Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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Siemens Information and Communication Networks (vorm. Italtel) (I), Kantonsspital Basel Universitätskliniken (CH), Biomedical Research AG (CH), Swisscom (CH), Bull Developpement SA (F), National Technical University of Athens NTUA (EL), Uni Antwerpen / Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen UIA (B), Telit Mobile Terminals SpA (I), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya UPC (E)
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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The work of Swisscom within the project MOEBIUS focused on three issues:· System definition and specification of the GPRS mobile network· Define and develop a mobile application for the residential market· Providing GPRS network access during the trialIn the 'System Definition and Specifications' we had several contributions in the Deliverables D03 and D04. We especially defined the interfaces and requirements for the mobile device.In the Application part, we defined the requirements of the proposed application (contribution in D05 ). Swisscom proposed 'Multimedia Streaming applications' over the GPRS as an example of 'business & residential' service (see D12). Two Moebius related articles where published by Swisscom: · Comtec article (GPRS services: a step towards UMTS, Jan 2001)· Schweizer Technische Zeitung, GPRS Services, ein Schritt in Richtung UMTS, Juni 2001
1. INTRODUCTION
The increasing success of nomadic computing as well as of mobile telephony leads to a convergence of the mobile and Internet world. A large number of applications and services already running on desktop computers need to be migrated and adapted to the mobile world. The introduction of GPRS (an end-to-end IP mobile network) is one of the first opportunities to present Internet-based services to the nomadic user.
For a long time now, it's been very easy to download and play back high-quality audio and video files from the Internet. Current web browsers and servers support full-file transfer mode of document retrieval. However, full file transfer means very long, unacceptable transfer times and playback latency. Ideally, video and audio should be streamed across the Internet from the server to the client in response to a client request for a Web page containing embedded videos. The client plays the incoming multimedia stream in real time as the data is received.
Audio streaming is becoming widely accepted and deployed. In particular, Progressive Networks' RealAudio has a wide following. Although streaming audio programs are considerably further along than video, they are still nowhere near typical computer-sound quality. The idea of streaming video over the network has been gaining a lot of interest.
2. APPLICATION OVERVIEW
The application involves different components:
· A live or encoded video content (ex. Movie trailer)
· A streaming server that will broadcast the content on an IP network
· The GPRS network for transport
· A Web Server for the application hosting and interfaces
· A mobile client that will access to video content over GPRS
3. Moebius Multimedia Application
The mobile multimedia application for MOEBIUS will enable nomadic users to search and stream video data (news, trailers, etc…) and display the content on their GPRS-enabled device. The interface to the service is a multimedia portal enabling search and personalization functionality. The raw content along with its annotation information (author, copyright, production date, etc…) are stored in a database. An agent will interface the client request to the database.
The application design and implementation was performed by Swisscom. The application required the integration of different technologies (Databases, Web technology, streaming protocols etc….).
4. GPRS network access
The GPRS network access was ready by March 2001 for first tests. A SIM card with GPRS access was even sent to UHB in order to test the medical application. In June 2001, first video streaming tests were performed on the GPRS network.
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