Technologies and Protocols in a Smartphone.
I’m compiling this list to demonstrate many (not all) of the great technologies that are employed in current smart phones. If you compare this list against the supposedly innovative contributions from Apple, I wonder which will be seen as the greater contribution and of greater value. I suspect that most, if not all of Apple patents are useless without these underlying technologies. Note that Apple is not credited in ANY of these technologies. Please correct me if I’ve overlooked an Apple contribution of significance.
Patents and/or base components
Name
Description
Credit
RFC/Patent/Link
Transistor
Used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power. Fundamental building block of modern electronics
Integrated Circuit (IC)
The electronic circuit. The most advanced integrated circuits are the microprocessors or CPU’s that are the brain of modern computers and electronic devices.
Mouse
The original method for pointing to x-y coordinates on a computer screen. Using fingers to select or move something on a smart phone is an extension of this very old technology.
Various credits starting in 1952, see WikiPedia reference.
Touch Screen
Modern smart phones use this technology for interaction between the human and the electronics of the phone. The technology was conceived decades ago.
Various credits starting in 1965. See WikiPedia for reference.
Telephone
Obviously the predecessor to the smart phone. The old telephone network is the backbone for communicating to those not yet using Smart Phones. Mid 1870’s.
Digital Camera
The digital camera has roots dating back to 1975. Most smart phones have a digital camera embedded in them.
Battery
The primary means by which all smart phones receive power.
Protocols / RFC’s
Name
Description
Credit
RFC/Patent/Link
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A space based satellite navigation system that provides location and time anywhere on earth where at least 3 satellites are within the line of the sight. Smart phones and other location devices rely on this technology.
1G
The first analog wireless telephone technology for mobile telecommunications.
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications. This is the standard for all modern mobile networks (3G, 4G)
SMS
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component for sending messages between devices.
MMS
Multimedia Messaging Service. This is used to transmit images and video between mobile devices.
Internet Protocol Suite
The set of communication protocols used for the Internet and other networks. Started in 1969 and the early 1970’s.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
One of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite.
User Datagram Protcol
Similar to TCP, except low latency is more important than reliability. Used for things such as Voice over IP (VoIP), or voice over the Internet.
SMTP
IMAP
POP3
IMAP
POP3
Email Protocols incorporated into smart phones for syncing with your email/webmail, also for sending and receiving email. Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
HTTP
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is the primary base protocol for transferring web pages and posting forms to remote websites and servers. Smart phones use this protocol when communicating over the Internet.
SSL
TLS
TLS
Description Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and/or Transport Layer Security (TLS) are technologies used to encrypt and protect your information when transmitted over public networks. They’re used with other protocols such as HTTP/SMTP/IMAP/POP.
Credit
RSA
A cryptographic algorithm often used to encrypt TLS/SSL transmissions. Original development in 1977.
AES
Advanced Encryption Standard. Used in a large number of programs to encrypt information and communications. Likely included in any modern smart phone.
RFC/Patent/Link
WikiPedia
WikiPedia
JPEG
This is one of the most widely used methods for compressing and storing digital images. This technology is used in most smart phones and digital cameras.
MPEG
DescriptionThis is one of the most widely used methods for compressing and storing digital video files. Most modern smart phones support this technology.
MP3
Mpeg Layer 3, or MP3 is the most popular audio format used in digital audio. All smart phones support this audio format.
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is the primary language use to render web pages. All modern smart phones support HTML for displaying Internet content.
JavaScript
A common programming/ scripting language used to add interactivity to web pages. All modern smart phones support JavaScript for displaying Internet content.
CSS
Most modern websites have CSS incorporated in order to maintain look & feel/style across their entire website. All modern smart phones in turn support this standard.
WiFi
Wireless technology used by most smart phones to connect to networks, specifically the Internet.
WPA
A method for securing communications and access to wireless (WiFi) networks. All modern smart phones support this standard.
SIM Card
The Subscriber Identity Module is a key component to identify any modern smart phone to the communications network.
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