An adaptive framework for multimedia messaging services over wireless networks and the Internet

Messaging services have become a popular tool for communication over wireless networks and the Internet. With improvements in network bandwidth and growing user requirements, they have evolved into multimedia messaging services (MMS) that allow communication of multimedia data among users as well as service providers and their clients. The existing MMS framework standardized by the 3GPP and WAP Forum employs several components with the MMS proxy-relay (MPR) as a core element. The MPR provides messaging, browsing, content retrieval and storage services to clients by relaying messages and coordinating tasks with other components in the framework. This centralized function of routing messages and serving multimedia content on a first-come-first-served basis leads to inefficient load-balancing and traffic management across the framework. We propose an adaptive MMS framework and discuss the concept of caching proxies that utilize a priority-based scheme to better balance the payload, reduce congestion in network paths as well as minimize delays on future incoming requests to the MPR.