A Learning Oriented Technological Framework for iDTV

With the rapid development of digital TV and deployment of set-top boxes, standardizing remote controllers for both digital TV and set-top box has become an issue for digital TV operators, set-top box producers and remote controller manufacturers. This paper presented a novel method to solve the incompatibility problem among different digital TV sets, set-top boxes and remote controllers. This novel method tries to cater digital TV sets and set-top boxes to remote controllers instead of designing a universal standardized remote controller for digital TV sets and set-top boxes. The benefits of the new method are shown by comparison of the novel solution with the universal remote controller based method. Some design guidelines for the proposed method are also presented in this paper.

This paper introduces an implementation example of an adaptive power management framework applicable to a digital TV set-top box which has energy-saving capability. The energy-saving set-top box supports a deep-sleep passive standby state in which almost all hardware functional modules are turned off except those required for a fast wake-up. Eventually, in the deep-sleep passive standby state, the power consumption level of the set-top box goes down to less than 1 watt. However, if the set-top box stays in the deep-sleep passive standby state, it can miss out the updated version of applications and EPG information. But, such shortcomings can be overcome using a mechanism for controlling power-management state transition based on set-top box usage patterns, which was proposed in the preliminary work related to this paper. This paper proposes two different methods of implementing the adaptive power management framework for the energy-saving set-top box. And this paper also shows some demonstration results.

Virtual and Open Education has recently become a recognized field of education across the globe as the mode of education which helps large number of students to access quality educational opportunities. The purpose of was study to establish the influence of virtual and open learning to private demand for education: The objectives of the project included the following; to determine the current status of enrollment of open and distance learning in Kenyatta University; extent to which Virtual and open learning influence enrollment; challenges facing Virtual and open learning in Kenyan universities. The study was guided by Industrial production model of Otto Peters (1994). The research utilized Descriptive survey method as the main study. The target subject under study consisted of 400 virtual and open students from Kenyatta University. Through random sampling technique and proportional two hundreds (200) open and distant learners from Kenyatta University were identified. The study used purposive sampling to choose three Digital School co-coordinators. The process of data collection involved administering questionnaires and scheduling interviews with the selected individuals. The study relied on both qualitative and quantitative data. When analyzing quantitative the research used descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 17).Qualitative data was analyzed by establishing the categories and themes, relationships/patterns and conclusions in line with the study objectives. Results indicated that virtual and open learning influence enrollment at Kenya Universities, where about 6248 virtual and open students have enrolled to the program. Various challenges touching on inadequate funding, network problem, delayed feedback and low teaching staff levels were identified. The study also established that the institutions offering virtual and open learning in Kenya are governed by their own institutional policies .It is articulated that the findings of this study and the recommendations therefore suggested would aid the government and universities in Kenya to achieve their goal of providing quality virtual and open education at affordable cost. It would benefit in policy on guiding on financial provision for virtual and open learning programmes, creating national Open university as well as the articulation of nationwide policies for virtual and open education and efficient use of virtual and open learning resources in providing student support services.

Studies show that distance education is a viable way to offer education to places that have difficulties in access to quality education. In the Amazon State, Brazil, some projects have gained notoriety for their emphasis on providing effective education at various high school and higher education levels in remote cities. We aim at providing mainstream inclusion to people who live in hard-to-reach cities. The aim of the work in progress described in this paper it the investigation of alternatives to use an e-learning management system within an interactive TV scenario. We plan to use the TIDIA-AE platform, which allows synchronous and asynchronous collaborative distance learning supported by traditional and high-speed networks, integrated with the interactive digital TV platform under development in Brazil. As a result, we plan to provide a proof-of-concept prototype tool to be used by institutions in their educational activities. One of the tasks is the customization of the TIDIA-AE software platform taking into account some requirements for its use in a region as the Amazon, which presents very limited good quality network access. Our proposal takes advantage from the fact that interactive digital TV will be available and able to reach the target area. The work includes: investigation of the requirements, proposal and evaluation of alternatives, development of the proof-of-concept prototype and experimentation within potential scenarios. The work will be summarized in a report discussing the feasibility of using TIDIA-Ae and Interactive Digital TV as integrated platforms to support the distance education in the Amazon state. The project is work in progress, and we plan to submit it to the pilot classroom group for tests in mid-2010.

This collection investigates the uptake of ‘open learning’ in South African Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and higher education institutions. Comprised of 16 studies focused on activities at a range of colleges and universities across the country, these papers aim to promote a better understanding of open learning practices across the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector, including issues such as: recognition of prior learning, access for students with disabilities, work integrated learning, professional development, novel student funding mechanisms, leadership for open educational practices, institutional culture, student support, blended and online learning, flexible learning, online assessment, open educational resource development models and funding, and micro-credentials. This collection contributes to understanding the ways in which South African PSET institutions and educators are interpreting ‘open learning’ as a means of advancing social justice. 

This paper aims to present a model for an interactive and hybrid digital TV focused on global services and applications framework. The model proposed aims to improve the hybrid broadcast-broadband model with features which run worldwide using a PaaS cloud service, browser applications in a global compliance and second screen scenarios involving pervasive computing. The proposed architecture and a development baseline analysis indicate the feasibility to develop a global interactive TV scenario.

This paper shows a grid computing architecture called Grid Anywhere which aims at allowing the sharing of the computational resources from set-top boxes (receiver) of an Interactive Digital Television System. This sharing is made in a such a way that the TV broadcaster can use the set-top boxes tuned to it to get a high computational power and the user can also use remote resource of others devices (set-top boxes or personal computers) to increase the performance of the application executed in his receiver.KeywordsInteractive Digital TelevisionGrid ComputingPeer-to-Peer networks

Dedications. Preface. Organizational and Topical Coverage. Who should read this book. Acknowledgements. About the Author. Foreword. Chapter 1. The Ultimate Viewing Experience. 1.1 Defining IPTV. 1.2 Differences between IPTV and Internet TV. 1.3 Overview of an IPTV Networking Infrastructure. 1.4 Key IPTV Applications and Services. 1.5 Growth Drivers for IPTV. 1.6 Market Data. 1.7 Industry Initiatives to Standardize IPTV. 1.8 Summary. Chapter 2. IPTV Network Distribution Technologies. 2.1 'Last Mile' Broadband Distribution Network Types. 2.2 IPTV over a Fiber Access Network. 2.3 IPTV over an ADSL Network. 2.4 Next Generation Cable TV Networks. 2.5 IPTV over a Satellite Based Network. 2.6 IPTV over Wireless Networks. 2.7 IPTV over the Interne t. 2.8 IPTV Backbone Technologies. 2.9 Network Factors Associated with Deploying IPTV. 2.10 Summary. Chapter 3. IPTV Real Time Encoding and Transportation. 3.1 Introduction to Real-Time Encoding. 3.2 Compression Methods. 3.3 Packetizing and Encapsulating Video Content. 3.4 Summary. Chapter 4. Broadcasting Linear Programming over IPTV. 4.1 Underlying Video Components of an end-to-end IPTV System. 4.2 Different Approaches to Streaming IPTV Content. 4.3 Multicasting across an IPTV Network. 4.4 IPTV Multicasting Networking Architecture. 4.5 Multicasting IPTV Content across IPV6 Networks. 4.6 Introduction to Channel Changing. 4.7 Fundamentals of Channel Changing. 4.8 Techniques for Speeding up IPTV Channel Changing Times. 4.9 Discovering Channel Program Information. 4.10 Time Shifting Multicast IPTV. 4.11 Channel Changing Industry Initiatives. 4.12 Summary. Chapter 5. IPTV Consumer Devices (IPTVCDs). 5.1 About Residential Gateways. 5.2 RG Technology Architecture. 5.3 RG Functionality. 5.4 RG Industry Standards. 5.5 Introduction to Digital Set-top Boxes. 5.6 The Evolution of Digital Set-top Boxes. 5.7 Categories of Digital Set-top Boxes. 5.8 Major Technological Trends for Digital Set-Top Boxes. 5.9 IP Set-top Boxes Defined. 5.10 Types of IP Set-top Boxes. 5.11 Other Emerging IPTV Consumer Devices. 5.12 Summary. Chapter 6. IPTVCD Software Architecture. 6.1 What Makes an IPTVCD Tick? 6.2 Interactive TV Middleware Standards. 6.3 Proprietary Middleware Solutions. 6.4 Summary. Chapter 7. IPTV Conditional Access and DRM Systems. 7.1 Introduction to IPTV Security. 7.2 Defining IPTV CA Security Systems. 7.3 CA Industry Initiatives. 7.4 Introduction to Next Generation DRM Solutions. 7.5 IPTV Intranet Protection. 7.6 Summary. Chapter 8. Moving IPTV around the House. 8.1 About Whole Home Media Networking (WHMN). 8.2 WHMN Enabling Technologies. 8.3 Fast Ethernet & Gigabit Ethernet (GigE). 8.4 802.11n. 8.5 HomePlug AV. 8.6 UPA-DHS. 8.7 HomePNA(t) 3.1. 8.8 WHMN Middleware Software Standards. 8.9 QoS and WHMN Applications. 8.10 Summary. Chapter 9. Video-on-Demand (VoD) over IP Delivery Networks. 9.1 History of Pay-Per-View. 9.2 Understanding PPV. 9.3 The Emergence of RF and IP Based VoD. 9.4 Types of IP-VoD Services. 9.5 Underlying Building Blocks of an end-to-end IP-VoD Infrastructure. 9.6 Video Server Architectures. 9.7 Integrating IP-VoD Applications with other IP based Services. 9.8 Protecting IP-VoD Content. 9.9 Summary. Chapter 10. IP Based High Definition TV. 10.1 Overview of SDTV and HDTV Technologies. 10.2 HDTV over IP Defined. 10.3 An end-to-end IP HDTV System. 10.4 Summary. Chapter 11. Interactive IPTV applications. 11.1 The Evolution of iTV. 11.2 About iTV. 11.3 Interactive IPTV Applications. 11.4 IPTV Program Related Interaction Applications. 11.5 Deploying Interactive IPTV Applications. 11.6 Accessibility to IPTV Services. 11.7 Summary. Chapter 12. IPTV Network Administration. 12.1 An Introduction to IPTV Network Administration. 12.2 Supporting the IPTV Networking Management System (NMS). 12.3 Managing Installation, Service Problems, and Terminations. 12.4 Network Testing and Monitoring. 12.5 Ensuring Service Availability and Managing Redundancy. 12.6 IP Address Space Management. 12.7 Routine IT and Network Administrative Tasks. 12.8 Managing IPTV Quality of Service (QoS) Requirements. 12.9 Monitoring the IPTV Subscriber Experience. 12.10 Remotely Managing in-Home Digital Consumer Devices. 12.11 Scheduling and Managing Delivery of Software Updates to IPTVCDs. 12.12 Troubleshooting IPTV Problems. 12.13 IPTV and Business Continuity Planning. 12.14 Summary. Index.

This paper presents the results of a research in progress about a system for multiple users' behavior analysis and program recommendation for digital TV called SmarTV. The research explores a multi-user's behavior analysis and program recommendation using Bluetooth cell phones and a Playstation 3 working as a set-top box connected to a digital TV network with return channel or an IPTV network. Supposing that every viewer has a Bluetooth enabled cell phone, each mobile will identify one spectator to the set-top box wirelessly. Since the set-top box used is a Playstation 3, it is a full computer with IBM Cell BE processor capable of executing computer-intensive algorithms. This device was used to store the history of programs watched by every person near the TV connected to the set-top box, and to identify their profile and preferences using data mining algorithms. The program recommendation system is a hybrid of a content-based approach with a collaborative approach using a rate system, and uses the k-Means and k-NN data mining algorithms modified to explore the Cell BE features.

Audio-visual interactive content is very common nowadays. It has many applications in very different fields, from videogames to visualization of scientific data. However, there are environments such as digital television in which the delivery of interactive content is of interest, but are limited by the shortcomings of the players. For example, in cable TV environments users access content through a set-top box, which is usually very limited in computing power due to cost, power consumption and the need to keep a moderate size. Furthermore, set-top boxes do not usually have specific hardware for graphics processing (GPU, Graphics Processing Unit) desirable for high quality interactive content, but rather are optimized for real time decoding of video in hardware (usually Mpeg-2, in very recent ones h.264). In this work we describe a distributed system for the creation of synthetic content and its encoding to digital video to send it to the clients. The most important features to provide are scalability and fault tolerance, in order to support a large number of concurrent users with an uninterrupted service.KeywordsGraphic Processing UnitVideo EncodeInteractive ContentConcurrent UserProvide Fault ToleranceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Towards optimal navigation through video content on interactive TV

This work shows the implementation of a hybrid STB (Set Top Box) that receives real-time digital signals for ISDB-Tb and IPTV. The implementation integrates middleware GINGA for interactive DTT applications based on low cost platforms. The features of the hardware platform for this implementation are analyzed so that they can integrate USB reception modules for digital TV, support interactive middleware versions and also be compatible with TV playback software by means of internet protocols. After the analysis and evaluation, we found that the most suitable board to achieve this implementation was Raspberry Pi 3. The development of the Android mobile graphic interface is also shown, which emulates a remote control by Bluetooth technology. Finally, the results of the implemented hybrid STB’s evaluation are presented; evaluation performed by reception tests of DTT channels with interactivity and free IPTV channels. Also, quantitative readings were made to test the performance and correct operation, as well as qualitative MOS polls to get the quality of user experience when handling the decoder.

In this paper a video processing architecture for use in a set top box (STB) compatible with the Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD) is presented. After the decoding process, a video frame is stored in the STB memory and is scanned by the output subsystem while executing several operations in order to fit the external display. The paper discusses design and implementation issues for several modules like video scaler, video captioning and also the generation of video outputs signals (VGA or composite PAL-M). Implementation results using a FPGA-based hardware platform are also provided. The goal is to go to silicon implementation after the FPGA validation phase.

In digital television (DTV) broadcasting, service providers charge a subscribing fee by scrambling the program with conditional access system as well as control the illegal receiving of the charged program. A smart card is used to decrypt the control words and transfer them back to set-top box (STB) to descramble the scrambled program. Secure communication between STB and smart card is directly related with the benefit of service providers and the legal rights of users, while key exchange is the essential part of secure communication. In this paper, we propose a key exchange protocol for STB and smart card based on Schnorr's digital signature protocol and one-way hash function. Our proposed protocol is dynamic, secure, mutual authenticated and lower computation. Moreover, the proposed protocol can prevent smart cloning and McCormac Hack problems.

The digital set-top box (STB) has evolved to provide not only broadcast channel videos to TV watchers but also streaming videos to mobile device users. The users connected to a STB may request the same video content with disparate bitrate requirements. In this case, applying the conventional multicast or unicast technique causes a waste of transmission bandwidth. To resolve this problem, in this study we realized a novel hybrid multicast and unicast video streaming system. The unicast service was based on MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over Hypertext Transfer Protocol). For multirate streamed users, we incorporated the H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Coding) for bitrate adaptation into the multicast groups under the FLUTE (File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport) protocol. Furthermore, we optimized the system performance that intelligently determined the transmitted video segment and quality level according to the bandwidth efficiency and the marginal quality benefit to users. Simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm effectively reduced the waiting time and enhanced the received video quality of mobile device users.