Bearer Independent Call Control

BICC

NOKIA

BICC.PPT

BICC
BICC is call control protocol designed to transport call control signalling
information, independent of used bearer technology and signalling
message transport technology.
This is accomplished by defining a set of procedures separately for call
control signalling and bearer control signalling.
BICC is based on ISUP. It provides natural interworking with ISUP as well
as with ISDN services.
BICC uses extensions to fulfil requirements set by different bearer
characteristics in user plane.

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BICC.PPT

BICC protocol model

BICC can be carried over TDM (MTP3, MTP3b), ATM (SSCOP) or IP (M3UA or SCTP).
Adaptation is done as defined in so called Signalling Transport Converters (STC) to
Generic Transport Converter (GTC). This is defined in ITU-T Q.2150.0

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BICC.PPT

Signalling function blocks in Serving node

Q.1950

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BICC.PPT

BICC in 3GPP Rel. 4

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BICC.PPT

BICC - Functionality
In 3GPP Rel. 4, the user plane (bearer) and the control plane (signalling and call control) are
separated.
MGW takes care of the user plane and MSS controls it.
BICC is to be implemented at Nc interface between MSC servers and MSS-GCS
CBC (Call Bearer Control) signalling is implemented at Mc interface between MSC server and
MGW.

BICC CS-2
ATM/IP

MSC
Server
Sigtran
IP

Nc

Mc

H.248
IP

Mc

MSC
Server/ GCS

H.248
IP

AAL2/AAL5
ATM
Nb
MGW

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BICC.PPT

RTP
IP

MGW

Sigtran
IP

BICC in Rel. 4
Two parts
Call control (signalling)
Bearer Control (application in MSC Server)
Can establish ATM and IP bearers
Transported over Sigtran

Bearer information
carried in
signalling messages
MSC Server

MSC Server
IAM
Bearer cntr

.
.
IP address: 192.168.3.2
Port: 5964
Codec: AMR mode 7
.
.
.

Bearer cntr

BICC
Sigtran

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BICC.PPT

SCTP
IP

192.168.3.2/5964
MGW

M3UA

MGW

Bearer Establishment
Different alternatives for bearer establishment possible between MGWs
are,
(Tunneled) Fast Forward setup [IP]
(Tunneled) Delayed Forward setup [IP]
(Tunneled) Backward setup [IP]
(Non-tunneled) Per-call bearer setup in forward direction [ATM]
(Non-tunneled) Per-call bearer setup in backward direction [ATM]
Originating node always selects the bearer establishment method as well
as the used bearer characteristics (BNC-char)

NOKIA

BICC.PPT

Two ways to establish a bearer

1) Use separate bearer control signalling (ATM)
2) Tunnel bearer information in call control messages (IP)

MSS

Call Control Signalling

BICC or SIP

MSS
In IP backbone, no separate bearer
signalling is used. Instead, the
information about the bearer is
tunneled in H.248 and SIP or BICC
via the MSC Servers.

H.248

H.248

In ATM backbone, bearer is

established via separate bearer
control signalling. In case of ATM
AAL2 connections, AAL2 signalling
is used.

Bearer Control Signalling

E.g, AAL2 signalling

MGW
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BICC.PPT

MGW

Bearer Establishment Modes - Non tunneled

MSS

Initial setup message

MSS

Forward
Bearer establishment direction

MSS

Initial setup message

MSS

Backward
Bearer establishment direction

MGW
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BICC.PPT

MGW

Separate bearer control

protocol used
(e.g. AAL2 signalling)

Bearer Establishment Modes - tunneled

MSS

Initial setup message

(BearerControlInformation)

MSS

Fast setup
No separate bearer control
protocol used
MSS

Delayed
forward

Initial setup message

Response
Subsequent setup message
(BearerControlInformation)

MSS

Used e.g. when codec is not

known beforehand.
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BICC.PPT

MGW

MGW

Bearer Establishment Modes - tunneled

MSS

Initial setup message

MSS

Response
(BearerControlInformation)

Delayed
backward
MGW

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BICC.PPT

MGW

BICC CS-2 messages, formats and parameters

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BICC.PPT

BICC call control related messages

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BICC.PPT

Message

Code

Description

ACM

0000 0110

Address Complete Message

ANM

0000 1001

Answer Message

APM

0100 0001

Application Transport Message

COT

0000 0101

Continuity

CPG

0010 1100

Call Progress

CON

0000 0111

Connect

IDR

0011 0110

Identification Request

IRS

0011 0111

Identification Response

INF

0000 0100

Information

INR

0000 0011

Information Request

BICC Maintenance related messages

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Message

Code

Description

CGB

0001 1000

Circuit / CIC Group Blocking

CGBA

0001 1010

Circuit / CIC Group Blocking Acknowledgement

GRS

0001 0111

Circuit / CIC Group Reset

GRA

0010 1001

Circuit / CIC Group Reset Acknowledgement

CGU

0001 1001

Circuit / CIC Group Unblocking

CGUA

0001 1011

Circuit / CIC Group Unblocking Acknowledgement

CQM

0010 1010

Circuit / CIC Group Query Message

CQR

0010 1011

Circuit / CIC Group Query Response

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BICC.PPT

BICC Maintenance related messages

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Message

Code

Description

CFN

0010 1111

Confusion

FAA

0010 0000

Facility Accepted

FAC

0011 0011

Facility

FRJ

0010 0001

Facility Reject

FAR

0001 1111

Facility Request

RSC

0001 0010

Reset Circuit / CIC message

UCIC

0010 1110

Unequipped Circuit Identification Code

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BICC.PPT

General BICC PDU format (ASN1)

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Format of BICC message

Formats and codes for BICC protocols are specified in ITU-T Q.1902.3
They are very much similar to ISUP.

BICC message (BICC PDU)

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CIC (Call Instance Code)

CIC in the BICC protocol is used to identify signalling relation between
peer BICC entities and associate all the PDUs to that relation.
Bilateral agreement is required with regard to the CIC values provisioned.

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BICC.PPT

Example: Initial Address Message (IAM)..Incomplete

Different types of parameters are used in BICC message. Complete list of parameters is defined
in Table 2/Q.1902.3 specifications. This example shows few of the parameters used by IAM
message.

Parameter

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Type

Length
octets

Message type

IAM

Nature of connection
indicators

Satellite connection included/not included, Continuity check

required/not required, echo control device included/not
included

Forward call indicators

Call national/international, end-to-end method indicator, CCS7

interworking indicator, end-to-end information availability,
ISDN user part use indicator, ISUP preference indicator, ISDN
access indicator, SCCP method indicator.

Calling party's category

Ordinary, payphone, priority, operator language.

Transmission medium
requirement

Speech, 3.1 kHz audio, 64 kbit/s, Nx64kbit/s, 1920 kbit/s, 1536

kbit/s etc.

Called party number

4-?

Information to identify the calling party

Access transport

3-?

Information generated on the access side of a call and transferred

transparently in either direction between originating and terminating
local nodes. The information is significant to both users and local
nodes

Application transport (APP)

5-?

Information sent in either direction to allow the peer-to-peer

communication of Application Transport mechanism user
applications

BICC.PPT

Description

Application Transport Mechanism - APM

Allows applications to send application specific data between nodes using call
control messages
Specified for BICC use in ITU-T Q.765.5
An application is running in the node besides call control instance
Application specific data may be sent in CC messages, or, if none is available, as a
separate APM message.
Application specific data is send using APP (Application Transport Parameter)

appl

appl

CC

CC
CC message + application data
Application data
CC message + application data

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APM Functionality in Rel. 4

The application using APM for bearer control is called Bearer Association Transport
- Application Service Element (BAT-ASE)
APM for BICC defines among others
Action indicator (forward/backward)
BNC ID (reference used to associate the bearer with a call)
BIWF address (MGW address)
Codec(s)
Tunneling related information (used/not used, bearer control payload)
Carried in APP parameter

MSS
BAT-ASE

MSS
param

APP

param

IAM

E.g. IAM or APM

message
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BAT-ASE

Application Transport Parameter (APP)

Q.1902.3

Q.765.5

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BICC.PPT

List of identifiers

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Contents of identifiers
Action indicator
It can have codes like connect forward, connect backward etc.
Backbone network connection identifier
The content is bearer specific with maximum length of 4 octets (BNC_ID).
Interworking function address
Interworking function address is in NSAP format according to X.213 (BIWF Address).
Codec list
In the codec list, single codec information elements are listed in decreasing order of
preference level.
Single codec
Single codec information element has a field called Organization identifier and codec
information subfield. Subfield has information about the codec type and codec
configuration.
Bearer Network Connection Characteristics
Codes here identifies the bearer used e.g. IP/RTP, AAL1, AAL2, TDM etc.
Bearer control information
It contains PDU (Protocol Data Unit) of BCTP.
Bearer control tunnelling
It indicates whether tunnelling is used or not .
Bearer control unit identifier
It contains information about the BCU. It includes Network ID and Local BCU-ID.

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BICC.PPT

BCTP Bearer Control Tunnelling Protocol

The BICC bearer control tunnelling protocol (BCTP) is a generic tunnelling mechanism for the
purpose of tunnelling bearer control protocols (BCP) over the horizontal BICC interface
between call control units (CCUs) and the vertical call bearer control protocol (CBC)
interface between CCU and bearer control unit (BCU).
BCTP is defined in ITU-T Q.1990

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BICC.PPT

Tunneling bearer information with BICC

The BCTP has a binary encoded Protocol Control Information (PCI) field of 2 octets if front of
every tunnelled BCP PDU.
It is used to indicate the used BCP, both binary and textual encodings are possible
Currently only supported protocol is IPBCP

IP Bearer Control Protocol (IPBCP, ITU-T Q.1970) is the tunneling protocol used together
with APM
based on IETFs Session Description Protocol with BICC-specific extensions
encoding is textual

IPBCP is carried in BCTP

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BICC.PPT

IPBCP IP Bearer Control Protocol

28

IPBCP is used for the exchange of media stream characteristics, port numbers and IP
addresses of the source and sink of a media stream to establish and allow the
modifications of IP bearers.
IPBCP uses the Session Description Protocol (SDP) defined in RFC 2327 to encode the
information.
IPBCP uses four messages to convey information between peers

Request

Accepted

Confused

Rejected
Each IPBCP message consists of following SDP fields
Session and time description fields
1.
Protocol version (v)
2.
Origin (o)
3.
Session name (s)
4.
Connection data (c)
5.
Time (t)
6.
Session attribute (a)
Media description fields
1.
Media announcement (m)
2.
Media attribute

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BICC.PPT

IPBCP in SDP format

Example content of IPBCP is shown in the figure
Q.1950: Bearer Information Transport (BIT),
Tunnel Indication (TIND) OCTET STRINGs,
Q.765.5: Bearer Control Information

Version 0 for SDP

is assumed.

Origin (=MGW)
IP address
and version
Session Name
Address
of actual
media plane

IPBCP
v=0
o=- 0 3010101061 IN IP4 102.13.12.1
s=IP call
c=IN IP4 102.13.12.251
t=0 0
A=ipbcp:1 Request
m=audio 49000 RTP/AVP 0
a=rtpmap:<dynamic payload number> VND.3GPP.IUFP/16000
a=fmtp:97 mode-set W X Y Z

Version of
IPBCP. Current
version is 1

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BICC.PPT

Q.1950/
Q.765.5

Media type equals always

3GPP specific RTP payload format
with dynamic payload typing.

Call related BICC signalling procedures

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Forward establishment of backbone network connection

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Backward establishment of backbone network connection

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Important References
BICC functional description

ITU-T Q 1902.1

Information and explanation about

messages and parameters used in BICC
Formats and codes of BICC and ISUP

ITU-T Q1902.2

Basic BICC Call procedures

ITU-T Q 1902.4

Application Transport Mechanism (APM) :

BICC
BICC bearer control tunnelling protocol
(BCTP)
BICC IP bearer control protocol (IPBCP)

ITU-T Q.765.5

Session Description Protocol (SDP)

IETF RFC 2327

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ITU-T Q 1902.3

ITU-T Q.1990
ITU-T Q.1970