Quoting Denis Kenzior <denkenz(a)gmail.com>:
Hi Chris,
> Hi all,
>
> I've been looking through the 0.8 source code for some indication of ALS
> support.
>
> ALS (or line-2) allow two different numbers to be attached to a mobile
> device. The device can accept calls from both numbers and make calls from
> either of the two numbers, effectively acting as if two lines were
> attached to the device.
ALS was never part of the core GSM specification. It was an extension
supported by several network providers and phone manufacturers. It was
incorporated into recent GSM specifications as 'Multiple Subscriber Profile.'
I'm glad it was made more official, I just wish it was more widely
available. It's a fantastic feature.. one number for business, one for
personally.. It's all good!
> First is selecting which line/number to use when making a call.
I'm not
> certain how handsets make this distinction and I wonder if it might be
> vendor specific.. Changing out bound line seems to be set as a mode rather
> than on a
> per-call basis. Switching out bound lines is sometimes locked with PIN1.
This is done as a supplementary service control sent to the network
over USSD.
The details are pretty sketchy but the basics are described in 22.030 Section
6.5.6.1.
Fantastic, there's somewhere for me to look.
>
> The other problem is identifying which line was called by a remote caller.
> I believe +CDIP includes this information (after each RING / +CRING)
>
> From what I've seen of the API, it has the ability to report the caller
> identity for in bound calls and the dialed number for out bound calls, but
> I can't seem to find any reference to the number called for in bound calls
> which would be used to identify which line was ringing..
CDIP (like CLIP) is issued after every RING/CRING. Whereas CLIP returns the
calling line identity, CDIP returns the called line identity (e.g. the phone
number the remote caller dialed.) According to the specification it is not
reported for outbound calls.
It seems that my phone doesn't support CDIP, although it does support
line-2/ALS which is a bit odd. I'll investigate more on that..
One thing I'm not certain about is whether CDIP would report which
line received the call, or which number the calller dialed as they
could be different. I know other areas deal with routing information,
but I wasn't sure which which number CDIP reported. It would be great
for ALS support if it were the line that received the call, rather
than the number dialed by the caller.. though that could be
interesting in other situations.
>
> I was wondering if this service has been considered for ofono or if
> perhaps it is already there and I've missed it..
oFono currently does not support ALS/MSP and we do not foresee enabling this
feature in the near term. If you would like to help out, code / research /
documentation contributions are always welcome :)
To be fair, you've already given me a lot of information, such as
which standards describe the service. I'd be more than happy to try
and help out. I personally use ALS and would love to see it
incorporated and if I can help achieve that, all the better!
I guess the two tasks are discovering how to collect called line
information from a device and updating/changing the API so called-line
information is presented via ofono. I suppose they don't necessarily
need to be done in that order.
I'll do more investigation and try and come back with something more
constructive
Cheers
Chris