Open Mobile
Broadcasting Phones
François Lefebvre
Communications Research Centre, Canada
Broadcast Asia
Singapore, June 19, 2008

... a beer, that is free as in speech !

www.freebeer.org

... if ”openness” makes sense for a beer,
it should also make sense for other things ...

Problem with that phone:
no broadcast applications except:
DMB and DAB audio
missing key broadcast applications:
Slideshow, broadcast website, TPEG, ...
No open API to access raw bit streams

Why is it like that ?
manufacturer did not have time to implement ?
manufacturer did not want to increase royalties burden ?
applications on phones selected by telcos ?
broadcast and telco applications are competing?
telco business models different than broadcast (FTA)?
unlike PCs, mobile phones live in a vertical ecosystem?

As a consequence:
we can't create new applications
we can't improve the functionality
we can't create extensions
we can't participate to innovation on top of...
some business models get excluded (FTA)
...

So let's just build a FREE/OPEN mobile phone !

www.openmoko.org www.trolltech.com google android

www.trolltech.com
google android
www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile
www.openmoko.org

No stack has mobile broadcasting ! ?

&
Software
& - receiver control
- application decoding
- aplication presentation

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKPjjNHYiRE

this prototype shows that:
a broadcast sw stack can be built relatively
easily inside the openmoko framework
other missing apps could be added as easily

KEY ISSUE:
identify chipset maker willing to embrace
open source buniness models

Other ISSUES:
Legal (Licenses, patents, copyrights)
Open Standards (degree of openness)

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yITHMJ0XT5U

CRC tools (based on open source)
to help build
NEW MMB APPLICATIONS ...

www.ettus.com

CRC Tube Server
 Best YouTube clips
 Automatic
 Real-time updates
 Titles overlay
 Loudness equalisation
 Video scaling

THERE IS HOPE:
some do start to understand
the power of open source models
to sell silicon (TI)
omap Zoom www.beagleboard.org

Some Conclusions
CRC has produced tools for collaboration
(an architecture of participation?)
We invite MMB chipset makers to
think about open source business models
CRC releases CRC-DABRMS for free
Broadcasting should become a more
organic ecosystem (Internet model)
Broadcasting in a phone makes sense:
”CONVERSATION IS KING”

DEMO

Thank You!
www.crc.ca/mmb
mmbTools.crc.ca
openmokast.org
francois.lefebvre@crc.ca