MobileChoice WebConnector

Product

Provides nationwide wireless access to the World Wide Web. This product, imitated today by several vendors on the RIM platform, allowed Windows 98/NT/2000 users as well as Windows CE users to use the built-in web browser provided with their machine to access web sites. This was implemented on a non TCP/IP network normally used for two-way paging. Note that unlike many of today's WAP applications, this provided full HTML functionality.

What we provided

The initial problem was that the underlying network was not built on the TCP/IP protocol, whereas browsers in use today all depend on this protocol. We designed a patentable technical solution for our client, and built both the client and server components.

Essentially, the solution involved what are known as "proxy servers". In cases where a browser is behind a firewall, it can use a "proxy" to obtain pages: it tells the proxy what pages it is interested in, which then obtains them and passes them back. The beauty of this is that both browsers and servers know about proxies and how to talk to them. What we did was build two proxy servers, one on the wireless client, the other on the back-office server, with a proprietary wireless link between these two proxies. The data that went over the air was compressed and encrypted, and could use the non-TCP/IP network, whereas both the client and the web server were unaware that a wireless link was involved. This allowed the user to use the full power of HTML, though pages with large graphics tended to be too slow for regular use.

In addition, we developed some new HTML language elements to allow users to optimize airtime usage. This allowed our client to build a field service application consisting of a number of web pages. Whenever they decided to change the layout of the application, they changed the web pages on the server, rather than having to update each individual mobile unit. Fillable forms were stored (cached) on the mobile unit, and only sent over the air when a form was changed.