UAProf
Encyclopedia
The UAProf specification is concerned with capturing capability and preference information for wireless devices. This information can be used by content providers to produce content in an appropriate format for the specific device.
UAProf is related to the Composite Capabilities/Preference Profiles
Specification created by the World Wide Web Consortium
. UAProf is based on RDF
.
UAProf files typically have the file extensions "rdf" or "xml", and are usually served with mimetype application/xml. They are an xml based file format. The RDF format means that the document schema is extensible.
A UAProf file describes the capabilities of a mobile handset, including Vendor, Model, Screensize, Multimedia Capabilities, Character Set support, and more. Recent UAProfiles have also begun to include data conforming to MMS, PSS5 and PSS6 schemas, which includes much more detailed data about video, multimedia, streaming and MMS
capabilities.
A mobile handset sends a header within an http request, containing the URL to its UAProf. The http header is usually "x-wap-profile", but sometimes may look more like "19-profile", "wap-profile" or a number of other similar headers.
UAProf production for a device is voluntary: for GSM devices, the UAProf is normally produced by the vendor of the device (e.g. Nokia
, Samsung
, LG
) whereas for CDMA/BREW Devices it's more common for the UAProf to be produced by the Telecommunications Company (e.g. Verizon, Sprint
).
A content delivery system (such as a wap site) can use UAProf to adapt content for display, or to decide what items to offer for download. However, drawbacks to relying solely on UAProf are (See also ):
UAProf device profiles are one of the sources of device capability information for Wurfl
, which maps the UAProfile schema to its own with many other items and boolean fields relating to device markup, multimedia capabilities and more. This XML data is keyed on the "user-agent" header in a web request.
Another approach to the problem is to combine real-time derived information, component analysis, manual data and UAProfiles to deal with the actual device itself rather than the idealised representation of "offline" approaches such as UAProf or Wurfl
. This approach allows detection of devices modified by the user, Windows Mobile
devices, Legacy devices, Spider
s and Bot
s, and is evidenced in at least one commercially available system.
The W3C MWI (Mobile Web Initiative) and the associated DDWG (Device Description Working Group), recognising the difficulty in collecting and keeping track of UAProfs and device handset information, and the practical shortcomings in the implementation of UAProf across the industry have outlined specifications for a Device Description Repository
, in the expectation that an ecosystem of such Repositories will eventually obviate the need for local device repositories in favour of a web service ecosystem.
UAProf is related to the Composite Capabilities/Preference Profiles
Composite Capability/Preference Profiles
Composite Capability/Preference Profiles is a specification for defining capabilities and preferences of user agents. CC/PP is a vocabulary extension of the Resource Description Framework...
Specification created by the World Wide Web Consortium
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
. UAProf is based on RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
.
UAProf files typically have the file extensions "rdf" or "xml", and are usually served with mimetype application/xml. They are an xml based file format. The RDF format means that the document schema is extensible.
A UAProf file describes the capabilities of a mobile handset, including Vendor, Model, Screensize, Multimedia Capabilities, Character Set support, and more. Recent UAProfiles have also begun to include data conforming to MMS, PSS5 and PSS6 schemas, which includes much more detailed data about video, multimedia, streaming and MMS
Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
capabilities.
A mobile handset sends a header within an http request, containing the URL to its UAProf. The http header is usually "x-wap-profile", but sometimes may look more like "19-profile", "wap-profile" or a number of other similar headers.
UAProf production for a device is voluntary: for GSM devices, the UAProf is normally produced by the vendor of the device (e.g. Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, LG
LG
LG may refer to:*LG Corp., a South Korean electronics and petrochemicals conglomerate*LG Electronics, an affiliate of the South Korean LG Group which produces electronic products* Lawrence Graham, a London headquartered firm of business lawyers...
) whereas for CDMA/BREW Devices it's more common for the UAProf to be produced by the Telecommunications Company (e.g. Verizon, Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
).
A content delivery system (such as a wap site) can use UAProf to adapt content for display, or to decide what items to offer for download. However, drawbacks to relying solely on UAProf are (See also ):
- Not all devices have UAProfs (including many new Windows Mobile devices, iDen handsets, or legacy handsets)
- Not all advertised UAProfs are available (about 20% of links supplied by handsets are dead or unavailable, according to figures from UAProfile.com)
- UAProf can contain schema or data errors which can cause parsing to fail
- Retrieving and parsing UAProfs in real-time is slow and can add substantial overhead to any given web request: necessitating the creation of a Device Description RepositoryDevice Description RepositoryThe Device Description Repository is a concept proposed by the Mobile Web Initiative Device Description Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium. The DDR is supported by a standard interface and an initial core vocabulary of device properties...
to cache the UAProfs in, and a workflow to refresh UAProfs to check for deprecation. - There is no industry-wide data quality standard for the data within each field in an UAProf.
- The UAProf document itself does not contain the user agents of the devices it might apply to in the schema (Nokia put it in the comments).
- UAProf headers can often be plain wrong. (i.e. for a completely different device)
UAProf device profiles are one of the sources of device capability information for Wurfl
Wurfl
WURFL stands for Wireless Universal Resource FiLe. It is a community effort focused on mobile device detection: the problem of presenting content on the wide variety of wireless devices. WURFL is a set of proprietary API's and an XML configuration file which contains information about device...
, which maps the UAProfile schema to its own with many other items and boolean fields relating to device markup, multimedia capabilities and more. This XML data is keyed on the "user-agent" header in a web request.
Another approach to the problem is to combine real-time derived information, component analysis, manual data and UAProfiles to deal with the actual device itself rather than the idealised representation of "offline" approaches such as UAProf or Wurfl
Wurfl
WURFL stands for Wireless Universal Resource FiLe. It is a community effort focused on mobile device detection: the problem of presenting content on the wide variety of wireless devices. WURFL is a set of proprietary API's and an XML configuration file which contains information about device...
. This approach allows detection of devices modified by the user, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
devices, Legacy devices, Spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s and Bot
Bot
Bot or BOT may refer to:-Computing:* Bot, another also name for a Web crawler* Bots , an open-source EDI software* BOTS, a computer game* Internet bot, a computer program that does automated tasks...
s, and is evidenced in at least one commercially available system.
The W3C MWI (Mobile Web Initiative) and the associated DDWG (Device Description Working Group), recognising the difficulty in collecting and keeping track of UAProfs and device handset information, and the practical shortcomings in the implementation of UAProf across the industry have outlined specifications for a Device Description Repository
Device Description Repository
The Device Description Repository is a concept proposed by the Mobile Web Initiative Device Description Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium. The DDR is supported by a standard interface and an initial core vocabulary of device properties...
, in the expectation that an ecosystem of such Repositories will eventually obviate the need for local device repositories in favour of a web service ecosystem.