Introduction

GPRS-136 is the packet-data service provided in TIA/EIA-2 136 (also known as UWC-136). GPRS-136 integrates the TIA/EIA-136 air link with the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) as defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Specifically, GPRS-136 supports a packet data service on the following:

• TIA/EIA-136 30-kHz channels (designated as 136+).

• TIA/EIA-136 200-kHz channels for high speed data (384 kbit/s) accommodating high mobility (designated as 136HS Outdoor).

• TIA/EIA-136 1600-kHz channels for very high speed data (2 Mbits/s) in low mobility applications (designated as 136HS Indoor).

In addition to the packet data service available with GPRS-136, a GPRS-136 subscriber shall also have the capability to receive existing TIA/EIA-136 and TIA/EIA-41 services (e.g., circuit switched voice services, and short messaging services), provided the subscriber's mobile station supports both circuit-mode and packet-mode.

GPRS-136 supports two new classes of mobile stations:

• Class B136 – This MS class supports TIA/EIA-136 circuit service, GPRS-136 packet service, TIA/EIA-136 teleservices, and TIA/EIA-136 functions (e.g., Intelligent Roaming). A Class B136 mobile station can invoke packet-data transactions or circuit calls sequentially but not simultaneously. The selection of the appropriate service is performed automatically.

• When a mobile station has successfully attached to both packet and circuit service, a packet data transaction or circuit call may be invoked by the network or the mobile station.

• If a circuit call is invoked while a packet data transaction is active, the mobile station shall suspend packet service and proceed with the circuit call. Upon termination of the circuit call, the mobile station shall request the packet service be resumed. The network shall either grant or reject the resume request.

• Class C136 – This MS class supports GPRS packet service and TIA/EIA-136 functions for Intelligent Roaming.

GPRS-136 allows the service subscriber to send and receive data in an end-to-end packet mode, without utilizing network resources in circuit mode. GPRS-136 enables the efficient use of network resources for packet data applications. For example, GPRS-136 is well suited for applications that exhibit one or more of the following characteristics:

• intermittent, non-periodic (i.e., bursty) data transmissions, where the time between successive transmissions greatly exceeds the average transfer delay;

• frequent transmissions of small volumes of data (e.g., transactions consisting of less than 500 octets occurring at a rate of up to several transactions per minute);

•infrequent transmission of larger volumes of data (e.g., transactions consisting of several kilobytes occurring at a rate of up to several transactions per hour)

Based on standardized network protocols supported by GPRS-136, a GPRS-136 network administration may offer (or support) a set of additional services. These services are outside the scope of this standard; however, a number of possible point-to-point interactive teleservices include the following:

• retrieval services that provide the capability of accessing information stored in database centers. The information is sent to the user on demand only. An example of one such service is the Internet World Wide Web (WWW);

• messaging services that offer user-to-user communication via storage units with store-and-forward mailbox, or message-handling functions;

• conversational services that provide bi-directional communication by means of real-time (no store-and-forward) end-to-end information transfer from user to user (e.g., Internet Telnet application);

• tele-action services that are characterized by low data volume (short) transactions (e.g., credit card validations, lottery transactions, utility meter readings, and electronic surveillance systems).