Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a store
and forward messaging service that allows mobile
subscribers to exchange multimedia messages with
other mobile subscribers. As such it can be seen
as an evolution of SMS, with MMS supporting the
transmission of additional media types:
Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) is the
logical evolution of the Short Message Service
SMS, a text-only messaging system for mobile
networks. MMS-enabled mobile phones enable
subscribers to compose and send messages with
one or more multimedia (digital photos, audio,
video) parts. Mobile phones with built-in or
attached cameras, or with built-in MP3 players
are very likely to also have an MMS messaging
client -- a software program that interacts with
the mobile subscriber to compose, address, send,
receive, and view MMS messages.
The MMS data flow starts with a subscriber using
an MMS client on the mobile phone to compose,
address, and send an MMS message to one or more
recipients. MMS addresses can be either E.164
phone numbers (e.g., "+18005551212") or RFC 2822
e-mail addresses (e.g., "you@yourdomain.com").
The initial submission by an MMS client to the
home MMSC (MMS Center) is accomplished using
HTTP with specialized commands and encodings
(which are defined in a technical standard
specified by the Open Mobile Alliance (http://www.openmobilealliance.com)).
Upon reception of the MMS message, the recipient
MMSC (MMS Center) sends a notification to the
recipient's mobile phone using either an SMS
notification or WAP Push.
There are two modes of delivery in MMS:
immediate or deferred:
immediate delivery: When the MMS client on the
mobile phone receives the MMS notification, it
then immediately (without user intervention or
knowledge) retrieves the MMS message from the
MMSC that sent the notification. After
retrieval, the subscriber is alerted to the
presence of a newly arrived MMS message.
deferred delivery: The MMS client alerts the
subscriber that an MMS message is available, and
allows the subscriber to choose if and when to
retrieve the MMS message. As with the MMS
submission, the MMS retrieval request, whether
immediate or deferred, occurs with an HTTP
request. The MMSC responds by transmitting the
MMS message in an HTTP response to the MMS
client, after which the subscriber is finally
alerted that the MMS message is available.
The essential difference between immediate and
deferred delivery is that the former hides the
network latencies from the subscriber, while the
latter does not.
There are some interesting challenges with MMS
that do not exist with SMS:
content adaptation: multimedia content created
by one brand of MMS phone may not be entirely
compatible with the capabilities of the
recipients' MMS phone. In the MMS architecture,
the recipient MMSC is responsible for providing
for content adaptation (e.g., image resizing,
audio codec transcoding, etc.), if this feature
is enabled by the mobile network operator. When
content adaptation is supported by a network
operator, its MMS subscribers enjoy
compatibility with a larger network of MMS users
than would otherwise be available.
distribution lists: current MMS specifications
do not include distribution lists nor methods by
which large numbers of recipients can be
conveniently addressed, particularly by content
providers, called Value Added Service Providers
(VASPs) in 3GPP. Since most SMSC vendors have
adopted FTP as an ad-hoc method by which large
distribution lists are transferred to the SMSC
prior to being used in a bulk-messaging SMS
submission, it is expected that MMSC vendors
will also likely adopt FTP similarly.
bulk messaging: The flow of peer-to-peer MMS
messaging involves several over-the-air
transactions that become inefficient when MMS is
used to send messages to large numbers of
subscribers, as is typically the case for VASPs.
For example, when one MMS message is submitted
to a very large number of recipients, it is
possible to receive a 'delivery report' and
'read-reply report' for each and every
recipient. Future MMS specification work is
likely to optimize and reduce the transactional
overhead for the bulk-messaging case.
MMS should not be confused with EMS, which is
simply SMS with additional payload capabilities.
MMS has been deployed world-wide and across both
GSM/GPRS and CDMA networks.
MMS was originally developed within the
Third-Generation Partnership Program (3GPP), a
standards organization focused on standards for
the UMTS/GSM networks.
MMS has also been standardized within the
Third-Generation Partnership Program 2 (3GPP2),
a standards organization focused on
specifications for the CDMA networks.
As with most 3GPP standards, the MMS standards
have three stages:
Stage 1 - Requirements
Stage 2 - System Functions
Stage 3 - Technical Realizations
Both 3GPP and 3GPP2 have delegated the
development of the Stage 3 Technical
Realizations to OMA (http://www.openmobilealliance.com),
a standards organization focused on
specifications for the mobile wireless networks.
Vodafone has introduced the term "PXT"
(pronounced pixt) to modern terminology in many
countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
Multimedia messaging is a next
generation message service. Multimedia messaging
allows a variety of message elements to be sent
to a user and these can contain text,
animations, photographs, sounds and in future
streaming audio and video. Users can compose
their own messages, receive rich content
messages from content providers and forward them
onto their own contacts.
When will MMS be
introduced?
Some operators have already
launched and many more will launch this summer
(2002).
When will the
consumers see this service?
Many operators are planning to
launch before Christmas 2002.
Why is MMS important?
For the subscriber MMS takes
messaging out of the basic text users are used
to and allows them to enjoy a much better
messaging - more like they are used to via email
or the Internet e.g. to send a greetings card or
photograph of themselves.
For network operators MMS is
important as it is the basis for a wide range of
next generation services that pave the way for
the improved 3G bandwidth to show its use, drive
demand for data bandwidth and consequently
increase operator revenues.
How would MMS look
like to the end users?
Some of the first phones are
introducing colour so this is a substantial
improvement over black & white text. Initial
devices may maintain the conventional size
display but allow colour or grey scale images.
The main thing users will see is that the
experience is much more dynamic - a snapshot
album of thumbnail images, a sequence of a
cartoon e.g. Dilbert, captions and sounds
combined with images.
What are some examples
of services on MMS?
Taking a snapshot via a camera
phone and sending to a friend
Receiving cartoon strips
Composing your own animated picture messages and
sending to friends
Sending audio files
Sending pictures & audio files with simultaneous
playback
Advertising
Music download & play (really with 3G)
Storing pictures to an on line album
Remote surveillance
What content types
does MMS support?
MMS is based on common
Internet technologies currently supported on a
variety of content types which would include
plain text, HTML, audio in a variety of formats
including an efficient new standard AMR and soon
MP3, pictures as GIF, JPEG, PNG and in the
future video using MPEG4
I don't have an MMS
phone, can I receive / send MMS messages?
You would need to be on a
network that supports MMS; steps are being taken
to allow MMS's to be supported at various
capabilities by non MMS phone users e.g. by
converting as far as possible to WAP. There are
restrictions which are things like if you only
have an SMS capable phone you might have to
access your MMS messages using an internet
connection.
Can MMS messages be
sent to an email address?
Yes, it is possible to do this
- although your operator will need to support
this capability
How does the user's
MMS experience compare to that of SMS?
The experience is far superior
especially with devices with colour displays,
sound, text and picture sequences.
Are there any MMS
phones available now?
The Ericsson T68i was the
first phone available and we are starting to see
more of these in user’s hands. Nokia have also
started shipping their 7650 camera enabled MMS
phone and another model is due soon. Many more
models are expected.
Does MMS need 3G?
Not at all, we're advising
GPRS is the minimum although it works over
circuit switched GSM it is costly to run. 3G
will benefit capabilities such as streaming
audio / video for example downloading full MP4
video clips may take too long over GPRS.
How big can an MMS
message be?
There is not a network limit but initial devices
are specifying minimum support for 30k - it's
really a manufacturer limit concerning the
amount of memory
How fast is an MMS
message from phone to phone?
It could parallel an email message - might
normally appear near instantaneous but could be
delayed by load on servers and by who's sending
from where to where or by network outages. It is
not however designed to be real time.
How does MMS compare
to EMS?
EMS is delivered via SMS and
this means it can be very costly and is using
limited control channel capacity in a GSM
network. EMS also supports picture messaging/
animation but MMS is much more capable of
serving up multiple media together and also you
wouldn't enjoy the experience of more complex
media e.g. photographs, sound and video.
How does MMS compare
to email?
It has many similarities to
rich email content but delivered in a mobile
friendly way. In fact MMS uses email
technologies to underpin the technical
capabilities. Some aspects of MMS will exceed
standard email capabilities e.g. true control
over sequences which conventional email doesn't
handle.
How is the MMS
environment different from SMS?
MMS requires network operators
to install MMS Server/ Relay equipment which
integrates with existing infrastructure and
connects to content providers, email gateways.
SMS uses a control channel whereas MMS uses the
data channel.
Is anyone setting
standards for MMS?
The principle standards body
is 3GPP for MMS though they use work by other
standards bodies such as the WAP forum to assist
in certain areas. The GSM association is active
in collecting operator requirements to address
to 3GPP to help advance these standards.
What is the connection
between MMS and WAP?
MMS capability uses many
services of WAP to make it work - particularly
the lower level WAP transport mechanisms which
are optimised for operation over the GSM radio
interface. MMS also uses WAP's push mechanism to
transparently notify users of receipt of a new
message.
It requires additions of infrastructure
components to handle the store & forward
functions of MMS. MMSCs have to connect into
other network components like HLRs, a network
must also be WAP capable and realistically GPRS
capable. And for proper service GPRS global
roaming is required.
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