Multimodality approaches. Old approach.

Yesterday, reading the DevCentral newsletter (the AT&T newsletter for developers) and talking about multimodal interaction (multimodality), in plain words, using voice to command the mobile browser :-), they talked about 2 options: Fat and thin clients (On Device Clients).

• FAT CLIENT was a mobile application including ASR (speech recognition capabilities) and TTS (text to speech).

• THIN CLIENT was a mobile application able to encode/decode the voice to send to remote server where IVR resourcer are based.

In both alternative to get multimodal solutions, you face the same problem, only powerful smartphones have the resources to run those clients (symbian, windows mobile and possible iPhone and Blackberry) but with difficult compatibility from handset to handset.
Additionally, if you want to get connected with multimodal capability with several CRM (m-banking, m-ticketing, etc) you do not want to install so many application. And a lot of people prefer mid tier devices with good browser but not so "open" to create thin or fat clients.

In our opinion, these restrictions reduce the "potential market" of multimodal enabled mobility solutions or m-CRM offers. Why not using native mid-tier handser capabilities as browser and the voice and data simoultaneus offered in 3G and class A GSM/GPRS/EDGE handsets.
Stay tunned, tomorrow we will unveiling our approach not needed fat or thin client :-)
juan

Wireless, the acronyms soup !

We work now around core network and services enabling platforms, but our past was linked to wireless access technologies as gsm, 3G, and HSxPA, new radio access network are being developed, we just found a very interesting and useful article/port to understand frequency bands, distance and bandwith for legacy, current and soon coming wireless technologies. We place this link to the post of Padmasree Warrior Blog http://blogs.motorola.com/author/padmasree-warrior/default.asp?item=631033, hope you find it useful.

when IMS ?

Several years talking about IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) as converged core, the way to interconect mobile and fixed worlds all carriers with trials, the technology ready, but.... there are not being launched commercial solutions.
Always we are facing the same circle.....no commercial service available because of no perceived demand, and not perceived demand because no commercial service available and real added value services showcases.
In exemple, the "video sharing" feature (also labelled as "see what i see / rich voice call), voice over circuit switch + video over packet switch (data), only one way, the needed one. This feature has some advantadges comparing with 3G videocall:

- videocall uses 64 kbps to be merge signalling, voice, and video and videosharing use a different channel for voice, more bandwidth then for video, higher quality.
- using data bearer for video, whatever improvement in uplink rates allows to transmit video with more quality, with future HSUPA, broadcast quality.
- using data bearer we could share video from mobile and internet worlds without costly infrastructure as Videogateways are.

(now it seems TMN in Portugal and TIM in Italy launched this service...but and the other european carriers?)

Currently a lot of amazing solutions based on mobile video in the uplink, as mobile journalism, blogging, law reinforcement are "on hold" until mobile carriers will decide to push forward IMS services....please...do that, we need that soon :-)

(in spanish)
Años hablando del IMS, el core convergente, la red perfecta donde no importe el acceso, la conexión del mundo fijo con el móvil, la tecnología ya madura, pero....todavía no se lanzan servicios comerciales por parte de los operadores.
Siempre nos topamos con la misma pescadilla que se muerde la cola o si debe ser antes el huevo o la gallina. No hay servicios comerciales sobre IMS porque no hay demanda, pero no hay demanda porque no hay servicio comercial de IMS y casos de uso con valor añadido debidamente demostrados.

Por ejemplo, el videosharing (también llamada "mira lo que veo"), sobre una llamada de voz convencional en un momento dado se envía video en tiempo real por paquetes (como conexión de datos), al ir por caminos distintos, todo el ancho de banda de datos es para el video redundando en una mejor calidad. Aparte tiene más ventajas sobre la videollamada 3G:

-al usar el video una portadora de datos, la mejora del ancho de banda ascendente as 128 kbps, a medio plazo a 384 kbps o incluso en el futuro con el HSUPA permitirá mandar video con calidad broadcast. (algo que los operadores podrán rentabilizar compitiendo en mercados hasta ahora de radioenlaces fijos de banda ancha).

- al usar el video directamente una conexión de datos...es directamente accesible al mundo fijo/internet, no así la videollamada, que requiere una infrastructura costosa, el videogateway que pasa de conmutación de circuitos a paquetes el video.

(ahora parece que TMN - Portugal) y TIM -Italia lanzaron el servicio de IMS videosharing, para cuándo el resto de operadores europeos ??? )

Ahora mismo un buen número de casos de uso interesantes y de alto valor añadido (periodismo, seguridad, blogging, reporte visual de tareas) están "en la nevera" a la espera de que los operadores se decidan a lanzar estos servicios...por favor, que sea pronto, ...los necesitamos :-)