MIF WG JC. Zuniga
Internet-Draft InterDigital Communications, LLC
Intended status: Informational P. Seite
Expires: August 18, 2014 Orange
February 14, 2014
IEEE 802.21 Overview
draft-zuniga-mif-802-21-overview-02
Abstract
Some of the messages defined by a potential MIF API may rely on
functionalities provided by lower layers. The IEEE 802.21
specification defines an abstraction of lower layer functions that
can be useful for a MIF API. This document provides an overview of
the IEEE 802.21 specification and enumerates a subset of functions
that can be used in the context of the MIF API to interact with lower
layers.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. IEEE 802.21 Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
There is currently a need to present a coherent connection management
behaviour for different terminal platforms (e.g. mobile smart phones,
PCs, tablets, etc.), as users often experience a very different
behaviour when connecting with various platforms to the same networks
and for the same purposes (e.g. web browsing, email access, VPN,
dedicated applications, etc.).
The IEEE 802.21 specification [IEEE802.21] defines several media
independent services that can be used by higher layers (e.g., L3 and
above) to interact with lower layers (e.g., L2 and below). This
document provides an overview of the IEEE 802.21 specification,
focusing on the most relevant functions from a MIF API point of view.
2. IEEE 802.21 Framework
Some of the connection management services described in
[I-D.seite-mif-cm] may rely on standardized abstraction layers such
as the IEEE 802.21 framework [IEEE802.21].
The IEEE 802.21-2008 Media Independent Handover (MIH) Services
baseline specification defines three types of services: Information
Services (IS), Event Services (ES) and Command Services (CS). Each
one of these services has a different purpose. The IS provides
information about existing networks and services in a potential
target network. The ES provides triggers, measurements and events
from lower layers (e.g. network access layers) that can be used for
instance to proactively trigger actions like a handing over or
establishing a new connection to a different access network. The CS
allows configuring lower layer interfaces and events. Both ES and CS
provide an abstraction layer to upper layers that allows configuring
and interacting with different types of network link interfaces in a
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