Mrs. Vasanthi Muniasamy M.Sc., M.Phil,

INTRODUCTION i-mode is a wireless multimedia service popular in Japan

and is increasing in popularity in other parts of the world.

Multimedia and messaging service for moblie phones.. Developed by NTT Docomo

i-mode was launched in Japan on 22 February 1999

i-mode users have access to various services such as e-mail, sports results, weather forecast, games, financial services, ticket booking and internet browsing.

Contd… 45 million subscribers in Japan, 4 million worldwide i-mode enabled handsets are needed for accessing this service Limited availability:

only for customers of Japanese mobile phone provider NTT DoCoMo.

Provides the user a wide variety of services New services are added continually.

Contd…

i-mode was developed as an inexpensive method of packet switched high-speed communication.

Based on WWW standards(TCP/IP,HTTP,HTML)

Uses W-CDMA (FOMA) in 3G.

High data transmission of normally 64kbps upload and 384kbps download on 3G FOMA.

POPULARITY OF I-MODE IN JAPAN

i-mode service is used by 30% of japanese population more than 10 times each day to check e-mail ,book tickets for trains or theatre ,check the whether ,internet banking and for variety of rich uses.

Popularity of i-mode in japan is due to the following reason. Japanese people adopt technologies mainly for their

convenience ,which is what the i-mode offers.

I-MODE SERVICES i-mode provides 6 types of services

1.e-mail

2.Transaction

3.Information

4.Database

5.Entertainment

6.Internet web browsing

Contd…. e-mail: I-mode user can send and receive mails from another i-mode

enabled phone,PDA or a computer Transaction service: Transaction service include banking,ticket reservation,airline

information and credit card information.

information service: Examples of information service include news updates,wheather

information sports news and stock quotes .

Contd… Database service: The database service provides contents such as telephone

directory search,restuarand guide,Dictionary service. Entertainment: Entertainment service include network game character

download,horoscope…. Internet web browsing: Internet web browsing enabls users to browse contents on

the internet .

HISTORY

I-MODE RELATED SERVICES i-appli This service group consists of software (programs) used with i-

mode compatible mobile phone terminals. Downloading the software makes it possible to automatically update the news and weather forecast displays as well as to play new games.

i-area:This is DoCoMo's location information service . The i-area service enables the user to check the weather forecast, traffic and store information and other convenient information for local areas as well as the map information to the user's current location .

i-motion:This feature refers to video distribution programs for i-mode mobile phone terminals .

.

Contd……

i-motion mail:This service transfers video captured with an i-motion compatible mobile phone via e-mail.

i-shot:A function that supports transfer of still images captured with an i-mode compatible phone.

i-chanel:This service distributes the latest news, weather forecasts and other information to i-channel compatible i-mode phones.

i-mail:This service enables u to send and receive mails to and from an i-mode enabled phone,computer or a PDA.

COMPONENTS The four main components that are required for the i-Mode

service. A cellular phone capable of voice and packet communication

and with a browser installed

A packet network

An i-mode server

Information providers

DoCoMo’sNetwork

(PDC)

IP DoCoMo’sPacket

Network (PDC-P)

IP

Information provider

InternetI-mode Servers

BillingDB

UserDB

Voice, Data via Modem

Packet Data

HTTP

PDC: Personal Digital Cellular

NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT

I-MODE NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT

The PDC-P(Personal Digital Cellular Packet) network transports data between i-mode phone and the i-mode server.

i-mode phone sends data to the base station which forwards them to PPM(Packet processing module)

PPM routes the packets to the M-PG (Message Packet)gateway.

Connection b/w i-mode server and internet are made using TCP/IP

Contd…. i-mode server:it act as a proxy between the packet n/w and the

internet. Content providers:

1.official content providers

2. unofficial content providers MPG

handle the protocol conversion between the two protocol platforms.

PROTOCOLS Almost mirrors the internet protocol stack

In the transport layer it uses TLP a modified version TCP

Higher data packet to control packet ratio

Lack of 3way handshake and ability to pickybagg control signals on data packets

Uses SSL in the tranport layer to ensure security

The TL and LAPD-M protocols are standards of the Association of Radio Industries and Business

I-MODE TECHNOLOGIES 1.PACKET SWITCHED NETWORK

2.CHTML

PACKETSWITCHED NETWORK

i-mode uses a packet switched network knows as PDC-P network

"Packet-switched" means that i-mode communications are

“always-on”, unlike voice calls which are circuit-based and only function after dial-up.

Packet-switched data transfer remains relatively inexpensive as it is charged according to the number of individual packets of data sent and received.

cHTML(Compact HTML) CHTML is a subset of HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0

Designed for small information appliances, such as cellular devices. CHTML is based on four principles

1) Completely based on the current HTML W3C recommendations. This means that cHTML inherits the flexibility and portability from the standard HTML.

cHTML 2) Lite Specification—cHTML has to be implemented with limted

memory and a low power CPU. Frames and tables, which require large memory, are excluded from cHTML

3) Content can viewed on a small mono-color display—cHTML assumes a small black and white, non-fixed display space, flexible for the display screen size. CHTML also assumes single character font

Contd….. 4) Can be easily operated by the users—cHTML is defined so that

all the basic operations can be done by a combination of four buttons; Cursor forward, Cursor backward, Select, and Back/Stop. The functions, which require two-dimensional focus pointing like "image map" and "table," are excluded from cHTML

The maximum size of a cHTML page is not more than 5KB.

The maximum length of a URL is 100 bytes.

Contd…. Major web features that are excluded from Chtml include:

JPEG images Tables Image maps Multiple character fonts and styles Background color and Image Frame Style sheets

Contd… cHTML small information appliance hardware requirements include:

Small memory Typical case: 128-512Kbytes RAM, and 512K-1Mbytes ROM Low power CPU Typical case: 1-10 MIPS class CPU for embedded systems

Small display Typical case: 50x30 dots, 100x72 dots, and 150x100 dots

Contd….. Restricted colors

Typical case: mono-color (black and white) Restricted character fonts

Typical case: only single font Restricted input method

Typical case: several control buttons and number buttons (0-9)

Contd….

　 RegistrationDay of BirthYear < >Month < >Day < 　 　 >1.SEND

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Registration</TITLE></HEAD><BODY ><DIV>Registration</DIV>Day of Birth<br><Form Action=“mailto:”Method=“POST”>Year<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE = “2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br>Month<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE = “2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br>Day<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE = “2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br><INPUT TYPE = “SUBMIT” NAME =“Submit” VALUE = “1.SEND” ALIGN = TOP></BODY></HTML> * “Phone To” tag added

I-MODE PHONES i-mode phones have a special i-mode button for the

user to access the start menu.

One feature in particular is a four-point command navigation button at the center of the phone.

This allows the user to control the pointer on the display, as well as connect to the i-Mode service by pressing a single button.

Contd.. An i-Mode enabled cellular phone is similar to in appearance to

most cellular phone models.

There are several companies that manufacture i-Mode cellular phones, including Panasonic, Nokia, Sony Ericsson.

The phones measure and weigh about the same as Nokia models.

A typical i-mode phone is comparable to a Nokia 6600 model.

Contd….

The first nine i-mode handsets released in the UK are: NEC343i NEC41i Samsung s500i Samsung Z320i Samsung S400i Sony EricssonK610im MotorolaSLVRL7 i-mode Motorola SLVRL6 i-mode NokiaN95i

I-MODE SECURITY ISSUES

Mobile commerce (mcommerce) is conducted on imode including mobile banking and security trading, therefore security is a serious issue.

The security issues on imode are devided into different sectors:

1) Security of the radio link between imode handset and the cellular base station

2) Security of the transparent public internet connection

between imode sites and the handset in the chtml layer.

3) Security of private networks on imode.

Contd…(4) Security of private network links between the imode center and

special service providers such as banks.

(5) Password security.

imode network and imode handsets are equipped for SSL (secure socket layer) encrypted transmission, and imode handsets have unique identifiers allowing similar security to be implemented as on the wired internet. Mobile banking on imode and corporate networks use SSL.

I-MODE AND WAP The key competitor to DoCoMo is WAP(Wireless Application

Protocol) WAP is an open standard protocol that works with various wireless

networks. WAP is developed by the WAP Forum The WAP protocol enables mobile systems such as phones, pagers,

smart phones, and handheld devices to receive information and services from one another.

WAP supports a special language called WML orWireless Markup Language.

Contd…. Web pages that are currently written in HTML cannot be read by

WAP phones. Therefore, web site owners who want their pages to be read by a cell phone will have to create a different page in WML

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WAP AND I-MODE WAP implementations are circuit-switched whereas the i-mode.

Imode phone uses packet-switching.

i-mode includes images, animated images and color WAP implementations only use text and no images.

WAP users are charged for the connection time.

CONCLUSION Leverage widely accepted technology and advance the

technology

Subset of HTML for content description

Leverage IP based architecture

Initial focus on personalized services and usage

Packet based charges with PDC-P favour for Web browsing applications