBMS service based on the MME MBMS M3AP ID IE and the MCE identifies the associated MBMS service based on the MCE MBMS M3AP ID IE.
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3.2  Symbols  p. 8

Not applicable.

3.3  Abbreviations  p. 9

For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in TR 21.905 and the following apply. An abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in TR 21.905.
DL
Downlink
E-RAB
E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer
eNB
E-UTRAN NodeB
EP
Elementary Procedure
EPC
Evolved Packet Core
E-UTRAN
Evolved UTRAN
GBR
Guaranteed Bit Rate
GTP
GPRS Tunneling Protocol
IE
Information Element
MBMS
Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service
MBSFN
Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network
MCE
Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity
MME
Mobility Management Entity
NAS
Non-Access Stratum
PLMN
Public Land Mobile Network
QoS
Quality of Service
SC-PTM
Single Cell Point to Multipoint
TEID
Tunnel Endpoint Identifier
UE
User Equipment
UL
Uplink
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4  General  p. 9

4.1  Procedure specification principles  p. 9

The principle for specifying the procedure logic is to specify the functional behaviour of the MCE exactly and completely. The EPC functional behaviour is left unspecified.
The following specification principles have been applied for the procedure text in clause 8:
  • The procedure text discriminates between:
    1. Functionality which "shall" be executed
      The procedure text indicates that the receiving node "shall" perform a certain function Y under a certain condition. If the receiving node supports procedure X but cannot perform functionality Y requested in the REQUEST message of a Class 1 EP, the receiving node shall respond with the message used to report unsuccessful outcome for this procedure, containing an appropriate cause value.
    2. Functionality which "shall, if supported" be executed
      The procedure text indicates that the receiving node "shall, if supported," perform a certain function Y under a certain condition. If the receiving node supports procedure X, but does not support functionality Y, the receiving node shall proceed with the execution of the EP, possibly informing the requesting node about the not supported functionality.
  • Any required inclusion of an optional IE in a response message is explicitly indicated in the procedure text. If the procedure text does not explicitly indicate that an optional IE shall be included in a response message, the optional IE shall not be included. For requirements on including Criticality Diagnostics IE, see section 10.
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4.2  Forwards and backwards compatibility  p. 10

The forwards and backwards compatibility of the protocol is assured by mechanism where all current and future messages, and IEs or groups of related IEs, include ID and criticality fields that are coded in a standard format that will not be changed in the future. These parts can always be decoded regardless of the standard version.

4.3  Specification notations  p. 10

For the purposes of the present document, the following notations apply:
Procedure
When referring to an elementary procedure in the specification the Procedure Name is written with the first letters in each word in upper case characters followed by the word "procedure", e.g. MBMS procedure.
Message
When referring to a message in the specification the MESSAGE NAME is written with all letters in upper case characters followed by the word "message", e.g. MESSAGE NAME message.
IE
When referring to an information element (IE) in the specification the Information Element Name is written with the first letters in each word in upper case characters and all letters in Italic font followed by the abbreviation "IE", e.g. Information Element IE.
Value of an IE
When referring to the value of an information element (IE) in the specification the "Value" is written as it is specified in subclause 9.2 enclosed by quotation marks, e.g. "Value".
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5  M3AP Services  p. 10

M3AP provides the signalling service between MCE and EPC that is required to fulfil the M3AP functions described in clause 7. M3AP services are defined as
MBMS associated services:
They are related to the whole M3 interface instance between the MCE and MME utilising an MBMS associated signalling connection.
Non MBMS associated services:
They are related to the whole M3 interface instance between the MCE and MME utilising a Non MBMS associated signalling connection.

6  Services Expected from Signalling Transport  p. 10

The signalling connection shall provide in sequence delivery of M3AP messages. M3AP shall be notified if the signalling connection breaks.

7  Functions of M3AP  p. 10

The M3AP protocol provides the following functions:
  • Session Management. This overall functionality is responsible for starting, stopping and updating MBMS sessions.
  • Reset functionality to ensure a well defined initialisation on the M3 interface.
  • Error Indication functionality to allow a proper error reporting/handling in cases where no failure messages are defined.
  • M3 Setup functionality for initial M3 interface setup for providing configuration information.
  • MCE Configuration Update function is to update application level configuration data needed for the MCE and MME to interoperate correctly on the M3 interface.
The mapping between the above functions and M3 EPs is shown in the table below.
Function Elementary Procedure(s)
Session Managementa) MBMS Session Start
b) MBMS Session Stop
c) MBMS Session Update
Error Indication FunctionalityError Indication
Reset FunctionalityReset
M3 SetupM3 Setup
Configuration UpdateMCE Configuration Update
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