ECHO Facts for Users 1/97

ECHO = European Community Humanitarian Offic

Cooperating broadcast and cellular conditional access system for digital television

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The lack of interoperability between Pay‐TV service providers and a horizontally integrated business transaction model have compromised the competition in the Pay‐TV market. In addition, the lack of interactivity with customers has resulted in high churn rate and improper security measures have contributed into considerable business loss. These issues are the main cause of high operational costs and subscription fees in the Pay‐TV systems. This paper presents a novel end‐to‐end system architecture for Pay‐TV systems cooperating mobile and broadcasting technologies. It provides a cost‐effective, scalable, dynamic and secure access control mechanism supporting converged services and new business opportunities in Pay‐TV systems. It enhances interactivity, security and potentially reduces customer attrition and operational cost. In this platform, service providers can effectively interact with their customers, personalise their services and adopt appropriate security measures. It breaks up the rigid relationship between a viewer and set‐top box as imposed by traditional conditional access systems, thus, a viewer can fully enjoy his entitlements via an arbitrary set‐top box. Having thoroughly considered state‐of‐the‐art technologies currently being used across the world, the thesis highlights novel use cases and presents the full design and implementation aspects of the system. The design section is enriched by providing possible security structures supported thereby. A business collaboration structure is proposed, followed by a reference model for implementing the system. Finally, the security architectures are analysed to propose the best architecture on the basis of security, complexity and set‐top box production cost criteria

Persönliche Wege der Interaktion mit multimedialen Inhalten

Today the world of multimedia is almost completely device- and content-centered. It focuses it’s energy nearly exclusively on technical issues such as computing power, network specifics or content and device characteristics and capabilities. In most multimedia systems, the presentation of multimedia content and the basic controls for playback are main issues. Because of this, a very passive user experience, comparable to that of traditional TV, is most often provided. In the face of recent developments and changes in the realm of multimedia and mass media, this ”traditional” focus seems outdated. The increasing use of multimedia content on mobile devices, along with the continuous growth in the amount and variety of content available, make necessary an urgent re-orientation of this domain. In order to highlight the depth of the increasingly difficult situation faced by users of such systems, it is only logical that these individuals be brought to the center of attention. In this thesis we consider these trends and developments by applying concepts and mechanisms to multimedia systems that were first introduced in the domain of usercentrism. Central to the concept of user-centrism is that devices should provide users with an easy way to access services and applications. Thus, the current challenge is to combine mobility, additional services and easy access in a single and user-centric approach. This thesis presents a framework for introducing and supporting several of the key concepts of user-centrism in multimedia systems. Additionally, a new definition of a user-centric multimedia framework has been developed and implemented. To satisfy the user’s need for mobility and flexibility, our framework makes possible seamless media and service consumption. The main aim of session mobility is to help people cope with the increasing number of different devices in use. Using a mobile agent system, multimedia sessions can be transferred between different devices in a context-sensitive way. The use of the international standard MPEG-21 guarantees extensibility and the integration of content adaptation mechanisms. Furthermore, a concept is presented that will allow for individualized and personalized selection and face the need for finding appropriate content. All of which can be done, using this approach, in an easy and intuitive way. Especially in the realm of television, the demand that such systems cater to the need of the audience is constantly growing. Our approach combines content-filtering methods, state-of-the-art classification techniques and mechanisms well known from the area of information retrieval and text mining. These are all utilized for the generation of recommendations in a promising new way. Additionally, concepts from the area of collaborative tagging systems are also used. An extensive experimental evaluation resulted in several interesting findings and proves the applicability of our approach. In contrast to the ”lean-back” experience of traditional media consumption, interactive media services offer a solution to make possible the active participation of the audience. Thus, we present a concept which enables the use of interactive media services on mobile devices in a personalized way. Finally, a use case for enriching TV with additional content and services demonstrates the feasibility of this concept.Die heutige Welt der Medien und der multimedialen Inhalte ist nahezu ausschließlich inhalts- und geräteorientiert. Im Fokus verschiedener Systeme und Entwicklungen stehen oft primär die Art und Weise der Inhaltspräsentation und technische Spezifika, die meist geräteabhängig sind. Die zunehmende Menge und Vielfalt an multimedialen Inhalten und der verstärkte Einsatz von mobilen Geräten machen ein Umdenken bei der Konzeption von Multimedia Systemen und Frameworks dringend notwendig. Statt an eher starren und passiven Konzepten, wie sie aus dem TV Umfeld bekannt sind, festzuhalten, sollte der Nutzer in den Fokus der multimedialen Konzepte rücken. Um dem Nutzer im Umgang mit dieser immer komplexeren und schwierigen Situation zu helfen, ist ein Umdenken im grundlegenden Paradigma des Medienkonsums notwendig. Durch eine Fokussierung auf den Nutzer kann der beschriebenen Situation entgegengewirkt werden. In der folgenden Arbeit wird auf Konzepte aus dem Bereich Nutzerzentrierung zurückgegriffen, um diese auf den Medienbereich zu übertragen und sie im Sinne einer stärker nutzerspezifischen und nutzerorientierten Ausrichtung einzusetzen. Im Fokus steht hierbei der TV-Bereich, wobei die meisten Konzepte auch auf die allgemeine Mediennutzung übertragbar sind. Im Folgenden wird ein Framework für die Unterstützung der wichtigsten Konzepte der Nutzerzentrierung im Multimedia Bereich vorgestellt. Um dem Trend zur mobilen Mediennutzung Sorge zu tragen, ermöglicht das vorgestellte Framework die Nutzung von multimedialen Diensten und Inhalten auf und über die Grenzen verschiedener Geräte und Netzwerke hinweg (Session mobility). Durch die Nutzung einer mobilen Agentenplattform in Kombination mit dem MPEG-21 Standard konnte ein neuer und flexibel erweiterbarer Ansatz zur Mobilität von Benutzungssitzungen realisiert werden. Im Zusammenhang mit der stetig wachsenden Menge an Inhalten und Diensten stellt diese Arbeit ein Konzept zur einfachen und individualisierten Selektion und dem Auffinden von interessanten Inhalten und Diensten in einer kontextspezifischen Weise vor. Hierbei werden Konzepte und Methoden des inhaltsbasierten Filterns, aktuelle Klassifikationsmechanismen und Methoden aus dem Bereich des ”Textminings” in neuer Art und Weise in einem Multimedia Empfehlungssystem eingesetzt. Zusätzlich sind Methoden des Web 2.0 in eine als Tag-basierte kollaborative Komponente integriert. In einer umfassenden Evaluation wurde sowohl die Umsetzbarkeit als auch der Mehrwert dieser Komponente demonstriert. Eine aktivere Beteiligung im Medienkonsum ermöglicht unsere iTV Komponente. Sie unterstützt das Anbieten und die Nutzung von interaktiven Diensten, begleitend zum Medienkonsum, auf mobilen Geräten. Basierend auf einem Szenario zur Anreicherung von TV Sendungen um interaktive Dienste konnte die Umsetzbarkeit dieses Konzepts demonstriert werden

Desarrollo de un servicio de televisión interactiva HbbTV según el estándar ETSI TS 102 796 v1.1.1 (jun 2010)

La televisión híbrida es el último avance en el campo de la televisión interactiva. Se fundamenta en la unión de la televisión tradicional por aire/cable/satélite (Broadcast) y la distribución de contenidos por redes IP (Broadband). De esta forma, ambos mundos convergen en un mismo punto, el televisor. El planteamiento inicial del proyecto es comprobar las posibilidades de la especificación HBBTV para exponer las características más interesantes de este nuevo estándar. El objetivo principal de este proyecto es el desarrollo de un sistema que sirva para comprobar las características de este nuevo estándar. Se pretende que durante la emisión de un programa de televisión pueda accederse a contenidos extra ofrecidos por el canal Broadband haciendo uso de una aplicación HBBTVEscuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de TelecomunicaciónUniversidad Politécnica de Cartagen

A graphics software architecture for high-end interactive TV terminals

This thesis proposes a graphics architecture for next-generation digital television receivers. The starting assumption is that in the future, a number of multimedia terminals will have access through a number of networks to a variety of content and services. One example of such a device is a media station capable of integrating different kinds of multimedia objects such as 2D/3D graphics and video, reacting to user interaction, and supporting the temporal dimension of applications. Some of the services intended for these devices include, for example, games and enhanced information over broadcasted video. First, this thesis provides an overview of the digital television environment, focusing on the limitations of current receivers and hints at future directions. In addition, this thesis compares different solutions from regional standardisation bodies such as DVB, CableLabs, and ARIB. It proposes the adoption of the most relevant initiative, GEM by DVB. Unfortunately, GEM software middleware only considers Java language as an authoring format, meaning that the declarative environment and advanced functionalities (e.g., 3D graphics support) remain to be standardised. Because in the future different user groups will have different demands with regard to television, this thesis identifies two major extensions to the GEM standard. First, it proposes a declarative environment for GEM that takes into account W3C standardisation efforts. This environment is divided into two configurations: one capable of rendering limited interactive applications such as information services, and another intended for more demanding applications, for example a distance learning portal that synchronises videos of lecturers and slides. Second, this thesis proposes to extend the procedural environment of GEM with 3D graphics support. The potential services of this new profile, High-End Interactive, include games and commercials. Then, based on the requirements the proposed profiles should meet, this thesis defines a graphics architecture model composed of five layers. The hardware abstraction layer is in charge of rendering the final graphics output. The graphical context is a cross-platform abstraction of the rendering region and provides graphics primitives (e.g., rectangles and images). The graphical environment provides the means to control different graphical contexts. The GUI toolkit is a set of ready-made user interface widgets and layout schemes. Finally, high-level languages are easy-to-use tools for developing simple services. The thesis concludes with a report of my experience implementing a digital television receiver based on the proposals described. In addition to testing the application of the proposed graphics architecture to the design and implementation of a next-generation digital television receiver, the implementation permits the analysis of the requirements of such receivers and of the services they can provide.reviewe

SISTEM TV DIGITAL DAN PROSPEKNYA DI INDONESIA

Media penyiaran TV merupakan sarana penyampaian informasi yang efisien dan banyak digunakan di Indonesia maupun negara lainnya di dunia. Pada saat ini jumlah penyelenggara siaran TV nasional di Indonesia ada 11 stasiun yang terdiri dari 1 lembaga penyiaran TV publik yaitu TVRI dan 10 lembaga penyiaran TV swasta yaitu ANTV (Anteve) ,Global TV (TVG), Indosiar, Lativi, Metro TV, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, Trans TV dan TV7. Disamping penyelenggara siaran TV nasional di Indonesia juga terdapat kurang lebih 70 an lebih penyelenggara siaran TV lokal atau daerah. Dengan komposisi lembaga penyiaran TV seperti yang dijelaskan diatas, diperkirakan di Indonesia mempunyai jumlah pemirsa TV sebesar 40 juta orang, hal tersebut merupakan pangsa pasar yang cukup besar dan menarik bagi para operator TV untuk melakukan peningkatan investasi di dunia penyiaran TV. Para operator dalam melakukan peningkatan investasi di bidang penyiaran TV tentunya perlu untuk mengetahui parameter-parameter yang strategis misalnya pada pemilihan teknologi penyiaran TV agar investasi yang dilakukan bisa meningkatkan nilai tambah bagi pemirsa maupun operator itu sendiri. Perkembangan teknologi penyiaran TV terrestial (dari darat ke darat) baik yang digunakan untuk permirsa diam (fixed) dan pemirsa bergerak (mobile) mengalami perkembangan yang cukup pesat seiring dengan berkembangnya teknologi digital. Saat ini berbagai negara telah memutuskan untuk migrasi dari teknologi penyiaran TV analog ke teknologi penyiaran TV digital. Mengapa hal tersebut dilakukan, dikarenakan penyiaran TV terrestial dengan menggunakan teknologi digital mempunyai banyak keunggulan dibandingkan dengan penyiaran TV dengan teknologi analog. Saat ini, terdapat beberapa standard teknologi penyiaran TV digital yang telah digunakan antara lain Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestial (DVB-T) dari Eropa, Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting Terrestial (ISDB-T) dari Jepang, Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) dari Amerika Serikat, Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) dari Korea Selatan, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting Terrestrial (DMB-T) dari China. Meskipun pemerintah Indonesia telah menentukan akan menggunakan teknologi penyiaran TV Digital DVB-T, maka dengan mengetahui perbandingan masing-masing keunggulan teknologinya dan pengalaman masing-masing negara dalam mengimplementasikannya, akan banyak membantu dalam membuat perencanaan yang lebih matang dan menyeluruh untuk implementasi penyiaran TV digital di Indonesia. Hal itu akan mendatangkan nilai tambah yang sangat bermanfaat bagi operator, konsumen dan regulator. Munculnya paradigma konvergensi dengan meleburnya teknologi telekomunikasi dan teknologi informasi mengakibatkan penyiaran suara dan gambar bergerak dapat dinikmati oleh pemirsa dengan berbagai perangkat dari yang berukuran kecil sampai yang berukuran besar, demikian juga dari perangkat yang diam sampai yang bergerak. Hal tersebut mengakibatkan model bisnis penyiaran TV akan mengalami perubahan juga, mulai dari infrastruktur jaringan, konten penyiaran, perangkat penyiaran, serta regulasipun juga harus disesuaikan baik untuk pengaturan frekuensi dan operasionalnya serta standardisasi perangkat. Agar tidak menimbulkan berbagai permasalahan pada saat melakukan implementasi penyiaran TV digital, diperlukan pengetahuan yang memadai untuk menyusun langkah-langkah yang cukup strategi yang bertujuan untuk mendorong kemajuan industri lokal di Indonesia. Untuk uraian tentang tiga hal diatas seperti apa saja parameter strategis dalam peningkatan investasi dalam penyiaran TV, bagaimana perencanaan yang komprehensif untuk sistem dan teknologi penyiaran TV digital dan bagaimana cara penyusunan langkah strategis pada saat dilakukan migrasi ke penyiaran TV digital. Kesemuanya tersebut telah dijelaskan dalam buku ini secara rapi dan teratur, oleh karena itu dengan membaca buku ini, para pembaca akan mendapatkan berbagai informasi yang menyeluruh tentang penyiaran TV digital terrestial. Maka agar memudahkan pembaca dalam melakukan ekplorasi, buku ini diorganisasikan sebagai berikut : BAB I berisi tentang uraian tentang sejarah penyiaran TV di dunia dan di Indonesia, serta keunggulan teknologi penyiaran TV digital, hal ini dimaksudkan agar para pembaca buku ini dapat memperoleh gambaran singkat tentang karakteristik penyiaran TV analog dan penyiaran TV digital di Indonesia. Untuk mengetahui secara menyeluruh tentang beberapa teori teknologi digital pada penyiaran TV maka BAB II dalam buku ini telah memberikan penjelasan yang cukup detil, hal tersebut dimaksudkan untuk memberikan pembekalan pada pembaca agar dapat dengan mudah mengerti penjelasan tentang teknologi penyiaran TV digital beserta perbandingannya. Penjelasan tentang karakteristik teknologi penyiaran TV digital terrestial yang saat ini sedang berkembang telah diuraikan pada BAB III dan BAB IV BAB V akan berisi penjelasan tentang teknik pengukuran dan parameter pengukuran serta perangkat pengukuran yang dibutuhkan saat implementasi penyiaran TV digital, selain itu ditunjukan juga beberapa hasil pengukuran di Amerika, dan Brasil, serta hasil pengukuran di Indonesia saat ujicoba penyiaran TV digital di Jakarta. Hal ini dimaksudkan agar pembaca dapat mengetahui konsep perencanaan jaringan penyiaran TV digital. BAB VI, BAB VII dan BAB VIII akan menitik beratkan tentang perubahan model bisnis yang terjadi saat migrasi ke penyiaran TV digital yang dimulai dengan penjelasan tentang konvergensi, dilanjutkan dengan informasi migrasi penyiaran TV digital pada berbagai negara dan ditutup dengan uraian peluang dan tantangannya di Indonesia. Sebagai penutup editorial ini, saat ini banyak keinginan dan harapan dari berbagai komponen masyarakat seperti operator TV, regulator dan konsumer untuk migrasi ke penyiaran TV digital, adanya buku ini diharapkan tiga komponen tersebut mempunyai persepsi yang sama dan pengetahuan yang seimbang tentang teknologi penyiaran TV digital beserta prospek dan peluangnya, sehingga migrasi ke penyiaran TV digital di Indonesia menjadi mulus dengan kendala seminimal mungkin sesuai dengan harapan yang diinginkan

Access to public broadcasting services across national digital delivery systems

Traditionally broadcasting and telecommunications have been regarded as completely separate sectors Broadcasting as a transmission system was inseparable from the broadcast content Alternatively, telecommunication networks were the sole providers of voice and basic data telephony services But as technology developed and both markets began to offer similar services, the regulatory dividing lines between Internet, broadcasting and telecommunications services have begun to blur Broadcasting as a transmission system is becoming detached from the broadcast content Even though these markets are technically converging the issue of access to content and the licensing of content providers over these new delivery platforms to carry their services remain unresolved The liberalisation of both markets may make a significant difference to the production o f content and the access of such programming content to pay-television and Free-to-Air viewers. The transmission of similar services over previously distinct delivery systems has been categonsed as convergence This term is generally considered as a suitable representation of the hazy combination of different broadcast and point-to-point services that were once considered the domain of the telecommunications incumbent Equally, the broadcast network was considered an indispensable part of the public broadcasting organisation in its provision of a single content service such as television programming Today, digital technology and the liberalisation of the cable and telecommunications networks have allowed multiple content service providers to offer many different services over several networks. Such technological convergence is delivering different services within each network In the past, the analogue broadcast relationship involved the content provider, network operator and customer Now, there are additional market players between the customer and the network operator called service providers who control different parts of the downstream and upstream dynamics This paper hopes to highlight the potential impact of telecommunication liberalisation on broadcasting as network operators begin to provide video and broadcast services while broadcast network operators transmit unicast and point-to-point services alongside their traditional broadcast service