Content Delivery in Location Aware Applications from converged 3G/Wireless Internet

Introduction

A Content Delivery Network or Content Distribution Network is a system of computers networked together across the internet that cooperate transparent to deliver content to end users, most often for the purpose of improving performance, scalability and cost efficiency. The key players in the content delivery market are EdgeCast, Cisco and Akamai. Some protocols that enable content service is ICAP, OPES and ESI. Among other alternative technologies for content delivery, is Peer-to-Peer. Content delivery describes the delivery of digital media ‘content’ such as audio, video, software or information over a medium. Content delivery has two parts: • Delivery of finished content for digital distribution with metadata • Delivery of end product to consumer Content Management systems have emerged to create and syndicate content remotely. Content management, or CM, is a set of processes and technologies that support the evolutionary life cycle of digital information. This digital information is often referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content. Digital content may take the form of text, such as documents, multimedia files, such as audio or video files, or any other file type, which follows a content lifecycle, which requires management.

The process of content management

Content management practices and goals vary with mission. News organizations, e-commerce websites, and educational institutions all use content management, but in different ways. This leads to differences in terminology and in the names and number of steps in the process. Typically, though, the digital content life cycle consists of 6 primary phases: create, update, publish, translate, archive and retrieve. For example, an instance of digital content is created by one or more authors. Over time that content may be edited. One or more individuals may provide some editorial oversight thereby approving the content for publication. Publishing may take many forms. Publishing may be the act of pushing content out to others, or simply granting digital access rights to certain content to a particular person or group of persons. Later that content may be superseded by another form of content and thus retired or removed from use. Content management is an inherently collaborative process. It often consists of the various basic roles and responsibilities like Creator, Editor, Publisher, Administrator, Consumer. Web 2.0 enabled users of the greatest artifact of the world, namely Internet, to become ‘Creators’ of information, by collective participation and the emergence of the networked paradigm.

Location aware applications

“Phones that get you into concerts, tell co-workers not to call now - or even display which friends are at a show. The next phase of the mobile revolution is about to begin.” Business2.0 Mag
iPhone really made a breakthrough to commoditize location awareness on ‘smartphones’. Pervasive computing and Ambient Intelligence fit this driving force nearly perfectly. Location-awareness will be a key feature of many future mobile applications. Many scenarios in pervasive computing include application in navigation, resource discovery, embedded applications, sensor systems, monitoring and control. New technologies will enable tangible objects (fridges, cars, etc) to exchange information without human interaction. This will change the market entirely, as Internet becomes the fundamental economic instrument. Consumers will depend entirely upon network services; therefore Enterprises would be also dependent on the future Internet. Imagine as if the future Internet is the banking and stock market. Today’s data in the internet consist of mainly unstructured data and resources. Therefore they are unusable for the average user. What is the bottom line and the harsh truth is that there are isles of mini webs, a variety of unlinked data, unable to communicate not a collaborative global web. Example of location aware software that will (hopefully) emerge until 2020 : o Physical Social networks o Reality Recognition (Tagging, Semantics) o Credit card o Biometrics o Digital Business Card o Medical Record o Location/Time/Personalized marketing o Digital shopping

Wireless broadband and 4G capabilities

Being mobile means having access to the mobile network and also access to mobile services. What seems to be the most realistic development is a convergence of 3G technology, WiMax and WiFi. Traditionally, these two steps are all controlled by one operator/provider in a closed and proprietary way. In the 4G mobile era, the access to the mobile services will be evolved to an open mobile cloud, so that it is fully open to any developers and providers. In this way, any non-wireless industries, such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, GM, financial institutions or banks can provide services for their mobile users. The access to the mobile network is still controlled by the traditional wireless operators such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and China Mobile. Of course, the operators are very reluctant to go this trend, but for the mobile users and for the future global movement, it is just a matter of time to do it. As a matter of fact, little new technology is needed to make us rely heavily on a single device that will manage all our professional and personal communications needs. This evolution will be based on massively enhanced services, turning the mobile phone into an organizer, entertainment device, payment device, security centre and much more. Ten years ago the mobile phone was purely used for making calls. Today it is a camera, music player, organizer and texting device as well as phone. This is only the start of an evolution over the next twenty years that will turn it into our trusted and indispensable companion in life.

Example scenario of Content Delivery and Management

Ellen returns home after a long day's work. At the front door she is recognized by an intelligent surveillance camera, the door alarm is switched off, and the door unlocks and opens. When she enters the hall the house map indicates that her husband Peter is at an art fair in Paris, and that her daughter Charlotte is in the children's playroom, where she is playing with an interactive screen. The remote children surveillance service is notified that she is at home, and subsequently the on-line connection is switched off. When she enters the kitchen the family memo frame lights up to indicate that there are new messages. The shopping list that has been composed needs confirmation before it is sent to the supermarket for delivery. There is also a message notifying that the home information system has found new information on the semantic Web about economic holiday cottages with sea sight in Spain. She briefly connects to the playroom to say hello to Charlotte, and her video picture automatically appears on the flat screen that is currently used by Charlotte. Next, she connects to Peter at the art fair in Paris. He shows her through his contact lens camera some of the sculptures he intends to buy, and she confirms his choice. In the mean time she selects one of the displayed menus that indicate what can be prepared with the food that is currently available from the pantry and the refrigerator. Next, she switches to the video on demand channel to watch the latest news program. Through the follow me she switches over to the flat screen in the bedroom where she is going to have her personalized workout session. Later that evening, after Peter has returned home, they are chatting with a friend in the living room with their personalized ambient lighting switched on. They watch the virtual presenter that informs them about the programs and the information that have been recorded by the home storage server earlier that day.

Links

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/12_future_apps_for_your_iphone.php http://halans.com/tag/location-aware-applications/ http://www.psiloc.com/en/Expertise_and_Skills/Fields_of_Expertise/803,Location_Aware_Applications http://bytescrolls.blogspot.com/2008/10/ambient-intelligence-and-location-aware.html http://4gmobile.com/ http://nms.lcs.mit.edu/talks/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G http://www.4g.co.uk/ http://apcmag.com/samsung_shows_off_4g_mobile_broadband.htm http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/com/en/appcontent/apl/A0506-4G_Mobile-EN_tcm172-262201635.pdf http://www.future-internet.eu/publications/media.html#c140