What's the problem?
One would, reasonably, hope that all one had to do to
get an image displayed on a multimedia phone was to send
the image to the phone. In practice we need to be able
to answer "yes" to all the following if the
content is to be rendered (displayed or played) correctly
on the phone:
- Does the phone have the capability to receive WAP
PUSH or MMS Service Indication messages?
- Is the phone configured correctly to collect the content
using a GPRS or Modem connection?
- Does the Network Operator permit content to be collected
from places other than their own "walled garden"?
- Is there enough space in the phone's memory?
- Is the content below the size
limit that the phone can deal with for a single file?
- Can the phone render the type
of file being sent - e.g. .gif .jpg .mp3, midi poly
4 etc.?
- If an image has been sent can
the phone render an image at the "display size" or
colour depth supplied?
- If a sound file has been sent
can the phone render the sound file with the specific
parameters
(e.g.
sample
rate)
supplied?
We don't have any control over the first four items
in the above list but Connection Software can automatically
deal with items 5, 6, 7 and 8.
This is called Dynamic Content Repurposing. First a quick
explanation of how multimedia content is delivered.
How Multimedia content is delivered
Multimedia delivery is a three-step process.
- A WAP PUSH Notification or MMS Service Indication
is sent to the phone. This is similar to a normal SMS
message and it tells the handset that there is some content
waiting to be delivered.
- The phone requests the content from a WAP Server of
MMSC. The request includes details of the make and model
of the phone and other very useful information.
- The WAP server of MMSC delivers the content to the
phone over GPRS or modem.
What's the solution: Dynamic
Content Repurposing
This three-step process provides a great opportunity:
when the phone requests the content it tells us the Make
and Model. As a result we can work out how to re-format
the content so that it can be displayed correctly on that
particular phone. We call this Dynamic Content
Repurposing and, amazingly, no Mobile Network
Operator currently offers this. We do offer
Dynamic Content Repurposing and as a result we stand a
far better chance of delivering your content in a format
that the user will be able to see or hear.
We offer Dynamic Content Repurposing on
both WAP PUSH files and mms files containing SMIL content.
When we receive an mms file with SMIL content we
- Decompose the file into its constituent parts
- Repurpose the content parts into a format suitable
for the target phone but leave the recipients lists etc.
This involves changing the format of every image and
sound file.
- Recompose the reformatted parts into a single file
- Deliver the reconstituted file to the phone
- Log everything
We do all of this on-the-fly and the phone requesting
the file will see virtually no delay.
WAP PUSH or MMS Service Indication?
| Delivery method |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
| WAP PUSH |
Delivers a single file such as a .jpg image file
or .mid sound file without any preparation. |
Requires the user to "Press a key to collect
the image". |
| MMS Service Indication |
When the MMS Service
Indication arrives at the phone the
phone
automatically
collects
the content
without user intervention. This is true for most, but
not all, phones.
Reliably enables you to deliver true multimedia so
that you can present images, text and sounds simultaneously. |
The content must be compiled into an mms file. |
|
