10 Configuring the Home Zones Application

This chapter describes how you configure the Home Zones application.

About Network Zoning

You can apply different rates or service access conditions depending on the current location of a mobile subscriber. For example, you can charge a minimum rate when a subscriber is located at home and apply a higher rate when the subscriber is calling from abroad.

Service Broker recognizes several areas that represent various locations of a subscriber. These areas are called network zones:

• Home zone

  This is an area of a network in which a subscriber is registered. For example, a home zone might be an area closest to a subscriber's residence. You define a subscriber's home zone as a part of the subscriber's profile. See "Defining a Home Zone" for more information.

• Home network

  This is an entire network in which a subscriber is registered. You define a home network using the Home Zones application. See "Defining the Home Network" for more information.

• Roaming

  If a subscriber is not located in either home network or home zone, this subscriber is considered located in a roaming zone.

About Configuration of Network Zones

You define a home zone and home network for each subscriber. The process of defining these zones requires specifying the following criteria:

• Access protocols (such as IEEE-802.11a, 3GPP-GERAN, or 3GPP-UTRAN-FDD). These are the protocols that the subscriber uses to access the network. You can define multiple protocols to handle situations when a subscriber transfers different types of data (for example, voice, short messages, and multimedia) from the same cell.

• Cell identity parameter for each protocol that you defined. A cell identity parameter contains IDs of cells that use the specified access protocol. This parameter varies depending on the access protocol. For example, if you specified that the access protocol is IEEE-802.11a, the call identity parameter can be cgi-3gpp. Similarly, if the access protocol is 3GPP-GERAN, the call identity parameter can be gsm-location-number. See 3GPP TS 24.229 for more information.

• IDs of home network cells. You set the cell identity parameter to IDs of cells in which the specified network access protocol is used.

About the Home Zones Application

The information about the network zone in which the subscriber is currently located is transferred to Service Broker in the P-Access-Network-Info header of a message that the subscriber sends.

The Home Zones application is a Service Broker application that checks this header and identifies whether a mobile subscriber is in the home zone, home network, or roaming.

Depending on the zone, the application adds to the session a custom header, x-wcs-location, and sets it accordingly. Other applications can use the value of this header and implement various scenarios. For example, if a subscriber is in the home zone, a charging application can apply a special rate.

After the Home Zones application receives a message, the application does the following:

1. The Home Zones application retrieves the subscriber's profile from the Subscriber Store to check whether the information set in the P-Access-Network-Info header of the message matches the settings that define the home zone of the subscriber.

2. If the P-Access-Network-Info header matches these settings, the Home Zones application adds the x-wcs-location header to the message and sets this header to "homezone".

3. Otherwise, the Home Zones application checks whether the P-Access-Network-Info header of the message matches the settings that define the home network.

4. If the P-Access-Network-Info header matches these settings, the Home Zones application adds the x-wcs-location header to the message and sets this header to "home network".

5. Otherwise, the Home Zones application adds the x-wcs-location header to the message and sets this header to "roaming".

The Home Zones application communicates with the OE through IM-ASF SAL interworking module.

Figure 10-1 shows the place of the Home Zones application in the overall architecture of Service Broker.

Figure 10-1 Zoning Application

To allow the OE to trigger the Home Zones application, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Define a subscriber's home zone. See "Defining a Home Zone" for more information.

2. Define a subscriber's home network. See "Defining the Home Network" for more information.

3. Set up an instance of IM-ASF SAL and add it to the orchestration flow. See "Setting Up an Instance of IM-ASF SAL" for more information.

Defining a Home Zone

A home zone is an area of the network in which a subscriber is registered. For example, a home zone might be an area closest to a subscriber's residence. You define a home zone in the subscriber's profile under the <profileDataExtensions> element as follows:

<profileDataExtensions>
   <extensionId>homezone</extensionId>
   <profileDataExtensions>
      <name>access_protocol;cell_identity_parameter</name>
      <value>colon_separated_IDs_of_home_zone_cells</value>
   </profileDataExtensions>
</profileDataExtensions>

For example, you might want to specify that a home zone is the area of the network that includes the cells of the following types having the IDs as described in Table 10-1.

Table 10-1 Home Zone Example

Access Protocol	Cell Identity Parameter	Cell IDs
IEEE-802.11a	utran-cell-id-3gpp	1200FF00 1210FF01
3GPP-GERAN	gsm-location-number	1234ABCD 5678EBCD

To reflect this configuration in a subscriber's profile, you need to set up the <profileDataExtensions> element as follows:

<profileDataExtensions>
   <extensionId>homenetwork</extensionId>
   <profileDataExtensions>
      <name>IEEE-802.11a;utran-cell-id-3gpp</name>
      <value>1200FF00;1210FF01</value>
   </profileDataExtensions>
   <profileDataExtensions>
      <name>3GPP-GERAN;gsm-location-number</name>
      <value>1234ABCD;5678EBCD</value>
   </profileDataExtensions>
</profileDataExtensions>

You create and update subscriber profiles using the Subscriber Provisioning API. See the "Subscriber Provisioning API Reference" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Subscriber Store User's Guide.

Defining the Home Network

You can define the home network using the Administration Console. The configuration includes specifying access protocols and cell identity parameters for the home network as well as IDs of cells that the home network includes.

Specifying Access Protocols and Cell Identity Parameters

To specify access protocols and cell identity parameters:

1. In the navigation tree, expand the OCSB node.

2. Expand the Processing Tier node.

3. Expand the Applications node.

4. Select the Home Zones node.

5. Click the Home Network Cell Types tab.

6. Click New.

   The New dialog box appears.

7. In the Access Type field, enter the name of the network access protocol used in the cell. For example, you can set Access Type to IEEE-802.11a.

   See 3GPP TS 24.229 for the list of allowed values.

8. In the Access Information field, enter the name of the cell identity parameter according to the network access protocol. For example, you can set Access Information to utran-cell-id-3gpp.

   See 3GPP TS 24.229 for the list of allowed values.

   You use this parameter to specify IDs of network cells in which the specified network access protocol is used. See "Specifying IDs of Home Network Cells" for more information.

9. Click OK.

Specifying IDs of Home Network Cells

To specify IDs of home network cells:

1. In the navigation tree, expand the OCSB node.

2. Expand the Processing Tier node.

3. Expand the Applications node.

4. Select the Home Zones node.

5. Click the Home Network Cell Values tab.

6. In the Parent list, select the cell whose ID you want to define.

7. Click New.

   The New dialog box appears.

8. In the Value Data field, enter an ID of the cell.

9. Click OK.

Setting Up an Instance of IM-ASF SAL

To set up an instance of IM-ASF SAL:

1. Create an instance of IM-ASF SAL. See the "Managing Interworking Modules" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Processing Domain Configuration Guide for more information.

2. In the Application Server tab, set the parameters as follows:

   • In the SAL Application Address field, type sip:[e-mail].

   • From the SAL Mode list, select INLINE.

3. Specify configuration parameters on the Session Keep Alive and SAL tabs as required. See the "Configuring IM-ASF SAL" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Processing Domain Configuration Guide for more information.

4. Specify configuration parameters of the created instance of IM-ASF SAL to make it communicate with the Home Zones application. See the "Configuring IM-ASF SAL" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Processing Domain Configuration Guide for more information.

5. Using the Orchestration Studio, do the following:

   1. Add the instance of IM-ASF SAL that communicates with the Home Zones application to the orchestration flow. See the "Specifying IMs" section of the "Building an Orchestration Logic Flow" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Orchestration Studio User's Guide for more information.

   2. If necessary, specify conditions that the session must meet to be routed to the instance of IM-ASF SAL. See the "Adding Conditions" section of the "Building an Orchestration Logic Flow" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Orchestration Studio User's Guide for more information.

   3. To trigger other applications based on the value of the x-wcs-location header, add conditions for routing the session to different IMs and check whether the x-wcs-location is "homezone", "home network", or "roaming". See the "Adding Conditions" section of the "Building an Orchestration Logic Flow" chapter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Orchestration Studio User's Guide for more information.