The media phone represents a new category of broadband

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

devices that has the potential to become the 4th screen in the home, complementing the PC, TV, and

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

handset.

Features

*The original "Media Phone" and many of its features were invented and conceptualised in 2008 by Roy A. Tindle of Elkhart, IN, and was introduced to potential investors, engineers and other interested parties under non-disclosure at that time. Original documentation, drawings, schematics, and prototypes have been publicly recorded for authentication of origination. Roy A. Tindle is also the creator and designer of various wire harnesses, tools, and other consumer-based products. Media phone combines the functionality of a

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

phone and home networking controller with an expansive

touch screen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

for web browsing, photo viewing, and interacting with connected widgets. Typically available features: * Internet phone (IP-based voice and video calls) *

Web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...

Digital photo frame A digital photo frame (also called a digital media frame) is a picture frame that displays digital photos without the need of a computer or printer. The introduction of digital photo frames predates tablet computers, which can serve the same p ...

* Organizer *

Mp3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

and

WMV Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...

player * FM and internet

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

* SMS/ MMS device * Built-in camera * Widgets * Additional advanced features such as the unique "In-Home Billboard" and "Remote Viewing" features are also available which may be appealing to consumers and businesses alike. These features create a new advertising platform for businesses and a revolutionary new home security format which provides Media Phone users the ability to monitor their home or business remotely from any computer or smartphone. This same remote viewing feature also allows 911 dispatchers to identify potential threats such as intruders, fire or EMS needs before dispatching emergency responders. The device can be controlled through the touchscreen with a finger or accompanying stylus and can have an

SD card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

slot,

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

and flash memory. It comes with a

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

handset for phone calls.

What is inside

* Application processor (

Intel Atom Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of IA-32 and x86-64 instruction set ultra-low-voltage processors by Intel Corporation designed to reduce electric consumption and power dissipation in comparison with ordinary processors of the Intel Co ...

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

, etc.) * High level

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

(HLOS), widget based *

software for IP calls

Examples

The media phone can be used by wireline telecom operators for value-added IP service delivery. Several major carriers have introduced media phones, for example, iriver Wave Home by

Korea Telecom KT Corporation ( Hangul: 주식회사 케이티), formerly Korea Telecom, is a South Korean telecommunications company. KT is the second-largest wireless carrier in South Korea, with 16.493 million subscribers as of Q4 2017. The formerly full ...

, Home Manager, by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

and

Verizon Hub The Verizon Hub was a media phone available from Verizon Wireless. It featured a seven-inch LCD screen with 16-bit color. The hub was able to sync the user's calendar, contact details, maps, traffic, and weather reports. The Verizon Hub did not r ...

. Bittel Hotel integration solution by Bittel Electronics] Others are expected to follow the trend.

Video

A media phone is basically a replacement for a traditional home

cordless telephone A cordless telephone or portable telephone has a portable telephone handset that connects by radio to a base station connected to the public telephone network. The operational range is limited, usually to the same building or within some short ...

. All calls (voice only by Verizon Hub, AT&T Home Manager and voice&video by Korea Telecom Wave Home) are IP based. The call functionality is provided by embedded software – by a voice engine for voice-only calls and by a voice & video engine for video calls. The voice & video engine is required to compensate for the commonly known IP-related issues (delays,

packet loss Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across a computer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss is either caused by errors in data transmission, typically across wireless networks, or network congestion.Kur ...

, jitter, congestion, etc.), and to make IP calls as reliable and convenient as conventional

PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local teleph ...

calls.

Features

What is inside

Examples

Video

References

See also