i-mode is a wireless service developed by NTT DoCoMo that provides email, internet access, and other multimedia services to mobile phones. It uses cHTML, a subset of HTML, to display webpages on small screens. i-mode was launched in 1999 and became very popular in Japan with over 45 million subscribers due to its convenient features. It uses a packet-switched network and protocols based on TCP/IP to deliver an "always on" internet experience to users on-the-go.

1. Mrs. Vasanthi Muniasamy M.Sc., M.Phil,

2. INTRODUCTION
 i-mode is a wireless multimedia service popular in Japan
and is increasing in popularity in other parts of the world.
 Multimedia and messaging service for moblie phones.
.
 Developed by NTT Docomo
 i-mode was launched in Japan on 22 February 1999
 i-mode users have access to various services such as e-mail,
sports results, weather forecast, games, financial services,
ticket booking and internet browsing.

3. Contd…
 45 million subscribers in Japan, 4 million worldwide
 i-mode enabled handsets are needed for accessing this service
 Limited availability:
only for customers of Japanese mobile phone provider NTT
DoCoMo.
 Provides the user a wide variety of services
 New services are added continually.

4. Contd…
 i-mode was developed as an inexpensive method of packet
switched high-speed communication.
 Based on WWW standards(TCP/IP,HTTP,HTML)
 Uses W-CDMA (FOMA) in 3G.
 High data transmission of normally 64kbps upload and
384kbps download on 3G FOMA.

5. POPULARITY OF I-MODE IN
JAPAN
 i-mode service is used by 30% of japanese population more
than 10 times each day to check e-mail ,book tickets for trains
or theatre ,check the whether ,internet banking and for variety
of rich uses.
 Popularity of i-mode in japan is due to the following reason.
Japanese people adopt technologies mainly for their
convenience ,which is what the i-mode offers.

6. I-MODE SERVICES

i-mode provides 6 types of services
1.e-mail
2.Transaction
3.Information
4.Database
5.Entertainment
6.Internet web browsing

7. Contd….
 e-mail:
I-mode user can send and receive mails from another i-mode
enabled phone,PDA or a computer
 Transaction service:
Transaction service include banking,ticket reservation,airline
information and credit card information.
 information service:
Examples of information service include news updates,wheather
information sports news and stock quotes .

8. Contd…
 Database service:
The database service provides contents such as telephone
directory search,restuarand guide,Dictionary service.
 Entertainment:
Entertainment service include network game character
download,horoscope….
 Internet web browsing:
Internet web browsing enabls users to browse contents on
the internet .

9. HISTORY

10. I-MODE RELATED SERVICES
 i-appli
This service group consists of software (programs) used with imode compatible mobile phone terminals. Downloading the
software makes it possible to automatically update the news
and weather forecast displays as well as to play new games.
 i-area:This is DoCoMo's location information service . The iarea service enables the user to check the weather forecast,
traffic and store information and other convenient information
for .
local areas as well as the map information to the user's
current location .
 i-motion:This feature refers to video distribution programs for
i-mode mobile phone terminals .

11. Contd……
 i-motion mail:This service transfers video captured with an imotion compatible mobile phone via e-mail.
 i-shot:A function that supports transfer of still images captured
with an i-mode compatible phone.
 i-chanel:This service distributes the latest news, weather
forecasts and other information to i-channel compatible i-mode
phones.
 i-mail:This service enables u to send and receive mails to and
from an i-mode enabled phone,computer or a PDA.

12. COMPONENTS
The four main components that are required for the i-Mode
service.
 A cellular phone capable of voice and packet communication
and with a browser installed
 A packet network
 An i-mode server
 Information providers

13. Information
provider
IP
Internet
I-mode
Servers
HTTP
IP
Packet Data
DoCoMo’s
Packet
User
DB
Network
Billing
DB
(PDC-P)
DoCoMo’s
Network Voice, Data via Modem
PDC: Personal Digital Cellular
(PDC)

14. NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT

15. I-MODE NETWORKING
ENVIRONMENT
 The PDC-P(Personal Digital Cellular Packet) network transports
data between i-mode phone and the i-mode server.
 i-mode phone sends data to the base station which forwards them to
PPM(Packet processing module)
 PPM routes the packets to the M-PG (Message Packet)gateway.
 Connection b/w i-mode server and internet are made using TCP/IP

16. Contd….
 i-mode server:it act as a proxy between the packet n/w and the

internet.
Content providers:
1.official content providers
2. unofficial content providers
 MPG
handle the protocol conversion between the two protocol
platforms.

17. PROTOCOLS
 Almost mirrors the internet protocol stack
 In the transport layer it uses TLP a modified version TCP

Higher data packet to control packet ratio
 Lack of 3way handshake and ability to pickybagg control signals on
data packets
 Uses SSL in the tranport layer to ensure security
 The TL and LAPD-M protocols are standards of the Association of
Radio Industries and Business

18. I-MODE TECHNOLOGIES
1.PACKET SWITCHED NETWORK
2.CHTML

19. PACKETSWITCHED
NETWORK
 i-mode uses a packet switched network knows as PDC-P
network
 "Packet-switched" means that i-mode communications are
“always-on”, unlike voice calls which are circuit-based and
only function after dial-up.
 Packet-switched data transfer remains relatively inexpensive
as it is charged according to the number of individual packets
of data sent and received.

20. cHTML(Compact HTML)
 CHTML is a subset of HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0
 Designed for small information appliances, such as cellular devices.
CHTML is based on four principles
 1) Completely based on the current HTML W3C recommendations.
This means that cHTML inherits the flexibility and portability from
the standard HTML.

21. cHTML
 2) Lite Specification—cHTML has to be implemented with limted
memory and a low power CPU. Frames and tables, which require
large memory, are excluded from cHTML
 3) Content can viewed on a small mono-color display—cHTML
assumes a small black and white, non-fixed display space, flexible
for the display screen size. CHTML also assumes single character
font

22. Contd…..
 4) Can be easily operated by the users—cHTML is defined so that
all the basic operations can be done by a combination of four
buttons; Cursor forward, Cursor backward, Select, and Back/Stop.
The functions, which require two-dimensional focus pointing like
"image map" and "table," are excluded from cHTML
 The maximum size of a cHTML page is not more than 5KB.
 The maximum length of a URL is 100 bytes.

23. Contd….
Major web features that are excluded from Chtml include:





JPEG images
Tables
Image maps
Multiple character fonts and styles
Background color and Image Frame Style sheets

24. Contd…
cHTML small information appliance hardware requirements include:
 Small memory
Typical case: 128-512Kbytes RAM, and 512K-1Mbytes ROM
 Low power CPU
Typical case: 1-10 MIPS class CPU for embedded systems
 Small display
Typical case: 50x30 dots, 100x72 dots, and 150x100 dots

25. Contd…..
 Restricted colors
Typical case: mono-color (black and white)
 Restricted character fonts
Typical case: only single font
 Restricted input method
Typical case: several control buttons and number buttons (0-9)

26. Contd….
Registration
Day of Birth
Year <
>
Month <
>
Day <
>
1.SEND
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Registration</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY >
<DIV>Registration</DIV>
Day of Birth<br>
<Form Action=“mailto:”Method=“POST”>
Year<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE =
“2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br>
Month<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE =
“2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br>
Day<INPUT TYPE = “TEXT” NAME =“TEXT” VALUE =“”SIZE =
“2” MAXLENGTH = “2” ALIGN = TOP><br>
<INPUT TYPE = “SUBMIT” NAME =“Submit” VALUE = “1.SEND”
ALIGN = TOP>
</BODY>
</HTML>
* “Phone To” tag added

27. I-MODE PHONES
 i-mode phones have a special i-mode button for the
user to access the start menu.
 One feature in particular is a four-point command
navigation button at the center of the phone.
 This allows the user to control the pointer on the
display, as well as connect to the i-Mode service by
pressing a single button.

28. Contd..
 An i-Mode enabled cellular phone is similar to in appearance to
most cellular phone models.
 There are several companies that manufacture i-Mode cellular
phones, including Panasonic, Nokia, Sony Ericsson.
 The phones measure and weigh about the same as Nokia models.

A typical i-mode phone is comparable to a Nokia 6600 model.

29. Contd….
 The first nine i-mode handsets released in the UK are:
NEC343i
NEC41i
Samsung s500i
Samsung Z320i
Samsung S400i
Sony EricssonK610im
MotorolaSLVRL7 i-mode
Motorola SLVRL6 i-mode
NokiaN95i

30. I-MODE SECURITY ISSUES
 Mobile commerce (mcommerce) is conducted on imode
including mobile banking and security trading, therefore
security is a serious issue.
 The security issues on imode are devided into different sectors:
1) Security of the radio link between imode handset and the
cellular base station
2) Security of the transparent public internet connection
between imode sites and the handset in the chtml layer.
3) Security of private networks on imode.

31. Contd…
(4) Security of private network links between the imode center and
special service providers such as banks.
(5) Password security.
imode network and imode handsets are equipped for SSL (secure
socket layer) encrypted transmission, and imode handsets have
unique identifiers allowing similar security to be implemented as on
the wired internet. Mobile banking on imode and corporate networks
use SSL.

32. I-MODE AND WAP
 The key competitor to DoCoMo is WAP(Wireless Application




Protocol)
WAP is an open standard protocol that works with various
wireless networks.
WAP is developed by the WAP Forum
The WAP protocol enables mobile systems such as phones, pagers,
smart phones, and handheld devices to receive information and
services from one another.
WAP supports a special language called WML orWireless Markup
Language.

33. Contd….
 Web pages that are currently written in HTML cannot be read by
WAP phones. Therefore, web site owners who want their pages to
be read by a cell phone will have to create a different page in WML

34. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
WAP AND I-MODE
 WAP implementations are circuit-switched whereas the i-mode.
Imode phone uses packet-switching.
 i-mode includes images, animated images and color WAP
implementations only use text and no images.
 WAP users are charged for the connection time.

35. CONCLUSION
 Leverage widely accepted technology and advance the
technology
Subset of HTML for content description
Leverage IP based architecture
 Initial focus on personalized services and usage
 Packet based charges with PDC-P favour for Web
browsing applications