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The first integration between mobile phone and Palm (PDA Personal Device Assistant) occurred in 1999, as a result of an Italian–lead project submitted to the action line V1.1 CPA1 "Integrated application platforms and services" 5th Framework Program of the European Community (project number IST1999-11100). The project, called MTM (Multimedia Terminal Mobile), was a multimedia platform, including both phone and PDA features; it also integrated the first miniature camera and a unidirectional microphone for video conferencing and commands interpretation through voice recognition. The creator and coordinator of the project, Alessandro Pappa, worked in a team with other European partners:
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It was one of the larger projects accepted by the EC in terms of cost and numbers of project participants. It received a no refundable loan for more than 50% of the investments. The MTM formed the basis of other international projects and started the video broadband communication technology.
Project goals
The major objectives of the MTM project were to:
The project in brief
The MTM project has created a Hardware platform, and four vertical applications: Easy City Guide, Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Speech and Speaker Recognition.
The MTM team introduced the wireless transmission for MTM in 1999, right when the new UMTS technology came out. Although there weren't worldwide network infrastructures yet (they were expected to be available not before year 2002) the MTM team used the 802.11 connection to verify the operation with the server of CHILI (www.chili-radiology.com/de/). CHILI developed a new generation of teleradiology software, where it is possible to see the three-dimensional CT scan and do remote diagnostics to the patient at once.
Many other services and applications have been studied using the MTM. Only some of these applications and services have been so far developed on other technologies such as Smartphones. Although many large companies had worked years before to develop advanced mobile phone and PDA devices [see Nokia 9000 Communicator], none has reached MTM for integration between telephony, video, computer and broadband transmission. The new communication, audio and visual, set the background for a vast array of possible services, of interest to both professional and personal use.