IPTV and Rich Media Convergence

Ecosystem for interactive IP based TV and rich media services

The FOKUS IPTV and Rich Media solution is FOKUS’ answer to the current evolvements of various black-box solutions in the IPTV and Broadcast market.

It represents FOKUS’ current activities and strategy in the direction of standardized solutions for IPTV following and inspiring ETSI TISPAN, Open IPTV Forum, DVB-IP and HBBTV connecting to open communities, Web 2.0 and of course interactive and personalized TV on the move and within the home network.

Our main research topics can be split into two strategic approaches covering:

• IP based media delivery (IPTV) over managed NGN and Open Internet infrastructures
  including personalized content creation, media management and delivery, cross fertilization of application domains (quadruple play), interactive TV and community based TV services, Rich Media Clients and

• Rich Media Formats (Interactive multimedia) and new non-linear content concepts (clickable content) for digital media addressing novel (mobile) device concepts, changing user preferences, and location

The IPTV and Rich Media solutions are based on a unique infrastructure supporting the planning, creation, management, distribution, playout, and analysis of rich media formats based on state-of-the-art technologies.

Motivation

As increasing penetration of Voice over IP and instant messaging services shows, disruptive Internet technologies are becoming key tools in our daily lives. Utilization of broadband networks for delivering media, starting with simple TV, will soon be commonplace. Community-based applications driven by Web 2.0 concepts will foster convergence between Internet, media industry, and (mobile) telecommunications, enabling a completely new end user service experience. In fact Media Interoperability starts when users begin to use the back channel of their terminals...

Why is FOKUS taking up IPTV and Rich Media Convergence topics

The challenge in converging environments is to bring interoperability to a range of heterogeneous approaches, technologies, and architectures. As an institute of applied research FOKUS has the right kind of expertise to forge the missing links. We invite all interested players to benefit from our results.

IPTV and Rich Media Convergence - The new Service experience

The IPTV and Rich Media Media Convergence topics bundles Fraunhofer FOKUS expertise in the areas of interactive applications, media handling, and mobile telecommunications and channels it for Converged Media Delivery Platforms featuring live, on demand, context-aware, and personalized interactive media empowered by standardized key technologies and service infrastructures.
Rich Media Convergence covers such issues as personalized content creation, management and delivery, cross fertilization of application domains (quadruple play), IP based media delivery (IPTV), interactive TV, including TV based community services and legacy integration for consumer electronics or interworking with NGN/IMS environments.
IP based broadband networks enable completely new services and business models ranging from Video on Demand and Personalized Video Recorder, interactive home shopping, personalized TV and targeted advertisement, right through to mobile Pay-TV, Catch-up TV and Video Follow me. The new problems that come along include such issues as broadcast in packet-based network environments; handling interactivity and personalization on a large scale; flexible billing beyond just paying for each single channel or movie; and sharing and synchronizing personal content. These and other related issues are now being researched by FOKUS with a worldwide roll-call of partners. The strictly neutral stance embraced by FOKUS allows the IPTV and Rich Media experts to subscribe to key standardization organizations and create early prototypes as part of FOKUS' Future Applications and Media Lab infrastructure. FOKUS provides consulting/training in these areas and is also implementing solutions according to costumers needs including integration with existing legacy systems.

Advanced Quadruple Play Infrastructure

Results of FOKUS’s IPTV and Rich Media activities are demonstrated in the Future Applications and Media Lab, an environment that features hardware and software from different vendors, different media delivery bearers (DVB-T/S/C, DMB, xDSL, WLAN, UMTS), on demand and live media channels from different service providers, and advanced Media Clients offering interactive media and telecommunication functions. Special emphasis is given to the home domain. A variety of different clients – such as Set-Top-Boxes, HTPC, UMPC, embedded systems, and mobile devices – have been integrated to demonstrate application portability and service continuity.

Interested parties are invited to join FOKUS’ IPTV and Rich Media Convergence activities by bringing along their own software or hardware for interoperability testing, integration or simply demonstration. Together with their partners the IPTV and Media experts at FOKUS are planning and executing extensions to the lab.

Research focus

The challenge in converging environments is to bring interoperability to a range of heterogeneous approaches, technologies, and architectures. FOKUS has the right kind of expertise to forge the missing links. FOKUS invites all interested players to benefit from the results.


Service Delivery Platform for Converged Media Services

• Media Clients (mobile, fixed) & Application Server
• Media Server (Signaling, Distribution, P2P)
• Interworking of CE and Mobile Devices
• Home Gateway (STB, Sensor/Actuator, IMS Proxy)

Interactive Adaptive Media Services

• Personalized targeted Advertisements, Voting, Shopping
• Community based Rating & Recommendation
• Metadata management & Personal Content Management
• Personalization, Adaptation, Recommendation

Interactive multimedia formats

• innovative non-linear content concepts for converged media
• rich content based advertisement
• individual user interaction in IPTV environments