Multiple Dimensions of Convergence – Outcomes and ...

Multiple Dimensions of Convergence – Outcomes and Issues S.R. Subramanya1, Senior Member, IEEE and Byung K. Yi2, Senior Member, IEEE 1 LGE Mobile Research 2 LG Electronics

Abstract — We have been witnessing rapid technological advances in computing, communications, and consumer electronics (3C). One of the interesting outcomes is their convergence, which has been occurring at various levels (layers) namely at the network, devices, applications, and services. One of the major outcomes of convergence is the enormous growths in the generation, transport, and consumption of digital content. The increased mobility of users and demands for access to content anytime, anywhere have also driven the fixed—mobile communications convergence, voice—data communications convergence, and so on. These trends are expected to grow at an accelerated pace in the near future. This paper presents a few of the major dimensions in the 3C convergence and describes the major (expectations) outcomes, and issues that need to be addressed. Index Terms—Convergence, Convergence Dimensions, Digital Content, Convergence Issues.

INTRODUCTION

W

E have been witnessing rapid technological advances and convergence in the domains of computers, communications, and consumer electronics, which we will refer to as 3C domains in this paper. There have also been interesting “cross-domain” effects, wherein several devices in each of the 3C domains have extended their functionalities and features to encompass many of the features in the other two domains. We consider this phenomenon as part of convergence. It should be noted that the term ‘convergence’ has a much broader meaning, and there is no single agreed-upon definition.

Among the many outcomes of the 3C convergence, a key outcome has been increased capabilities of content exchange across devices in these domains. For example, the contact list of persons in a mobile phone can be uploaded to a PC, a set of songs can be downloaded from Web servers onto handheld MP3 devices, a video can be transferred from a camcorder to a PC where it is edited, which can then be viewed on a TV, and so on. In this paper, we use the term ‘content’ to refer to the higher, semantic-level digital information spanning a diverse range of entities such as movies, songs, news, educational material, scientific/engineering data, business/corporate information, personal information, etc., in various application domains, such as personal entertainment, business, education and training, and several others. The seamless interoperability across various domains and dimensions and consumption of content anywhere, anytime, on a variety of devices, in a seamless and transparent manner is one of the ultimate objectives of convergence. This paper considers the multiple dimensions of convergence, namely, content, purpose, device, transport networks and modes, consumers, and providers. It presents the major outcomes and also describes the major issues that need to be addressed in each of these dimensions. The main emphasis would be in the context of generation, transport, and management of content.

Development Trends in 3C Domains and Cross-Domain Advances A brief history of the major developments in computing, communications, and consumer electronics devices, and their cross-domain advances will be presented in this section. The cross-domain advances refer to the features and functionalities of the other domains (e.g. computing and consumer electronics) acquired by a given domain (e.g. communications). A snapshot of the major developments in the 3C domains and the cross-domain advances is given in Figure 1. Computers have evolved from numeric processors to symbolic processors, and more recently to media processors. There have been tremendous improvements in their raw speeds due primarily to (a) advances in device and fabrication technologies, and (b) innovations in design and architecture. The communications aspects of computers have evolved from primitive terminal-computer interactions to complex computer-tocomputer communications, and to person (device) – to – person (device) communications. As content generation and consumption devices, computers have grown to provide sophisticated games, audio, and video. They have also evolved from [generating special effects to movies to complete movie generators] (Toy Story, Shrek, etc).

Communication Faster processors High-speed memory High density storage

Consumer electronics Computer control of communications Computing

Media sharing Multiparty games Communication Media codecs Flash memory Computing

Major cross domain devlps.

VoIP; Software for voice / video

Support for media transfer

Major cross domain devlps.

Consumer electronics

Major cross domain devlps.

Media processing Support for media I/O

Higher bandwidths Novel protocols

Multimedia capabilities High fidelity/resolution

Computing

Communication

Consumer electronics

Computing domain

Commn. domain

CE domain

Figure 1. Major technological advances in the 3C domains and cross-domain developments In the communications domain, alongside the traditional voice networks (PSTN – public switched telephone network), entertainment networks consisting of cable networks and satellite-dish systems, and data communication networks consisting of LANs (local area networks), WANs (wide area networks), and the Internet [have seen enormous growths and coverage]. More

recently, there have been proliferations of wireless (data) and mobile (voice) networks. Their distinctions are fading since there have been voice data carried over wireless networks (VoIP), and increasingly more data traffic carried over mobile networks (messaging, Web access). There have been shifts from personal voice communications to integrated voice, data, and multimedia communications. The traditional voice communications networks have begun carrying data traffic, and the data communications networks (WANs, the Internet) have increasingly been carrying voice (VoIP), and multimedia data. The cable networks, in addition to carrying video, have been offering voice and data (Internet access) services. Thus there has been a confluence of voice, data, and entertainment content and services on all three of these network categories. The voice communication equipment has evolved into highly sophisticated specialized computing systems that manage various aspects of communications such as switching, call routing, various services (caller ID, conferencing, etc.), and billing. In the domain of consumer electronics (CE), the devices have progressed from being analog devices to high-fidelity (audio), high-resolution (images/video) digital devices. Their ‘computational’ capabilities have also increased – they incorporate powerful hardware and software. For example, some of the gaming devices routinely use 64-bit processors. Their communications capabilities are also increasing, supporting home networking (several CE devices communicating with each other), Web access, multi-party gaming, etc. A panorama of major computing and CE devices and communications networks is shown in Figure 2. The interesting thing to note is that the recent devices and trends in computing have been moving toward communications and consumer electronics domains, with several features and functionalities in these domains being incorporated into computing devices. Similarly, the recent devices and trends in CE devices have been moving toward the computing and communications domains. The very nature of content has also been changing from mere alphanumeric and voice data to video and complex multimedia data (combinations of audio, video, image, alphanumeric data, graphics, and animation). Page 2 (7)

This has resulted in the computing systems evolving from alphanumeric into media processors, the communications systems evolving from voice communications to media communications, and the consumer electronics systems evolving from rendering a simple data type to supporting multimedia, interactivity, and immersion. In the near future, there is expected convergence of 3C domains with other domains such as sensor networks, home networks, personal area networks, automotive networks (controller area networks), etc. Also, the domain of appliances such as air-conditioners, refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, ovens, washers, and dryers would also be part of the convergence. Consumer Electronics

Computing

DVD Players

Desktops Laptops

PDAs Blackberry/ Treo-like devices

Internet WAN MAN LAN

Digital Cameras Mobile Phones

Mobile / Wireless NWs

TVs

Transport Modes

Circuit Packet Switched Switched

Transport Networks

PSTN, Cellular

LAN, MAN, Internet, WiFi

Broadcast, Cable, Home

Device

Phones/ PDAs

Computers

CE Devices

Purpose

Communication Voice

Information Data

Entertainment Media

Content

Broadcast / Multicast

Commu Computers/ Consumer Electronics nication Data systems Networks

Figure 3. Multiple convergence

dimensions

of

The major outcomes of convergence across the different dimensions are given in the next section.

Digicams MP3 Players

Satellite Systems Cable NWs PSTN

PAN

Data and Communication

Figure 2. Emergence of devices (systems) in the domains of computing, communications, consumer electronics and appliances.

Multiple Dimensions of Convergence The major dimensions of convergence for each of the 3C domains (computing, communications, and consumer electronics) are shown in Figure 3. The basic purpose of each of computing, communications, and consumer electronics systems is the processing, transport, and consumption of content, respectively. Thus, ‘content’ is central to the purpose and operations of these systems. Also, the content consumers (end users) have been gaining importance in the system design and operations. These are resulting in design efforts emphasizing increasing importance from system-centric to content-centric to user-centric.

Major Outcomes We first present a very high-level view of the major outcomes, and then present the major outcomes categorized in the various dimensions with brief descriptions. Then a few representative application scenarios are given.

Sharing Experience Exchange of Information Communications

Knowledge Processing / Management

Interaction/ Participation

Data Processing / Management

Passive Consumption

Computing

Consumer Electronics

Figure 4. Broad outcomes of convergence As shown in Figure 4, in the computing domain, the emphasis and ultimate outcome would be high-level knowledge processing as opposed to data processing. In the communications domain, the ultimate outcome is the sharing of rich experience in a natural manner. In the consumer electronics domain, users will have immersion and interaction with content as opposed to Page 3 (7)

passive consumption.

system for seamless delivery of content.

Some of the major outcomes of convergence along the different dimensions are given below with brief descriptions.

Consumer related

Content related There would be enormous growth in the amount of rich multimedia content. Vast pools of content distributed over wide geographical areas would be available in a seamless manner. Several popular archived content would also be made available for ondemand access. Increased demands for content for mobile devices would spur activities in the repurposing of popular content that have been produced for TV and Cinema. There would be enormous demands in personalized content. There would also be a proliferation of a variety of formats.

Consumers would see vanishing rigidity of space and time facilitated by on-demand delivery and anywhere, anytime consumption of content. Storage and communications technologies would enable the users to experience an effective pervasiveness of vast pools of content. With the enormous growths in the content, the difficulties of finding out what is available and locating content of interest will also increase. The consumers will be provided with novel forms of content directories, powerful and effective tools for searching and browsing. There would be increased demands for tools and techniques that enable more efficient and effective management and consumption of content.

Provider related Device related Convergence would result in several devices having a variety of functionalities such as today’s mobile phones and PDAs. The devices would also have reconfigurability to adapt to changing situations. For example, instead of having very many functions, of which only a few would be used over a period of time, the devices might acquire software, applications, and access to services as necessary, that enable them for specialized functions. The devices would be smart with awareness of location, context, and environment. The devices would have rich set of features and convenient user interfaces. The features would be customizable and selectively downloadable.

Transport related The broadcast model of content delivery which has been predominant for the last over fifty years would give way to newer paradigms. For example, on-demand delivery of content with high interactivity seems like a promising delivery mode. There would be a plethora of heterogeneous networks with a wide variety of characteristics and protocols, interoperating in a seamless manner. The categories of networks are communications networks, entertainment networks, and data networks. They could be wire-line, cable, terrestrial wireless, or satellite networks. From a user point of view, there would be an unobtrusive, always-on intelligent network

The walled-garden model of content provision, where the network providers have control over the content, its transport, and related services, would give way to the model with several independent content and service providers and the network operators would be bit-pipe providers (in addition providing some content and services). The vertical barriers between service providers would break down resulting in increased competitiveness among various providers. There would be impetus to the development of novel hardware, content applications, and services.

A Few Applications Scenarios In this section, we present a few of the applications selected from different areas that have been impacted by convergence and are, in turn, having impacts on convergence.

Personal Entertainment Personal entertainment is one of the areas where convergence has already been having visible impacts and the Internet and mobile/wireless systems have been playing increasingly important roles. For example, computing devices are now routinely used for listening to music and watching videos. The current generation of mobile phones is capable of displaying video clips and storing and playing music, in addition to their core communications functionalities. In the near future, they will be able to stream high quality Page 4 (7)

video and support other media-on-demand related services. The PDA-like devices provide considerable computational capabilities, as well as mobile communications and CE functionalities. Convergence would also result in the decline of the broadcast mode of content delivery which has been predominant over the past fifty years. On-demand, interactive, and immersive systems of content delivery and consumption would be more common. There would also be phenomenal increases in personalized content.

Appliances The home appliances are also getting to be part of the convergence. Currently, some of the refrigerators have built-in TVs and have Internet connections. Several appliances can be connected and controlled using home networks and the Internet. In the near future, there would be increased connectivity and data exchange and seamless communications among many devices using a variety of intelligent agents. For example, a refrigerator will have knowledge of the items stored (with details of what was bought when). It might contact the diary and get to know of an upcoming party. Based on the guest list, the menu, and the guest preferences, it will take stock of the existing items, and will generate the list of required items. It will then send a reminder to the host’s mobile phone and PC, of the items to be purchased. Based on the prices in various stores and supermarkets, the PC would determine the best places to buy. This information would be sent to the automobile, which then determines the optimal route to the stores and supermarkets.

Enterprise Increased mobility due to the changing nature of several jobs and changing personal lifestyles has created a need for on-demand access to work-related data from remote locations. The convergence of communications and data networks, and wired and wireless networks would facilitate the availability of enterprise data virtually anywhere. This demands the provision of the appropriate access protection and security mechanisms. Future-generation mobile networks are being designed to support several functionalities and features related to enterprise applications. These include support for higher data traffic and a variety of

data-related applications (e-mail, Web and database access, support for spreadsheets, etc). In the near future, the mobile networks will also be routinely supporting distributed collaboration and video conferencing applications.

Education Proliferation of mobile devices, ubiquitous connectivity, and pervasive content would act as catalysts for education and learning. They supplement a traditional tutor-learner model by providing enhanced support for communications and interactions on-demand, facilitating the conveying of ideas and information at the required times. They would also be facilitators of self-learning and continuous education by providing not only easy access to information, but also serving as windows and conduits for a wide choice of paradigms for expositions of the same information. The users could choose the paradigms best suited their learning styles and tastes. There will also be innovations in the development of learning material. For example, learning key concepts in diverse areas such as physical sciences, engineering, medicine, management, economics, commerce, and social sciences could be made more fun by devising several games around those, and a successful play of a game would drive home the essence of a key principle. Access to information at times when they are most needed and in the preferred paradigms will go a long way in improving learning and retention.

Healthcare Several health-monitoring devices would have wireless connectivity in the near future. Examples include clinical thermometer, heartbeat / pulse monitor, blood pressure monitor, and blood sugar monitor. Also, builtin clinical devices for health monitoring would likely become standard features in several future models of mobile devices. In addition to these devices providing limited local storage of data and some helpful statistics, the data would be transmitted securely to the primary physician/clinic where the patient data is maintained. Such facilities would reduce the burden on the elderly, both in terms of cost and effort. With location-based services, the health monitoring devices will also be able to provide the closest medical equipment store, pharmacy, clinic, emergency facilities based on needs. They Page 5 (7)

may also automatically contact the closest emergency services on a need basis. Facilities for remote patient monitoring and care will become commonplace wherein healthcare experts can view results of laboratory tests, radiological images, and even monitor ECG (electrocardiogram) results in real-time and provide remedial measures, if any, to local professionals.

Developing / deploying convergence applications In this section, we will briefly outline some of the recommendations for developing and deploying applications making use of convergence of 3C domains. First of all, designers and developers should avoid trying to produce a ‘universal’ application to cater to all (or almost all) needs. It is better to have a set of core functionalities with several interfaces to functions from other applications. It is also important to make the applications more adept in communicating with each other so they can exchange information and work cooperatively. The design of the applications should make allowances for them to deal with a variety of devices, standards, and data formats. One of important aspects is to avoid the ‘complexity curse’ – the overly unnecessary complexity of several of today’s application leading to increased development and maintenance costs. Growing convergence and proliferation of mobile devices will lead to enormous number of users, most of whom may not be technically savvy. For effective use, the applications should be simple and ‘natural’ to use with a small set of essential and novel features rather than an overload of features, most of which would never used. Another aspect to take into account is scalability, the ability of the applications to support rapidly emerging newer devices and features. Lastly, the applications should be upward compatible, supporting a vast base of legacy information, and be extensible, facilitating adding-on newer elements on top of existing ones (ex. adding-on image/multimedia clips to existing textual business directory).

Major Issues The result of convergence is not a single dominant technology, standard, or device capable of many things, but a plethora of technologies, techniques, standards, and devices that coexist. Also, there would be increased exchange of content across the 3C domains. Mobile/wireless networks should

have increased reliability to ensure information availability and integrity. Also, appropriate provisions for security and privacy of information must be provided. We present the major issues categorized in the various dimensions and give brief descriptions.

Content related The support for multiple content formats and standards across a wide variety of devices needs to be addressed. The content needs to be produced to fit a variety of devices and contexts. For example, there need to be content summarizations for mobile applications. Personalization of content is another important issue that needs to be addressed. With various forms of content in diverse applications (ex. Audio and video in entertainment, alphanumeric and graphics in enterprise, and multimedia and alphanumeric in education), there would be several data types in a multitude of formats. Several applications require access to multiple data types and thus need to support multiple content formats and standards. For example, a healthcare application may need to access patient health history data consisting of alphanumeric data (various transcriptions such as, temperature, pulse, weight, blood pressure, etc), as well as special data such as signals (ECG), images and video. Devices supporting multiple data types and multiple formats are required in many applications.

Device related With converging technologies, the enormous numbers of disparate devices would need to communicate with each other in a seamless manner. This calls for the design and development of appropriate interfaces and protocols. The devices need to support multiple formats and protocols of content which they process and exchange. Multiple functions need to be incorporated in the devices in a judicious manner, taking into account the user behavior and available resources (ex. battery power in mobile devices). Design of reconfigurable devices (both firmware and software) which adapt to different situations would be necessary. There would be proliferation of intelligent, environment-aware, and context-aware devices. This raises several issues in security and privacy which need to be addressed. Page 6 (7)

Transport related Provision of seamless and transparent transport across heterogeneous networks and interoperability with different protocols is a major issue. Adaptability to varying network conditions and optimal resource usage, while providing a desired user experience, are crucial. With increasing use of multimedia content, the demands for faster processing, larger storage, and higher bandwidth will grow further. In view of the above facts, it is unrealistic to expect mobile/wireless networks to carry most of the content traffic. Appropriate use of network resources and apportioning of bandwidths, and utilizing a vast array of heterogeneous networks available, would be a feasible and practical solution for the timely transfer of huge amounts of content. The key to achieving this is providing support for interoperability. Models and techniques for the efficient use of bandwidths across a wide variety of networks from personal area networks, sensor networks, local area networks, broadband networks, the Internet, etc, need to be developed.

Consumer related Provision of natural and easy-to-use interfaces is important. Users expect ondemand provision of content in a network agnostic manner. There will be increased expectation of customized content. Addressing the concerns of security and privacy are crucial for consumer acceptance of content and services. Fair tariff, accurate billing, and easy means of payment are important factors expected by consumers. Consumers would also be generators of considerable content. They would want tools and facilities for processing and combining different media and for sharing them.

Provider related One of the major factors for sustaining the technological advances and their convergence are the user demands for more communications and content. These, in turn, require the provision of novel and value added services. Appropriate cost and amortization models need to be developed taking into account the facets of convergence and profits to various stakeholders. As the amount of content explodes, tools for the efficient and effective delivery and use of content are critical. This is clearly shown

by the tremendous growth of data/information available on the Web and the increasing difficulty of finding the relevant items. Severe lack of tools to get all of the required and relevant information exacerbates the situation. For the case of content with multiple types (multimedia), the problems get even harder. The crucial tasks where powerful automated tools would be required are: (a) annotation of content, (b) classification of content, and (c) indexing of content. At the user level, tools for browsing, searching, and personalization would be important. Innovative services are critical to sustain the advances in technologies and growth in content. In general, services that provide a rich experience in content use and high levels of communication akin to interpersonal communications, in a cost-effective manner are desirable.

Summary and Conclusions Rapid technological advances in computing, communications, and consumer electronics have also been resulting in the convergence of networks, devices, applications, and services. There has been growing demand for rich multimedia content, sharing of higher levels of experience, and processing and management of knowledge. This paper presented a view of the various dimensions of convergence, and the major outcomes, and issues to be addressed in each of these dimensions, in order to sustain the convergence and growths in the production and consumption of content.

RESOURCES [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

G. Beekman, Computer Confluence, (5th Ed), Prentice-Hall, 2002. D. Collins and C. Smith, 3G Wireless Networks, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2001. A. Covell, Digital Convergence: How the Merging of Computers, Communications and Multimedia is Transforming Our Lives, Aegis Publishing, 2000. Dornan, The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, Prentice-Hall PTR, 2001. M. Pagani, Multimedia and Interactive Digital TV : Managing the Opportunities Created by Digital Convergence, Irm Press, 2003. S.R. Subramanya and B.K. Yi, ‘The Role of Mobile/Wireless Systems in Digital Convergence’, Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 18, No. 6, June, 2005, pp5—11. D.B. Yoffie (Ed), Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence, Harvard Business School Press, 1997.

Page 7 (7)