OpenEPC and Over-The-Top (OTT) Services

In addition to the IMS services, EPC will sustain other types of applications which initially will be imported from the fixed lines like Internet Services. In order to be able to offer QoS also for these services over the wireless connection, novel mechanisms for filtering and matching of the data traffic for these service are to be developed.

In this scenario, the mobile device is accessing web pages through the OpenEPC HTTP interceptor. The user initiates a video stream through HTTP to a third party Over-The-Top (OTT) service which does not have a direct communication with the OpenEPC operator. Furthermore, the OpenEPC operator requires that the service is delivered with a specific quality according with the agreement with the service provider and with the subscriber. The OpenEPC reserves the resources required for this video stream without interrupting or acting as an intermediary node for the communication itself.

In comparison, a video stream can be initiated with a third party with which the OpenEPC operator does not require a specific quality for the delivery. In this case the default resources allocated to the mobile device at its attachment to the OpenEPC are used for the service delivery.

Between the two video streams, the one in which the resources were reserved and the one for which they were not a difference in quality is easily observable.