ABSTRACT

The upcoming 3 ^rd generation mobile communications system UMTS/IMT-2000 will provide high data rates and advanced means for service generation. In conjunction with so-called smart phones a cass of entirely new services, exploiting mobility and multimedia will become possible.

We present a framework for providing such services, as well as their key requirements and concepts to meet these criteria.

KEYWORDS:

UMTS, IMT-2000, Mobile Multimedia, Service Module, Navigation, Location Based Service

1. INTRODUCTION

Current mobile communications systems, like GSM or IS-136, offer circuit switched data at 9.6 kbps. The next steps of evolution are packet switched transmission and higher data rates of up to 40 kbps (theoretically up to 150kbps) [1].

On the terminal side, smart phones, using WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) to display simplified web-pages [2], are becoming available. In the very near future devices with bigger (touch screen) displays, an open operating system (EPOC) and advanced programming capabilities, for example utilizing JAVA [3] [4] [5], are expected.

On the internet side, web-portals for information retrieval, e-commerce, community actions (chat, mail, private sales) have become popular recently. The upcoming 3rd generation mobile communications system UMTS/IMT-2000 is expected to integrate mobile communications and internet in a totally new way, enhanced...