People-oriented universal communication system
—— A new concept of communication infrastructure

Why people-oriented universal communication system?
New Concept: People-oriented Universal Communication System    (Technical White Paper)
IT, Status and Future
The Idea Makes Differences

Why people-oriented universal communication system?
Identity theft, email spam, illegal music file sharing, frustrating telmarket calls. Much of today's problems with communication can be addressed by a people-oriented universal communication system.

Everyone seems to agree that wider deployment of broadband can bolster the sagging technology and telecommunications sectors while triggering a wider economic recovery. This is what people from the supply side want to see. However, the demand side story is quite different. The growth rate for broadband subscription has slowed down, and one study shows that only 10% homes with access to broadband in the United States have actually signed up. The most significant internet traffic seems to be related to illegal swapping of music files. A people-oriented universal communication system can provide a convenient and legal way to download audio and video files on the internet.

New Concept— People-oriented Universal Communication System
The universal communication system brings two significant structural changes to the communication system:
It changes the current location-oriented communication networks to people-oriented communication networks;
It unifies all physical communication networks and enables them to work together.

The people-oriented universal communication system can quickly and accurately identify who is who in all communication networks. The significance of the concept is comparable to the bar code system for products. Long before the bar code system was actually invented, store owners knew they desperately needed something like that to keep track of thousands of products in different brands and sizes. Today it is difficult to imagine how to conduct businesses of commodity trade efficiently without the bar code system. However, the need is not well recognized for a system to efficiently identify people during communications. Of course, people are not as dumb as products, and they can inform others who they are. Remember the last time you ordered something over the phone and had to spell your name correctly. The efficiency is low and the cost of errors is high. The location oriented communication system has become a bottleneck to further growth of the communication industry. It is the real structural reason behind the current downturn of the industry. People will gradually realize that a people-oriented system is essential for the next level of communication.

In fact, the bar code system is also used for the identification of people. Just look at the back of your driver's license, you will find the bar code. Other variations of the card form identifications include magnetic strip card and smart card. But these methods generally do not work over a communication network. Moreover, people are different from products. People are alive, reactive, mobile, emotional, and have concerns of privacy. A different system needs to be created for people.

When it comes to a positive identification, things become more complicated. Ordinary driver's licenses are prone to forgery. One survey shows that many teenages in the United States have used fake ID to get alcoholic drinks. One approach is to add more personal information. The argument is perhaps that the more personal information you know the more likely you are the person you claim to be. Along this line of reasoning, everywhere some identification is necessary, you are asked to provide your social security number, date of birth, etc. This becomes a security concern in addition to the issue of privacy. As a matter of fact, identity theft has become the most common type of U.S. consumer fraud complaint in 2001 according to the statistics of the Federal Trade Commission.

Another approach is to add some biometric information such as finger print, face recognition, or voice recognition. Many identification schemes such as national ID, smart card, and face recognition are proposed to fight terrorism. While these methods can be very useful for certain security purposes such as security checks at military bases, their value for general public use is controversial and doubtful. Despite the good intentions, there are serious privacy concerns.

Currently, Caller ID is available as a service in the telephone system. However, the so-called Caller ID is actually a caller location information. If a husband calls his wife from a local bar, the caller ID would be the bar owner. In the people-oriented universal communication system , a wife should be able to identify a call from her husband regardless of whether the call is from his office, a local bar, the internet, or his cellular phone. People can ignore the calls from telemarketers. Businesses can better serve the customers.

The people-oriented universal communication system offers a way to identify people across all communication networks without the sacrifice of privacy. The basic information passed around is as simple as the information shown on the figure here. This is accomplished with efficiency, security and accuracy. An individual can choose to add more information to his identification: address, favorite foods, medical conditions, hobbies, credit card, etc. The individual has total control and privacy of the optional information. You bank keeps your financial information, your broker keeps your stock transactions, your doctor keeps your medical record, your school keeps your academic performance, and your government keeps your tax returns. The system just provides a way to identify yourself, quickly and accurately. The system will make e-business solutions more efficient, just like what the bar code system has done for the businesses related to products.

Convergence has been a buzzword in telecoms for the past ten years, but some industrial experts estimated that it may take another decade to get there. The new approach of the universal communication system will make it implementable by existing technologies. As the system unifies all the physical networks, it allows them to work together. This redundancy improves the reliability of the communication system. This is especially beneficial during emergency. It also offers consumers the choices of many services. As different physical networks have their inherent strength and weakness, the combined system can provide more cost-effective and performance-enhancing solutions. For example, you can even use your cellular phone to control your TV set.

The Idea Makes Differences
The people-oriented universal communication system will open huge new markets such as e-business solutions for the communication industry. It will prevent identity theft and credit card fraud, protect childen from improper materials, and facilitate the distribution of copyrighted digital materials. This will create a market-driven deployment of new technologies such as broadband communication and increasing demands for wireless communication. The affected market in the Unites States alone is estimated at $284 billion a year.