Image share - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Image Share is a service for sharing images between users during a mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

call. It has been specified for use in a 3GPP

3GPP

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, known as the Organizational Partners...

-compliant cellular network by the GSM Association

GSM Association

The GSM Association is an association of mobile operators and related companies devoted to supporting the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system...

in the PRD IR.79 Image Share Interoperability Specification.http://www.gsmworld.com/documents/index.shtml

According to the specification, "The terminal interoperable Image Share service allows users to share Images between them over PS connection with ongoing CS call, thus enhancing and enriching end-users voice communication."

An Image Share session begins by end-users setting up a normal circuit switched

Circuit switching

Circuit switching is a methodology of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel through the network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full bandwidth of the channel and remains connected for the...

(CS) voice call. After the voice call is set up, terminals perform a registration to an IMS core system

IP Multimedia Subsystem

The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering Internet Protocol multimedia services. It was originally designed by the wireless standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project , as a part of the vision for evolving mobile...

with a packet switched

Packet switching

Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data – regardless of content, type, or structure – into suitably sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams over a shared network...

(PS) connection. Then based on successful capability negotiation between the terminals, the end-user will be presented with an option in terminal UI

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

offering the possibility of sharing one or several images. If this is selected, then these images are transferred between the Image Share software clients located in the mobile phones using the PS connection and the recipient is able to see the images. During this process the normal CS voice session has been ongoing continuously.

Image Share can be seen as a kind of spin-off from the Video Share

Video share

Video Share is an IP Multimedia System enabled service for mobile networks that allows users engaged in a circuit switch voice call to add a unidirectional video streaming session over the packet network during the voice call. Any of the parties on the voice call can initiate a video streaming...

mobile phone service. Video Share is commercially launched for example by AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

in USA, but Image Share is not yet available from any mobile operator/service provider.

Technical Features

Interoperable
Interoperability
Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together . The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to...

multi-vendor compliant service, i.e. Image Share works across different mobile phones from various vendors (as long as they have the necessary software client installed)
IMS service
IP Multimedia Subsystem
The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering Internet Protocol multimedia services. It was originally designed by the wireless standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project , as a part of the vision for evolving mobile...

, i.e. 3GPP compliant IMS core system required for the service provider/operator offering Image Share
CSI (CS and IMS combinational) service compliant to 3GPP specifications TS 22.279, TS 23.279 and TS 24.279, i.e. CS voice call set up required prior to sharing the images
SIP
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...

used for signaling via IMS, i.e. registration for the service is performed using the capabilities offered by IMS platform with SIP protocol
MSRP (Message Session Relay Protocol, RFC 4975) used for transporting media between the mobile phones
IETF File transfer mechanisms http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mmusic-file-transfer-mech-06.txt utilized for negotiating shared images between offerer and answerer via SIP/SDP offer/answer model
Capability query performed using SIP OPTIONS method between the mobile phoness to find out whether the recipient is Image Share capable
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...

service, i.e. no server required in the network for sharing the images
Both live and pre-stored images can be shared between the participating mobile phones
Requires 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

or EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...

DTM (Dual Transfer Mode) mobile network

Usage

According to GSMA press release http://www.gsmworld.com/news/press_2007/press07_39.shtml interoperability between different Image Share clients was successfully tested in a multi-vendor trial in May 2007, including interworking between multiple networks.

No mobile operator has launched Image Share so far (as of March 2008).

Technical Features

Usage

See also