Multimedia Messaging Service(MMS)

Multimedia Messaging Service(MMS)

       Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones over a cellular network. It extends the core SMS (Short Message Service) capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.

Multimedia Messaging Service

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) - sometimes called Multimedia Messaging System - is a communications technology developed by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) that allows users to exchange multimedia communications between capable mobile phones and other devices. An extension to the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol, MMS defines a way to send and receive, almost instantaneously, wireless messages that include images, audio, and video clips in addition to text. When the technology has been fully developed, it will support the transmission of streaming video. A common current application of MMS messaging is picture messaging (the use of camera phones to take photos for immediate delivery to a mobile recipient). Other possibilities include animations and graphic presentations of stock quotes, sports news, and weather reports.

    According to MobileStreams, MMS will be developed in two separate phases. Based on General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), the currently available MMS is similar to a brief PowerPoint presentation. The second phase of MMS will require a 3G network to enable streaming video. An intermediate technology, Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) has more capabilities than SMS, but fewer than MMS. Unlike MMS, EMS doesn't require upgrades to network infrastructures. Unlike SMS and EMS, the size of an MMS message is unlimited, although service providers are likely to impose their own size restrictions.

     The most popular use is to send photographs from camera-equipped handsets. It is also used on a commercial basis by media companies as a method of delivering news and entertainment content and by retail brands as a tool for delivering scannable coupon codes, product images, videos and other information. Unlike text only SMS, commercial MMS can deliver a variety of media including up to forty seconds of video, one image, multiple images via slideshow or audio plus unlimited characters.

MMS messages are delivered in a totally different way from SMS. The first step is for the sending device to encode the multimedia content in a fashion similar to sending a MIME message (MIME content formats are defined in the MMS Message Encapsulation specification). The message is then forwarded to the carrier's MMS store and forward server, known as the MMSC (Multimedia Messaging Service Centre). If the receiver is on a carrier different from the sender, then the MMSC [acts as a relay, and] forwards the message to the MMSC of the recipient's carrier using the Internet.

       Once the recipient's MMSC has received a message, it first determines whether the receiver's handset is "MMS capable", that it supports the standards for receiving MMS. If so, the content is extracted and sent to a temporary storage server with an HTTP front-end. An SMS "control message"(ping) containing the URL of the content is then sent to the recipient's handset to trigger the receiver's WAP browser to open and receive the content from the embedded URL. Several other messages are exchanged to indicate status of the delivery attempt.[4] Before delivering content, some MMSCs also include a conversion service that will attempt to modify the multimedia content into a format suitable for the receiver. This is known as "content adaptation".

     If the receiver's handset is not MMS capable, the message is usually delivered to a Web based service from where the content can be viewed from a normal Internet browser. The URL for the content is usually sent to the receiver's phone in a normal text message. This behaviour is usually known as the "legacy experience" since content can still be received by a phone number, even if the phone itself does not support MMS.

    The method for determining whether a handset is MMS capable is not specified by the standards. A database is usually maintained by the operator, and in it each mobile phone number is marked as being associated with a legacy handset or not. This method is unreliable, however, because customers can change their handset at will, and many of these databases are not updated dynamically.

     MMS does not utilize one's own operator maintained data plan to distribute multimedia content. Operator maintained data plans are only used when message included links (if any) are explicitly clicked.

      E-mail and Web-based gateways to the MMS (and SMS) system are common. On the reception side, the content servers can typically receive service requests both from WAP and normal HTTP browsers, so delivery via the Web is simple. For sending from external sources to handsets, most carriers allow MIME encoded message to be sent to the receiver's phone number with a special domain.