Inter-working between SIMPLE and IMPS

Instant Messaging is looked upon as one of the killer services for 3G (The Third Generation). This paper analyzes the differences between SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Message and Presence Leveraging Extensions) and IMPS (Instant Messaging and Presence Services), which are two of the most popular standards for Presence and Instant Messaging in the world. IMPS is more mature and has been deployed in many communication systems, while SIMPLE is more suitable for an IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem) network, so inter-working between them is a hot topic in the value-added service field, but recently the research on the topic is just in the initial stage. Based on the analysis, a bi-directional protocol mapping is proposed to enable the exchange of Presence Information, instant messages and Group information between SIMPLE and IMPS systems. With the protocol mapping and OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) inter-working Architectural Model, an Enhanced Architectural Model is proposed to perform the inter-working functions which can not be completed by the current OMA Architectural Model. A method called IFT (Information Flow Trail) is adopted to describe the message streams and their exchanging between SIMPLE and IMPS. Based on the Enhanced Architectural Model, we implemented an IWF (Inter-working Function) system.