Multimedia data and tools for Web services over wireless platforms

A form of ubiquitous computing can be achieved with access to the Web from a mobile computing platform, that is, almost unlimited access to worldwide information and services, with no cables confining users to their desks. However, in consideration of this type of user, Web content and service providers have to be aware of the limitations of a wireless platform. Those limitations pose resource and performance values similar to those of the past on the specification demands of the present. In order to prevent a step backward in the content assets of applications, the effects of some constraints of the mobile platform have to be reduced and alternative procedures investigated. In this article, a set of procedures and techniques developed for effective provision and handling of vector graphics and animation contents on a wireless platform is described. It includes granularity reduction of multimedia data, combined handling of media formats, and dynamic generation, plus progressive assembling of service content parts. This work is being realized within a major European project whose main goal is to create the means of providing multimedia services for the Web over mobile computing platforms.