Service Platform for Converged Interactive Broadband Broadcast and Cellular Wireless

A converged broadcast and telecommunication service platform is presented that is able to create, deliver, and manage interactive, multimedia content and services for consumption on three different terminal types. The motivations of service providers for designing converged interactive multimedia services, which are crafted for their individual requirements, are investigated. The overall design of the system is presented with particular emphasis placed on the operational features of each of the sub-systems, the flows of media and metadata through the sub-systems and the formats and protocols required for inter-communication between them. The key features of tools required for creating converged interactive multimedia content for a range of different end-user terminal types are examined. Finally possible enhancements to this system are discussed. This study is of particular interest to those organizations currently conducting trials and commercial launches of DVB-H services because it provides them with an insight of the various additional functions required in the service provisioning platforms to provide fully interactive services to a range of different mobile terminal types

Radio and its listenership in the internet age: case studies of the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) and VOVNews.

After approximately 100 years of radio, it is inevitable that radio in Western countries not only survives but also develops, despite fierce competition with visual media. However, having competed with other media for more than 15 years, radio in Vietnam is experiencing a significant loss of audience (especially the youth, the well-educated, and the people in urban areas). It should be noted that due to a 30 year war and 20 years of embargo by the US and other Western countries, information about Western countries in general, and journalism in particular, was in short supply in Vietnam. For this reason, gaining experiences from radio's developments and its adaptability in Western countries - in order to apply these to Vietnamese radio - is an imperative need. However, at present, radio in Western countries has reached a significant turning-point, when a number of terminologies - which are used according to the radio's variants, including web radio, digital radio, and visual radio - have challenged the perceptions of radio which have been accepted for almost a century. The questions 'What is radio?', 'Is web radio 'radio'?' and 'Does web radio enhance radio development?' are contentious issues which have been discussed for some time without a conclusion. On the other hand, web radio has a significant impact on Vietnamese radio in the sense that it brings radio to the Internet community who are generally believed to be the young, well-educated and people in urban areas who listen to traditional radio the least. It is suggested that web radio is potential way to capture the neglected traditional radio listeners in Vietnam. From an historical point of view, this thesis will investigate the changes of radio in terms of technology, radio programming and ways of listening, in order to understand the development of radio from its inception to date. Moreover, radio will be placed in the context of the competition and interplay between mass media. This will be done in order to explore the contention that the existence and development of each medium depends not only on its own characteristics, but also on its ability to adjust itself to a new technological environment - as well as the ability to adapt methods and tools from other media to strengthen its position. It is contended that web radio is the product of the competitive and interactive environment in which it operates: and its characteristics can only be clarified with reference to those relationships between mass media systems. Having investigated the political, historical, sodo-economical and cultural contexts of radio and web radio in Vietnam, the thesis explores the ways in which modem radio theories and practices from Western countries can be applied to Vietnamese radio, and examines if web radio is a means to capture new audiences, particularly the groups who have neglected traditional radio. In order to achieve this aim, three major research methods will be applied: historical and secondary data; online and offline surveys and in-depth interviews of radio listeners, non-radio listeners, and web users about their habits of consuming media, the impact of the Internet on their habits, and their needs towards web radio also will be undertaken

Etude d'une architecture IP intégrant un lien satellite géostationnaire

Cette thèse aborde les problèmes relatifs à l'intégration des satellites géostationnaires dans les réseaux IP. Une première étape de ce travail consiste en une analyse critique des systèmes utilisant le Digital Video Broadcating pour véhiculer des flux IP. Cette étude souligne les faiblesses des solutions actuelles : tandis que les solutions classiques souffrent de limites inhérentes à la technologie et aux protocoles utilisées, les propositions reposant sur les satellites de nouvelles génération impliquent un système spécifique et à fortes contraintes financières. Ces limites engendrent des difficultés d'interopérabilité, témoignant de la nécessité d'une démarche plus globale qui viserait à dessiner une architecture plus large qui ne reposerait pas sur des contraintes techniques. La thèse propose alors de suivre cette démarche, et de concevoir une architecture pour intégrer ces différentes solutions dans un seul système et pouvoir supporter des services porteurs comme l'accès Internet, la vidéo à la demande et l'interconnexion de réseaux privés. Au coeur de cette architecture se trouve la notion de charge utile hybride, c'est-à-dire intégrant une partie transparente traditionnelle et une partie régénérative utilisant une intelligence embarquée plus ou moins évoluée. Ses objectifs sont alors d'assurer l'intégration de services porteurs sur satellite, d'offrir une transition entre les systèmes transparents et les satellites de nouvelle génération, et enfin de s'adapter aux évolutions protocolaires. Dans ce contexte, cette proposition est décrite à plusieurs niveaux, en insistant sur le lien entre le niveau réseau et la couche liaison. Cette description implique des choix technologiques témoignant des solutions actuelles, mais reste ouverte aux technologies à venir par son intégration d'IP comme un élément fédérateur. Enfin l'analyse du système hybride permet de légitimer les services choisis, et de souligner sa flexibilité offerte par la coexistence de ces deux modes et la possibilité de choisir pour chaque type de trafic celui qui permet les meilleurs performances. ABSTRACT : This thesis studies issues related to the integration of geostationary satellites in IP networks. A first part of this work presents an analysis of today and future DVB systems for IP support. The limits of standard solutions are underlined. However new technologies and protocols adaptations allow satellite systems to be more compliant to IP services, but at several costs: high complexity and specificity. As there is a real need of a global solution, an architecture based on two different payloads (a transparent one and an on-board-processing) in a same system is proposed for service integration. This solution, called a hybrid system, is defined according to different service needs. It proposes to undertake the transition between today systems and next generation satellites, as to integrate different services and protocols. The study describes such a solution, underlining that the technologic choices have been made according to today solutions, and may be changed in future days. Eventually this architecture is evaluated. The analysis of the system overhead for IP support shows that the architecture proposes a light way to manage IP streams and hybrid mode. The study of service integration concludes on the flexibility of managing two modes for different traffic streams, allowing the best performances for each one