Media Gateway Control

Protocol (Megaco/H.248)

06/06/22 1
Megaco/H.248
 MEGACO
 Megaco addresses the relationship between
the Media Gateway (MG) and the Media
Gateway Controller (MGC)
 A Master/Slave protocol

Megaco/H.248 2
Media gateway control
vs. call signalling
SIP-T, ISUP in H.323, Q.BICC
SG MGC MGC SG

SIP
SIP
User Agent

PSTN H.323 call PSTN

signaling Gateway
Gateway
control
control
protocol
protocol

H.323
Endpoint
MG
MG

Call signaling
Media gateway control signaling
Media Megaco/H.248 3
flows
 Media Gateway Model
The MG is composed of two logical entities that
can be controlled by the MGC:
 Terminations: interfaces to the media streams.
 Context: association between a collection of
terminations.

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 Basic Concepts
 Connection model: terminations,
streams, and the context
 Termination properties: descriptors
 Message structure: transactions, actions,
and commands
 Event and signal processing
 Packages

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 Terminations
 Source or sink of media flows
 Available on both sides of the Media Gateway
(SCN and IP-Network)
 Media flows can be either one way or two way
 Terminations can also sink/source multimedia
streams that include several media streams.

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 Terminations
Two types of terminations:
 Persistent terminations: Instantiated by the MG

when it boots and remain active all the time.

 Ephemeral terminations: Created when they are

needed.
 ROOT termination: Represents the MG as an

entity in itself.

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 Context
 Modeled as a mixing bridge between terminations.
 Two or more terminations may placed into a
context in order to mix and connect them.
 Created and released by the MG under command
of MGC.
 Null context: holds the persistent terminations
while they are not in use.

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 Context Example:
Basic call

Medium=audio, Medium=audio,

Mode=sendReceive Mode=sendReceive

T1 T2

Ordinary two-party conversation between

terminations T1 and T2
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 Context Example:
Conversation with passive listener

Medium=audio, Medium=audio,

Mode=sendReceive Mode=sendReceive

T1 T2

T3
Example: Medium=audio,
• Wiretap Mode=sendOnly
• Recording Machine

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 Descriptors
 Properties of terminations
 Most important ones:
 Media Descriptor : Describes the transformations to

be applied to media flows through the termination

 Events Descriptor : Selects and reports events that are

currently occurred and important for MGC

 Signals Descriptor : Indicates which signals the MGC

currently wishes the MG to play out the termination

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 Descriptors
 Media Descriptors include some other descriptors:
 Termination State Descriptor: Carries the state of the
termination which is independent of any media flow
 Local Control Descriptor: Provides Media-stream-related
information relevant only between MGC and MG
 Local and Remote Descriptor: Carries information describing
media flows within a stream which must be coordinated with
the remote entity

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 Message Structure
Megaco/H.248 message

Header Transaction Transaction ... Transaction

Req or Reply Req or Reply Req or Reply

Trans Hdr Action ... Action

Ctx Hdr Ctx Properties Command ... Command

Cmd Hdr Descriptor ... Descriptor

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 Commands
 Megaco uses some commands in order to manipulate
terminations, contexts, signals and events.
 For termination manipulation: Add, Subtract, Move,
Modify
 For event reporting: Notify
 For management: AuditCapability, AuditValue,
ServiceChange

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 Commands
 From MGC to MC:
 Add: adds a termination to a context
 Subtract: removes a termination from a context
 Move: moves a termination from a context to another
 Modify: changes the characteristics of an existing
termination , which can be in the null context
 AuditValue & AuditCapabilities: return information
about terminations, contexts and general state and
capabilities of MG

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 Commands
 From MG to MGC:
 Notify: MG sends it to inform MGC that an event
has occured.
 Either from MG to MGC or from MGC to MG:
 ServiceChange: creates a connection between MG
and MGC.
 Descriptors are parameters for all these commands
& return values of some of them.

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 Events
 Events are detected at MG and reported to MGC.
(example: inband signaling)
 MGC controls what events it wants to learn about at
any given time
 sets the termination Events descriptor
 Events can have side effects
 stop playout of signals
 start new signals

 automatically update the set of events of interest

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 Signals
 Signals cause things to happen on terminations
 play a tone, display text, ...
 Specified in the Signals descriptor for a termination
 MGC can specify duration of signal ahead of time or
signal can play until explicitly stopped
 Signals stop playing when any event is detected
unless MGC says otherwise.

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 Packages
 Add detailed content to the protocol
 all events, signals, and statistics are specified in
packages
 can also specify additional properties

 Package definition a continuing process

 being created by multiple standards bodies
 private packages also allowed

 Packages can inherit from and extend other

packages.
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