Fraunhofer: Web 2.0 widget for mobile telephony

Licensing opportunity

Fraunhofer FOKUS (Institute for Open Communications Systems) has developed what it calls the Mobile Widget Runtime, a rapid, easy, and efficient way to bring Web applications – or “widgets” – to the mobile phone while also equipping them with all the functions of modern telephony. The technology is now available for licensing.

With FOKUS Mobile Widget Runtime, says the Fraunhofer, all the classic telephony functions can be used on Web 2.0, while at the same time Web technologies can be run on the mobile phone. This solution can be deployed as a stand-alone platform for complete applications or be embedded in existing applications as a basis for further extensions. New functions can now be added to running Web operations without any need to know all the technical details of the base application.

As David Linner, a research scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS, describes the challenges: “Shared user experience, at any time, mobility, and location-dependency are all key features of the Web 2.0. On top of this comes the fact that Web 2.0 services generally must be rapid to implement and easy to change –in moves that frequently turn the user into a provider. This is precisely the situation our Mobile Widget Runtime is designed to take account of – as demonstrated by our model applications for ‘Mobile Car Sharing’ and ‘Location-based Digital Notepads’ – Users are on the move and have to engage with a service from where they are, and also need to communicate and so on. The solution here is to create close intermeshing of the Web and the mobile phone.”

Mobile Web 2.0 “widgets” can provide users with useful services without the need for permanent Internet connectivity. The Fraunhofer technology, says the institute, brings these widgets to the world of the mobile phone while also equipping phones with all the functions of modern telephony. This means that Web applications now can use such functions as Bluetooth, satellite navigation, MMS, Instant Messaging or telephone conferencing.

“With its integration of Web and telephony, our solution has attracted interest from different quarters,” says David Linner talking about its possible fields of application. “On the one hand it enables extended use of the mobile phone as an access point for location-based services, which is just what telephone and network providers want to see. On the other browser providers are also showing interest in the new platforms even though they know that today’s Web applications can’t be realised on a one-to-one basis on mobile end devices. And then the rapid implementation of business ideas our solution offers also means that completely new services can be created for market niches as the Web has already shown us.”

The FOKUS Mobile Widget Runtime offers a wide variety of support for mobile Web 2.0 solutions, says the Fraunhofer. It can be used as a stand-alone platform for complete applications or be embedded in existing applications as the basis for small extensions. This means that mobile Web 2.0 services can now be enriched with new functions while still in operation. Third parties can also offer their own extensions without needing to know all the technical details of the base application.