ABSTRACT

A mobile multimedia system manages and transmits multimedia data to provide the end-user with multimedia services, such as mobile information retrieval and mobile entertainment services. Multimedia information is composed and presented by more than one media type (including text, images, and sounds). It enriches the quality of the information and attempts a way to represent reality as sufficient as possible. Four concepts can be involved with mobile multimedia systems. They are mobility, multimedia communication, multimedia service provision, and security. Mobility involves three types:

End-user mobility ◾ : The end-user (or customer) can move from one location to another while accessing a multimedia service. The operations performed during mobility, such as authentication, hand over, and resource computation and reservation, should not affect the quality of media transmitted to the end-user, regardless of his positions. Terminal ◾ mobility: To receive and process multimedia data an end-user requires a device to fulfill these needs regardless of the user’s location in a wireless environment. An end-user terminal can be a PDA, a notebook, a cell phone, or any other device that a mobile user utilizes to access remotely the multimedia service. The nature and technologies used on the end-user terminal should not affect the service provision. Service mobility ◾ : The multimedia service accessed by a mobile user may be provided by a mobile node. It can be used in different systems and move seamlessly among those systems.