Listed below are the frequently asked questions by Developers regarding MIPC, the Implementation Guidelines, and the MIPC Plugfest. If your question is not answered below, please submit your question via Contact Us and someone will respond as soon as possible.
1. Background/Overview Inquiries
1.1 What is MIPC trying to accomplish in the industry?
The Mobile Imaging and Printing Consortium has recognized the need for improved interoperability of Mobile Terminals and Home Printers and/or Kiosk. By working together, leading companies in the Mobile Terminal and Home Printer hope to create a set of useful guidelines to help the industry develop products that work well together.
1.2 MIPC provides Implementation Guidelines. Why not Specifications?
One of the obstacles to interoperability today is that there are so many printing choices. Instead of broadening the field by creating new standards, MIPC has elected to narrow the choices by developing guidelines with specific recommendations for enhancing interoperability based on a small number of pre-existing standards and practices.
1.3 Why doesn’t MIPC have a Logo program?
MIPC is not creating a new Industry Standard, but is rather providing a set of Implementation Guidelines to help the industry improve interoperability between mobile terminals and home printers and/or kiosk. These Guidelines refer to established industry specifications, which themselves have Logo programs.
2) Feature/Technical Inquiries
2.1 MIPC refers to ‘Mobile Terminals'. What is included in this term?
A Mobile Terminal includes any handheld mobile device that has imaging capability and long distance wireless connectivity. The term includes: mobile camera phones, mobile phones that can receive images: PDAs with phone functionality. The term excludes: laptop computers, PDAs without long distance wireless connectivity, mobile phones that can’t capture or receive images.
2.2 MIPC provides Implementation Guidelines for 5 connection methods with a different print protocol for each (Bluetooth using BPP, USB using PictBridge, memory cards using DPOF, Wi-Fi using UPnP Print, and IrDA using OBEX). Why is this?
A single connection method and print protocol would maximize interoperability with no special consideration on the end user’s or developer’s part. However, this is not the case in the industry, today. Since MIPC is committed to using existing standards, as it scanned the methods and protocols available in this market today, these connection methods and print protocols seemed the best suited for delivering MIPC use cases today or in the near future.
2.3 MIPC has recommended BPP over Bluetooth. Why not BIP or OPP?
MIPC has identified several use cases where it would like to provide Guidelines to improve interoperability. Of the protocols available on Bluetooth, only BPP has the capability to offer implementation support for all MIPC use cases. BIP and OPP cannot implement all of the MIPC use cases. Also, MIPC considered that to maximize the usability and interoperability of Bluetooth devices it would be best to choose just one protocol for each connection method.
2.4 MIPC has selected PictBridge over USB, DPOF over memory cards and
OBEX over IrDA, yet these protocols do not support all of the MIPC use
cases. Is there a reason for this?
Yes. In scanning the protocols and connection methods available today, these seemed the most well suited and widely supported in the market today. MIPC will continue to monitor the market and work to influence broader support for MIPC use cases across all recommended protocols and connection methods.
2.5 The Guidelines do not include discussion of all mandatory features of the print protocols it is recommending. Is it ok for a product to support the MIPC Guidelines and not to support the mandatory features of a standards body?
MIPC advocates full support of all mandatory features of the standards being recommended in the Guidelines. This is critical to achieving maximum interoperability. In the Guidelines, MIPC specifically discusses those features, both mandatory and optional, that will help implementers best deliver the MIPC use cases. The Guidelines do not attempt to cover the complete feature set of the referenced specifications, but rather provide recommendations where there are implementation choices or where there is a concern that a feature may be implemented in an inconsistent manner across mobile terminals and home printers and/or kiosk.
2.6 Why do the Guidelines provide limited information on PictBridge and DPOF?
MIPC requires that all specifications that it references must have an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy of Reasonable and Nondiscriminatory (Rand) or less restrictive. PictBridge and DPOF meet this requirement but they do require a signed license agreement to view the specifications. Due to these licensing requirements, only limited information can be publicly disclosed in these Guidelines. However, the Guidelines do help direct the developer’s attention to certain publicly disclosed features available in PictBridge and DPOF for careful consideration by the developer.
2.7 Why has MIPC recommended UPnP over Wi-Fi?
MIPC has identified several use cases where it would like to provide
Guidelines to improve interoperability. Of the protocols available over
Wi-Fi, UPnP is the one with the broadest industry support that enables
implementations for all MIPC use cases. UPnP protocols also form the
basis for all networked connectivity recommendations from the Digital
Living Network Alliance.
2.8. Why does MIPC recommend IrSimple in addition to standard IrDA?
IrSimple protocol will enable much higher data transmission throughput
than standard IrDA. And IrSimple achieve this enhancement without
needing any changes in device hardware. The implementation of IrSimple
is done through updates to device firmware. In summary, with IrSimple,
manufacturers of IrDA devices are now able to provide better user
experience with minimal cost penalty. This aligns well with MIPC's
mission to improve user experience in mobile phone to printer printing.
Moreover, IrSimple protocol maintains backward compatibility with the
standard IrDA protocols.
3) Plugfest-related Inquiries
3.1 What is the purpose of an MIPC Plugfest?
MIPC does not have a logo program, compliance criteria, or compliance testing. Plugfests, however are arranged by MIPC to allow companies to meet to test their devices and services. The testing is at the responsibility of the individual companies. Even unannounced products can be tested confidentially under an MIPC non-disclosure agreement that must be signed by all participants.
3.2 I attend the other Plugfests and UnPlugfests. Why would I want to also attend an MIPC Plugfest?
Attending an MIPC Plugfest gives developers of Mobile Handsets who have implemented their products based on the MIPC Implementation Guidelines a chance to test those products with Home Printer developers who have done the same. Rather than testing the connectivity protocol itself (physical layer), the focus of an MIPC Plugfest is on testing the application layer to verify interoperability and expected output.
3.3 How can I participate in an MIPC Plugfest?
To sign up to participate in an MIPC Plugfest, visit the MIPC Plugfest page from the MIPC Developer webpage. To participate, you must have a product to test and you must sign an MIPC non-disclosure agreement. Other participation criteria, including fees are described on the Plugfest webpage.
Frequently Ask Questions Last updated on October 3, 2006