Ran Selection for Converged Networks Supporting IMS Signalling and MBMS Service

Future communication networks are envisioned to be based upon a common, flexible and scalable convergence platform, where different access networks, different terminals and different services can coexist. The new user capabilities spawn a demand for Always Best Connectivity (ABC), i.e. that a user can always have the best possible connection regardless of place and time. This brings forth a new communication paradigm, which is user-centric, i.e. the user is no longer bound to only one access network but can choose the best available access network to satisfy a specific service request. The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) is the technology promoted to enable this ubiquitous converged network. This paper considers the selection of access network, specifically for multicast/broadcast users and proposes a novel RAN selection scheme implemented using IMS signalling.