| Advantages
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Flexible handling of data acquisition
Mobile applications are free to utilize and access existing data sources for data acquisition. Such data sources may include relational databases, HTML servers (web servers), XML repositories, etc.
F1-xMAS provides a unified view of data aggregated from disparate data sources. The data acquisition engine, called the F1-WIS (Web Integration Service) Engine, aggregates distributed and unstructured data scattered across the internet and/or the intranet into a ¡°virtual database¡± that is uniformly accessible by the application.
Easy access to web-based content (HTML/XML)
F1-WIS¡¯s proprietary data mapping language, called the Source Description Language (SDL), allows developers to map data that reside in web-based data sources into a virtual database. It is a declarative language that is used to define ¡°what¡± to retrieve in a data source rather than ¡°how¡±.
Flexible handling of data delivery
F1-MAS handles the adaptation of content to multiple devices through the style-sheet Engine.
The style-sheet Engine accepts content in the form of XML and applies the style-sheets appropriate to the format of the end-users¡¯ devices. Hence, applications can be written to publish content independent of device format.
Full application development support
F1-xMAS provides the following common functional tools required in developing wireless
applications in the form of APIs:
(1) The Wireless Programming Library includes handling of user/device interaction at the front-end side. Its functions include session management, cookie management, and
device information management.
(2) F1-WIS API provides access through the F1-WIS Engine to the virtual data tables defined
by the SDLs.
The API provides the connection to data sources, the query to the data
tables, and tabular results from such queries. The manner of interactionis very similar
to relational database APIs, e.g., JDBC or ODBC.
F1-WIS API supports J2ME, Window
CE, and other mobile device platforms for developing native client mobile applications. |
| Benefits
|
Speed to market
F1-WIS provides GUI tools to quickly generate source descriptions (SDLs) in order to structure the data targeted for mobilization. Building a custom mobile application with application logic independent from the underlying web based application is simple and
can be performed in as little as one day for simple applications like web-based e-mail.
Affordability
F1-MAS supports all wireless protocols and does not require the development of additional web sites to accommodate each wireless format. This translates into significant cost reductions: little to no upfront setup cost in wireless website construction and no recurring expenses for maintaining additional websites and proxy servers.
Efficiency
F1-WIS can transform only the content essential for the mobile application and optimizes the
delivery of wireless web content through wireless servers? only the essential mobile content is delivered to the user.
Extensibility
Simply by adapting protocol templates and style sheets, F1-MAS enables mobile delivery
across any wireless protocol to any mobile device.
Synchronous
All end user/mobile application/legacy application interaction is two way and synchronous. Any changes made in one front-end device (i.e., a PC) are instantly reflected across the front end.
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