Mobile device software specialist Digital Airways has released KEELS (Kaleido External Engine Library Specification), an extension of its Kaleido MMI solution that allows for integration of third party multimedia components on mobile phones.
Kaleido is a solution for handset manufacturers to create man-machine interfaces. It separates the MMI specification from its implementation. The MMI is specified with a configurable file, which is read and duly rendered by the MMI engine implemented on the handset. As a result, manufacturers can dramatically reduce the cost and time-to-market of MMI design and implementation, while gaining complete flexibility to produce customised phones, Digital Airways says.
New generation MMI need specialised graphic and multimedia components such as animated vector graphics, video, and 3D players. In practice, however, integration to the manufacturer’s platform proves difficult. According to Philippe Silberzahn, CEO of Digital Airways, “Each component has its own interface. This drives up engineering complexity and development cost.”
This prompted Digital Airways to create KEELS, which provides a standardised interface for third-party multimedia components to the Kaleido MMI engine. Instead of porting the component to the handset’s platform, which can entail weeks of work, manufacturers have to create a Kaleido plug-in, which usually only takes a few hours, Silberzahn claimed. This approach leaves both the platform and the component untouched.
“When they deploy our MMI solution, manufacturers are able to integrate multimedia players to their platform in a matter of hours.”