Filter
Top Products
White Paper V600
30 August 2005
MMS technical features
The MMS standard, just like that of SMS, offers
store-and-forward transmission (instant delivery) of
messages, rather than a mailbox-type model.
Architecture
The MMS Centre (MMS-C) is comprised of the
MMS Server, the MMS Proxy-Relay and the MMS
Store. The MMS Centre is the central element of
the MMS network architecture, providing storage
and operational support, enabling instant delivery
of multimedia messages from terminal-to-terminal
and terminal-to-email, and supporting flexible
addressing. The centre’s MMS Proxy-Relay inter-
acts with the application being run on the MMS-
enabled terminal to provide various messaging
services. WAP or HTTP is used as the bearer of an
MMS message between the MMS-C and the MMS
client (application). The WAP Gateway is used for
delivery and retrieval of messages.
Message conversion
The MMS-C is able to perform limited message
conversion - for example, from MMS to SMS - so
that processing and air time is not wasted in send-
ing messages to mobile terminals that do not have
adequate capability to receive them. It also handles
service aspects such as store and forward, guaran-
teed delivery, subscriber preferences, operator
constraints, and billing information. The MMS-C
also vouches for high quality messaging, for exam-
ple by format conversion. This means that the
MMS-C recognizes which formats are supported in
the mobile phone, and adapts the MMS messages
to these formats.
The architecture of MMS
MMS
Server
MMS
Relay
Operator
Database
User
Database
Message
Store
Access Network
Internet / Intranet
Email server,
UM mailbox
Multimedia Content Servers
SMS-C
WAP/
PPG
MMS
Relay
M
M
S
R
e
l
a
y
MMSE