Q.931

{{Short description|ITU-T recommendation}}

{{Infobox technology standard

| title = Q.931

| long_name = ISDN user-network interface layer 3 specification for basic call control

| image = T sinus 6220.jpg

| caption =

| status = In force

| year_started = 1988

| version = (05/98)

| version_date = May 1998

| preview =

| preview_date =

| organization = ITU-T

| committee =

| base_standards =

| related_standards = H.323

| abbreviation =

| domain =

| license =

| website = https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.931

}}

ITU-T Recommendation Q.931 is the ITU standard ISDN connection control signalling protocol, forming part of Digital Subscriber Signalling System No. 1.{{Cite web|title=Q.931: ISDN user-network interface layer 3 specification for basic call control|url=https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.931|access-date=2021-04-27|website=www.itu.int}} Unlike connectionless systems like UDP, ISDN is connection oriented and uses explicit signalling to manage call state: Q.931. Q.931 typically does not carry user data. Q.931 does not have a direct equivalent in the Internet Protocol stack, but can be compared to SIP. Q.931 does not provide flow control or perform retransmission, since the underlying layers are assumed to be reliable and the circuit-oriented nature of ISDN allocates bandwidth in fixed increments of 64 kbit/s. Amongst other things, Q.931 manages connection setup and breakdown. Like TCP, Q.931 documents both the protocol itself and a protocol state machine.

Q.931 was designed for ISDN call establishment, maintenance, and release of network connections between two DTEs on the ISDN D channel. Q.931 has more recently been used as part of the VoIP H.323 protocol stack (see H.225.0) and in modified form in some mobile phone transmission systemssuch as in GSM, where it is used for circuit switched call control between UE and MSC and in ATM.

A Q.931 frame contains the following elements:

  • Protocol discriminator (PD) – Specifies which signaling protocol is used for the connection (e.g. PD=8 for DSS1)
  • Call reference value (CR) – Addresses different connections which can exist simultaneously. The value is valid only during the actual time period of the connection
  • Message type (MT) – Specifies the type of a layer 3 message out of the Q.931-defined Message type set for call control (e.g. SETUP). There are messages defined for the call setup, the call release and the control of call features.
  • Information elements (IE) – Specify further information which is associated to the actual message. An IE contains the IE name (e.g. bearer capability), their length and a variable field of contents.

Message examples

Messages typically control or report the status of connections. For example:

  • SETUP (indicating the establishment of a connection)
  • CALL PROCEEDING (indicating that the call is being processed by the destination terminal)
  • ALERTING (tells the calling party that the destination terminal is ringing)
  • CONNECT (sent back to the calling party indicating that the intended destination has answered the call)
  • DISCONNECT (sent to indicate a request to terminate the connection, by the end that seeks to terminate)
  • RELEASE (sent in response to the disconnect request indicating that the call is to be terminated).
  • RELEASE COMPLETE (sent by the receiver of the release to complete the handshake).
  • RESTART (Reset D Channel to idle)

Disconnect causes

class="wikitable" border=1
Hex

!Decimal

!Cause

0x1

| 1

| Unallocated or unassigned number

0x2

| 2

| No route to specified transit network (Transit Network Identity)

0x3

| 3

| No route to destination

0x4

| 4

| Send special information tone

0x5

| 5

| Misdialled trunk prefix

0x6

| 6

| Channel unacceptable

0x7

| 7

| Call awarded and being delivered in an established channel

0x8

| 8

| Prefix 0 dialed but not allowed

0x9

| 9

| Prefix 1 dialed but not allowed

0xA

| 10

| Prefix 1 not dialed but required

0xB

| 11

| More digits received than allowed, call is proceeding

0x10

| 16

| Normal call clearing

0x11

| 17

| User busy

0x12

| 18

| No user responding

0x13

| 19

| T.301 expired: – User Alerted, No answer from user

0x15

| 21

| Call rejected

0x16

| 22

| Number changed to number in diagnostic field.

0x17

| 23

| Reverse charging rejected

0x18

| 24

| Call suspended

0x19

| 25

| Call resumed

0x1A

| 26

| Non-selected user clearing

0x1B

| 27

| Destination out of order

0x1C

| 28

| Invalid number format or incomplete address

0x1D

| 29

| EKTS facility rejected by network

0x1E

| 30

| Response to STATUS ENQUIRY

0x1F

| 31

| Normal, unspecified

0x21

| 33

| Circuit out of order

0x22

| 34

| No circuit/channel available

0x23

| 35

| Destination unattainable

0x24

| 36

| Out of order

0x25

| 37

| Degraded service

0x26

| 38

| Network out of order

0x27

| 39

| Transit delay range cannot be achieved

0x28

| 40

| Throughput range cannot be achieved

0x29

| 41

| Temporary failure

0x2A

| 42

| Switching equipment congestion

0x2B

| 43

| Access information discarded

0x2C

| 44

| Requested circuit channel not available

0x2D

| 45

| Preempted

0x2E

| 46

| Precedence call blocked

0x2F

| 47

| Resource unavailable, unspecified

0x31

| 49

| Quality of service unavailable

0x32

| 50

| Requested facility not subscribed

0x33

| 51

| Reverse charging not allowed

0x34

| 52

| Outgoing calls barred

0x35

| 53

| Outgoing calls barred within CUG

0x36

| 54

| Incoming calls barred

0x37

| 55

| Incoming calls barred within CUG

0x38

| 56

| Call waiting not subscribed

0x39

| 57

| Bearer capability not authorized

0x3A

| 58

| Bearer capability not presently available

0x3F

| 63

| Service or option not available, unspecified

0x41

| 65

| Bearer service not implemented

0x42

| 66

| Channel type not implemented

0x43

| 67

| Transit network selection not implemented

0x44

| 68

| Message not implemented

0x45

| 69

| Requested facility not implemented

0x46

| 70

| Only restricted digital information bearer capability is available

0x4F

| 79

| Service or option not implemented, unspecified

0x51

| 81

| Invalid call reference value

0x52

| 82

| Identified channel does not exist

0x53

| 83

| A suspended call exists, but this call identity does not

0x54

| 84

| Call identity in use

0x55

| 85

| No call suspended

0x56

| 86

| Call having the requested call identity has been cleared

0x57

| 87

| Called user not member of CUG

0x58

| 88

| Incompatible destination

0x59

| 89

| Non-existent abbreviated address entry

0x5A

| 90

| Destination address missing, and direct call not subscribed

0x5B

| 91

| Invalid transit network selection (national use)

0x5C

| 92

| Invalid facility parameter 93 Mandatory information element is missing

0x5D

| 93

| Message type non-existent or not implemented

0x5F

| 95

| Invalid message, unspecified

0x60

| 96

| Mandatory information element is missing

0x61

| 97

| Message type non-existent or not implemented

0x62

| 98

| Message not compatible with call state or message type non-existent or not implemented

0x63

| 99

| Information element nonexistent or not implemented

0x64

| 100

| Invalid information element contents

0x65

| 101

| Message not compatible with call state

0x66

| 102

| Recovery on timer expiry

0x67

| 103

| Parameter non-existent or not implemented – passed on

0x6F

| 111

| Protocol error, unspecified

0x7F

| 127

| Internetworking, unspecified

0x80+

| 128 or

higher

| Proprietary diagnostic code (not necessarily bad). Typically used to pass proprietary control or maintenance messages between multiplexers.

Q.2931

Q.2931[http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.2931/en ITU-T Recommendation Q.2931] Digital Subscriber Signalling System No. 2 – User-Network Interface (UNI) layer 3 specification for basic call/connection control is a modified and extended variant of Q.931 for use on "B-ISDN" or ATM networks. Q.2931 fulfils a purpose within BISDN similar to that of Q.931 in ISDN. Whilst ISDN allocates bandwidth in fixed 64k increments, B-ISDN/ATM incorporates an elaborate traffic management scheme, allowing precise specification of virtual circuit traffic parameters such as peak and mean bandwidth, jitter, cell loss ratio and so on. In order that ATM switches can manage bandwidth allocation in the network, encodings to express these parameters were added in Q.2931.for example, see the Extended Quality of Service or eQoS Information Element, which can indicate many quality of service parameters'

Unlike Q.931, although Q.2931 was implemented by many switch manufacturers, it was never widely deployed.

References