Technical Overview of RCS - Rich Communication Services

Let's talk about how we evolved from Legacy SMS to RCS concepts.

List the learning Objectives of this course so that students know how and what they will know about RCS by going through all sections of this course.

Here we talk about various Standard Bodies that have laid out the specifications and guidelines for implementation of RCS.

In this lecture, we are talking of some of the main features that are part of RCS and we shall focus in this course.

Cover a very high-level Network Architecture as laid by GSMA and it is followed as Guideline by all Network Operators who are implementing RCS in their network.

Since IMS is the core network that is required for deployment of RCS, here we shall have a quick overview of various functional elements that make the IMS core. This is where we shall deploy all the Application Servers required for RCS implementation.

SIP is the Session Initiation Protocol that is used to setup RCS sessions. We shall cover in this lecture what are different methods and messages involved in setting up a session.

Here we shall talk about the HTTP protocol which is heavily used for invoking information from servers.

Here we talk about the MSRP - Message Session Relay Protocol) which is used to transfer the Messaging Payload.

Lets talk about the functional elements that are part of IMS network and what do they do.

In this lecture we are going to talk about the configuration server which is responsible to configure the RCS client on the Handset Device.

Its important to know what is involved in configuring the device RCS client. We shall describe this using HTTP methods involved in this process.

Here we shall describe the role of Presence Server which helps the RCS client on the device to check the capabilities of other RCS clients with which it wants to setup a session.

This is the Core Application Server which builds the logic of all RCS functions that we have described earlier.  In this section we shall describe the Messaging Server where it fits in the Architecture.

To understand how the RCS functions work, it is important to go through all steps that happen in the network and provide the functionality to the subscriber.  So in this lecture we shall see what happens in the handset when the subscriber invokes a 1 to 1 Chat session from the handset and which functional nodes in the network play the required functions to make that end subscribers function happen.

In this lecture we shall see what happens in the network when a subscriber invokes a 1 to N Group Chat session.

In this lecture we are going to talk about what is involved in transmitting a file from one Subscriber to another.  We shall see how the Messaging Server and Message Store get involved in the call flows.

When you are in a group chat session and one of the members decide to share a file with all group members, how is that file sent by the sender and how it is received by all participating members in the group. That is the topic covered in this chapter.

Lets try to see what the requirements are from different businesses when they want to communicate with their customers.

This chapter describes at a very High Level how the RCS technology is being used by Businesses to reach their current or potential clients.

Chatbot Platform is the key functional block that allows the RCS technology to be applied for Business Scenarios. This chapter delves into the Architecture and its functional blocks of this platform.

In this slide we go over the scenario of Person to Application Use Cases

Now that we know the Architecture of the Chatbot Platform, lets quickly have an overview of end-to-end call flow that take place when a subscriber is talking to a Chatbot.

here we discuss the Use Cases for Applications talking to the Persons.

This is the scenario when a Business or Brand is trying to reach its current or potential customer which is a Wireless Subscriber.

Give a step-by-step narration of how a user interacts with a Business Chatbot.

Standard Bodies have defined and specified all aspects of RCS so that the Service Providers and Handset providers should be able to implement this technology and serve their subscribers with this feature rich way of messaging.  But as is with any new technology, it has its own obstacles and Challenges to face before its accepted Globally and implemented by all players.  This is what we shall discuss in this chapter.

Let's wrap-up this course by revising what we have learnt in this Introductory Course on RCS and how it is preparing you for the next level of RCS course which we call Advanced RCS course where we shall cover remaining RCS functions and more complex scenarios.