Transaction Capabilities Application Part

( TCAP )

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What is TCAP???

The Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) of the

SS7 protocol allows services at network nodes to
communicate with each other using an agreed-upon set of
data elements.

i TCAP is at level 4 of the SS7 protocol stack.

i It depends upon the SCCP's transport services because

TCAP itself does not contain any transport information.
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF TRANSACTION
CAPABILITIES

i ˜Transaction Capabilities˜ refers to a set of communication

capabilities that provide an interface between applications
and a network layer service.

i Transaction Capabilities (TC) provide functions and protocols

to a large variety of applications distributed over switches
and specialized centers in telecommunication networks (e.g.
databases).
Structure of TC in SS 7
Scope of Transaction Capabilities:
1) Exchanges
2) An exchange and a network service centre (e.g. database,
specialized facility unit, OA&M Centre)
3) Network service centers

Applications:
i Mobile service application (e.g. location of roamers);
i Registration, activation and invocation of supplementary services
involving specialized facility units (e.g. free phone service,
credit card service);
i Non-circuit control-related exchange of signaling information
(e.g. closed user group, look-ahead procedure);
i Operation and maintenance applications (e.g. query/response).
 Structure of TC
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i the component sub layer deals with 


 which are the
Application Protocol Data Units (APDUs) that convey remote
operations and their responses and, as an option, the 
portion protocol for conveying information related to application
context or user information;

i the transaction sub layer, which deals with the exchange of

messages containing components and optionally, a dialogue
portion, between two TC-users.
Services provided by the Component sub layer

i Component
i Dialogue
i Component correlation
i Error handling
Component

i A component is the means by which TC conveys a request to

perform an 





An operation is an action to be performed by the remote end.

A reply carries an indication of success or failure in carrying
out the operation.

i Components in a message are delivered to the remote TC-

user in the same order as they are provided at the
originating interface.
Types of components

i Invoke³ Requests an operation to be performed

i Return Result³ Reports the successful completion of a

requested operation

i Return Error³ Reports the unsuccessful completion of a

requested operation

i Reject³ Reports a protocol violation, such as an incorrect or

badly-formed OPDU
The contents of the Invoke and Return Result
components include:

i Component Type

i Component ID

i Operation Code (Invoke Component only) (ex: UL)

i Parameters
Services provided by the Component sub layer

i Component
i Dialogue
i Component correlation
i Error handling
 Dialogue

i Successive components exchanged between two TC-users in

order to perform an application constitute a 

i Dialogue handling also allows, as an option, for the transfer

and negotiation of the application context, and the
transparent transfer of user information (i.e. data which are
not components) like protocol version etc., between two TC-
users.
Types of Dialogue
Two kinds of facilities are provided: unstructured and
structured.

r


i TC-users can send components that do not expect replies
without forming an explicit association between themselves

a


i TC-users indicate the beginning, or the formation of a
dialogue, the continuation, and the end of a dialogue
Primitives of Dialogue Handling
Primitives Description
i TC-UNI: Requests/indicates an unstructured dialogue.

i TC-BEGIN: Begins a dialogue.

i TC-CONTINUE: Continues a dialogue.

i TC-END: Ends a dialogue

i TC-U-ABORT: Allows a TC-user to terminate a dialogue abruptly,

without transmitting any pending components.

i ² TC-P-ABORT: Informs the TC-user that the dialogue has been

terminated by the service provider (i.e. TC Transaction sub layer) in
reaction to a transaction abort by the Transaction sub layer. Any
pending components are not transmitted.

i ² TC-NOTICE: Informs the TC-user that the Network Service

Provider has been unable to provide the requested service.
Services provided by the Component sub layer

i Component
i Dialogue
i Component correlation
i Error handling
Component correlation

The Component sub layer provides the following facilities:

a) Association of operations and replies :

Four classes of operations are considered:

i ² Class 1 ² Both success and failure are reported.

i ² Class 2 ² Only failure is reported.

i ² Class 3 ² Only success is reported.

i ² Class 4 ² Neither success, nor failure is reported.

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Services provided by the Component sub layer

i Component
i Dialogue
i Component correlation
i Error handling
 Error Handling
When the Component sublayer is informed of a situation which
prevents it from providing the service expected by the TC-users,
it will notify the TC-user, and may terminate the pending
operations.

Errors at the Component Layer

Protocol errors at the component sub layer are reported using a
Reject Component. The error component's Component ID is
reflected in the Reject Component. A number of different
errors can be detected and reported.

Another type of error is a component that is simply coded with

an incorrect value, such as an unrecognized component type.
 Services provided by the Transaction sub layer

Different services are provided for Unstructured & Structured

dialogues.

The following services are provided for Structured dialogues:

i Transaction Begin

i Transaction |ontinuation

i Transaction End

i Transaction Abort by T|
 user

i Exception Reporting
TC Primitives
i Quality of service
i Destination address
i Origination address
i Application Context Name
i Dialogue I.D
i User info
i Components present
i Abort Reason
i Report Cause etc.
TC Primitives
Message layout

i Transaction portion

i Dialogue portion

i Component portion
Transaction portion
i message length

i Total TCAP message length

i Transaction id identifier

i Transaction id length

i Transaction id
Dialogue portion

i Dialogue portion identifier

i Dialogue portion length

i Dialogue portion
Component portion
i Component sequence identifier

i Component sequence length

i Component type identifier

i Component length

i Component id identifier

i Component id

i Component id length

i Operation code
Transaction Scenario
Thank You