iTV Handbook: Technologies & Standards

EDDIE SCHWALB
__________________________________________________________________________________________

This is a synopsis of the book iTV Handbook: Technologies & Standards

ISBN 0131003127
Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (July 25, 2003)
Interactive television (iTV) is an evolutionary merging of digital TV and the internet. iTV technology offers
new powerful ways for consumers to interact with content and service providers. In Europe, iTV has gained
significant traction during the turn of the century. For example, about 500,000 viewers signed up for
SkyDigital’s email service during 2000. In another example, Nickelodeon’s “Watch Your Own Week” voting
application was available to SkyDigital viewers during Oct 22-27 2001. While only 100,000 votes were
anticipated for the whole week, this goal was reached within two days; a total of 578,000 votes were recorded
for the week. Today, Europe counts tens of millions of iTV consumers.
The iTV Handbook is a broad overview of the business and technical issues, and could be used as a
textbook for an introductory technical course: it lays out the current thinking on commercially viable uses of
iTV, surveys the related technical standards, and describes a broad range of technologies and the relationships
among them. A whole chapter is devoted to the big picture of the iTV food chain, and another key chapter is
devoted to a survey of media streaming methods. A “file system in the sky” is described which is the
broadcasting equivalent of the network file system, and can be used to eliminate the notorious “hot spot”
encountered when millions of receivers are trying to access a small set of pages. The book provides many rare
insights into the nuts and bolts of the technologies being used. For example, the book presents part of the
theoretical foundation for MP3 compression, and describes in detail many popular file formats used to deliver
iTV content, including GIF, QuickTime, AVI, and ZIP.
Categories and Subject Descriptors: C.2 [Computer Systems Organization]: Computer-Communication
Networks; C.3 [Computer Systems Organization]: Special-Purpose and Application-Based Systems; D.2.11
[Software Engineering]: Software Architectures D.2.12 [Software Engineering]: Interoperability; D.3
[Software]: Programming Languages; E.5 [Data]: Files—Organization/structure; E.3 [Data]: Data
Encryption; J.5 [Computer Applications]: Arts and Humanities
General Terms: Design, Standardization
Additional Key Words and Phrases: Interactive TV, digital TV, internet, media streaming, broadcast, network
file system, MP3, QuickTime, AVI, ZIP, GIF, compression
__________________________________________________________________________________________

1. INTRODUCTION
Ever since the early 1950s children's program, "Winky Dink and You," there have been
dreams of turning the television experience into an interactive medium. In the early
1960s, the three-channel coaxial cable network Subscription TV (STV) was launched in
Los Angeles and San Francisco. STV offered an interactive movie channel, cultural
events, and sports, long before HBO, A&E, or ESPN, and long before niche
programming was envisioned. Subsequent ventures included Qube in the late 1970s,
which ran on a set-top-box with a personal computer architecture until the Apple came
out with their first hit product. However, few know that it met its demise owing to the
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Author’s address: E. Schwalb; email: [email protected]

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2 • E. Schwalb

Fig. 1. An example of a pizza-ordering page.

increased use of VCRs. Subsequent ventures include the famous Web-TV. Today, BBC
Interactive (BBCi) is one of the leading iTV services.
Besides offering interactivity, iTV products often rely on the digital TV that offers a
wide-display format. In addition to offering interactivity, iTV products often rely on
digital TV technology, which offers high resolution and a wide screen format.
Surprisingly, this format was originally developed by W.K.L.Dickson back in 1889 while
working at the Edison labs! In the 1950s, this format was adopted by Hollywood to
provide the public with a reason for paying to see a movie instead of staying at home to
watch TV. The book describes some of the rich history of this format until the 21st
century when it was adopted by HDTV standards world-wide.
Beyond historical developments, the book presents the current state of affairs,
including a brief overview of markets and the positions of ITv technology leaders. There
is a brief summary of added value that iTV features and applications bring to
entertainment (e.g., video on demand), TV-commerce (e.g., Instant polls), and
communications (e.g., chat). Some pointers are also provided to recently produced iTV
programs.
2. ITV SCENARIOS
Readers get a thorough overview of a wide range of applications and scenarios that
benefit from iTV. The collection of rare scenarios is organized into groups of electronic
program guides (EPGs), interactive advertisements, mass customization of content, video
on demand (VOD), games, interactive game shows, interactive drama, interactive news,
interactive maps and weather reports, sports, trading, gambling, and auctions.
Each scenario is described in terms of viewer experience and the required technology
integration. For example, a TV-commerce pizza-ordering application is described with
screen shots, and the behind-the-scenes architecture is explained: The uniform HTML
order forms could be transmitted (see Figure 1) via data broadcasting (i.e., avoiding hot-
spots), while the submission of the order could be performed via an IP-based return
channel. This technique enables transmission of the order form unconditionally and
simultaneously to all receivers. When a viewer requests to order pizza, the order form is

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 iTV Handbook: Technologies and Standards • 3

Fig. 2. The relationships among the advertiser, broadcaster, ISP, and receiver.

rendered. Upon confirmation of the order, the contents of the form is submitted over the
IP channel (see Figure 2). While it is practically guaranteed that the order form will be
viewed simultaneously by large numbers (e.g., millions) of viewers, it is not likely that all
these viewers will submit their orders simultaneously or that their orders will be routed to
the same physical local server for processing.
In addition to the general descriptions, the chapter contains characterizations of
specific iTV productions, including: the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest, Nickelodeon’s
“Watch Your Own Week” application, an interactive Coca Cola advertisement,
interactive puzzles, and the world cup sports application.
3. iTV FOOD CHAIN
Bringing iTV content to consumer iTV displays is complex and requires manipulation by
a wide range of sophisticated equipment operated by numerous organizations. Due to the
wide breadth of issues, most industry professionals focus on narrow isolated areas, and
thus may not be aware of other critical areas. As an example, content producers need to
be aware to the degree that the viewer experience degrades gracefully under degenerating
bandwidth conditions or receiver incompatibilities.
The chapter presents various models, including a content distribution model in which
a digital MPEG video signal is sent to a satellite via an uplink. That signal is then
relayed by the satellite to be received by service providers on the ground, who convert it
into a signal that can be distributed via the cable infrastructure to subscribers. A large
poster chart is provided (and explained) containing the list of professionals and roles that
are on the path from content authoring to distribution, aggregation, broadcasting, all the
way to the receiver and TV display.
Various protocol stacks are presented, with raw audio and video at the top, MPEG
formats in the middle, and (cable) QAM (AALn) SDH modulations at the bottom. The

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4 • E. Schwalb

relationships between the transport and application layers are described; the broadcast
model is presented; and concepts such as virtual channels and PIDs are explained. The
MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 architectures are briefly described and compared; and the data
multiplexing architecture is presented.
The chapter also contains a brief description of related W3C standard protocols,
including IP, TCP, UDP, DHCP, HTTP, and FTP; and the relevant request for comments
(RFC) documents are summarized.
For industry insiders, this chapter sheds some light on their neighbors; for neophytes,
it gives a refreshing and surprising view of the complexities of the entertainment industry
in general and iTV in particular.
4. ITV RECEIVERS
True to the top-down approach of this book, Chapter 4 starts by laying out the receivers’
expectations, that is, the need for upgradeability (e.g., using plug-ins), persistent storage
(e.g., disks), and specialized graphics capabilities. The issues associated with multiple
content delivery paths (e.g., satellite data broadcast vs cable IP return channel) are
explained.
iTV receivers’ architecture is described through the use of conceptual diagrams and
component stacks. The relationships among the various MPEG and IP protocols are
explained. Data flows between components are shown and the boundaries of interfaces
amenable to standardization are described. Various architecture options are given,
including the use of Java OS. The display model is described in detail, explaining how
radically different it is from traditional PC and TV displays. Compatibility and various
meta-data issues are described. Issues related to data access and storage are also
described in significant detail.
The chapter ends with a description of the receiver’s operational lifecycle, from the
time it is turned on to channel scanning, program reception, and application launch and
termination. The lifecycle issues related to upgrades (e.g., plug-ins) are described,
including whether the feature enhancements are associated with a manufacturer (i.e.,
permanent upgrade), network, a specific channel or a program (i.e., temporary upgrade).
For those interested in an introductory overview, this chapter is a treasure trove of
leads to the many technical issues faced by receiver integrators. Some issues could be
classified as transport- related, while others may be viewed as receiver issues. Regardless
of the viewpoint, classification or prioritization, these issues often need to be addressed.
5. DECLARATIVE CONTENT
With the advent of the Internet, declarative content, also known as mark-up (HTML-
like), has emerged as a new content type that complements traditional procedural content.
This chapter is an overview of several declarative mark-up content types relevant to iTV,
with a focus on specifying the standards; there are no programming tutorials in this book,
since they are widely available from the W3C and numerous programming books.
This chapter contains a tutorial for reading document type definitions (DTDs) and
provides some insight into the reasons and issues behind the original HTML
specifications. It describes a few key aspects of HTML in detail, and explains their
relationship to iTV specifically. Other specification languages such as XSD are also
presented and contrasted. Those who do not use DTD and HTML on a daily basis would
find many intriguing twists and non-mainstream opportunities.

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 iTV Handbook: Technologies and Standards • 5

In addition to HTML, a brief abstract description of XML and the document object
model (DOM) is provided. As an example, both hierarchical and flat views of the DOM
are described and contrasted. The XML Stylesheet Transformation (XSLT) language is
briefly described, and a short, sample XSLT for producing an HTML rendering of XML
data is provided.
A large portion of this chapter is dedicated to cascading style sheets (CSS) and the
value it delivers to iTV programming. As it turns out, CSS is one of the most effective
tools for producing a reasonable iTV experience at a relatively low cost in a short time.
When developing demos and prototypes, the use of CSS provides the means for rapid
prototyping and, more often than not, makes the difference between projects that move to
the next level and those that do not.
6. SCRIPT CONTENT
Declarative mark-up languages, while undoubtedly powerful, have limitations that need
to be addressed in order to provide the high-quality viewer experience expected from iTV
programs. Dynamic HTML (DHTML) is a common method for addressing these
limitations by utilizing scripts to render interactive, but otherwise passive, web pages.
This chapter describes the third edition of the European commerce applications script
(ECMA) standard. The development of the language began in November 1996 at
Netscape, and first appeared in Navigator 2.0. ECMA script has appeared in all
subsequent versions of the Netscape browser and in all versions of Microsoft’s Internet
Explorer.
The language and its relationship with object-oriented languages are described:
Rather than class-based inheritance, ECMA script uses delegation-based inheritance. The
chapter explains how to construct objects, subclass, define, and extend properties. Many
of the steps required to implement the language features are provided. The description of
the script language gives a refreshing point of view, even to those who use it on a daily
basis.
7. JAVA TV
Java TV is a collection of APIs that provides standard glue between the mobile iTV
application code and the receivers’ iTV execution environment. According to the Java
TV model, receivers are assumed to have a layered architecture that includes a real-time
operating system (RTOS) layer, a Java machine (JVM) layer, a personal Java
implementation, an implementation of the Java TV APIs, an implementation of the Java
media framework (JMF) API, and an application manager interfacing with all the APIs.
The Java class format plays the same role that MPEG tables do in the transmission of
audio and video content: Class files are the serialized format of the (executable
application) content to be rendered at the receiver. Upon reception of the class files, the
receiver’s application management middleware components instantiate the classes and
invoke the standard entry points, as defined by Java TV, to launch and manage the
application. The application lifecycle operations include loading, allocating resources,
determining trust, granting security permissions, instantiating classes via a safe class
loader, launching the application, passing events to it, pausing as needed, and finally,
terminating the application.
Central to Java TV is the notion of a service context, abstracting the environment of
an iTV application: It encapsulates the resources associated with that service, including

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6 • E. Schwalb

the channel (and bit-stream) from which video and applications are downloaded and the
graphics on which they are displayed.
Personal Java, a key component of the Java TV platform, is described in detail. The
description includes the GUI components, event management, Java reflection, class
loaders, and the java.awt.toolkit package that serves as the platform-specific glue. The
iTV specific permissions are described in the Java security section.
8. HAVi
Eight of the world’s leading consumer electronics manufacturers have developed a
common openly licensable specification of an interoperable platform, called home
audio/video interoperability (HAVi) architecture. This networking initiative provides a
software specification for seamless interoperability among home entertainment products.
Four pillars guide the architecture:

1. Interoperability: Functions on a device, may be controlled from another device

within the HAVi network;
2. brand Independence: Products form different manufacturers interoperate when
connected to the HAVi network;
3. hot-plug and enjoy: Compliant devices automatically announce their presence and
capabilities to every other device.
4. Link the past, upgradeable in the future: Updating device functionality can be
done by downloading new capabilities over the HAVi network.

A key component of the HAVi framework is the HAVi Level 2 GUI API, which is
supported by most major iTV standards. The chapter describes this API in detail, using
UML charts and examples, from an implementer’s point of view.
9. MEDIA STREAMING
Media streaming is the transmission and processing of data such as audio and video
content that changes meaningfully with time. This chapter describes both the transport
and application-layer aspects of streaming. At the transport layer, streams can be
transmitted as MPEG-2 elementary streams (this includes MPEG-4), or IP-based
transports such as RTP and IP multicast. These transports carry data components that
encode images, audio and video signals, and other data. These components are
synchronized with various time models and integrated using application-layer APIs.
The IP-based protocols described include real-time streaming protocol (RTSP), real-
time protocol (RTP), ITU H.323, and IP multicast-related protocols such as the session
description protocol (SDP), and various multicast addressing (e.g., limited scope and
GLOP), as well as forwarding techniques. MPEG-2 protocol descriptions include packet
structure and protocol encapsulation stacks, from the transport packers to PES packets,
and DSM-CC sections.
Audio streaming techniques include detailed descriptions of PCM, Dolby AC-3, and
MP3. The description of MP3 includes interesting theoretical aspects such as the
minimal audition threshold and the masking effect.
Video streaming techniques include descriptions of both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4
architectures, a brief presentation of DCT concepts, and some techniques for reducing
bandwidth requirements, including the use of fields and motion-prediction. A detailed

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 iTV Handbook: Technologies and Standards • 7

section about video on demand (VOD) presents a detailed architecture description as well
as some of the deployment issues.
Various synchronization models are described, including MPEG-based and IP-based
models. Numerous issues are presented, including a detailed description synchronization
of audio and video with data (e.g., appearance of an HTML page at a specific time). The
Java media framework (JMF) integration architecture is presented and related to Java TV
and the HAVi frameworks. Finally, the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
(SMIL) is briefly presented for completeness,
10. SECURITY
Security spans a wide range of issues. A simple threat model is presented and various
strategies are presented to achieve security in various contexts.
The public-key infrastructure is described in detail. Some history and various
cryptographic algorithms are described, including one-way and two-way symmetric and
asymmetric methods. Algorithms described include the data encryption standard (DES),
Integrated data encryption algorithms (IDEA), Diffie Hellman (DH), digital signatures
standard (DSS), RSA, the advanced encryption standard (AES) (Rijndael), and
OpenPGP. As an example, the RSA algorithm is described in seven steps. The PKI
architecture is explained, including the concepts of certificate authority, registration
authority, and certification revocation lists (CRL). Various issues are described,
including the use of certificates embedded within images shipped with receivers.
As part of the procedural application layer, the Java security framework is described
in detail. Concepts such as the security sandbox and the permission framework are
explained. The Java cryptographic architecture (JCA) is presented. Issues related to Java
run-time security checks are explained, including the notion of guarded objects.
As part of the declarative application layer (which may reside on top of the
procedural application layer), the XML digital signatures are described. The notions of
enveloped, enveloping, and detached signatures are explained. The signature structure is
described and the processing rules are presented.
As part of the transport layer, the transport layer security (TLS) is described.
Following a brief history, SSL and TLS integration is described, as well as the hand-
shake protocols. The key derivation process is also presented and explained.
Finally, the iTV-specific security methods are presented. Specifically, conditional
access TV (CATV) concepts are introduced. The cable HOST-POD interface is
described, as well as digital right management (DRM) techniques such as Macrovision’s
analog video copy protection techniques. For example, the chapter contains an
explanation of the techniques used to modify the video signal so as to confuse the
automatic gain control (AGC) and prevent the unauthorized copying of content. Issues
related to digital- to-analog copy protection and DVD copy protection are described.
11. BROADCASTING FILES
Files within an iTV program are organized in a broadcast file system in the same way
files of a software application are on a computer or network file system. This “file
system in the sky” is based on the MPEG digital storage media command and control
(DSM-CC) standard.
Work on DSM-CC was initially chartered to provide VCR-like functionality as an
annex to MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818 part 1. It was further expanded into ISO/IEC 13818

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8 • E. Schwalb

MPEG Broadcast
Common Files Broadcast File
Equipment
System

iTV Application Do away Feeding of

with iTV Receiver
Data Source High Traffic
Hot Spot Files
Internet Service
All Files IP-transport
Provider
Financial
Transaction
Fig. 3. The iTV architecture that eliminates hot-spots.

part 6 to provide a client-network-server paradigm for selection, access, and control of

distributed video resources. It was adopted by Digital Video Broadcast (DVB)
consortium’s multimedia hope platform (MHP) and the ATSC A/95 standards.
The DSM-CC work was further extended as part of the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC 14496-6
with the DSM-CC multimedia integration framework (DMIF) to enable the convergence
of interactive, broadcast, and conversational multimedia. The DMIF specification
includes the following:

• end-to-end session across multiple network provider implementation;

• integration with multiple network technologies such as the ATM and IP-based
protocols;
• integration with specific object domains such as CORBA and JAVA;
• ability for multiple devices to participate as peers within the same session;
• fully symmetric producer and consumer operations within a single device; and
• scheduling and real-time switching of bit streams.

The most notable advantage of a broadcast file system over IP-based technologies is the
ability to transmit structured data to millions of viewers simultaneously, without suffering
from the hot-spot bottleneck. While IP-based architecture requires that each receiver
perform a separate request, typically in an isolated session to retrieve iTV content; with
the MPEG-based broadcast file system it is possible to transmit the entire data to a
potentially unlimited number of receivers simultaneously, using a single session and
without giving rise to a hot-spot.
Consider the model illustrated in Figure 3, where the data source is used to feed the
common (i.e., non-customized) content into MPEG broadcast equipment and to an ISP
via a web server. The ISP, in turn, may feed high-traffic files to an MPEG-broadcast
system. The receiver decodes the broadcast and renders the content arriving through the
MPEG transport. Any additional customization and subsequent access to order-taking
applications is performed via the IP-channel, also known as the return channel. Only iTV
receivers for which viewers activate an application that requires returning information to
the ISP (e.g., to perform a purchase) create traffic on the IP-based return channel.

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 iTV Handbook: Technologies and Standards • 9

12. CONTENT FORMATS

iTV content formats are essentially Internet content formats. Their roots are in the
personal computing industry which evolved into the Internet. This chapter provides the
nuts and bolts of graphics formats, including GIF, JPG, PNG, and MNG; audio formats
including AU, MIDI, MP3, CDA, and WAV; video formats including MPEG, Quicktime,
AVI, and asset management formats including UMID, KLV, DPX, GXF, AAF, ZIP, and
JAR.
For each format, a detailed description of the file structure is provided, including the
various headers and structured data components. Described, as an example, is the
Quicktime movie chunk, which contains track chunks, which in turn contain media
chunks, and which in turn contain media information and sample table chunks.
While the information provided is not sufficiently detailed to write programs for
encoding and decoding in these formats, it certainly provides sufficient detail to gain
insight into the nature of the content format and develop “sniffing” tools.
13. iTV STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS
iTV standardization efforts span a decade, covering several technology layers, from
signal modulation to data encapsulation, to basic digital video encoding, synchronization,
interfaces for conditional access, and transmission technologies, to advanced system
standards integrating that work and enabling the interoperability of iTV services.
Chapter 13 presents the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF),
digital video broadcast (DVB), multimedia home platform (MHP), CableLabs’ open
cable application platform (OCAP), the Advanced Television Systems Committee
(ATSC), Japan’s Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) platform, the
TV-anytime framework, and iTV production standards.
The chapter details the unique aspects of each standard. For example, for MHP, an
expanded description of the application information table (AIT) is provided. For OCAP,
the XML AIT and its relationship to monitoring applications is described in detail. For
ATSC, the program-specific information protocol (PSIP) tables and service table (DST)
of the service description framework are described in detail.
As it turns out, interoperability across iTV is complex, and requires standardization
along numerous dimensions. Each of these standards address a subset of issues
applicable to the architecture it defines. The next step would be to identify the key
lessons from the deployment of these standards and apply them to develop the many
bridges needed for true global interoperability.
CONCLUSION
The book is perfect for inquiring minds: It starts at an abstract level and continues to one
that is pragmatic, detailed, and matter-of-fact. The book will often surprise product
developers and integrators: Technical challenges are large and multifaceted, to a degree
seldom envisioned at the outset. Once read, the book will serve as an introductory
reference and a starting point for specializing in any one of the hundreds of topics
covered.

Received January 2004.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Volume 2, Number 2, April 2004.