Embedded Microprocessor Systems

Embedded Microprocessor Systems

Edited by

C. Muller-Schloer IRB University ofHannover, Germany

F. Geerinckx Toditec, Belgium

B. Stanford-Smith STM Ltd, United Kingdom

and

R. vanRiet R W M Consulting, Netherlands I Toditec, Belgium

1996

/OS

Press Ohmsha

Amsterdam, Oxford, Tokyo, Washington, DC

Embedded Microprocessor Systems C. MiUler-Schloer et al. (Eds.) lOS Press, 1996

159

Providing SMS Based Mobile Office Services in New GSM Communicators Jouni Similau, Sakari Vaara 1 1

CCC Companies

Lentokentiintie 15 FIN-90460 Oulunsalo, Finland 2

Department of Information Processing Science University of Oulu, Linnanmaa FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland Abstract

SMS (Short Message Service) based technologies have already made a breakthrough m the mobile data marketplace through the use of innovative services in ordinary GSM communication. The advent of a new era has begun through the publication of the new Nokia 9000 communicator which combines a full featured GSM phone with an LCD graphical display, a Qwerty layout keyboard and a handsome set of application buttons and control keys allowing extensive use of additional services such as fax, e-mail, Internet services and PDA. The integration of SMS with FfP in these new type of GSM communicators will open a totally new mobile data market also for add-on software with cellular operators, value added service providers as well as corporations and organisations as clients. The paper will shortly capitalise the technical characteristics and present position of SMS in the mobile data markets. Then the salient features of the new type GSM communicators and the accompanying software are pointed out and compared with present technology solutions for mobile computing. Next the new add-on software service possibilities are examined in more. Initially mobile users will be able to exchange files and documents wirelessly with the servers in their home offices utilising SMS technology for the triggering of the FfP services. New possibilities will emerge through the positioning of GSM communicators with address book, fax, e-mail and database access for managers and sales people in SMEs, large corporations and organisations as well as for vertical market groups such as police. maintenance. and transportation. The benefits of SMS are instantiated for example in independence of other persons' schedules, silent communicatiOn, efficiency in information distribution and documented communication. Lastly some remarks are also made concerning the future of these new types of information systems.

1. Introduction

The professional workforce is spending less time at their desks. The time in the work is spent in the meetings in the office and with the customers outside the office. This sets new challenges to support the mobile professionals with IT systems and personal productivity

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Applications and Commercial Issues

tools with which they are accustomed at their desks. Typically the mobile workforce consists of professionals like sales and service people, field managers as well as accountants, doctors, veterinarians, nurses and inspectors. They need to access the reference information of their profession, tools for scheduling, and on-line as well as off-line communications like conference calls, e-mail, and faxes All this support for mobile professionals can be included under the term Mobile Office suite. The Mobile Office suite may be understood as a set of tools which increase personal productivity when on the field and also the productivity of the various levels in the organisations which have mobile professionals. Ideally the difference of the Mobile Office tools compared with the traditional tools on the office networks should be minimal. However at the moment differences are significant, since the data speed in mobile networks is limited and personal digital assistants have just started to fulfil their promises through two-way communications capabilities. In this paper we explore the possibilities of using short message service (SMS) as a replacement of the GSM's missing packet switched data feature to allow transferring small amounts of data and triggering the mobile applications without the intervention of the user. Additionally we also investigate the possibilities that the new communicator technology offers for mobile office services in general comparing the present solutions with the announced and future technology solutions.

2. SMS in the Mobile Data Market

Short Message Servicing is a network technology and supplementary service which enables the sending and receiving of short alphanumeric text messages of up to 160 characters or 140 bytes over the digital network. Messages are carried in the signalling channels, and thus a message can be sent or received during a speech or a data call. SMSs can be sent from a GSM, any tone-dial telephone, e-mail or from a PC using a modem. Likewise the final destination may be a mobile handset, PDA terminal or a public data network address (e.g. X 121) SMS centres (SMSC) operate as store-and forward relays for messages delivering them as soon as the terminal in question is within GSM coverage. Usually this happens within a few seconds of the mobile handset reregistering or being turned on When the message has been successfully delivered to its destination, the caller, or sender is advised by a short message travelling the opposite direction. This is confirmation of delivery and one of the key benefits of SMS. Cell broadcast SMS can also be used to deliver the same message to multiple users simultaneously. In the near future SMS messages may also be chained and the data content may thus be multiplied. Designed by engineers, SMS has largely until now remained dormant within the depths of GSM as a misunderstood and under-utilised opportunity. It is quite easy to see why major phone manufacturers, network operators and now the PC, PDA and software suppliers are aggressively looking at GSM and particularly SMS as a significant market opportunity. What was originally conceived as a European standard for digital cellular communications is on the verge of becoming the de facto world standard. Roaming agreements for voice are currently in place with well over 150 networks operational by mid 1996 and every day around 25,000 customers sign up and 40 million calls are made [1]. By the year 2001 it is estimated that there will be around 400 million digital subscribers altogether, out of which 60% or 240 million will be GSM subscribers [2]. The ability to access the Service Centre directly to establish the status of short messages has opened up a number of vertical markets which require the use of combined voice, voice and data, or voice data and SMS solution from a single operator with an international

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161

roaming capability. With transmission times for a message typically in the order of 10 to 20 seconds whether the destination is Finland or Australia and the costs similar regardless of destination, SMS provides an exciting market opportunity. Currently the most commonly used service is notification of voice mail. Other possibilities are credit card verification, job scheduling, remote monitoring, vehicle dispatch, fleet management, point-of-sale applications and e-mail delivery. Financial shares and currency information, personal banking and entertainment information, news bulletin, weather, travel information, sports and football results, lottery information and many others are all probable future information services which will be delivered using SMS. The key present limitation of SMS - namely the shortness of messages - is not a constraint for many applications The amount of data able to be sent is sufficient for many simple information service applications. However even this constraint will be largely overcome in the next stage of GSM development. The SMS enhancements in GSM Phase 2 will include e.g. long SMSs, extensions to SMS alphabet, special SMS message indication, SMS interworking extensions, forwarding of SMSs, SMS mobile busy, concurrent SMS and data at the terminal, and service centre- service centre interworking [3].

3. Mobile Office Hardware Platforms In GSM networks the existing hardware platforms for the mobile professionals can be categorised into four main groups GSM phones (handsets), communicators, PDA/phone and laptop/phone combinations. In this section each of these categories is shortly characterised and compared with each other.

3.1 GSM Plumes ln order to use a GSM phone the user needs to have a SIM module for the phone, which basically identifies the user for the digital cellular network and is also a key to value-added services in the network. The value added services vary in different networks. Typical services are short message service, voicemail, number diversion and barring, fax sending and routing, conference calls etc. Also cellular phone manufacturers are implementing new features like clock and date facility, calculator and memo recorder. It is evident that the digital cellular phones are going to be used more and more even in the office environment since using them is much more productive and convenient than using the traditional phones.

3.2 GSM Communicators (Nokia 9000) The new communicators are basically combinations of the digital cellular phones and digital personal assistants (PDAs) in a compact size unit. The Nokia 9000 Communicator will be the first communicator in the market towards the end of the summer 1996. Ericsson and NEC have announced that they will follow Nokia to this emerging market during 1997. The Nokia 9000 Communicator is a fully-featured GSM-phone with enhanced communication and organising capabilities ( cf Figure 1). In addition to voice calls, the communicator enables users to send and receive faxes, e-mail and short messages (on-line postcards) as well as access Internet services with a WWW browser and corporate and public databases with telnet and terminal applications. The new product also provides users with organiser functions such as electronic calendar, address book, notepad and calculator. Reading and answering e-mail and SMS is possible also when the phone is turned off, with

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Applications and Commercial Issues

sending and rece1vmg taking place as soon as the phone is again turned on. When the keyboard is closed, the communicator can be used as a GSM phone. When the device is opened for using the keyboard, the speakerphone activates, allowing the user to view documents from the large LCD screen while speaking. The Nokia 9000 Communicator can be connected to a PC with a serial cable or with an infrared connection. The files can be printed through fax, sending the file to a PC for printing, or directly using the infrared link.

Figure 1.

Nokia 9000 Communicator.

3.3 PDAs with a GSM phone and a data card In this category a personal digital assistant is connected to a GSM phone with a data card using a cable (PSION3a) or a mounting unit (HP 700LX) With the HP OmniGo 700LX the users can send and receive e-mail ( cc MAlL), short messages and faxes as well as access BBS and information services with the terminal application Both HP 700LX and PSION3a have standard organiser functions like text editor, spreadsheet, calculator, address book and calendar with appointments and to-do lists Browsing the Web is not currently possible with these devices.

3.4 Laptop computers with cellular data card and GSM phone Laptop computers can be connected to a GSM phone using a PCMCIA cellular data card. This combination makes it possible to use cellular phone as a fax modem. The laptop may be running the standard application and use the GSM phone for the two way communications. The user can send and receive faxes, short messages and e-mail as well as access Internet using WWW and terminal emulation and connect to corporate networks remotely. Basically almost all the functions that are available in the office environment may be used also remotely

Applications and Commercia/issues

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3. 5 Comparison The following two tables (cf. Table I and 2) summarise the basic differences of the available mobile office hardware platforms from the point of view of technical characteristics and features related more closely to ease of use.

Table 1.

Technical characteristics of mobile office hardware platforms. Phone

SMS

Fax

(Yes)

Terminal

Pda

Emulation

Functions

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Communicators

Yes

Yes

PDA/GSM

Yes

Yes

(Yes)

Yes

Yes

Table 2.

www

No

GSM phones

Laptop/GSM

Email

(SIR)

Calls

No

Ease of use characteristics of mobile office hardware platforms 1• Readiness for

Compatibility

Add on Applications

Use GSM phones

5

I

-

Communicators

4

2

2

PDA/GSM

3

3

3

Laptop/GSM

2

5

5

1

Ease of use characteristics evaluated on a scale from I to 5.

4. Mobile Office Software Wireless Mobile Office applications will provide the mobile worker the same functionality that they have in the wire networks in their home offices. There are basically two types of applications for mobile workers ( cf Figure 2). The first segment is formed by the mobile data applications which are really extensions to corporate IT systems These mobile data applications need continuos access to the IT systems and the billing is based on the data traffic. The second segment consists of the personal productivity tools. These tools include wireless e-mail or messaging and wireless diary organisers, which provide the mobile user with access to personal communications and scheduling [4] According to research done by Link Resources' Personal Productivity Program [5], the most common request from hand held device users are for products that will help them to do the following: •

Manage personal information, such as addresses, phone numbers and calendars;

•

Manage personal finances, such as tracking expenses and monitoring budgets;

•

Capture and create meeting notes, diagrams, spreadsheets and memos;

•

Reference important business information;

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Applications and Commercia/Issues

• •

Send and receive information, such as e-mail, faxing and paging; Access on-line services, such as stock information, BBS and electronic mail A shopping application is included in Figure 2 to denote the future importance of electronic shopping In the following each of the items in the figure is covered in more detail with the exception of terminal emulation. Terminal emulation will function in exactly the same way as in normal terminal operation possibly using a more limited screen.

Mobile Office Mobile data applications

jTerm.nal emulation\

I

l

www

I I

E-mail

I

I I Calendar

I Document/file sharing

Personal productivity applications

J

Spreadsheet

I I

Contacts

Finance

I

I Figure 2.

Fax

Shopping

Mobile office software.

4.1 Document and file sharing Ideally the remote and the local access to the files and documents in corporate networks should have the same look and feel. Unfortunately this is not the case today. When mobile workers are using laptops this difference is not as significant as when they are using communicators or PDNGSM combinations. Because these devices are not running standard operating systems (Windows, MacOs, Unix), mobile users are not able to use same applications as they do in the office environment. Also PDAs and communicators do not have yet network client software For this reason mobile users are not able to log in and authenticate themselves to the legacy servers. Accessing and modifying documents created in office environment with industry standard word processing and spreadsheet applications could be an insurmountable problem to the mobile worker with a communicator or a PDNGSM combination These kinds of problems can be avoided if the documents that need to shared with mobile and office workers are kept in plain common format like ASCII. In the case the communicators have wireless file transfer capabilities, SMS messages could be used to trigger the file transfer from the host to the mobile client. This feature is useful when all the mobile workers need to receive the same copy of a document e.g. price list. In this case the control of the price list download is on the host. It is evident that document and file sharing will form the required basis for subsequent mobile applications. This feature will also be the key element in the first release of CCC's mobile office software

Applications and Commercial Issues

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4.2 E-mail

Normally the remote worker controls the e-mail communication. He or she dials in to the e-mail server and pulls the messages and the attachments across. Unless the remote workstation has been set up for call waiting, the e-mail server cannot call the remote phone and notifY the user of the urgent messages and send the messages across. When the remote user has the new Nokia 9000 Communicator he or she still controls the e-mail communication since the mail client in the device is not capable of answering the call initiated by the e-mail server. SMS messages can be used to notifY the user of important messages. When using some of the SMS gateways with e-mail systems, an SMS message can be sent automatically to the remote worker when he or she receives an e-mail message. It is possible to set up criteria for this notification so that the SMS message will be sent only if the original mail message was for example urgent or it came from a certain user or group. Some of these gateway solutions will send also part of the original mail message that fits into the SMS message ( 160 characters). The problem with this approach is that the message information (sender, receiver, time etc.) could fill almost the entire SMS message. Some SMS Message Centres (SMSC) support message concatenation which allows the sending of up to four SMS messages in a row to the same mobile client. If one of the messages fails, all the four need to be resent. In the future SMS will be integrated more tightly with both e-mail servers and e-mail clients. There will be more versatile SMS e-mail gateways with flexible criteria to set up the e-mail notification for the mobile clients. When the mobile users get a notification regarding the incoming mail message, the user can just scroll through the list of these notifications and select the ones for the automatic download. When the mobile user needs to send a short mail message, he or she could use either the mail application or the SMS application. Currently the sending of the message using the mail application will take longer due to the longer data call set up time than using the SMS. Sending the message using SMS is almost instantaneous, but the actual length of the message is limited. 4.3

www

Accessing the Internet using the World Wide Web is one of the fastest growing areas in personal computing World Wide Wed is also becoming more popular as a front end to the corporate IT systems. Corporations provide information through the Web to their customers and they are also setting up Web servers for the internal information systems. Mobile users need to be able to access the information in the Internet like their colleagues do in the wire networks. The Internet application suite usually includes World Wide Web browser, e-mail client, NEWS reader, FTP client, JAVA support, Archie and Gopher search tools etc. The upcoming communicator devices will have some or all of these features. The problem with mobile Internet access is the speed of the wireless connection and the screens on the communicators. The maximum speed for the data transmission is 9.6 kbit/s dictated by the GSM standard The screen in the communicator is tiny and the resolution is limited Nokia 9000 has 640*200 and there are only 8 grey-scales available. It is obvious that viewing the WEB will not be as productive as when using the PC in the office network. The New Nokia 9000 Communicator has a capability to send locally stored WWW pages as a SMS message through the SMSC to the WEB-server. With this feature is it possible to create mobile data applications for the mobile workers, so that they could send some predefined information collected from the field to the home office.

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Applications and Commercial Issues

The new Web servers from database manufactures like Oracle and Microsoft will make dynamic HTML pages based on the SQL query made by the client. Oracle's Mobile Agent technology allows the mobile user to switch from wireless terminal to a wired one without terminating the session with the host. SMS messaging could be used as a transport layer instead of a GSM data call in some mobile data applications to access corporate databases. Ideally the SQL query will be embedded in the SMS message at the mobile client and if the result of the query is short enough it can be sent back in one SMS message or in concatenated SMS messages. Vehicle registration checking, payment card authorisation and reservations systems are good examples of applications where SMS messages could be deployed effectively

4.4 Fax Some cellular network operators have implemented value added fax services on their networks. With this service the user can route the faxes incoming to the cellular phone number to the nearest fax machine. The mobile users with communicators will not necessarily need this service because they have a built-in fax machine in the communicator. Mobile workers with communicators could still use the traditional paper fax machines as printers SMS with fax servers and mobile clients fax-on-demand systems have reduced the mailing costs of the corporations. Product literature, part lists etc. can be ordered from these fax back systems. Often these systems are cumbersome and not user friendly. With the new communicators the corporate sales representative could have the list of all the fax-on-demand documents available locally From that list he could select product literature documents which he wants to be faxed to his client's fax immediately. This request to the fax on demand system could be sent also as an SMS message.

4. 5 Calendar In the existing calendar and scheduling systems, there is a server where the information resides. If the mobile workers are to be included to the same system there needs to be a reliable mechanism to transmit the requests to the mobile worker. SMS messages are the ideal candidate, since the mobile user can receive the messages even when he or she is using the phone Short messages will come through even when the phone is turned off, since the SMSC buffers the messages and re-sends them when the phone is turned on. The transmission delll.y is normally 5 to 30 seconds. When the mobile user gets a scheduling request from the scheduling server as a SMS message, he can accept or deny the request. If he accepts, the mobile user's local calendar could be updated automatically.

4. 6 Electronic shopping Electronic shopping is closely related to the WEB servers. The merchandise catalogues will be browsed using WWW client. The support for electronic shopping is built in to this WWW client. Microsoft will have WWW browser extension for shopping basket, electronic payment et cetera The support for the mobile shopper should include the capability to download catalogues so that the mobile user can fill the electronic shopping basket off-line. When the basket is ready, the user connects to the electronic shop and sends the order and the payment information Electronic advertising could be set up using SMS service. The mobile user would subscribe the advertisement service from some of the electronic merchants, which will in turn send their ads as SMS messages. These SMS advertisements

Applications and Commercial Issues

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could also update the mobile user's local catalogue with price or stock information. Electronic payments mechanism are developing rapidly and some of them are already in use. Eunet Finland started the eCASH service in March, 1996 in Finland. This service uses the technology developed by Digicash International. Since the electronic cash in this service resides locally on the client, mobile laptop users are able to use the service. This service requires the TCP/IP connection to the service provider when the user wants to make the eCASH payment. At the moment it is not possible to use eCASH with the communicators.

4. 7 Personal Finances The personal finance applications allow the mobile user to track account information and expenses. Perhaps the most popular of these type of applications is Intuit's Pocket Quicken, which is included in HP700LX. This application does not have any communication capabilities other than file transfers with a cable to a PC. Many banks allow the customers to do on-line banking with terminal emulation or with dedicated PC software. Recently WWW access through the Internet has started to gain popularity among the banks. However making the payments requires generally a secured WWW browser, e.g. the latest Netscape browser. Currently the communicators or PDA devices do not have secured WWW browsers but on-line banking is still possible with the terminal emulation application. Mobile users with laptops have an option to use some dedicated software or secured WWW browser for on-line banking.

4. 8 Spreadsheet and the other personal productivity tools Initially the Nokia 9000 Communicator will not have spreadsheet functionality as do the PDAs and the laptops The laptop users can share the spreadsheet files effectively with the colleagues in the office environment using mail as an example. In the future we will see spreadsheet applications for the mobile users which are capable of sending and receiving short messages directly from the application As an example a spreadsheet formula could send an SQL query embedded in the SMS message to a host that will send back the result to the originating cell in the mobile spreadsheet application. There is always a problem to keep information up-to-date in the contact managers. The new Nokia 9000 Communicator has a feature that allows the exchange of electronic business cards as SMS messages. This message can be easily imported to the contact manager making it possible to update mobile users' contact managers from the central location using SMS.

5. Conclusion

The PDA of the future has been described as including (6]: • •

an expandable, touch sensitive, colour A6 screen an integral digital phone

•

pen, voice and keyboard interfaces

•

battery life - one year

• •

integral video camera for video telephone integral wireless LAN

• •

l Gbyte of storage including mini read/writeable CD ROM integral global positioner

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Applications and Commercial Issues

The Nokia 9000 Communicator together with the add-on SMS based mobile office software will not be the PDA of the future but it is a significant step towards that target. Especially the chance to utilise SMS technology as part of the mobile office solution will greatly enhance the usefulness of the add-on software. It will be interesting to see whether the Web browser in the Nokia 9000 Communicator will be the Killer Application for PDAs as was predicted in February, 1996 - although the prediction was that such a browser will be available in a PDA only after 2 to 5 years [6]. It is evident that the market is in a turmoil with respect both to the technology and software for mobile computing. At the moment it is impossible to predict what will be the future of the mobile office services. In this paper we have described and compared the present technology alternatives as well as have outlined the main areas where mobile office software would bring added value to professionals in the field. The potential for utilisation of mobile office services seems limited only by our imagination. The technology is perhaps in its infancy at the present but is clearly utilisable already now. As is so often the case the future will be shaped by the market forces, both as a push from the producers as well as reaction from the consumers. References: [1] Bennett-Brown, Alan. SMS in the mobile data marketplace: What is its current position and how will it develop? In Proceedings of Mobile Data, Euroforum, The Park Lane Hotel, Monday & Tuesday, 5th & 6th February, 1996. [2] Helsingin Sanomat. Taistelu verkoista kiristyy. (Network competition is tightening). Summary of evaluations by different companies and analysts, 21.5.1996. [3] Roth, Wolfgang. What improvements in services and applications will be enabled by GSM phase 2 and phase 2+? In Proceedings of Mobile Data, Euroforum, The Park Lane Hotel, Monday & Tuesday, 5th & 6th February, 1996. [4] Lynch, Michelle. Employing effective market segmentation to targeting niche markets which match your product strengths. RAM Mobile Data, "Developing and marketing mobile data products and applications", Euroforum, February 1996. [5] HP Press Release - The Mobile Business Center HP OmniGo 700LX Communicator Plus. Singapore. February 20, 1996. Far from being just the stuff of science fiction, the powerfuL. http://www.hp.com/ pressrel/20feb96fhtm- size 8K- 20 Feb 96. [6] Llewellyn, Gareth. Have PDAs fulfilled their promises? In Proceedings of Mobile Data, Euroforum, The Park Lane Hotel, Monday & Tuesday, 5th & 6th February, 1996.