Design & Development of Small Linux Operating System for Browser Based Digital Set Top Box

Current scenario of distance education system through Television (TV) content provider's Set Top Box (STB) is entirely dependent on the channel broadcasting of the Direct To Home (DTH) provider and is one way thus not interactive. The real time question-answer session is entirely dependent on the other input systems like mobile etc. The authors propose a color code based interactive distance education system on Television(TV) using a connected Home Infotainment Platform (HIP) device capable of connecting a remote data server and capable of decoding video frames to extract color code for metadata. According to our proposed methodology, HIP device will reside between TV set and DTH service provider's STB and by extracting color coded metadata from video frames it is able to connect to a remote server where the questions-answer session details is stored. This connection is based on simple internet connection. On fetching, this question-answer session will be rendered in an interactive way on TV screen following defined time intervals and will take and send student's response to remote server for evaluation through the same internet communication channel. Since most of the question answer data will consist of text data so this scheme will also be very effective for regions having low data rate connectivity. This system also enables students to send their query or questions to same server at any point of video lecture.

The performance and availability of Ku band satellite Broadband and DTH services are affected by rain fade.. Direct -to-home very Small aperture terminal system operating at frequencies above 10 GHz in tropical climate are subjected to many fade occurrences due to heavy rain.This paper presents diurnal varation on the performance of DTH (Direct to home) broadcasting service for the month of February.

In the direct-to-home (DTH) environment video-on-demand (VOD) applications are tremendously popular due to its inexpensive and convenient nature. In VOD approach legal customers can connect their set-top boxes (STB) to the Internet and can access or record the available content. Due to the easy transmission of the highest quality digital data to the customers by the pay-per-view approach, the data are highly at risk. The data can be vulnerable for illegal distribution of duplicate copies and they are prone to unnecessary modifications which creates a financial loss to the information creators. So it is necessary to authenticate the owner as well as the illegal distributor to reduce the digital piracy which is the motivation for this work. This paper presents a forensic watermarking scheme for protecting copyrights, and for identifying the illegal distributor who distributes the legal copy in the illegal fashion though it is copyright violation. In this paper, two watermarks are embedded in the video that is on-demand, where one watermark is the owner’s information and another watermark is related to the unique information of the STB. This work is also suitable for the biomedical domain, where one watermark can be the patient information and another watermark will be the health center information, in order to secure the patient information and the hospital information.

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.

Reducing channel change delay in IPTV by predictive pre-joining of TV channels

The process of digital TV convergence, expected in Europe to the end of 2012, makes desirable to develop a system that can provide access to the Internet offering web content on a television screen. In this paper we present WebClimb, a web browser that would pursue an effective integration of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet in the DVB-MHP platform. WebClimb is a Java-based web browser and enables users to browse the web interacting with an easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI), driven by a TV remote control. We explain the system architecture of this novel web browser and we evaluate the operating modes of a WebClimb prototype, over commercial digital terrestrial set-top-boxes.

Europe is a large region with many countries, borders and languages. To overcome this problem in broadcasting, a European standard for direct-to-home (DTH) video has been established by a group of industry experts. All products used in DTH systems in Europe will have to comply with this new digital video broadcasting (DVB) standard. The paper examines how new DVB-compliant products are coming to market and how the DVB standard is impacting the digital video transmission market in Europe. The author concludes by discussing the role of DVB in World digital video markets.

The Internet protocol television (IPTV) service enables people to enjoy various Internet-based services via conventional TV watching. In the IPTV system, a set-top box (STB) is the key since it works as a terminal device that can relay real-time multimedia content from the Internet. However, the current IPTV STB functions as an attached device in a local area network although the actual IPTV network is usually served by an optical fiber-based network such as fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). Therefore, we introduce a novel fiber channel (FC)-embedded IPTV STB to fully use the sufficient optical fiber-based network bandwidth such as 1 Gbps. To verify the IPTV network capabilities by impact of the FC-embedded STB, we evaluate the performance of the FC-embedded STB-attached IPTV network architecture via extensible simulations in terms of an average startup-delay, an average reject ratio, and the number of concurrent users. Surprisingly, the suggested IPTV system demonstrates superior average startup-delay (less than 15 msec), an acceptable average reject-ratio less than 3%, and an almost linear increasing number of concurrent users, which reveals that the FC-embedded STB significantly affects the entire FC-AL-based IPTV network performance by efficiently facilitating the broadband optical fiber bandwidth.

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.

A video-on-demand (VoD) system provides a service which enables a user of the system to request in real time the transmission of a video stream from a collection of available video material. This paper suggests a conceptual model that subclassifies the VoD control and management procedures into three management levels: session, call, and connection. The session management is represented by a finite state machine (FSM) that translates user commands into call layer activities. The states in the session FSM represent active calls between the set-top boxes (STBs) and other entities, whereas the arcs represent distributed protocols for set-up and take-down of calls. This model is used in order to analyze the relationship between the procedures in the various management levels and to discuss the options and trade-offs involved in the design of a VoD session.

Proposes a dynamic load-balancing technique for a video-on-demand (VOD) server system which is responsible for transmitting video stream data to a client's set-top box (STB), and shows the result from a VOD system designed to incorporate our proposed load-balancing scheme. Our load-balancing technique is an application of the extended gradient model, in which we modify and update the control parameters and extend the 2D load map to 3D [we call this the "workload distribution surface" (WDS)], taking into consideration the operational factors of the VOD service, such as the quality of service (QoS). The objective is to use the power of the VOD server efficiently, so that we can enhance the performance of the server and build a VOD server system which provides many more services with good quality to subscribers.

Existing standard protocols for the web and Internet telephony fail to deliver real-time interactive communication from within a web browser. In particular, the client-server web protocol over reliable TCP is not always suitable for end-to-end low latency media path needed for interactive voice and video communication. To solve this, we compare the available platform options using the existing technologies such as modifying the web programming language and protocol, using an existing web browser plugin, and a separate host resident application that the web browser can talk to. We argue that using a separate application as an adaptor is a promising short term as well as long-term strategy for voice and video communications on the web.

A quasi-static retrieval scheme for interactive VOD servers

Much hope has been placed in the past on educational television for improving educational standards and distance education. However, in many countries the impact of this technology has been limited. Some of the reasons are discussed along with possible technical solutions. One solution that has been developed at HP Labs India is presented. This involves the use of satellite TV channels as the distribution channel for educational content in digital form. Inexpensive TV equipment, including those that work with direct to home (DTH) TV transmissions are used to capture TV programs in digital form and store them on a server. The system is also capable of capturing text content being sent with the program in the electronic program guide format as well as content in various other data formats including PDF. All captured content is stored in a digital library, offering students an on-demand video facility on campus. Easy search facilities are also offered to help find content items of interest.

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.